[philmont] The corner candy store

Actually they stop restocking *everything*, useful and useless both. OK
for Toblerones, not so OK for things that are actually useful.

I for one was (and still am) all in favor of the ban on candy. Back in
the day, there were Scouts who - no lie - would purchase twenty or
thirty bucks worth of crap at every Trading Post they passed, and
subsist on that and mainly/only that til the next Trading Post. It was
utterly ridiculous, and I bitterly complained on several Advisor evals
that the Trading Post personnel ought to have a dollar limit or some
other form of restraint on boys who were so obviously and completely out
of control. It was worse than summer camp, and that's really saying
something!

Beyond that, the candy wrappers were everywhere, and it was Bear Safety
S.O.P. in my Crews to check under every rock in our campsites, because
it was a standard trick to stash trash under anything larger than a
softball (those of you who have read my Bear Safety treatise will recall
this specific warning). And to avoid sharing, Scouts would sneak their
candy in off-site, so: Wrappers in the latrines, shower houses, and
swap-boxes, wrappers under rocks, wrappers stuck in convenient tree
branches, and wrappers tossed to the winds. Much more dangerously,
candy and wrappers inside tents and backpacks - and I have absolutely no
doubt that some of the bear attacks during the "Candy-Age" were due to
candy and empty wrappers stored or left in inappropriate places.

Not to mention the favor-trading between the haves and have-nots - a
Crew-buster (duty-roster buster) if there ever was one. After my
earliest treks as an Advisor (Council Provo Crews) I incorporated a
policy in my Crews that anyone who bought his way out of duty-roster
assignments with money or candy would get double-duty as soon as I
noticed it or found out about it (Crew Chiefs and Asst. Crew Chiefs were
tasked with enforcement). That put a quick stop to that nonsense.

For all the above reasons, all-in-all I am "less than enthused" about
the return of candy to the Trading Posts. I don't think this is a
lesson the Ranch should have to re-learn.

- Dr. Bob

John LeBlanc wrote:
> Trading Posts stop restocking things. So the pickins'
> may already be pretty slim at some of them.
>
> *****************************
>
> Probably about seven years ago as a result of hunderds of
> complaints, there was a concerted effort to thin out and
> then actually eliminate candy from the back country trading posts.
>
> That had a very positive effect of the reduction of candy wrappers
> along the trail and the improved health of trekkers because
> instead of junki calories, they started eating the trail food and
> it's carbohydrate load needed for sustained energy.
>
> The same year candy was eliminated from the TP, apples and
> oranges appeared at back country commissarys. I know, I know
> they are green oranges and not so ripe apples, but would you
> wantoveripe fruit? And they come without additional charge.
>
> It was a big step forward and one most all advisors were glad to see.
>
> Simple tell the crew that philmont is not a candy store. It's for grown
> ups both youth and adult.
>
> John LeBlanc
>

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Received on Mon Aug 6 05:14:47 2007