How to Sell: Travel Packs

This Training Center article is written by the editors of SNEWS®

If your customer is off to New Zealand, the Ardennes Mountains or Europe and they’re going to be gone for a while, chances are they are an ideal candidate for a versatile travel pack, rather than wheeled luggage or a duffel with straps.

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For college students, this two-month escape earned by cobbling together every spare penny from endless part-time jobs with a generous “please, don’t come home just now” airline ticket gift from mom and dad is known by friends and peers, as well as you, the salesperson selling them the gear, as the Lucky Bastard period.

Why a travel pack?

For that lucky bastard trip of a lifetime, your customer will be experiencing a type of travel where most likely, they will be hopping from plane to train to bus to hostels and to B&Bs, with perhaps a few unplanned nights spent on airport floors and train station benches along the way. The luggage will be stuffed in overhead compartments, bus station lockers, taxicab trunks, crowded bus roofs, in the back of a truck full of squawking chickens, and more. It will be a piece of luggage, a bed, a seat, an impromptu dining room table — its uses defined by the need and imagination.

If that describes the customer now standing in front of you, they will be best served by the travel pack, a product for a category that was created more than 20 years ago.

Travel packs are one part suitcase and one part backpack, with a side serving of daypack tossed in for good measure. In a travel pack, the suspension straps zip into a fully enclosed compartment meaning your customer can check the bag in at the airport without fear of the straps becoming eaten by a hungry conveyor belt. Also, zipping the straps away when in some parts of Europe or Asia will help lose the vagabond look and underscore the “I’ve got luggage” look when needed. Need a backpack for that 10,000 cobblestone trek from the train station to the bed and breakfast that promised it was “close to town center” when it was booked? Tell your customer to unfurl the backpack straps and they will be good to go.

So why not just sell them a backpack?

You could, but keep in mind, backpacks are meant for going from point A to point B with one stop per day to unpack and set up camp. There’s less need for organization, and no need for shoulder straps and waist belt to zip out of the way or ready access to all your gear at any given moment. However, travel packs just don’t cut it as a backpack either for those multi-day treks along the Appalachian Trail or into the Sierra. If your customer is more inclined to backpack most of the time, with a one-time trip to Europe in his or her future at the moment, then perhaps an internal frame pack with a more backpack-suitable suspension is the best choice. But combine that sale with a light duffel suitable for stowing the entire, full-loaded backpack in for the airplane trip, at the very least — something to ensure the straps are not ripped from the pack like so much stuffing.

Travel pack features to point out:

1. Extremely versatile, with multiple compartments making it easy to organize all the travel essentials.

2. Made with luggage-tough fabrics and zip- or stow-away suspensions to stand up to the occasional evil baggage handler.

3. Internal frames and well-made suspension systems that are ideal for long day-carries, but not so good for backpacking trips.

4. Zip-off or removable daypack for day excursions — trips to the Louvre, a distant castle, a wander through the woods, shopping, etc.

5. Storage compartments with front panel access and pockets make it easy to organize, pack and unpack.

6. Lower seam-sealed compartment for dirty clothes, wet gear or dirty boots.

7. Multiple compression straps to secure and stabilize a load or squeeze down a bulkier load to a more manageable carry.

8. Document pocket for boarding passes and other travel documents.

Choosing the right size travel pack

Help your customer realize that no matter how big the travel pack, they will find a way to use up all the room. And no matter how small (within reason) the travel pack, they will find a way to manage. Less is more in most cases.

A travel pack in the 4,000- to 4,500-cubic-inch range is suitable for one to two weeks. Anything over 5,000 cubic inches is best used for multi-week and month-long excursions.

Naturally, if a person is inclined to pursue some sporting activities, such as trail running, climbing, skiing or such, the pack just gets bigger as the need to accommodate more gear increases.

SNEWS® Quick Tip: Sell your customer a basic and compact duffel bag that can easily be stowed empty on the trip to wherever they are going, and serve as another piece of luggage for dirty clothes and more for the return trip.

SNEWS® Quick Tip:When traveling with a travel pack, let your customer know that it is frequently just fine to mail home souvenirs rather than try to carry them. Less weight to carry, and often, the items purchased are waiting for them when they return.

Fitting the travel pack

There’s not much to this, but there is nothing worse than selling a person a travel pack only to find out it just didn’t fit or feel good on AFTER the trip is over.

Take the time to add weight to the travel pack your customer is interested in — 20 to 30 pounds is about right — and then help them into the suspension. Show them how to tighten and loosen the hip belt and shoulder straps, and, if possible, adjust the suspension for better fit.