Observations of a beach badge seller/checker

The Operation Life Saver was cut short due to the weather so we ended up not going today. We will be coming down there this summer just for the boardwalk and beach.

For anyone wanting to go down this summer there is a groupon for beach passes, ride tickets, and other things (I don't recall all the particulars) and it comes to half off. No need to sneak onto the beach

So, I am on the beach today and this lovely family (who have been coming to beach by my station all week) comes on this morning with street clothes on and sandals- they wish me a good morning and then they proceed to play "alternate plans in case of cloudy weather Wiffle ball" on the beach. They were all out there-Mom-3 little boys, Dad and Granddad and they had a whooping and hollering good time. That to me is a perfect example of making lemonade when handed lemons. Set the tone for my entire day!

Great forum, i have spent years with summer rentals in the area, so really appreciate all the comments. All I know is my group always lived in fear of not having our badges on! I do know that if you enter and only walk along the shoreline by the water, you technically do not need a badge...

I do love the perspective on when other people do bad things... and really love the concept that as long as you have purpose, you should work as long as you want. Your blog on being a badge worker makes me wish I tried for a summer job like that last summer when our friends wanted us to re-up into a summer rental, and I was suddenly "in transition". It would have been this perfect blend of working while seeking the next position. And justifying doing a summer rental...

Have beach badges always been required? I grew up North of Boston and our beaches were free. It surprised me when I moved here and suddenly had to pay.

nan said:
Have beach badges always been required? I grew up North of Boston and our beaches were free. It surprised me when I moved here and suddenly had to pay.

Yep. As I was packing to move, I found my old beach tote bag which had my Surf City beach bags on it -- from 1972-2001! I think it should go in a museum.

It's a Jersey thing nan! I have personal knowledge of free beaches in Florida, Maine, Massachusetts and Texas. Only Atlantic City and Wildwood have free beaches here in the Garden State.

It's a user fee, and goes to pay for lifeguards and upkeep. Pretty darn inexpensive entertainment, in my opinion.

Island Beach State Park is free, you only have to pay for the car. If you walk or ride a bicycle in there is no charge. It's a long walk though so paying the entry feefor the car is well worth it.

what j_r said! I had a customer come up to me on Saturday mumbling about having to pay for God's beautiful and free beach and wonderful ocean...and how sad that I (meaning me personally is the way it was phrased) was making money off of God's goodness....I retorted that I hoped when he got swept out to sea by a riptide that he was saved by one of the lifeguards that his fee paid for and when he did not cut his foot on glass that was broken on beach he would be thankful....after all, that is what the fee pays for.

Regarding God's beautiful beach, is God's wanker with the table and portable speaker still on the Point Pleasant boardwalk at night?

I agree...though I do sometimes wonder how other states pay for such services without charging user fees.

(When a relative visited the shore from California, he was shocked to discover that beaches were not free. Then shocked again when he learned that exiting one town's beach and entering another town's beach required yet another fee.)

j_r said:
It's a user fee, and goes to pay for lifeguards and upkeep. Pretty darn inexpensive entertainment, in my opinion.

musicmz said:
It's a Jersey thing nan! I have personal knowledge of free beaches in Florida, Maine, Massachusetts and Texas. Only Atlantic City and Wildwood have free beaches here in the Garden State.

It's also a class thing. Many shore towns sell beach tags at fixed locations with limited hours away from the nicer beach areas - it keeps the non-resident and day trip crowds away. Other towns have free beaches but minimal public access points and services.

Bog-I would love to know of the beaches that you are speaking of that use this kind of discrimination.

My Mom always told me not to stare....so this summer, from the safety of my sunglasses and my spot on the boardwalk (which generally changes daily), I am privvy to some interesting moves by members of both sexes-the ogling that occurs is pretty amazing....I do believe I saw a man swallow his own teeth yesterday when a young woman walked by....I must admit-she was stunning....with a body to match-think of Bo Derek in her "10" days....I just sat in my seat and laughed to myself...so funny...

States with free beach access cover the cost from taxes just like other parks and recreation facilities in some cases. In Texas, at least when I lived there, a certain portion of the beach was public/state property and therefore local municipalities were not allowed to charge admission fees. They probably don't provide the lifeguards either.

bgs said:
what j_r said! I had a customer come up to me on Saturday mumbling about having to pay for God's beautiful and free beach and wonderful ocean...and how sad that I (meaning me personally is the way it was phrased) was making money off of God's goodness....I retorted that I hoped when he got swept out to see by a riptide that he was saved by one of the lifeguards that his fee paid for and when he did not cut his foot on glass that was broken on beach he would be thankful....after all, that is what the fee pays for.

LOL! I see you have recovered nicely from feeling so bad about the couple who accused you of selling them tags they did not have. This one sounds like a bit of a nut job.

Nice comeback.

Growing up on Long Island, I realized most of the beaches I knew about were accessible only to town residents by means of a seasonal decal you bought and stuck in your car window. Other state beaches (Robert Moses, Sunken Meadow) charged for entry on a much larger scale, at the parking lot or a toll booth. I can remember going to Sunken Meadow every weekend for free by simply arriving so early that the toll booths weren't open yet. I would get there around 7 a.m., and leave by 10 or 11. No crowds, not as scorching hot, and blissfully peaceful. Of course, no lifeguards either, but I usually didn't go in farther than the shallows anyway. That was a good summer.

Thanks Peggy-my latest retort to those who complain about the price of the beach bracelet is that they are lucky that Donald Trump does not own the beach-That has brought a few smiles.

