Yep, wants vs needs - when times get tough, and they will/have, having some wiggle room goes a long way.   When I see your pic I tend to wonder how your 1200 Doo is doing that has to be maybe 10 years old, especially knowing the miles you put on it - but sleds and all else are expensive. 

Wow!   Hard to believe the river would skiff over that early!   .

There's a lot of people out there that are in a position where just ordering a pizza or going to the movies is only for the elite in their eyes.    A couple years back I saw a post on FB where someone indexed the cost of midline trail performance model sled from the year 1995 to 2020 something, and compared them to past and current wages. I was shocked that it was so close. The one thing that was missing was the difference in the amount of disposable income people had, and how they are prioritizing what they do with it. multiple 60+ inch TVs,  $1200 cell phones, $200 hockey sticks, calling skip over cooking ... ect     

The thing about people in better positions financially, they are normally not afraid of work, it is what got them to this point in life, they just pick what there time is best spent on - if they have a passion for something, they will work on it.   But many would likely just rather pay more for the permit to have paid labour do the work       LOL - I was going to add that tidbit of info to my reply in relation to the permit, but decided not too  

its only 1/3 the price of a permit...............