do you ever notice negativity between dive shops?

[Paladin]

Training recreational divers are not dives and the sour grapes
are over from the carrots in amongst all the excess fertilizer

Huh? Get the straight jacket boys! He's at it again!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Training recreational divers are not dives and the sour grapes are over from the carrots in amongst all the excess fertilizer

Knowone ... would you mind passing me the eggnog?

Thank you, mate ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[redacted]

Owning a dive shop for 10 years made me see for real how very little dive shops made and how much of struggle it was to make ends meet on the other side of the barbed wire. We did fairly well as far as dive shops, however, except during the time when 9/11 happened.

Dive Shop will NEVER be able to compete on prices against the internet prices, never. They can only compete on service.

Things that can not find a nitch where they can survive will become the victim of natural selection when their protective fence fails. Local dive shop can survive but not until they change their business model. Gear needs to become a tertiary source of profit while training, service, and gas (things where the internet offers less or little competition) need to become the profit makers.

An alternative is clubs replacing local dive shops and the internet being the primary source of gear.

 

[knowone]

It's already lunchtime Xmas Day here, haven't started glug glug glug yet.
To warm for eggnog. Might have to do an edit of that rubbiuushth, hic.
Happy Festivus.
Cheers.

 

[knowone]

Training recreational divers are not dives and the sour grapes
are over from the carrots in amongst all the excess fertilizer

What I have stated less clearly than usual in my own mind

Is that an instructor that includes training dives in a dive count is not necessarily a diver nor has the ability to be a manager or an owner or a combination of any or all of those and any other combination
and shops have been closing since they started opening due to many factors
obviously including the manufacturers ransom, however it is sour grapes during tenure that precludes relationship building with prospective customers that only leads to vinegar and then the involuntary expulsion of pieces of carrot creating
fertiliser for all and sundry who choose to listen to the hard done by, where all it
would have taken was a taming of egos and a few boxes of beer under the table
whereas I would far prefer to build a stable relationship and goodwill over wine.
but not out of a box.

Much like the clown in the big circus of life that needs to learn how to use his tricycle to advantage by learning how to fall off and get back on to communicate
his skill by looking like a klutz..

Which I have clearly stated clearly in all my posts always unless I have not.

 

[Paladin]

What I have stated less clearly than usual in my own mind

Is that an instructor that includes training dives in a dive count is not necessarily a diver nor has the ability to be a manager or an owner or a combination of any or all of those and any other combination
and shops have been closing since they started opening due to many factors
obviously including the manufacturers ransom, however it is sour grapes during tenure that precludes relationship building with prospective customers that only leads to vinegar and then the involuntary expulsion of pieces of carrot creating
fertiliser for all and sundry who choose to listen to the hard done by, where all it
would have taken was a taming of egos and a few boxes of beer under the table
whereas I would far prefer to build a stable relationship and goodwill over wine.
but not out of a box.

Much like the clown in the big circus of life that needs to learn how to use his tricycle to advantage by learning how to fall off and get back on to communicate
his skill by looking like a klutz..

Which I have clearly stated clearly in all my posts always unless I have not.

Ow! My head!:crazyeye:

 

[knowone]

See, my clarification as clear as silt or as I prefer to call it, dust.

 

[k ellis]

Things that can not find a nitch where they can survive will become the victim of natural selection when their protective fence fails. Local dive shop can survive but not until they change their business model. Gear needs to become a tertiary source of profit while training, service, and gas (things where the internet offers less or little competition) need to become the profit makers.

I could not agree more. People are out there in the thousands just wanting to get certified but dont for a variety of reasons. One thing that should happen is the LDS should get together at least once or twice and possibly try a discover scuba and advertise it. If all shops in an area pitched in the advertising could be fairly reasonable even for a shoe string budget.

When I went to Hawaii I was hooked for life on my discover scuba class I took but when I came home did not give much more thought to it for over 6 months. The reason is simply I am in Oklahoma and my logical train of thinking was that no one in Oklahoma dives since we are land locked and just gave up. It wasnt till I was driving down the road one day and just so happend to notice there was a scuba shop and decided to go in and look around.

Once these shops start to net potential divers they should then focus on practicality for diving. For example here in Tulsa both the brick and mortar stores here tend to want to drive all the way to Eureka Springs Arkansas which is 3 hours or more drive. With this in mind people are faced with either renting a hotel (Since its a 2 day event) or driving 12 hours in 2 days total just to certify. There is a closer lake that even includes a free to the public scuba park and its 1 hour drive time to it yet they choose not to go here for their classes. Most people cant afford to drive 6 hours total and then an overnite hotel and food cost while traveling.

Now on the other hand they got together and the LDS purchased a van and charged each person a nominal fee to cover fuel cost it would possibly encourage people to jump on board and pay little to nothing with shared fuel cost to go diving at our local 1 hour away lake. Thats just one idea that would help greatly and then perhaps while taking these students to a local dive shop load up on some all to often forgotten items such as spare orings and sell them to the less fortunate divers at a reasonable cost while on site. (Often this site is so packed with divers it can be difficult to even get a parking spot)

While doing check out divea all too often its a simple meet me at the lake scenario where as even magnetics on a car with powerful messages pertaining to the magic of diving would get alot of peoples attention even on the road who again never thought twice about diving.

There are so many things dive shops can do to get creative and get people to come into the shops and ask questions and with a soft voice and nothing but positive things to say about diving (Cutting out the negative comments about competitors and their services) people may be attracted to diving more.

It really amazes me how I tell people about diving all the time and SO many people want to do it they just are short on money or time or just lack real inspiration to move forward with it.

Diving isnt just a hobby for some of us its a life long passion and we need shops to back us up not push us down. If a diver bought gear online and came to your shop dont belittle them and make them never want to come back be proud they come to your shop wanting to spend money. If they come telling about a bad experience at Shop B then dont agree that they are the most evil shop on earth. Just explain to them something along the lines of "Im sorry you had a bad experience there. If you would like I could show you what we have to offer and how we can try to make diving more enjoyable for you......"

And most importantly every one who dives is familiar with the fact they cant buy air online and how if you have to shut down they will have to drive hours away but instead let them know you are there for them and would love the chance to at least have a chance to compete with competitors. And like NwGrateful said earlier the people who went to get a suit repaired wasnt going expecting to get same day service because few people really do that when it goes past closing time. But the mere fact he stayed over to help them out spoke volume and if it were me Id of been impressed beyond words. Thats the things that sell me on a LDS right there.

 

[peterbj7]

I can only assume that some of you had very bad experiences early on and believe the whole dive industry is like that. Going back many years, when I first became interested in diving, I found encouragement and support everywhere, and other than a few detailed points from time to time had no significant objections with how things were run. Most people I know in diving now had similarly gentle introductions to the sport. The nightmare scenarios of massive conspiracies against the consumer just don't exist for most people in my experience.

None of which negates the sheer economics of the dive industry, which are dire. Across the board and across the world dive-related businesses are going under. I find it hard to believe that this is because all of these people have bloody-mindedly refused to recognise what their customers want and have refused to provide it. You'll find the odd a$$hole in any industry, but widespread in the scuba industry? I don't think so.

 

[knowone]

It comes down to having a few more Bob Gratefuls out there to make the relationships with the Wallys to make more Bobs and Wallys for everyone.