Can we assign weekly permit $ to club of our choosing?

[700renegade]

Hey guys - I bet someone can answer this -

I'm heading up from Wisconsin with 4 other guys next week for a large loop trip. Two of us have annual permits already from the White River club, the other 3 will have to purchase a weekly permit. We are starting in Searchmont and heading north.

I prefer to direct my dollars to the smaller clubs such as White River and Foleyet where they really need it most due to few local riders and the state of the economy. Without these small connector communities the huge 1000 mile + loops I love wouldn't be possible.

Can we purchase the 3 weekly permits in the Soo but direct that the funds end up elsewhere? I tried to get it organized to call them in in advance to the White River club, and have her mail them out, but the other three guys don't see the sense in it ( thus no VIN's to call in ).

Any advice, let me know.

[FRASERn]

700 Renegade, Great to have you and your buddies visit us. I am permit coordinator for Orillia Club...district 8. I am not aware of any means to specifically direct permit monies to a particular club...unless you buy from a permit vendor within that clubs area. Permits are assigned to a club and resulting sales of those permits are credited to the club. Depending on the particular club's circumstances...a portion of the $ go to the OFSC, the District Association (if one exists) and the selling club. While, the $ from your permits are important, I guarantee you that your Thanks, Thumbs up, etc... that you share with the volunteers and locals will be just as important.

[700renegade]

FRASERn - I'm sure they appreciate a "thanks", but that won't do much to put diesel in the groomer.

Here is another thought I've had on this subject for years now. Why does permit money from guys like me ( from the states ) go mostly to the local club? It seems patently unfair that the big club closest to the border crossing ( Thunder Bay, Sault Ste Marie, etc ) would get to keep all that money. Those big cities have an extreme ratio of local riders / trail miles and should be able to support themselves off the local populace.

Has anyone polled the average rider from the states? I guarantee you the "buy where you ride" formula does NOT represent what happens with us. As an example, I will start next Thursday and ride thru Soo/Chapleau/Foleyet/Timmins/Chochrane/SRF/Kap/Hearst/Longlac/Manito/Hornepayne/Dubrellville/Wawa. All in 4 days.

If someone from the OFSC can explain why my dollars should stay with the Soo club I'd like to hear it.

Here is the formula I'd like to see:

> If you are a non-canadian you check a box on the permit form

> When the box is checked the $ gets distributed:

25% to local club to administer the paperwork and local grooming

75% goes to OFSC to be re-distributed to all clubs

> OFSC tallies ratio of local permits to trail miles and favors $ to those w/ worst ratio.

[jcerget1]

I thought the monies went to the district and from there is distributed to the clubs based on the amount of miles they groom. I'm not for sure, this is just what I though was happening.

[Ox]

Been sayin' the same thing for many yrs.

We buy ours from the small clubs as well just for that reason. I have bought from clubs that I won't get to this yr and even some that I have never been to ever.

If it were me - I would phone in my order and pick it up as I go through. Maybe they could fax or e-mail you a confirming that you could keep on you in case you git stopped [in Wawa].

[Canadianlad]

You can do what you are asking given enough time.

You could do this by phone or mail and a credit card to the club (selling entity) or association it belongs to. The problem would be in getting the permit within the time period you need it. On the other hand it could be done by a courier if you wanted to pay the charge. The weekly pass is no different than the annual other than on the annual you can specify the club you want too have the funds go to when you purchase it.

Also what you might not realize is that some of the bigger areas actually have a lot more costs and are actually in worse financial condition than the small clubs due to the way our system works throught he OFSC.

[700renegade]

canadianlad, I certainly could be wrong on my assumptions on how the finances work. There is probably much more to the OFSC process than meets the eye. I just can't help but imagine the entry points like the Soo don't get a windfall due to weekly permit sales.

[revrnd]

Depending on the "matrix" what each club pays for each permit or what they get to keep varies. The OFSC distributes the monies to various clubs depending on their needs. Someone involved w/ a club executive may be able to elaborate.

[Canadianlad]

The amount each club (association) pays the OFSC for permis varies depending on the Metrix. The metrix looks at km of trail, grooming hours, members (permits sold) etc. The formula then assigns you a number and depending on that number is what you pay for the permits. This is to help smaller clubs with long seasons and few mwmbwers. At times this hurts the big clubs like the STP for example that have a lot of trails, a bad winter like last year with little grooming and a declining membership.

On the other hand when you cross the border and buy a season permit or get one by mail etc you can state on the permit application where you want to have your permit money go. In that way border areas may get a lot of traffic but little credit

Another thing that is not considered is type of trail. A lot of areas have seasonal bush roads or fields etc that are easy to maintain on possibly crown land while other areas have rough terrain, brush trails requiring a lot of maintenance or private ownership which lately is being revoked more and more causing costly reroutes such as with the new 4 lane highway 69 going in south of Sudbury causing many reroutes at a clubs expense. These easy trails could belong to a small club and gives them little or no work and then when they sell a lot of permits they are well off. One easy way of telling is look at the areas you ride. Do they always have new grooming equipment, nice big clubhouses etc. If so they probarbly are well off, whereas the clubs with few or no clubhouses and old equipment and bush trails possible are the poor clubs.