People ask now and then whether we offer discounts on trips or gear — Black Friday blowouts, Cyber Monday hype, student deals, group rates, all the usual consumerist noise.
Short answer: we don’t.
Better answer: we have good reasons, and none of them are stingy or unfriendly.
One fair price for everyone
If we run a 30% sale, that discount isn’t free — someone pays for it. And that “someone” is every other customer who didn’t get the discount.
Say a big sale loses us $5–6k. That money has to be made up somehow. The only way is to raise prices across the board. Suddenly the majority of loyal, full-paying customers are subsidising a small handful of lucky deal-hunters.
We prefer one honest, fair rate for everyone, all year. No inflated prices, no slashed gimmicks, no “gotcha” timing.
We don’t punish the many to reward the few
Every customer matters.
Every trip matters.
Every sale matters.
If we hand out discounts to anyone who asks, the maths breaks. And if your answer to:
“Why should we offer you a discount?”
…is basically:
“Because I want one.”
…we’re probably not going to bite your hand off — even if you’re bringing a group.
A discount doesn’t come with extra labour attached
Here’s something that’s happened multiple times this season: someone asks for a discount… and then asks for a customised itinerary, extra planning, special logistics, or bespoke tweaks beyond the scope of the trip.
You can choose a discount or a custom-curated experience — but not both.
If we’re charging less, we can’t also put in more work. That’s not sustainable or respectful, and it puts stress on a small team that already gives more than $30,000 a year back to the community, the environment, and the sport.
We’re not a faceless mega-corporation throwing out discount codes to cleanse our marketing sins. We’re a small, ethical, sustainable operator doing real work with real people.
So if a discount is offered, the right response is simple:
“Thank you.”
Not a wishlist of extra requests.
Not a custom itinerary.
Not “while you’re at it…”
If securing a discount is quickly followed by new demands for more labour, you may find we’re suddenly “fully booked.” At that point, the exchange has stopped being fair.
If we were charging a customer MORE for a special trip, we’d go into that trip ready to blow your socks off. We couldn’t charge more but offer you less and that’s tantamount to the same thing.
But we are open to helping people get into packrafting
We love helping passionate, cash-tight people find their way into the sport. Some of the best paddlers we’ve met started broke but frothing.
We don’t do one-way discounts.
We do fair trades.
Things we’ve gladly said yes to:
- Photographers shooting new imagery
- Physios helping our guides stay injury-free
- Tradies building and fixing infrastructure
- Arborists helping clear strainers or improve river safety
- Wetsuit washers
- Designers, videographers, mechanics, community organisers
If you’ve got a skill and want to trade it for a course or trip, brilliant. That’s how sponsorship is meant to work.
Students & polytechers
We genuinely enjoy helping students get into the sport — but again, the same rule applies:
Figure out what value you can offer in return.
Your skills, your passion, your project, your contribution — that’s the currency that makes the exchange fair.
Our sponsorship philosophy
We give away thousands each year to community projects, clean-ups, conservation, and events that actually grow the sport. It’s something we love doing.
But like any good outdoor business, when we sponsor something we look for a genuine return — not just financially, but in community impact, sport development, or real value for the people we serve.
We want support to land where it matters, not vanish into a hollow Instagram tag.
“Give me a discount and I’ll shout you out on social media” isn’t value. It’s noise.
Real sponsorship strengthens the sport, helps the environment, or creates a fair exchange everyone can feel good about.
The bottom line
We don’t do discounts because they’re not free — they just shift the cost onto other people. Instead, we prefer one fair price for everyone, all the time.
But we do believe in accessibility, community, and creative solutions. If you’ve got a skill, service, project, or contribution to offer — reach out. We’ll always listen.
If not, you can still feel great knowing you’re paying the same honest price as everyone else — no gimmicks, no games, no bullshit.
Leave a Reply