People have no idea how much work goes in to keeping the beach immaculate....and I mean in addition to the cleaners with the big sweepers on the beach we have beach boys with plastic bags policing the beach all day long...The bathrooms have attendants in them to insure that the bathrooms are kept neat and clean and the bathhouses are also immaculate....

Come on down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bgs said:

Come on down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But it's raining!

[Just kidding. Would love to come and am enjoying your observations]

mjh-you weren't just whistling Dixie-what a crummy day yesterday turned out to be!! Next week I will be on beach Mon, Wed, Fri-so come on down!!

Observations today...........young persons-trying to get onto beach without paying for a beach pass-I am talking about persons in their 20's-and what is really surprising for this woman is that it is mostly young woman trying to fake me out...they wait for a large family or group of people to come onto the beach and try to sneak on beach within the group-that annoys me.....and then when I do catch them-there is no shame....just matter of factly passing money to me and having bracelet put on.

John not only brought me an Italian ice today, he also brought me a large cup of lemon water loaded with ice. .....and the woman of the house of the house that I sit near brought me out a bag of ice a chocie of cold drinks telling me how bad she felt for me. I thought that was so nice. Lots of vacationers now and I enjoy finding out where they are from. Oh yes-and a man flirted with me today...out and out flirted with me.....that was cute....Mr. bgs did not think so!

bgs said:
Observations today...........young persons-trying to get onto beach without paying for a beach pass-I am talking about persons in their 20's-and what is really surprising for this woman is that it is mostly young woman trying to fake me out...they wait for a large family or group of people to come onto the beach and try to sneak on beach within the group-that annoys me.....and then when I do catch them-there is no shame....just matter of factly passing money to me and having bracelet put on.
John not only brought me an Italian ice today, he also brought me a large cup of lemon water loaded with ice. .....and the woman of the house of the house that I sit near brought me out a bag of ice a chocie of cold drinks telling me how bad she felt for me. I thought that was so nice. Lots of vacationers now and I enjoy finding out where they are from. Oh yes-and a man flirted with me today...out and out flirted with me.....that was cute....Mr. bgs did not think so!

How can you stand the heat? I saw on the news that beachgoers couldn't even sit on the sand -- they had to stay in the water (I remember days like that). Alls I can say is thank goodness for AC!!!

Yes, I was thinking of you today, BGS, because I could hardly bear the heat sitting in my house with fans running. How do you stay safe out under the sun on days when the heat and humidity are so high???

The good news is that my favorite gate (3) does not have houses in front of it-it faces Water Street-so I get a breeze almost all day-I also have a huge beach umbrella over me most of the day and that provides some relief-I wore a visor yesterday and that kept my eyes happy along with my sunglasses-I will say tht when I returned home late afternoon I realized that the back of my shirt was wet as was my my waistband of my capris and my underwear....Management was great too-constantly coming by to check on the gate attendants to see if we were okay...offering us ice water and Gatorade...I did just fine!

bgs said:
The good news is that my favorite gate (3) does not have houses in front of it-it faces Water Street-so I get a breeze almost all day-I also have a huge beach umbrella over me most of the day and that provides some relief-I wore a visor yesterday and that kept my eyes happy along with my sunglasses-I will say tht when I returned home late afternoon I realized that the back of my shirt was wet as was my my waistband of my capris and my underwear....Management was great too-constantly coming by to check on the gate attendants to see if we were okay...offering us ice water and Gatorade...I did just fine!

You certainly wear better than I do in this weather! I was breaking a sweat inside in the AC moving boxes! LOL!

Mumstheword, I break into a sweat in the shower these days...

Mums-the difference is that you are moving boxes and I am moving wrist bands!!!

bgs said:
Mums-the difference is that you are moving boxes and I am moving wrist bands!!!

I think I could deal with that with a shady umbrella and ocean breeze. Hope it continues to be good!

So, yesterday was a perfect beach day in my estimation-hot but not muggy-breezy but not chilling-and for the most part my "clients" were perfect too. Except for the young woman with 3 males who tried to get all four of them on with 3 season badges....the one guy had on a rubber bracelet kind of like the Livestrong bracelets and tried to get buy with that....but old eagle eye savino knew that that was not the one! Similiar color but not the right one....when I questioned her she gave me a song and dance that her Dad had the rest of the badges on the beach....I told her to go down and get one and leave the guys up by me....she tried to take her bag with the badges on it with her and I stopped her and said leave the bag....long story short...there was no 4th badge on the beach....the 3 guys went on beach and she walked down to another gate, I am sure to try the same thing. What people do not realize is that our whole ocean front system is connected with powerful walkie talkies and we are all in touch with each other...you try to scam one gate and while you are walking to the next post you have already been identified to all the other gate attendants to be on lookout for you.

A sweet senior guy who walks with a cane and is on boardwalk daily stopped by last week and we had a good conversation....yesterday he comes up to me and brings me a brand new tote bag from Monmouth Racetrack in it's sealed bag....I asked him why me and he said because you are nice to me. Who wouldn't be nice to him??? -he is so interesting....has great stories to tell.

My friend John brought me yet another Italian ice and someone dropped off a bottle of cold water...I have to check everyone's coolers for contraband and I always tell them I am looking in their cooler to see if there is anything that I want.....I get a good laugh from them and offers of everything.....

Off today and on tomorrow and we will see what Friday brings.

I was thinking of you yesterday and today. Two gorgeous days -- made you remember to be glad you're alive!

I'm curious... how much does it cost to get on the beach for a single day?? How much is a season badge? It seems incredible to me that anyone would try THAT hard to get on for free unless a single day pass is exorbitantly expensive. But I freely admit I've never gone to a beach on The Shore, so I don't know how it works. Long Island's North Shore beaches were handled quite differently.