CSSP - Air Price Increase

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Debraw:
FIXXERVI6:
<SNIP>especially when they hand the tank back to you in 30 seconds so hot you can cook on it and they tell you, that will cool probably 600 psi by the time you get to the water, <SNIP>quote]

Well this is an extremely dangerous way to operate and I am shocked to hear this. I dive Nitrox so i have not gotten a fill out there in the last few months. The times I went to the fill station were slower times at the park so I have always gotten fills from Robert and they were nice and slow and done the correct way. I wonder if Robert knows this is happening? Hot filling will weaken and shorten the life of a scuba tank. The person doing the filling will be the one paying the consequences on the future of those tanks.

Yea had it happen there a couple times, but I haven't gotten fills there in quite a long time myself.
 
FIXXERVI6:
" 8 bucks for air is a laugh especially when they hand the tank back to you in 30 seconds so hot you can cook on it and they tell you, that will cool probably 600 psi by the time you get to the water, "

Being a Dive Pro with a full service LDS has some great benifits....AIR,,NITROX,,TRIMIX,,O2.....all at ones disposal. BUT we should all do our part to really support the local dive park in my oppion, even if just for a dive visit once or twice a year. :)
 
Debraw:
That was the reasoning. I think it's electricity/ filters( I can go through 2 to 3 a week) /oil ( that is expensive!) . I have not changed my air fill prices and I personally have not seen diveshops change their prices in 8 years of diving. It's always been $5.00. In my shop lots of customers get free fills because they bought tanks, gear, classes, trips, etc. Dive parks do not have access to alternate methods of profit. I do, and I can offset the cost of fills in other ways.

As a business owner, have you ever crunched the numbers and figured what it actually costs you to fill a tank and how much of that is electricity? I suspect that once you cover overhead the actual operating expense of an air fill is rather small. I know you know this because you offer air fill cards. You recognize that it's total revenue that matters, not revenue per fill. You would rather someone pay $100 for 25 fills than $60 for 10 fills.

Of course dive parks have alternative revenue, such as admission fees (CSSP already one of the highest in the state), rental gear, concessions, camping, etc.
 
texdiveguy:
Being a Dive Pro with a full service LDS has great some great benifits....AIR,,NITROX,,TRIMIX,,O2.....all at ones disposal. BUT we should all do our part to really support the local dive park in my oppion, even if just for a dive visit once or twice a year. :)

I don't follow, are you saying you get all of your gases for free but yet you still pay the $8 for air just to support the park?

I'm fine with them charging $8, I just don't buy from them, I just think its a bit much is all.
 
ReefHound:
As a business owner, have you ever crunched the numbers and figured what it actually costs you to fill a tank and how much of that is electricity? I suspect that once you cover overhead the actual operating expense of an air fill is rather small. I know you know this because you offer air fill cards. You recognize that it's total revenue that matters, not revenue per fill. You would rather someone pay $100 for 25 fills than $60 for 10 fills.

Of course dive parks have alternative revenue, such as admission fees (CSSP already one of the highest in the state), rental gear, concessions, camping, etc.

I'm not a "dive pro" but I do have a small compressor setup in the garage, better refered to as "dive outlaw" :) and that little compressor split between people still made me bleed big time as the compressor was the cheap part, a small fill station with no bank easily runs into the thousands of dollars especially if your going for OCA, I've seen some setups in DFW that the first thing that shot through my head when I saw it was it will take them a lifetime to pay it off. I'm not defending $8 a fill but I think if most people knew what a good fill station cost to build they would be more than happy to pay $5 a fill knowing that in some cases thats a great price. Makes me wonder if CSSP fill station is over built or under built, they could also be playing on the "711" factor, close and fast so you pay more.
 
FIXXERVI6:
I don't follow, are you saying you get all of your gases for free but yet you still pay the $8 for air just to support the park?

NO that is not what I was saying....I support the local dive park with admission fees as reqd. per visit,,,,I do get AIR for free from my shop and support the shop with staff pricing for other gases....so I support both local businesses. I have never bought AIR at CSSP.
 
Timeliner:
3 dives a day... My own personal compressor... now that does sound like a plan !!!
I would Rule !! :crafty:

My local Fire dept. doesn't carry Peppermint air yet but aside from that it tastes pretty good :D If you go there when the wind is just right out of the North West ( 325 degree heading) you'll catch the breeze coming from the Sara Lee Bakery and that always smells like fresh doughnuts.

No wonder I think about coffee when I dive :wink:

I'm just glad you are still thinking about "peppermint" air and not the kind from that special filter they were talking about a couple of weeks ago...
 
Ok, so I see some folks spouting off with THEIR version of what THEY want to pay for an entry-price or for airfills.

May I ask where these people came up with those prices? Did they consider all costs involved and do do an in-depth (no pun intended) analysis of EVERYTHING it costs each day to open the gate and turn on that compressor? Or was it just a longing hope of what they'd like to pay, based on their own miserliness?

I wonder if they used the same logic when they purchased their last dive-vehicle. "Gee, mr Salesman. Steel is $850/ton, and rubber is going for $275/ton. Therfore that car should only cost $2650, and not a penny more".

Or what they'd say next time they asked (or be asked) for a raise at work?

I'm not condoning the prices anyone charges, but I doubt any of us has all the facts involved in that airfill or gate-charge increase, eh?
 
rustyscubatool:
Ok, so I see some folks spouting off with THEIR version of what THEY want to pay for an entry-price or for airfills.

May I ask where these people came up with those prices?

MY WALLET! I make the final decision of what goes out of it and if what I say goes out of it is $5 for an air fill, then that's the limit for ME.


rustyscubatool:
Did they consider all costs involved and do do an in-depth (no pun intended) analysis of EVERYTHING it costs each day to open the gate and turn on that compressor? Or was it just a longing hope of what they'd like to pay, based on their own miserliness?


Neither, it's a market comparison of what others charge for an air fill. If EVERYBODY charged $8 - $10 for an air fill then I would conclude that is probably an amount needed to cover costs. But when most others are charging $5 and many even less than that (not even counting air fill cards) then I'll conclude that $8 is out of line.


rustyscubatool:
I wonder if they used the same logic when they purchased their last dive-vehicle. "Gee, mr Salesman. Steel is $850/ton, and rubber is going for $275/ton. Therfore that car should only cost $2650, and not a penny more".

I'll tell you what I DON'T do. I don't go to a dealer and pay them $25k for a vehicle for which others charge $20k simply because that dealer has mismanaged his business or failed to control his expenses.


rustyscubatool:
I'm not condoning the prices anyone charges, but I doubt any of us has all the facts involved in that airfill or gate-charge increase, eh?

I don't need the facts, only the comparable market prices, to decide what I am willing to pay.
 

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