How many snowboards are retired from rental service at ski resorts?

Question

doing market research on board wear and tear during a typical season to determine expense of maintaining and or replaceing snowboards during the season.

Answer 1

The ski cycle is 3-4 years. Unless the equipment is damaged, the replacement is a bulk purchase for the whole shop.  The area I taught this season is replacing the rental ski inventory this summer. The snowboards are also due for replacement.

Answer 2

You also need to look at the people who rent snowboards. Most of them (99%) are beginer and intermediate snowboarders who don't rage and tear up snowboards. I have heard that rentals make tons of profit because they pay for themselves really quickly and after they are paid for, it is straight cash. Let's say a company buys a set up (boots, board and bindings) for $300 dollars. They rent it for $35 dollars a day. You can do the math from there. Most snowboard rental shops have repair shops as well. So it costs maybe labor to fix the little damage as well as wax the board for the next customer. The only time you will have extensive damage is the snowboarder hit rails and rocks. The beginner or intermediate snowboarder most likely isn't going to put himself in that situation. A snowboard shop isn't worried about visual appearance unless the board is delaminating. If this happens the board is dead and thrown in the trash or made into furniture. If the board is dirty, they will wipe it down and clean it. That takes little time. Also, ski resorts will sell the rental fleet at the end of its life for $50 or so if the snowboard had life on it. What determine this is if the edges can still be sharpened as well base grinds can be done. Also, a snowboard tech makes probably $12 an hour at best. A wax takes 15 minutes for a slow person. Wax is also very cheap especially being bought at bulk. This is a lucrative business for the companies doing it. Hope this helps.