@Scott CWO
I have been a bank manager for over 15 years. I know a thing or two about business...
I have no idea why you are butt hurt and have personally attacked me from the start of this thread, including some cryptic political shot aimed at me. I suspect this is a red herring regarding a political thread from 6 months ago.
Bye, Felicia
Well, as a bank manager (employee), you don’t know what it’s like to OWN a business and personally make payroll or pay the bills. Funny how people that don’t own businesses think that business owners should be able to keep deposits or payments from customers in escrow and never pay themselves until the end of the year?! Ever hear of personal expenses like braces for the kids teeth, college, groceries and household bills? Outfitter families have these every day year-around expenses just like you with your corporate job and have to pay themselves year-around, not just after hunting season with “profit” leftover.
Back in the recession of 2008-2009, a lot of banks were bailed out by the government since banks were considered “too big to fail.” My business was only down about 20% in the recession but all types of other businesses went under while your industry got bailed out so your banking career doesn’t really carry the same risk, does it? During COVID, I didn’t ask for a penny of government money or help because thankfully for USA outfitters, we only lost our spring seasons whereas African and Canadian outfitters lost both.
My business was never a house of cards waiting to tip over from a bad year but lots of outfitters paying for concessions and big leases need a steady stream of year-around revenue to keep going and building equity. I lease a lot of private land and the landowners don’t care whether an outfitter gets fully booked or if you cancel your hunt and they still demand to be paid for the lease no matter what happens.
Yes, I didn’t like your comment about selling horses and now that I hear that you are a bank manager, it all makes more sense.
Yes, as someone who is in an industry dependent on guns and freedom of choice to hunt, I definitely don’t understand or like your political views and don’t mind saying so. How does it feel to be judged for your views or not liked? Most of us on this website are conservative and are quite accustomed to being judged all the time in about every other part of our lives and on other social media platforms by your liberal friends. You are outnumbered here just like we are outnumbered about everywhere else. I have little sympathy for you.
Everyone runs a business differently, and I am thankful that I do not have to run an outfitting operation anywhere. They have my utmost respect. But the model Shockey describes is ripe for a disaster. I shook my head when I read the article, but what he described represents the business plan of probably 75% of the outfitters that I know. All of whom are in some degree of serious trouble now.
I spent most of my career in the military, but I also successfully ran a business unit for a major corporation for over a decade (a 24/7 experience with zero latitude for failure for any of you who have not had the opportunity). That experience gave me a pretty strong practical degree in business administration.
In my experience, most businesses, big or small, are run and balance sheets derived from either a profit or profit/investment model. In other words, profits generated by the business, represent the investment basis for future expenditures or new investment. Deposits are not profit. From a business perspective, they actually shouldn't represent real money. If a business is using that speculative income for current year operating expenses, then that business is well out over its skis and subject to collapse should that funding stream be suddenly cut off for whatever reason. Admittedly, the stream needs to turned on again quickly or the profit margin generated capital evaporates and whatever deposits are on hold will gradually have to be accessed. However, that is a very different model than basing this year's business expenses on a deposit stream for future hunts. I can't imagine trying to sleep with that sort of balance sheet. Yet, as I noted, most outfitters seem to do just that.
That sort of high risk operating expense model is exactly what I took away from Shockey's article. And as I noted, he is hardly alone.
I also would absolutely subscribe to the obvious fact that outfitters who depend upon international hunters are the most at risk as the pandemic has progressed, and even the best managed business can't survive indefinitely without customers.
I agree with about everything you said.
A significant portion of deposits paid in the same year of a hunt are used for getting ready for the hunt and for year-around expenses. In my case and I think in the case of most successful USA outfitters, deposits for hunts in future years are much smaller amounts (I asked for only $500 - $1000) and are not a significant part of our budgets. For me, these small deposits were just a way to figure out my long term schedule and weed out tire kickers.
Right now with Canadian outfitters, even these small deposits for future hunts have dried up, making the current problem all the worse.
