This reply is spot on. By the evening flights, they may be down to one ramp crew for the entire airport. I’ve had to wait thirty minutes to take a gate because there was only one ground crew, and no one to guide the plane into the parking spot. Hopefully as flights pick up, SGF can keep more ground crews for the evening rush and start looking to bring back the valet service and build the covered sidewalk. Sometimes checking isn’t an option. When you are going out for two weeks with a bag of tools and size 14 work boots…. You ain’t ever going to get away without checked luggage.

Good description IMHO. I second this analogy