The cost of a SAR to whom? If all expenses are thrown in a SAR can get very expensive for taxpayers. Someone is paying for helo fuel, pilot time and maintenance. That’s just the airborne side. If you’re saying the labor is voluntary so it’s free, your gas to get to a trailhead isn’t free and neither is your lunch. What a PLB does is shift some of the cost of the search to the rescuee and makes that aspect easier (and cheaper) for the rescuer. Someone still needs to do the actual rescue so no change in the $$ for that. But that’s just my humble opinion, I’m not an accountant and don’t play one on TeeVee.