AmtrakWPK said:
Do they allocate a percentage of sleeper sales revenue to food service when they compute that (and if so, how much?), or are they just taking total revenue generated by food service, subtracting all of the costs including equipment, personnel and the food itself? They should be allocating the retail price of those meals out of sleeper revenue, but I'll sure bet they're not. Something does not compute, because it sure ain't cheap to buy and eat onboard the train, especially the evening meal in the diner. And gross profits on a can of Pepsi is also huge considering they probably don't pay more than 20 cents for it, if that. It's a whole lot cheaper just to bring your own. But not near as much fun to eat in a coach seat. The most expensive meals my wife and I have had in the past few years have been dinners on the train.
I don't have the numbers offhand, but Amtrak does credit a portion of sleeper revenues to the dining car. It would be counter to all logic and sound accounting practices if they didn't.
As for food service losing money, when I buy a can of Pepsi for $1.50 that they probably paid $0.25 for, yes Amtrak is selling at higher than cost. But, what of the LSA's wages and benefits? What of the cost to maintain and operate the equipment?
Dining cars may have high prices, but they also have a lot of staff. Not only does the staff cost money for wages and benefits, but on long-distance trains, Amtrak needs a place to put the staff when they're not working. That means a dormitory car (or a loss of revenue space in a regular sleeper). The dormitory costs money to maintain and operate.
Pretty soon you're talking real money, and it's going to take a *lot* of $1.50 Pepsis to turn a profit on food service.