If you give someone an inch...

they'll try and take a mile!

The Regional Parks of Saskatchewan have a policy that every passenger vehicle in the park has to have a permit on it. We sell day use permits for $8.00 per day, or season passes for $40 that are valid in every Regional Park in Saskatchewan.

We have an entrance booth where we check for passes and sell them to people who need them. But it's only worthwhile having someone sit in the booth when it's busy on Friday evenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

But our booth doesn't have the facilities to accept electronic payment, so if anybody needs to pay with a card they need to come to the office. Ruth will then radio me and tell me there's someone on the way.

So the other day, a younger girl comes through saying she doesn't have the cash. Ruth directs her to the office, then radio's me. And, the girl never shows up. So I do a drive around and find her vehicle and put one of my reminder notes on the windshield!

Reminder note.

I read the park bylaws, and found out that I have the authority to issue fines. It's probably never been done, plus I'm not sure how you would collect if the person refused to pay!

Anyhow, sure enough when I went to check later on, the car had disappeared and she hadn't paid. The morning of the next day however, she returned and this time came and bought a pass.

We learned from that experience, and now Ruth radio's me while the car is still at the booth and the people can hear her. This way, they know if they drive right by, I'll chase after them!

During the week, it's an honor system and there's a sign that directs people to make their first stop at the office to buy their pass.

I'd guess that only 75% of the people actually do that.

So once a day, I try and go around and check for vehicle passes. Most people have a season pass, but I always find a few who have no pass at all. I leave a note, and probably half of the ones I leave a note on end up coming and buying a pass.

And then there's the people who think they can get away with scamming a night or two of free camping. Hey, gotta give them credit for trying. We like free camping too! But it doesn't work here. One guy had paid for two nights and then wanted to stay longer. But he had to move sites, and we agreed that was fine. So he did, but he never came to the office to pay. I stopped by his site after the first night and collected the $25 and he said he would come to the office and settle up. But he's still there, and still hasn't come to the office.

But, the vast majority of people are pretty good.

We're really enjoying this park compared to last year. It's really a family oriented park, and everybody is very friendly.

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