How do you pay who for what?

[SSScout]

 

We had our Troop family campout last month. Lots of good fun, new families get to know the old hands, Patrols renew their skills, organization is tested and adjusted.

* Patrols share out food expenses. Patrol might be two, might be 8.

* Adults become a "temporary patrol" and display cooperation and cooking skills to Scouts (!).

* Scouts are held to task for "fairly" sharing with the expenses: Gas, tolls, camp fees, program fees. Each Patrol is expected to tote up and parse out each scout's share of the costs. Drivers get a share/share alike reimbursement for gas and tolls.

* Troop collects overall fees per person, (camp fee, program fees) and gas and tolls for the Troop trailer hauling. Trailer tow-er gets double the usual gas/toll reimbursement.

Troop treasurer does paper money balancing and issues checks to folks in "adult patrol" to account for food, charcoal, etc.

 

How do you do it? Do you just expect the Scout to "do the right thing" or is there a "formula"? Pay each driver so much per Scout? How 'bout Prius vs Suburban hauling? A difference?

 

The Troop of my youth actually calculated the miles driven, collected so much per mile per Scout and divied up the kitty as to how many Scouts a car carried. More Scouts carried, more money back. Present Troop isn't that precise.

And, back then, Patrols would collect $3. from each Scout in the Patrol, and THAT was our budget for the weekend's meals (!) Present Patrols spend what they will, then divy up the cost and collect the shares AFTER the weekend.

 

Is any of this familiar to you?

[Basementdweller]

We don't travel very far from home, generally never more than an hour. The drivers are not reimbursed for gas.....It is us driving the Church van and we refill it to where it was when we are finished with the weekend......

 

 

Our campout food cost between $10 and $15 and is payed for in advance by the scouts attending. Once the food is purchased no refunds are given, period. If there is surplus it is turned in to the SM to pay for the campsite....

 

If we did what you do our outing cost would quickly become $30 weekends.

[eagle90]

Similar to BD, we do not reimburse drivers for gas, except for Summer Camp when they are driving 350+ miles one way.

 

Our campouts normally run $20.00. $15.00 for food and $5 for camp ground fees. Signup is 10 days in advance, no refunds.

[EagleBeaver]

I feel it's important to know and budget for the actual cost of a campout. I also don't want those volunteers generous with their time to also spend their own money to subsidize scouts whose parents do not go on campouts.

Budget $.05/mile/scout - a 200 mile roundtrip costs each scout $10 for travel. A driver on a 200 mile round trip carrying 1 scout gets $10 to cover gas, a driver carrying 6 scouts gets $60.

Patrols budget $3.00/meal/scout - 4 meals is $12 for the weekend.

BSA Camp fee is about $5/scout.

So, a weekend campout normally costs $27 to $30.

All expected expenses are figured out by the patrol planning the outing and included as part of the price of the outing that all scouts pay before going. Adults that volunteer their time don't pay anything.

 

[Oak Tree]

We reimburse for gas @ actual cost. We tell drivers to show up with gas tanks full, and to fill up at the end of the trip. Most do, but occasionally we have to reimburse per estimated gas expenses. We do have an estimate of about how much it costs to transport a Scout per mile, based on the typical vehicles and typical occupancy that we experience.

 

We announce a cost for the trip up front. We give the Scouts (and the adults, too) a maximum budget for food (per person). Food is purchased by patrol. We reimburse any actual expenses incurred.

 

Some trips costs might be a bit lower than our estimate, some a bit higher. We try to set the cost so that it all averages out.

[fred8033]

We don't compensate for gas unless it's an extraordinary distance, over an hour drive each way. And it's planned on an event by event basis. For us, it takes a committee decision on a case by case basis to decide what's "fair".

 

- Do do you make it by who drove or who committed to drive?

- Do you compensate by actual number scouts driven or the number of seats committed for scouts?

- How do you adjust for changing plans?

- Do you control who rides in what car?

- Do you control the list of cars and tell them you don't need them to drive?

 

Examples

 

- If a father drives his son, then we just compensate them with their share. But what if we arranged drivers and received his commitment late. Now someone who stepped forward will be compensated less because someone who did not volunteer decided to just drive his own son. It's happened. No one says anything, but you could tell people were not happy about it.

 

- When doing it by number of scouts driven, we often have extra space created by people not going, arriving late or leaving early. So it's easy to get someone who volunteered to drive to have zero or two scouts in the car and the guy with the suburban to have seven scouts in the car. Happens all the time. So what's fair.

 

- Another problem is controlling how many drivers you have. Often you don't need a driver but they want to bring their car anyway. Sometimes they show reluctance at having more then one or two others in the car ... OR ... show reluctance to load their car with scout gear. Do you create a list where only the first X drivers are compensated? What if a key volunteer is past the cut-off for needed drivers, do you not compensate the key volunteer for his driving?

 

- What about the scout who leaves early? Do you compensat his father for driving him home before the end of camp?

[Second Class]

"Do do you make it by who drove or who committed to drive?"

 

We reimburse drivers that carried scouts. If you drive for your convenience and don't carry scouts, we don't reimburse.

 

 

- Do you compensate by actual number scouts driven or the number of seats committed for scouts?

 

We reimburse each driver the amount they claim. We don't have six mini vans carrying two scouts. Doesn't happen.

 

 

- How do you adjust for changing plans?

 

Like less scouts showing up? We combine cars/trucks to lower the vehicles driven to the minimum plus one. (in case of emergency run to hospital, we need to get everyone else back)

We never have more scouts show up than planned.

