VAIL SUCKS

[icecoast1]

In other news, I've recently learned that as children get older it is no longer realistic to carry out my former plan of not giving Vail a single ¢ outside of skiing related money. I've already had to buy a slice of pizza this season, and it's only mid-December.
View attachment 63841

Gotta pack your own lunch and bring it with you, those who fail to plan, plan to fail!

 

[deadheadskier]

Of course. Everything has a price. A good medical device example was then DES hit the market and started gaining adoption over BMS. The DES cost like $2,000 more per patient, and there are thousands upon thousands of DES placements per year in America. But the results were better too, leading in some cases to better outcomes. You know where you couldn't readily get DES initially? Yeah, lots of those nations with "better healthcare" than America.

I would call that atypical. As a general rule, new medical device technologies are released in Europe and some areas of Asia prior to the United States where as drugs get approved here faster. I can tell you that everything I've ever sold and all competing products from other companies, you can buy overseas on average two years prior to here.

If I want to know what's on the competitive horizon for ICU monitoring, Anesthesia, imaging, surgical robotics, you name it; I look overseas. The DaVinci robot, as an example, is perhaps the most game changing surgical technology of the past 50 years. Fastest growing device company of all time. Used in Germany first. Here two plus years later. It's because of our asinine 510k and PMA approval processes plus patent law. And trust me, almost every company would rather sell here first because the margins are better. There's less (almost none) government involvement in pricing. I'm talking strictly capital, not implants / therapeutics.

And I'm sorry, I steadfastly disagree with the notion you made that because the wealthy come here, healthcare must be best here overall. It's an asinine point of view similar to saying, well Lamborghini and Ferrari are made in Italy, so they must have the best automotive industry. That's an ideological point of view, not a practical one. It's not a false narrative by the media when you look at all of the data for outcomes and compare it to costs, the US is never ranked very highly globally. Feel free to believe otherwise, but the data doesn't lie. And even if you were right, it doesn't negate my main point that tying healthcare to employment is 100% about maintaining high workforce participation rates for as long as possible. The people working hard to convince people like yourself that believe our system is best don't give a shit about your health. They give a shit about shaking every last bit of profit and tax dollar out of your work production. Full stop. They (ownership class) know that if they lose the shackles of healthcare they wrap around the working class, they lose a huge amount of control over those people. It is foolish to think otherwise.

 

[deadheadskier]

Oh, and it's even far worse than that if the, "hospital's money" in actuality is really the "government's money". I've seen things.

It can be. Especially in rural hospitals. I owe a portion of my income to the US Department of Agriculture. They fund a lot of capital projects at these critical access hospitals. If they didn't, the hospitals wouldn't exist and the farmers would pack up shop and move to the cities. At least the Dept of AG demands a competitive process of inviting at least three vendors for grant eligibility. That is not the case in city hospitals who receive funding from other government sources.

 

[1dog]

https://www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2024/12/Health-costs.png

seems less regulation ( less government) = lower costs. In reference to ski patrol health care or pay/other benefits, how could all these costs not be passed thru to the end user? Basic economics ( with apologies to Thomas Sowell).

 

[MidnightJester]

Keystone Resort, CO, Ski Patrol Union Challenges Vail Resorts With Collective Action​

Keystone Resort, CO, Ski Patrol Union Challenges Vail Resorts With Collective Action - SnowBrains

Yesterday, the Keystone Ski Patrol Union (KSPU) patrollers conducted their first collective action since unionizing last season.

snowbrains.com

Just about every SKI PATROL will end up trying to unionize in the future.

 

[BenedictGomez]

If I want to know what's on the competitive horizon for ICU monitoring, Anesthesia, imaging, surgical robotics, you name it; I look overseas. The DaVinci robot, as an example, is perhaps the most game changing surgical technology of the past 50 years. Fastest growing device company of all time. Used in Germany first. Here two plus years later.

I was an early investor in Intuitive Surgical, circa 2002. Had to sell it when I started on the trade floor for compliance purposes (no outside the bank personal investor accounts allowed so everything was liquidated), and I didn't bother buying it back with my monitored trading account. Yeah, that was a bit of a costly mistake. Anyway, the reason to blame isn't our "healthcare system" or anything medical or scientific, it's entirely due to our loathsome vulture parasite lawyers. That's on the US legal system.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I'd be so ******* tired of this by now if I was Vail that given the threat of a strike, I would already be creating & contacting people on a "standby list" from the tons of applicants who didn't get picked for these jobs but would absolutely be thrilled to do it for what Vail currently offers. (~$22 an hour start + $1,600 in new gear).

