We were asked by the regional management about the viability of offering free nitrox. We did the maths and for us it wasn't.....
As the benefits for the customer were exactly zero we didn't bother.
You're getting closer to the real point. Unfortunately, this precise point is invisible to most but industry professionals. You are in Egypt, away from the heavily marketed and advertised North American diver, and have that extra advantage.
The advent of nitrox in the period of 1991-1996 went from "
devil gas"
directly to a new monetization (local dive shop courses) of the stagnant dive instructor income.
Something that can obviously be taught with a workbook and a quiz all of a sudden required dive training and another
green and
yellow patch to sew on your jacket.
This created the "continuing education" path to commercial success of any Instructor.
The price bump for the EAN, added to the training income?
A no brainer for struggling dive shops. And look- a
green and
yellow computer!
Nothing is cool unless you have the badging. Just as chicks-dig-it (or that was the plan) when we glued the Cobra badging on our Mustang 286, the mere appearance of
green and
yellow makes me know that I'm in with the in-crowd. You might not have one, but how many "I'm a nitrox diver" stickers/patches have you seen? On every rack, on a lot of brag jackets.
I love analogies. Another industry fought progress, jut as DEMA prohibited any mention of nirox in 1991, the ski industry banned snowboards from their mountains in the 1980's. They woke up and smelled the coffee. Money will correct a lot of paranoid delusions.
The original 1985 Rutkowski IAND manuals taught us that
it was just another tool,
to be used when appropriate.
Man has been searching for a cure that only Viagra has given us, but the non-scientific anecdotal hype about nitrox making me feel frisky? If you think so, Skippy.
We (the North American market) have had the snot marketed out of us over nitrox since the 1990's. It went from Geezer Gas to the "only way to go".
No different than Titanium regulators, Tech-Black watch dials , MOF, and lesser~ yet no less insidious, stupid marketing crap.
Yes, I am a nitrox heretic. It's a tool, use it when appropriate and needed.