The LDS of the future

[molina67]

I recommend my dive instructor to all my buddies. He does not have a lot of bells and whistles and does not have the best equipment in the world, but it works. The only thing he sells is the experience of Scuba diving and even allows me to borrow any of his equipment if I needed it, but now I have my own. As I said I own my own business and have given him stuff to help his business grow, such as bumper stickers, 4' decals for his trailer, t-shirt with his logo. In exchange he will do my advance when I am ready. We have become buddies along the way, and that is the way it should be.

 

[BDSC]

My second beef is with dive trips. I understand that those who organize the trips put a lot of time and effort into these trips and usually have their trips paid for by other, whether it's the place they are going to or the people going. I was debating whether taking a dive trip with a LDS who was charging $250.00 per person for the trip. I went to the website of where the trip was to happen and found that to rent the Pontoon boat for an hour was $25 and it would accommodate up to 8 divers. You had to supply your own equipment and transportation. I would have paid $500 for myself and wife/buddy plus gas and hotel if we spent the night, and I could not see how the $250. was justified. I know that I am a newbie to diving but I consider myself pretty experienced in life. So I will be scheduling my own trips and save money.

Good for you. I don't have a problem with "shop trips" and have been on a few when I was first getting into diving. But several years ago a group of us, usually headed by me, started doing our own trips. So what we do is share equally in all the free spots and any commissions we may earn. Now instead of paying "list or retail price" for trips, we are able to save hundreds of dollars each for the very same trips. We are doing the Aqua Cat next year and I was able to reduce everyones price by $415! Nice.

And I can tell you from experience that all the "work and planning" that goes into setting up a trip is highly over-rated. Maybe if you are going to the other side of the world and planning everything including air it would take a little more effort but the typical Caribbean trip usually takes about 8 hours max of my time if that.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've been charging $350 for my (NAUI) OW class ... which includes everything you need except personal gear (mask, fins, snorkel, booties and gloves) ... and if you want I can arrange for you to purchase a good quality personal kit for as little as $150.

My price will go up to $400 starting next week.

That's for a class with 2 students ... private instruction will run you an additional $100.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[molina67]

I guess if you can get away with charging $50 hr then have at it and good luck. If business slows, don't blame it on the consumer, we are only looking for the best product at the best possible price.

 

[BDSC]

I've been charging $350 for my (NAUI) OW class ... which includes everything you need except personal gear (mask, fins, snorkel, booties and gloves) ... and if you want I can arrange for you to purchase a good quality personal kit for as little as $150.

My price will go up to $400 starting next week.

That's for a class with 2 students ... private instruction will run you an additional $100.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Still way less than $1000 and to me, a class with only two students is like private instruction anyway.

 

[mathauck0814]

I guess if you can get away with charging $50 hr then have at it and good luck. If business slows, don't blame it on the consumer, we are only looking for the best product at the best possible price.

Unfortunately at 0-24 dives the odds of recognizing a good product are slim. You're shopping based on price. While I admit that if someone would have told me what I'd ultimately be investing in diving when I started - I probably wouldn't have started - I think it's an intriguing striation in the industry that doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense to me.

If you want to take a private ski lesson - that starts at $80/hr. And the instructor in a lot of cases won't even be certified. If you want a private lesson from someone with real credentials you could pay up to $400/hr. More if you're interested in competitive skiing. Tennis and golf run very similar rates. Why would you expect scuba diving to be so much cheaper? It's not like you place your life (or more importantly, the lives of your loved ones) in the hands of the tennis coach or the golf pro...

Diving costs money.

Skimping on instruction is akin to diving the wrong gas just because it's too expensive. Cheap divers != safe divers in my experience. If $50/hr is too much to pay for quality instruction and you buy based on price, you're making an economic decision - not one based on quality. If the $4 air fill is "good enough" when the $40 21/25 is more appropriate you're not taking a "calculated risk" you're "cheap" and "unsafe" in my book.

 

[molina67]

If the $4 air fill is "good enough" when the $40 21/25 is more appropriate you're not taking a "calculated risk" you're "cheap" and "unsafe" in my book.

WOW Everything is expensive in CA... Air fills here in Southeastern US the most will cost you $20. Golf, Tennis, Competitive Skiing really.... If I had $400 an hour to blow, it sure as heck would not be on Golf, Tennis or Skiing, it would be on trips around the world to go diving....

 

[Brendon]

I've been charging $350 for my (NAUI) OW class ... which includes everything you need except personal gear (mask, fins, snorkel, booties and gloves) ... and if you want I can arrange for you to purchase a good quality personal kit for as little as $150.

My price will go up to $400 starting next week.

That's for a class with 2 students ... private instruction will run you an additional $100.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Hold on, starting to feel sick... I don't want to be rude to you Bob... What your doing promotes part-time instruction and almost certainly requires an instructor to have a second job... You're worth what you work for in most cases (monetary terms). That ain't saying much about you. Now I know different, what I see is your a nice guy. In terms of your effect on the value of what we do in the diving community, well you've made me sick to my stomach to say the least. You people, yes I said it "you people" are doing nothing except contributing to the problem that full time instructors have. Which is being underpaid as a whole... Your hobby shop tinkering, decimates the diving proffesion. What you do part time for fun, I do full time for a living. This is just as bad as the LDS price wars on the OW class. All the post I've read that you haven written are nothing more then hypocrisy at it's finest. I think your a nice guy Bob so don't get me wrong, I just do not agree with your business practice at all. I think you should go back and read some of your own posts over say the last few months. Maybe I'm wrong and someone hacked your account.. IDK...

 

[mathauck0814]

WOW Everything is expensive in CA... Air fills here in Southeastern US the most will cost you $20. Golf, Tennis, Competitive Skiing really.... If I had $400 an hour to blow, it sure as heck would not be on Golf, Tennis or Skiing, it would be on trips around the world to go diving....

My point remains that bargain shopping is best left to equipment on the internet and has no place in instruction, gas or servicing.

 

[BDSC]

Hold on, starting to feel sick... I don't want to be rude to you Bob... What your doing promotes part-time instruction and almost certainly requires an instructor to have a second job...

I've never met anyone that wasn't a part-time instructor. Most of the instructors I know became instructors because they loved diving and wanted more from it than just getting in the water. So they became instructors to introduce others into the hobby they loved so much. I suspect there would be a lot less divers if all we had were full-time instructors.