 

- Do you control who rides in what car?

No. It's usually a scrum to ride with friends.

 

 

- Do you control the list of cars and tell them you don't need them to drive?

 

Control is too stong a word. The drivers talk it out and figure out who would rather not drive.

 

 

The troop pays for charcoal and propane. Camping fees charged are actual. Food cost is paid to their grubmaster. The troop/SM/ASM's never see grub money. The scouts handle all that.

 

Adults attending form an adhoc patrol and each take a meal, or if a grubmaster steps up, he'll take the whole weekend. Everyone ponies up and is made whole. Sometimes it's a math problem, but it works out well. Adults usually eat better than the scouts.

 

We charge a flat $10 for gas, regardless of distance. It covers about half the cost, the troop makes up the difference. If it's really close, drivers are reimbursed and we don't charge the scouts.

 

Non perishable left over food goes in the patrol box; perishables go home with the grubmaster.

 

They charge $3.00 per meal, and they eat pretty well with that.

 

We tried the "collect $$ and split shares" for gas, and that didn't work very well. Going with actual costs works better for us.

 

Our outings, including 5 meals, are usually $30.00 a weekend, with gas, $6.00 camping fee/parking/access charges.

 

I'm hoping we make our popcorn goal this year, and we'll waive gas charges for scouts as we did a few years ago.

[IM_Kathy]

we only cover cost for vehicle pulling trailer (if we are using trailer) since pulling the weight takes more gas.

 

typically cost per boy is $20 that covers the site, their food budget, and adult food budget. Only time adults pay for anything is when it is for something special like skiing and such.

[Oak Tree]

Do do you make it by who drove or who committed to drive? By who actually drove. Actual expenses.

 

Do you compensate by actual number scouts driven or the number of seats committed for scouts? Neither. By actual expenses.

 

How do you adjust for changing plans? We allow reimbursement of actual expenses.

 

Do you control who rides in what car? No.

 

Do you control the list of cars and tell them you don't need them to drive? Yes, we tell people if we don't need them to drive. The great majority of time they are happy to ride along with someone else. If they choose to drive for their own convenience, then we don't reimburse for gas.

 

If a father drives his son, then we just compensate them with their share. We would not compensate in that situation. If you are driving, you have to be willing to fill up your car with Scouts.

 

But what if we arranged drivers and received his commitment late. We don't arrange drivers until after the sign-up deadline. Generally we won't take late sign-ups. But if you did sign up and wanted to drive, no reimbursement.

 

When doing it by number of scouts driven, we often have extra space created by people not going, arriving late or leaving early. So it's easy to get someone who volunteered to drive to have zero or two scouts in the car and the guy with the suburban to have seven scouts in the car. Happens all the time. So what's fair. If we asked people to drive and they end up with a mostly empty car, we still reimburse for actual expenses.

 

Another problem is controlling how many drivers you have. Often you don't need a driver but they want to bring their car anyway. They can, but no reimbursement.

 

Sometimes they show reluctance at having more then one or two others in the car ... OR ... show reluctance to load their car with scout gear. This has never happened to us, but I'd give my speech about when you agree to go as an adult, you are a leader to all of the kids. If you aren't willing to do that, you probably shouldn't come.

 

Do you create a list where only the first X drivers are compensated? Sort of. We've never really had competition for that. Sometimes it's not the first X, but the combination of vehicles that we need.

 

What if a key volunteer is past the cut-off for needed drivers, do you not compensate the key volunteer for his driving? We don't pick them first-come, we pick them at the sign-up deadline, so we can make sure to include any vehicles we need.

 

What about the scout who leaves early? Do you compensate his father for driving him home before the end of camp? No.

[CA_Scouter]

Camp Fees are divided per person, adults included. This is collected by the adult Taskmaster.

 

Patrol food is generally $10/15 per weekend. Patrols handle the menu planning, purchasing the food and collecting money. Adults never handle patrol food money.

 

Scouts are expected to contribute $5 to their driver for gas. More if a longer trip. None for short trips.

 

Adult food is generally breakfast/lunch do your own thing, dinner is divvied up: appetizer, main course, side dishes, dessert.

 

 

We strongly insist that scouts bring food money to their grubmaster the meeting prior to the campout so the grubmaster's family doesn't have to front the cost and chase down the scouts to collect.

 

 

[Eagle732]

Each patrol chooses a grubmaster two weeks before a camp out and by then we know how many boys in each patrol are going.

The GM has a budget of $13 per person to buy breakfast X2, lunch and dinner. He turns in his receipt for reimbursement.

Transportation is .06 per mile if the camp is more than an hour away, otherwise no charge. Each driver is reimbursed at .06 per mile/per scout.

Camp fee is divided equally.

Add it all up and that's the cost for a camping trip, usually $20 to $30 per trip.

 

Question, do you charge for leaders?

 

[Basementdweller]

The leaders pay for meals and activities as well. One eats with each patrol.

[Eagle732]

Our leaders pay the same as the Scouts.

We eat as an adult patrol, and we eat well too!

[AnniePoo]

Cost for most weekend campouts is $15 per person. Parents pay me (treasurer) by check. I reimburse the people buying food or supplies. If the campground is a little farther away, then person hauling the trailer (usually SM) usually doesn't pay the fee for him or his son in order to compensate for some of the gas cost.

 

For more complicated trips other than average weekend campouts, we usually have a more detailed budget, including gas costs for those transporting scouts.

[Basementdweller]

So annie

 

Sounds very adult led to me.

 

So are you cooking by troop or patrol?????