If the "Amenity Kits" need to be eliminated...

[rickycourtney]

...instead of making sleeper passengers go without shampoo and conditioner, I'd love to see Amtrak install dispensers in the showers.

I got this idea when thinking back to a trip I took about a year ago on a private rail car. The owner of the had installed a dispenser for body wash, shampoo and conditioner in the shower into the beautifully restored car.

These two dispenser models are made by the same vendor (Gilchrist & Soames) that currently supplies the 1oz paper bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body lotion to Amtrak.



By installing dispensers like these inside the showers, Amtrak can provide this rather amenity to passengers... without the "shrink" of tossing the stuff that is partially used.

If Amtrak is trying to provide hotel like services in the sleeper cars, they should provide a rather basic amenity shampoo and conditioner.

After all, when was the last time you stayed at a decent hotel that DIDN'T provide you with shampoo and conditioner in your room ( the last time for me was at a Motel 6... and I hope that Amtrak is trying to have a better product than that.)

 

[yarrow]

good idea. might keep the shower area neater. i detest going to shower and finding 5 little bars of soap in the shower that those before me have neglected to toss. i can also see the lazy sca not refilling the dispensers which could be a problem. i agree that if amtrak can't provide soap and shampoo, as even the cheapest motel does, it opens to question just what service they believe themselves to be providing

 

[montana mike]

Bravo--Great Idea!!!

There are so many ways they could have actually enhanced the services and lowered costs, like this, but it appears there was just a knee jerk reaction at Amtrak HQ, instead of a well thought out "plan" to make things better. I finally got a reply from Amtrak CR about the concern I expressed with the loss of the Sleeper amenities and it was a typical form response (I bet they got an earful from passengers) saying they had to cut costs.......doing things out of fear instead of really analyzing the entire situation and doing what is best is all too often the only response.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

good idea. might keep the shower area neater. i detest going to shower and finding 5 little bars of soap in the shower that those before me have neglected to toss. i can also see the lazy sca not refilling the dispensers which could be a problem. i agree that if amtrak can't provide soap and shampoo, as even the cheapest motel does, it opens to question just what service they believe themselves to be providing

STRONGLY AGREE!!! As much as I enjoy a good Railroad Shower, I hate spending 10 minutes getting the stall cleaned up from previous pigs, err, users.

 

[cpamtfan]

Maybe the new Viewliner sleepers will include something like this?

 

[Anderson]

I like this idea as well. It would probably reduce the net cost of providing the same amenity (for example, I never used the conditioner and probably never quite used the shampoo) and make for less of a mess.

 

[SarahZ]

The SWC never had amenity kits, so I always brought my own travel sizes of shampoo and conditioner, and Brent just used hotel shampoo/conditioner that we'd save from trips. I do like the dispenser idea, though. I'm picky about my shampoo/conditioner, so I probably wouldn't use them, but I think they're a great idea for other people.

 

[fairviewroad]

I'm picky about my shampoo/conditioner,

I'm guessing most of the men on AU, like myself, are much less particular about the brand of shampoo/conditioner. We'll use anything

that's free!

 

[CoachSlumber]

My trips over last couple of years were CZ, Cardinal/Cap Limited, and Eagle. Never received individual shampoos.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Believe It or Not, on trainorders there is a thread where Colorado Politicians trying to "Save" the SWC quote Joe Boardman to the effect that these Nickel and Dime Savings that arise from cutting all these "Luxury" perks out of LD Trains will actually provide the needed Money to help keep the SWC running on it's current Route through Kansas, Colorado and Raton! They must be Smoking some Strong Colorado Stuff or else the Amenities that are being cut from the LD Trains are Really, Really, Expensive for Amtrak!

 

[greatcats]

I made a comment about this on another thread. If Mr. Board man did indeed make such a comment, then it really strains his credibility.

 

[Tumbleweed]

If anything, this whole fiasco will probably end up costing amtrak revenue from disgruntled users not taking the train....it wouldn't take many lost sales to completely wipe out any savings made from cutting amneties.....

 

[jis]

Believe It or Not, on trainorders there is a thread where Colorado Politicians trying to "Save" the SWC quote Joe Boardman to the effect that these Nickel and Dime Savings that arise from cutting all these "Luxury" perks out of LD Trains will actually provide the needed Money to help keep the SWC running on it's current Route through Kansas, Colorado and Raton! They must be Smoking some Strong Colorado Stuff or else the Amenities that are being cut from the LD Trains are Really, Really, Expensive for Amtrak!

