I think you are absolutely spot on Ron....
Problem is the resorts would have to be thinking about the "tomorrow dollar" as opposed to the? "today dollar"! They need to be thinking about the future of where the sport is going.
From what I have read, the number of skiers has declined. From my first hand experience teaching at our local mountain...the boots were so crappy, old, generic, to stiff, to big, and no attention to proper fitting. My newbees would come out for their lesson with their longjohns, jeans, ski pants, and hair dryers tucked into their boots. The couldn't flex them, they were too up right, improperly buckled, and they were too darn big....everywhere! How the heck do you have a fruitfull lesson where the skier feels like they've accomplished something? I would ALWAYS tell the 1st timer that if they were serious about skiing, to go right a way to get properly fitted for boots.
Maybe it's just a slow process that is working it's way into main stream, but the shops have got to recognize that if they fail to set up a person first and foremost with the proper fit boots, that person is going to be a skier that struggles and learns that proper equipment is key....or struggles and says "too frustrating, to hard, painful, my knees won't work, my feet can't do that" and then give up the sport.
I just hope the more info we share from our experiences, the word gets out and just maybe in time, Ron, Gary, Jim, and Michael (and a host of others) will have their own bootshop franchise!
Best,
Gary