I didn't know they had RPM or had clubs though? I know each industry is different, and I'm not saying the dive industry is worse than any other, just that it is.. different in some ways.
Agreed... yet the similarities are also overwhelming.... personally, I wouldn't walk in to any shop and expect a salesperson to have anything other than their own interests at heart.... whenever someone says something like "Yes, the blue is very popular", because I am a cynical old goat it gets translated into my head as "We've got boxes of blue out the back, please buy that so we can shift it". I don't see why we would perceive dive shops as being any better than any other shop!
I am aware of this but blatent attempts to rip me off as well as them actually lying about certain things is poor business practice, whatever the business and whatever the bills they need to pay.
Lying is never good business practice, particularly not lying to your customers.
I'm in an independent club. I try to help there as much as I can, as I think independent clubs are a much better place to get gear advice, training and just in general fair prices on dive trips. I don't really see the need for LDSs: though they are a nice to have.
Independent clubs are great, and the BSAC model works really well. But the "there's no need for a LDS" doesn't always translate.
For example, take air fills. Yes, a club could buy a compressor. Yes, a club could amortise the cost of the active carbon for the filter etc.... but here, for example, law requires anyone filling a scuba cylinder to have undergone an approved fillers course. Using a compressor without the ticket can lead to a fine of up to $50,000. It's sods law that a club here would be audited at exactly that moment when someone without the ticket was pushing the on button. The club, as a legal entity, would be responsible for who was using it's compressor and would have to foot the bill!
As soon as a dive club starts to buy assets, it becomes socially and legally more challenging to run.... to my mind, let the dive shops deal with that stuff and let the dive clubs get on with organising their trips etc. A non-shop club and a LDS can happily co-exist.
I think that means there is oversupply in the market then and that consumers should not be expected to prop up stores by buying highly overpriced gear in order to prop up a failing business. I have bills to pay too, something dive stores who have bitched at me don't seem to get. I have bills to pay so I need to get good prices on gear.
100% agree. We have around ten shops in Auckland, for a city of just 1 million people. By my guess, half of those could close and it whilst it would suck for those who lost their jobs, it would actually mean a stronger, healthier dive industry.