It's not often that I'm on the side of The Empire, but this Union's argument is way overblown, if not mostly untrue (as phrased/messaged) IMHO.

 

[ThatGuy]

I'd be so ******* tired of this by now if I was Vail that given the threat of a strike, I would already be creating & contacting people on a "standby list" from the tons of applicants who didn't get picked for these jobs but would absolutely be thrilled to do it for $22 an hour + $1,600 in new gear of their choice.

Im sure thats plan B at this point. The ski patrol does also get that nice stipend. Plus the $20 base is kind of a red herring because they get free trainings and certs while working that all come with pay bumps.

 

[kingslug]

But can you really replace the whole patrol with others?
You do have to know the place to be effective..especialy when lobbing bombs around.

 

[thetrailboss]

I'd be so ******* tired of this by now if I was Vail that given the threat of a strike, I would already be creating & contacting people on a "standby list" from the tons of applicants who didn't get picked for these jobs but would absolutely be thrilled to do it for what Vail currently offers. (~$22 an hour start + $1,600 in new gear).

It's not often that I'm on the side of The Empire, but this Union's argument is way overblown, if not mostly untrue (as phrased/messaged) IMHO.

"I take back almost everything bad I have ever said about you!"

 

[thetrailboss]

On a serious note, we will see what happens. It will be interesting to see where they land.

 

[deadheadskier]

I was an early investor in Intuitive Surgical, circa 2002. Had to sell it when I started on the trade floor for compliance purposes (no outside the bank personal investor accounts allowed so everything was liquidated), and I didn't bother buying it back with my monitored trading account. Yeah, that was a bit of a costly mistake. Anyway, the reason to blame isn't our "healthcare system" or anything medical or scientific, it's entirely due to our loathsome vulture parasite lawyers. That's on the US legal system.

Yeah, costly. You'd probably be getting out right about now anyway. Though probably pretty rich from it. Staggering amount of competition entering the market. I have to imagine their stock price begins to retreat.

If by lawyers, you mean government fear of litigation, I guess we are somewhat on the same page. We are in the process of getting PMA approval for a new software. It will take 3 years of clinical studies and 2 years of the application process. 2 years under best case scenario. $5M investment. That's a lot of scratch for a $65k ASP device that has a US market with multiple competitors of roughly 3k machines per year. The same software only had to go through the EUs equivalent of the less severe 510k process, only cost us $500k and was to market in 9 months.

That in a nutshell is the difference and why Europe sees the fancy new toys typically 2 years or more sooner than us. Conversely, drug approval in Europe is slower than here from what I've read. I don't have blonde hair and big boobs, so I've never sold pharma.

 

[BenedictGomez]

But can you really replace the whole patrol with others?
You do have to know the place to be effective..especialy when lobbing bombs around.

Yeah, you probably have a good point, but realistically I doubt they'd all 100% strike if it came to that. Especially the ones making closer to $30 an hour.

Anyway, there's a complete logical disconnect between arguing that you cant afford to live here at $21 an hour, but somehow at $23 an hour you'll be okay with a livable wage as if it's any big difference. And there's really a complete logical disconnect between arguing that you cant afford to live here at $21 an hour, but somehow you could survive without any pay while on strike for a few weeks, in a seasonal job to boot. It's BS really.

Vail should give them the pay rate they're asking for, but simultaneously yank their atypical $1,600 gear benefit; that's probably worth roughly $2/hour by itself based on the hours they work in a season.

 

[zyk]

“So does your health insurance cover treatment for PTSD?”
View attachment 63840

Well no. And good luck with your annual. Probably better luck with Vail.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I think oven Digorno pizza is better than the pizza you get in the lodge at least the one slice is ridiculously large combined with how overpriced it is

One slice was enough to fill both my wife & kid, so at least it's got that going for it.

 

[thetrailboss]

Park City Mountain ski patrol union files unfair labor practice complaints against Vail

The Park City ski patrol union and Vail Resorts met for negotiations Wednesday night. The union has now filed unfair labor practice charges.

www.kpcw.org