Why do the LDS's take it????

[Racket]

Big Box hardware stores deliver less expensive power tools to the masses, but in the process they pressure manufacturers to produce less expensive tools. The result: lower quality tools. Big Box bookstores can't waste shelf space with weaker selling authors (and big on-line sellers won't promote them). The result: small publishers are dying off.

A small number of distributors and the squeeze on margin can result in less variety of product and a lower quality product. I wouldn't be surprised if over the next 10 years cheap plastic parts creep into most regs and many of the niche manufacturers go out of business.

Of course, I'm a nasty pessimist.:blah:

Well what you are saying is completely untrue.

Home depot carries cheap ryobi products but at the same time they have the incredibly expensive hilti products. Not many small stores run the gambit like they do.

But this is LDS vs. online not LDS vs. Bigbox.

Is a company like Amazon bad for small publishers, and unheard of writers? I couldn't agree with that. How many books do they have at amazon that there would be no chance in hell that a small local bookstore would have. Since they reach a larger audience they can afford to carry books that wouldn't sell well in a book store that has less traffic.



Power tools? Have you ever looked at the selection that they have?

As far as online gear sales leading to lower quality products, I feel it does the exact opposite. The manufacturer will sell more higher quality product because there is less markup on the retail end. This makes the gap in price between the higher end products and middle of the road much smaller. It also allows the purchaser to upgrade within their budget opting for the more expensive product at the same price.

Why is everyone scared of plastics anyways? Some plastics are incredibly strong and certainely more corrosion resistant than most metals.

Think about an engine in a 1979 car vs one made today. Which one is more reliable, and which one contains more plastic?

 

[Kbear]

I love my LDS. I've been certed since '93 and have just recently just got back into it. The dive shop that I use hooked me up with a group of people to dive with, just by expressing an interest about getting back into it. I rented for about 5 months, and usually it was the full set...wetsuit/reg/bcd/weights. They would charge me about $30 for the weekend and about $3 per tank.

I just recently took the plunge and purchased all of that for myself from them. Everything worked great. I did have a problem with my new Smart Com come up on Tuesday. It wasen't working quite right. I was kinda paniced because I'm heading to Cozumel this Wednesday for a 3 day dive trip. Well, instead of saying "Well have to send it into ScubaPro, and you'll have to rent a comp," they said, "Well send it into ScubaPro, and for your trip, why don't you take my personal computer. It's got plenty of dives on it, so I know it's in perfect shape"

Could I have gotten that kind of service from an internet shop? I highly doubt it. I don't plan on going anywhere else for my Scuba purchases, even if they tend to be about 15% higher than internet shops. The personal attention is worth even more than that to me.

 

[lucybuykx]

It's funny you say that, as the LDS' here only charge 100-150 for a course and they are always saying how they lose money on the course. I'll use numbers I can justify...let's say the instructor gets paid 10/hour (and most claim they get more like 5), it's about 6h of class time and about 10h of pool time plus 6h total at a quarry (student pays their own entrance fee, instructors are free).Pool hire is about 25/hour.

Plus dive master time to organise kit for the students, load it into the van for pool and quarry trips
Plus clerical / counter staff time to take payments, organise, check and collate paperwork
Plus driver time to take instructor and students to pool and quarry
Plus shore cover, rescue divers and other additional staff at quarry
Plus vehicle insurance, depreciation, cleaning, repairs, fuel

Classes are taught at the shop, so no overhead.

Plus electricity, water, sewage, rent, electricity
Plus cups of coffee, soda, water, donuts, BBQ, sandwiches, whatever niceties you offer students
Plus bulbs for projector, white board markers, pens, clipboards
Plus cleaning costs of classroom, toilets etc
Plus depreciation of chairs, tables, computers, projectors, whiteboards and all other teaching materials

Air fills, minimal cost.

Plus qualified staff time to fill them
Plus manual staff to organise tanks back and forth
Plus regular inspection costs, repair and depreciation of tanks
Plus depreciation and repairs of compressor
Plus insurance

Plus rental gear inventory depreciation
Plus staff time to check stock in and out, check for damage, organise repairs, cleaning and drying
Plus fire/theft insurance

Say 500. I have no idea how much SSI charges for the basic student kit, but I know they retail them (if they charge) at about $35 (our LDS, gives the kit, but doesn't include a log book which they make you buy). So to train one student it's about 550 dollars.

And the rest....I have only scratched the surface of the additional costs to teaching a single course

If you ran a business assuming only the immediate costs were relevant then you would be out of business at the end of the first year. Overheads can be moved around a mixed business but they are still there. They must still be met and every sale contributes to meeting them. Teaching students is not and should not be cheap.