Strange Pricing Scheme

We were at Stony Creek the other day, renting some boats, when I noticed the strange pricing scheme for boat rentals. Rentals were $5 per hour with a $20 deposit. The deposit was for emergencies, cases where the boat was stolen or broken.

Upon a bit of research (aka asking my friend who is knowledged in this stuff), I found out that the standard price of one of these boats was around $150.

Now, from an incentives perspective, such a system doesn't seem to make much sense. If I wanted a boat, I would have the choice of getting it for $25 at the boat rental or getting it for $150 at retail. Ceteris paribus, I will obviously choose to take the boat from the rental place.

Now of course, there is also the moral incentive to take into consideration. For most people, the notion that taking a boat from a boat rental is stealing would be enough to prevent most people from doing so. However, as research presented in Freakonomics suggests, financial incentives can often replace moral ones.

In this case, the $20 deposit with the intention of preventing cases of theft may actually incentivize people to steal the boat by making such actions seem morally conscious (after all, you've already "paid" the $20 just in case the boat disappeared).

I'm sure that not many boats get stolen and that the park makes a profit off of the endeavor, but I still wonder how often boats get stolen at Stony Creek.