Handling LDS fee?
- Thread starter elitegoodguy
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Where I live there in no “L” DS the closest one is about 50 miles away, one “owner” tries to make as much as possible on each sale and the other realizes that a little profit is more than no profit, they tend to barely hit the mark on fills unless you leave a tank for more than a day, not worth a 100 mile RT, I use a Monterey shop for most things 175 miles but I’m there pretty much every week anyway and they tend to give great fills.
most bits and parts I want (careful to ovoid the word “need”) I mail order.
most bits and parts I want (careful to ovoid the word “need”) I mail order.
I have always had a small amount of stock, but for most of the high-dollar items, I don't. I can get anything I need in 3 days or less from the distributor. So why should I carry a lot of inventory that may just sit for months? I have it sent to me, I set it up and test/tune if needed at no extra charge and ship to the customer. But I am upfront about it. I don't BS people and act like I have everything here. You know that it may take a week or so to get your items. If that's an issue feel free to go to someone else.
If I did this for a living and had the sales to support that, it would be a different story. But I have another job that pays the bills. In my area of SW Pa, no one makes a living from diving. All the shop owners and instructors have other jobs. Where I am fortunate is that I have 24/7 access to an indoor heated pool.
Charge what your local market will bear. We charge $300 for confined water requirements and issue referrals at no charge for those completing ow training dives elsewhere. Doing the dives with us locally cost is $350 and includes rentals. Students must own mask fins snorkel boots. Most spend about $250 for this. Most purchase this gear from us. So all said and done , cost of eLearning $200, class $300, ow dives $350, looking at around a total of $1100
So the cost for the student to do the "knowledge development/classroom" and pool/confined water, which are the minimum, is $300 + $200 = $500 in addition to the personal equipment. This is the true cost, $500. Should they choose to do the dives locally, the figure jumps to $850 for the training. Is the c-card cost included in any of this?
Cost of certification card is already paid for by eLearning . If on a referral the referred instructor simply uses elearning code to issue card, same as we would if dives done locally
Yep, Same everywhere. I get asked about OW class costs a lot. I tell them you can get the class for $299 that includes nothing or a class for $1000 that includes everything. Both cost about $1000.
MattAO
Contributor
MattAO
Contributor
Where I went and did PADI for my ow was 299.00 plus boat fee of 110. So 410 total.
My daughter did a different shop that SDI and was 395.00 all in. Gear was included excluding mask fins snorkel.
Her training was not missing anything I saw. Certainly not anything off the requirements.
Market pressures drive price hands down. Some shops need to pay attention.
My daughter did a different shop that SDI and was 395.00 all in. Gear was included excluding mask fins snorkel.
Her training was not missing anything I saw. Certainly not anything off the requirements.
Market pressures drive price hands down. Some shops need to pay attention.
Course costs are set by the shop or instructor offering the course, not the certifying agency.
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