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The Magic of Yellowstone

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Hamilton Stores loses Yellowstone contract

I worked five summers for Hamilton's, and they've run the Park's gift stores forever. They will continue to operate those stores this year, but next year barring intervention from the courts (which seems unlikely), Delaware North will operate the concessions for the following 15 years.




I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, there is nostalgia. On the other, Hamilton's was something of a backwards obstructionist company that paid its workers next to nothing and has for years done everything in its power to prevent fair competition in Yellowstone. On the one hand, Hamilton's was dependable to its workers, but on the other hand it was aloof and cheap. Anyone who got the scant $20 store sales reward (or was it $10) from Mrs. Povah knew that this was a company that didn't understand how to show appreciation for their workers. We didn't use plates or real silverware in our restaurants rousing the ire of many of our customers. To them, we protested that it was too expensive (which was nonsense), and we told them how much we recycled. We proudly proclaimed our recycling, but we actually threw much, much more away.




Still, Hamilton's was family to me. It fostered an atmosphere of family that overcame generational boundaries. My greatest fear is that a new concessionaire will only be worse to the employees, and worse to the older employees. Hamilton's bent over backwards so that these willing people, who may have lacked a few of the physical skills, could find work. The culture clash between the two concessionaires could be often annoying, but there was a place for everyone thanks to the commitment Hamilton Stores made to loyal workers.




Hamilton Stores, though, in its parent philosophy was far too conservative. It was far too narrow a cross-section of America. I saw only a few minorities work in our store in five years there (and far less a percentage than one found at Amfac.) There seemed to be a sort of profile used in the hiring of younger workers that cut down on the overall diversity and cultural life of our operation. Because there was much more deference to older workers, the operation proved to be very inefficient and inflexible. At times, we would have four people working a jewelry counter. I was thankful for it because it kept me employed, but it may not have been what the Park Service was after.




But, while company policies may have proved to be on the conservative side, the reliability of those same policies proved to be the most welcome thing. I knew I could expect my two consecutive days off. I knew what the rules were. And, in a strange land far away with nowhere to go for so many of the people there, that kind of security was important. It helped make the Yellowstone experience about Yellowstone and not about fear and loathing of the work situation. I loved to go to work immensely. The same could not be said for many people I knew at Amfac (or previously TW).




So, if Delaware North actually becomes a park concessionaire in 2003, then I hope it will study both what Hamilton Stores did poorly and what it did well. Unlike any other business, running an operation in a National Park is like being the mayor of a small community. It is, in a sense, the old company store. Let us hope they find a place for the older workers, for the dependable family atmosphere of Hamilton's. Let us also hope that they become more responsive to inclusion, to giving a living wage and real incentives for their workers, and bring a greater commitment to flexibility and environmental soundness in its policies.




Jim Macdonald