Last year one of our alumni suggested we offer travelers an alternative to getting a T-shirt on our trips. She has a great collection from the past 20 years and said she doesn’t need any more t-shirts! To be honest, while we think our t-shirts are great (soft, comfortable and perfect for active travel), we can understand the desire to not collect more “stuff.” We have been preaching for years that experiences beat out stuff for building happiness.
This year, we offered travelers the option to donate on their behalf to one of the three earth-friendly organizations instead of getting a t-shirt. Not only does a donation support a good cause, it eliminates the need to ship the resources and materials to manufacture a T-shirt and also eliminates a few more ounces that we have to in turn ship to you or our guides, all of which takes fuel, time and money. Little things like this can add up!
We weren’t sure exactly how this would go over and earlier this year our tour team had an internal side bet on what percentage of our travelers would opt for a donation over a t-shirt. Sonya was the most optimistic, guessing 50%. Allan guessed 30%. Kris guessed 37% and Beth guessed 43%.
And the winner? Beth was the closest, edging out Kris by a very slight margin. Here is how things stacked up in 2019: 59.8% opted for Tshirts and 40.2% chose to donate to one of the following organizations:
- 16.9% donated to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
- 13.4% donated to The Ocean Conservancy
- 9.9% donated to the Wilderness Society
This is an option we will gladly continue to offer in 2020!
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