Total revenue and EBITDA down in first quarter for United Parks

There is something morally reprehensible about charging more for goods and services during an emergency. The $11 frozen pretzel spinning around in a glass warmer is not that, but it certainly tells your customer exactly what you think of them. And I think this is the reason the customer service and operations have gone down hill at Sea World. The private equity lead board does not think about the relationship they have with their customers when they have to make hard decisions.

Price gouging in emergencies from an economic perspective:

https://www.chicagobooth.ed...ce-gouging

Jeff:

"Gouging refers to the act of charging unfairly high prices for essential goods or services, typically during emergencies, shortages, or times of high demand."

You omitted the next line from that quoted definition: "It is frequently considered a form of unethical, informal extortion or dishonest overcharging". AI Source here

I think the $4 locker fee, with no other option if you care to ride, considering that almost every adult who enters a theme park now has a cell phone on them, falls into the category of dishonest overcharging or informal extortion. Especially considering that most other theme parks with similar such restrictive riding regulations (which are not something the casual park goer would anticipate) have some form of free locker setup (IOA, CP, KD, etc.)

But if you still have your knickers in a twist over semantics (really the dumbest argument this group has had since they tried to claim they were better than ACEr's or Enthusiasts), allow me to quote from the same source, again. Gouging: the action of charging someone too much money for something, in a way that is dishonest or unfair. - Informal U.S. definiton of gouging.

Well you can be an expert in finance and I'll be an expert in writing. I'll try not to tell you anything that you say about finance is stupid.

CreditWh0re:

Gouging: the action of charging someone too much money for something, in a way that is dishonest or unfair.

This definition is too vague and subjective to be meaningful. Who decides when someone is being charged too much money? Typically, we let the market decide. Dishonest or unfair? Good luck with that determination especially in today's world.

I have always been a fan of a la carte pricing. If I consume more of a good or service, I pay more. Someone consuming less pays less. To me that is fair. Though there are efficiency issues in terms of using it in all cases. Technology has the potential to eliminate/reduce some of those efficiency issues.

I am not familiar with the rides that require pay to ride lockers. But I know that at Cedar Point, there are a lot of people who never ride any of the rides that require lockers (most of my visits to the park are with at least one of such persons). They may well have a different perspective on the lockers than someone on this site in terms of being "too much" or "dishonest or unfair."

Different entities use different pricing models. Intentionally so. Will appeal to/turn off some people but not others. If the pricing model a given business uses is unfair, dishonest, too much, etc. to you, find businesses that use pricing models you prefer. We all do that every day (often times without consciously realizing it).

GoBucks89:

I have always been a fan of a la carte pricing. If I consume more of a good or service, I pay more.

It occurs to me that Disney does this quite a bit. In the parks, there are obviously tiers of experience, and while I think the basic tier is mostly great (post-downtime Lightning Lane catch-up aside), the more expensive offerings go well beyond to add value, not just prioritize you. The cruise line is like this as well, in that most of the things on the ship (food, non-alcoholic drinks, entertainment, characters) are all included in the fare. If you want to drink, that's extra. Ditto for excursions, concierge level, photo packages, etc.