MAY 21, 2012 - NY BIGHT INSIDER - THE WEATHER - CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT IS BACK? STRIPED BASS FISHING PICKING UP - THE WORST GIMMICK YET?

[MisterX]

I can see how groupon would help a business during the slower periods. In the case of PBs, the winter months. However, if a boat has to use groupon to generate business at this time of year, they wont last too long........IMHO, I think some captains are happy to leave the dock with more fares (full paying or not) than the next guy just to stick his chest out even though its going to cost him down the road.

[Hawkboat]

I never understood high fuel prices on the water. On the road, there are lot of taxes that pay for safe roads. Which dont really come into play on the water. I think that gas on the water should cost half of what it does.

The way it was explained to me once was the volume they do and second the ease of getting it there.
Lets face it most marinas are on smaller streets that will not allow a full size tractor trailer so in turn irs a smaller truck delivering a smaller amount of fuel, buy more and th price is lower.

The fuel docks do maybe 10% of what a regular gas station does and now many of them carry ethonal free gas also.

Prior to that owning a boat was and still is considered a luxury in most people eyes, so in general you can afford a boat you can afford the fuel.

I am sure many people use GERRY cans to put some fuel in the boat an them mayb cap itoff at a fuel dock, even guys using diesel will do that.

Now ceratin boats that larger fuel capacity can have fuel truck come right to the dock, some charter boats do it and I am sure all head boats do it.

I have a few companies here that will come right to your home and make a drop of at least 50 gallons with ethonal free fuels and it's cheaper then a regular fuel dock, not much but what ever it is it's a savings.

[Seven]

I'm not defending the high price of gas, but to think that it should be cheaper on the water makes no sense. The only tax difference is the federal excise tax, and that dosen't make a huge difference. A station on land has a twelve month business with a seemingly endless flow of customers. Many of them go 24/7 with only 1 or 2 employes . The cost of real estate is lower than prime water front locations in many cases, and there is added cost of taxes on the water. In short marine gas stations in most cases do a mere fraction of the volume done on land.

NY Bight boats often burn the fuel to gas up in NJ at much lower prices. Why would gas in a commercial area of Brooklyn be so much more than in gold coast of NJ? Taxes? Real estate? Both higher in that part of NJ.

[Hawkboat]

That also goes for regualr gas stations, cabbies have been doing it for years

[LarryNoBoat]

You get what you pay for.

Are you saying that businesses that offer Groupon discounts don't offer the same services/goods to the discount customers or these businesses are not quality businesses to begin with? I have to say that I have not found either to be the case.

[LarryNoBoat]

My experience with Groupon fishing

Two weeks ago i woke up late on Sat. morning and decided to go half day fluke fishing that afternoon. I got down to the dock an hour early to get the first spot in the bow so I could cast light bucktails. I had the choice of two boats docked right next to each other and picked the boat that I have sailed with before over the larger more comfortable boat. Well by the time we were pulling away from the dock my boat had 72 fares with about 60 rental rods and the other boat had 12 fares with zero rental rods. I'm thinking to myself boy did I choose the wrong boat and wondering when was the last time I saw 72 fares on a party boat in the first week of May.

As I'm talking to people and hearing the mates explain how to use a fishing reel to other customers it turns out that most of these people have never been party boat fishing before. They got a good deal on Groupon and decided it would be a nice way to spend a afternoon. Probably almost all of these people wouldn't of been there without Groupon.

The only extra expenses I could see was the bait and an extra 14-16 year old mate that couldn't of been paid that much. On the other side of the ledger the business in the galley was on fire and more than made up for the expenses. It was also great advertising for the boat and maybe 10-20 percent had a good time and will come out again over the summer and pay full price.

[Seven]

Just got an email that restaurant that I had a Groupon at was closing down soon. I called customer service and they refunded my unused Groupon as a credit. No doubt I could have asked for an actual $ credit to my credit card, but I use these things often enough, that the credit wont be there for long. Imagine how screwed I would have been with an ordinary gift certificate.