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Comment by snake42 | Hacker News Reader

I literally just applied for the April 2023 lottery that this piece is talking about, after failing to win last month. While applying I consoled myself with the thought that all of my $9 entry fees will go to the park service. It really feels bad to find out that is not the case. I can't believe that there isn't even a split between the Park and Booz Allen on the fee...

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There isn’t a split on the cost to run the site, so there’s not a split on the fees. I agree that the fees might be too high, but hard to quantify that, and the site absolutely is better than what the government would have come up with if they built it in house.

We have to remember that incentives matter. Good products are created when their creators are rewarded for them.

Last time I used the site I had to try repeatedly and fail due to shitty javascript issues, all so that I could pay a reservation fee to a private company for a reservation to enter Arches even though the slots were only 10% taken. I was already there at the park, I had an Annual Pass I paid for, there were plenty of slots.

I was still forced to struggle through the process and I vert annoyed that apparently the entire reason was that the NPS was contractually obligated to give Booz Allen their fees.

So I think that both "good product" and "well aligned incentives" are a bit of a stretch at best.

> paying $9 for a “Lottery Application Fee.” If you win, you get a permit, and pay a recreation fee of $7. The success rate for the lottery is between 4-10%

Booze Allen gets paid $90-225 per accepted hiker to run the lottery. The parks get $7 per accepted hiker. Something is wrong.

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