NASTAR Event Illustrates Laws of Economics

Yesterday I took part in another NASTAR day. It was a good illustration of the law of demand, which says that for most goods and services, demand goes up as price goes down.

I’ve raced a total of four days this season. Here’s the number of racers who participated on the same day as me, prior to yesterday: 39, 20, 21.

How many people raced yesterday? 50.

What was different about yesterday that made racing so much more attractive? I don’t think it was overall turnout. My eyeballing-the-parking-lots estimate tells me that there were fewer customers yesterday than most other days I have visited this season.

The warm weather was one factor. You’re not going to hurt as much if you wipe out on softer snow, and that fact may have attracted some extra customers. And the resort personnel did their part by handing out flyers at the main chalet. They normally don’t do that.

But here’s what may have been the most important reason: the registration fee was on sale.

Normally, you have to pay $5 for three runs. Yesterday, if you wanted to race, you paid $0.00. I suspect the freebie attracted a number of first-time racers.