One Wood Badge candidate's opinions on what equipment to take camping (or not)

TICKET 4

The goal of Ticket 4 is to keep the parents of Pack 61 informed of good deals and sales on recommended camping equipment.

Gear Notifications


Tent Sale

Camping Gear
  As someone who camps frequently and is constantly on the lookout for camping equipment, I frequently run across good deals that have benefited my family and a few other families in my Den. These same benefits can be made available to the entire Pack, which will save us all money and encourage further interest in camping.

In my introductory email below, and at the camping tutorials that I gave, I encouraged people to give me their email addresses if they wished to be added to a list of people that I would contact when I had information about deals on camping equipment. About 25 people took me up on this offer, and below are some examples of the emails that they received.



Introductory Notification

All,

Andy Albin, Den 1 Bear leader here. If I haven't told you about it already, I have put together a website about camping equipment as part my Wood Badge scout leadership training. Since the Pack Fall campout is next weekend, I thought that now would be a good time to mention the site again, as it may contain information that you'll find useful. Very simply, the site has information about what kinds of gear I routinely take camping with me based on over 30 years of camping experience. Much of the gear described on the website is suited toward the hiking types of campouts that our boys will do more of when they become Boy Scouts.

Website address: www.andyalbin.com

Also, as I mentioned at the Pack Spring campout, I periodically send out emails about good deals I have found on camping gear. If you'd like to be added to my mailing list, please respond to this email (the email address listed below).

Finally, I will be giving a talk at this weekend's campout about camping gear. Some of you may have been at the Pack meeting earlier this year when I gave a similar talk. I will cover the same material, plus some other topics. We'll announce a specific time for this at the campout. Please join me for this if you and/or your scout are interested.

Thanks, and see you this weekend!

Andy



Gear Notification Example

All,

As many of you know, one of my Wood Badge tickets (scout leader training homework), is to notify interested people in the Pack of good deals I run across on camping equipment. Some of you have expressed an interest in being on this mailing list, and others of you are people that I know very well who I hope are interested. Let me know if you would like to be removed from this list, or if you know anyone who would like to be added to it. I will try to send out emails every few weeks, depending on what I come across.

Today's notification is about Dick's Sporting Goods. I went shopping there yesterday because the great Coleman tent I bought there years ago is finally wearing out (got my money's worth out of it). They had one just like it on sale in the store for $99.99. I held off, and checked their website this morning. The same tent was available for $89.99, plus 20% off, with free shipping. Came out to about $72, about $78 with tax. Tent
Coleman River Gorge 6 Person Dome Tent
$89.99
List Price: $179.99*
Take 20% Off Your Order!**

There are many other good items on sale on that same website (20% off). I noticed that the Thermarest pads that both my kids have, is on sale for $40 with the discount. It is the "women's size," which means it is plenty long for boys under about 14 years old. Frankly, the Thermarest I use most of the time is shorter than this, which make it even lighter.
Pad
Therm-a-Rest Women's Trail Lite Regular Mattress
$49.97
List Price: $64.99*
Take 20% Off Your Order!**

NOTE: THE SALE ENDS TONIGHT, SO IF YOU'RE INTERESTED, CHECK IT OUT NOW.

Don't forget to check out my camping website at www.andyalbin.com.

Happy trails.

Andy



Gear Notification Example

All,

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving weekend.

Since it is Cyber Monday, I have done some trolling around to find out what kinds of deals might be available on camping equipment today. Here is what I have found:

1. Backwoods: Free Osprey bag with $99 order (see below). Backwoods (in Austin's Galleria) also routinely gives a 15% discount to Scouts on select categories of items. www.backwoods.com

2. Dick's Sporting Goods:25% off on any single item plus free shipping. www.dickssportinggoods.com

3. Academy: "Hot Deals" and free shipping on orders over $60. www.academy.com

4. Campmor: Holiday "Trail Sale." www.campmor.com

5. Scout Stuff : "No Hype, No Hysteria, No Hassles" 30% on almost everything, free shipping over $75. www.scoutstuff.org

6. REI: Winter Sale - 30% off select items. www.rei.com

Don't forget to check out my camping website at www.andyalbin.com.

Happy trails.

Andy



Gear Notification Example

All,

To everyone on my "Camping Equipment Deals" mailing list...

See below for an event at the new BSA Fickett Center (Scout Shop). REI is hosting a "Camping 101" workshop this coming Saturday from 10:00 to 1:00.

Andy
Boy Scout Sale Notification



Gear Notification Example

Campers,

Just forwarding this email on in case any of you are not aware of Backwoods. It is a high-end camping equipment store with a location in the Galleria shopping center in Bee Caves. They have a lot of good gear, and they offer a 15% discount on certain items if you tell them you're with the Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts. If you get on their mailing list, they will also notify you periodically when they are having sales and specials like the one below.

Andy

Backwoods Sale Notification



Gear Notification Example

To everyone on my "Camping Equipment Deals" mailing list, ScoutStuff.org is having a big sale with up to 50% off on a variety of items, including some camping items. In case you're not already aware of ScoutStuff.org, it is also a good place to buy patches for your kids to commemorate or reward for various activities. It is not uncommon to find patches on sale, often for under $1 (some are $0.48). A good place to shop if your boys have red vests that need decorating. Try the following link to see the patches that are on sale now:

http://www.scoutstuff.org/closeouts.html?cat=648

Andy

Scout Stuff Sale Notification


Gear Notification Example

All,

To everyone on my "Camping Equipment Deals" mailing list...

Below is another good source for camping equipment that periodically has good sale prices. As you can see, they have some items on sale for Memorial Day, like tents, backpacks, hiking boots, sleeping bags/pads, etc. Even if you don't see anything you want to buy during this sale, you might want to add yourself to their mailing list to be notified of future sales.

Andy

Eastern Mountain Sports Sale Notification