WAH! My LDS closed!

[dannobee]

Sooner or later a real business man who wants to earn a living AND wants to sell diving equipment will realize he has to deversify into other related water sports such as sking. wake boarding, fishing, boating and possibly other non watersports sporting goods. How many other one sport stores do you see, not many and those are mainly sports with mass appeal such as golf. There are a few such stores in my area and they have prices pretty much equal to online.

Captain's right. It shouldn't be a matter of trying to drum up business in a shrinking field, it should be a matter of selling what sells. If that means the LDS selling other stuff, so be it.

As far as the online vs. LDS, nobody told the LDS that they couldn't have an online presence, just like some of the popular online stores, ie scubatoys, techdivinglimited, etc. Even Leisure Pro is somebody's LDS.

 

[waynel]

Before you think I'm just crying because my favorite LDS closed, let me explain that it was the ONLY LDS for forty miles in any direction (and that other one is forty miles if you happen to be traveling south. It's over 70 miles to another dive shop in any other direction).
Sure, I can get my gear online, but those air fills are tough to get by mail or UPS. I've already hit up the local fire dept about air fills (I was a member of the dept for 27 years), but they use Scott packs and bottles that use 2100 psi. They're not wild about having to re-set their automated equipment for higher pressures. Still, if I approach them just right...

I'm not really looking for solutions...just a place to vent. It's awfully inconvenient when an LDS closes, but I bet it's a lot more trouble for the owner. It's a crying shame.

I've been "locked" in battles on this board in the past about buying at the LDS vs. buying on-line. My position has always been to give your local LDS as much business as possible because if you don't...well, guess you know first-hand what can happen. You strictly on-line buyers won't miss the LDS...until they are all gone.

 

[ReefHound]

That's flawed logic. And the "tens of thousands" that you suggest are conducting "consumer evaluations" are FEEDING THE MONSTER. As has been suggested above, buying on-line today to save $75 bucks on a regulator, makes it that more likely you will be paying back that $75 bucks on your next on-line regulator purchase.

The only flawed logic is your armchair prognostications that have no basis in present reality. As more and bigger online retailers have entered the market, prices have decreased not increased. Since you're another that feels you know better than me what's in my best interests, I'll say that you would be better off in the long run to buy your gear online and form a non-profit local dive club to serve your air fill needs.

Diving would definitely not be where it is today without the LDS. It would be much better off, more akin to the snow ski industry that, despite being weather restricted, dwarfs the scuba industry. Or the private boating industry which is ten times more dangerous.

One thing I can guarantee you for sure. You're peeing into a stiff wind. If your plan is to try to reverse the online trend by ranting about the evils of the "monster" or trumping up the virtues of the LDS, well you'd better just start planning now for the doomsday you see coming. Adapt or die.

 

[waynel]

Clambake has nailed it when it comes to the value of the LDS. Here's a simple economic formula, and folks who have never managed a business may not understand it, but it's a fact of economic life:

More divers = more demand for scuba products : more demand = lower prices
fewer divers = less demand for scuba products : less demand = higher prices (even "on-line")

Until Leisure Pro and other on-line suppliers of scuba gear can figure out how to train and certify divers on-line, all on-line buyers should be praying the LDS doesn't go away. You want to know who else prays the LDS survives? The on-line scuba gear providers. If it wasn't for the LDS certifying divers, they wouldn't even exist. You kill the chicken...you don't get any eggs.

 

[ReefHound]

Here's a hint, wayne:

Dive shops don't certify divers, instructors do.

 

[redacted]

more demand = lower prices
less demand = higher prices

That sound a little back asswards to me!! Or my LGS (local gas station) must have missed the class.

And I don't believe training will become a major obstacle as inefficient LDSs are thinned from the herd. The surviving shops, instructional agencies, and instructors can easily adapt to a slightly different training model. As long as there is a demand for scuba gas, divers will find a way to get it. And the only other downside is then less divers being trained - OK, I might even like that.

Change is happening now. Some will fall by the wayside. Others will survive, Still others will benefit and prosper. Which group do you plan to be in?

 

[String]

Not found a problem here, where there is local diving there are dive shops and they'll survive no matter what if they offer fills, spares and so on. Those are the sensible shops.

Those located 100 miles from the nearest dive site selling kit nobody wants at £100 more than online wont survive and frankly, dont deserve to.

Diving is an expensive hobby - id implore any new diver to get the kit online if its cheaper and you dont need to worry about size and so on.

The intelligent dive shops locate themselves in area where there is passing trade for fills and spare parts, they expand and give themselves an online presence and they compete on price with others. The non intelligent ones pretend online doesn't exist, are in poor locations and too arrogant to try to compete.

 

[dannobee]

Here's a simple economic formula, and folks who have never managed a business may not understand it, but it's a fact of economic life:

More divers = more demand for scuba products : more demand = lower prices
fewer divers = less demand for scuba products : less demand = higher prices (even "on-line")

What economics/finance school did you go to? So those items in the discount bargain bin at big box retailers are because people are lining up for them? I don't think so.

LESS DEMAND = DISCOUNTED PRICES.

HIGHER DEMAND = HIGHER PRICES.

 

[mheaster]

The non intelligent ones pretend online doesn't exist, are in poor locations and too arrogant to try to compete.

I think this bloke has hit the nail on the head!!!

He has boiled down a large part of the problem in one sentence.

I live in SMALL town, any/all LDS are 1 hr + in any direction however they are closer to dive destinations than I am. I simply get fills at site and before leaving them.

I have always stated, I do not have a LDS and I buy equipment online and on ebay. Many times I have to use several different shops and even mail-order to get items serviced because of this but - MY Choice!

I do however browse, hang out and peruse every dive shop at any/all dive destinations and purchase my fair share of T-Shirts and other cool toys any/all they may have in stock that strike my fancy while I am there! They seem to get plenty of my money if they stock clever items, or nifty new gear items.

 

[ReefHound]

What he means is manufacturing unit costs decrease with volume. A manufacturer can make 100,000 regulators at a lower unit cost than they can make 50,000 regulators. Whether or not they pass on the savings to the consumer is another matter.