I am not even sure what exactly was uttered by Boardman to be interpreted as such. Maybe the stuff that they just legalized in Colorado has some bearing on all this. Maybe they should dedicate some of the taxes collected from thence to fund passenger rail.

 

[FriskyFL]

I've never seen an amenity kit on the Silvers, so I won't miss them. Body wash dispenser in the shower sounds like a swell idea, as long as the SCA keeps them filled.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Amtrak Forum mobile app

 

[yarrow]

If anything, this whole fiasco will probably end up costing amtrak revenue from disgruntled users not taking the train....it wouldn't take many lost sales to completely wipe out any savings made from cutting amneties.....

yup

 

[jis]

If anything, this whole fiasco will probably end up costing amtrak revenue from disgruntled users not taking the train....it wouldn't take many lost sales to completely wipe out any savings made from cutting amneties.....

yup

I actually wonder about that. Given the state of demand vs. supply, I wonder if there will be any visible/measurable effect at all.

 

[Anderson]

jis, on 12 Feb 2014 - 2:21 PM, said:

yarrow, on 12 Feb 2014 - 1:58 PM, said:

Tumbleweed, on 12 Feb 2014 - 1:03 PM, said:If anything, this whole fiasco will probably end up costing amtrak revenue from disgruntled users not taking the train....it wouldn't take many lost sales to completely wipe out any savings made from cutting amneties.....

yup

I actually wonder about that. Given the state of demand vs. supply, I wonder if there will be any visible/measurable effect at all.

Jis,

You raise an unpleasant reality that I hadn't brought up yet: There does seem to be a good deal of unmet demand in the system, at least on the sleeper side. Sleeper ridership YTD is up on 7 of the 14 overnight trains, and down <2% on the Crescent. Particularly stunning is the fact that the Crescent is the only LD train with a YTD drop in sleeper ridership that operates out of an eastern terminal, while everything not going east from CHI has been beaten up.*

*The only non-eastern train with an increase in sleeper ridership YTD is the Sunset, which presumably got a boost off the schedule change putting LAX-TUS at a good time. The worst trains YTD are the CONO and the Zephyr.

 

[brentrain17]

much ado about nothing, literally

 

[Jane in LaJolla]

I like this idea as well. It would probably reduce the net cost of providing the same amenity (for example, I never used the conditioner and probably never quite used the shampoo) and make for less of a mess.

I would think it important that the refill option could not be easily accessible to passengers. Best only staff have the ability to refresh the contents of the dispensers. Kind of like putting out food not approved by Amtrak, could cause some real liability problems.

 

[Tumbleweed]

Just got on 7 and was greeted with a amenity kit and a bottle of champagne....life is good !

 

[chakk]

I am not keen to the idea of Amtrak substituting large bottles of shampoo or conditioner in the showers for the individual containers provided to customers. Too much of a security risk for some nefarious person to contaminate those containers.

 

[fairviewroad]

I would think it important that the refill option could not be easily accessible to passengers. Best only staff have the ability to refresh the contents of the dispensers. Kind of like putting out food not approved by Amtrak, could cause some real liability problems.

I am not keen to the idea of Amtrak substituting large bottles of shampoo or conditioner in the showers for the individual containers provided to customers. Too much of a security risk for some nefarious person to contaminate those containers.

Well, there's an aspect I had not previously considered. I kind of think that risk is low, but I see your points. That said, I've seen these types of containers in hotel

showers, and never once thought of it as a problem. I did not inspect them to see how easy it would be to jimmy them open, however. Guess that fear isn't really

high on my list of things to worry about. At any rate, if you're worried about that, then don't use them.

 

[Walt]

I know that many don't like it when I compare train travel to cruise travel, but possibly something like this, which is what's provided in cruise cabins showers. I am sure that such is, shall we say, cost effective.

 

[montana mike]

I am not keen to the idea of Amtrak substituting large bottles of shampoo or conditioner in the showers for the individual containers provided to customers. Too much of a security risk for some nefarious person to contaminate those containers.

Since the amenity kits are going to be history I don't see how it makes any difference whether one gets a "generic" bar of soap in the shower room or what has been described above? If someone wanted to cause an issue I would think the poorly wrapped bar of soap would be an easier target.

 

[Blackwolf]

The bottles as shown in the beginning of this thread look to be the exact same as the liquid hand soap already found. Same pumps, same bottles, samve manufacturer. When one bottle runs out, you just pitch it and screw in a new one. The "contamination risk" is a non-starter IMHO.