PADI Knowledge Reviews

[pconsidine]

I don't know how anyone makes money off of the different PADI classes (except for PADI). I mean, the amount of time involved (as far as I saw) didn't have a crazy payoff in the end. For OW, AOW, and EANx I have about $850 all in, and there were days of someone else's time it took to get there?

Where do instructors make any $? What's the point? Just the love of scuba / teaching? Or am I missing something? Just curious...

I know there's a yearly fee for ins., a fee from PADI to keep inst. cert., and I'm sure others. Not to mention the place where we did some of our dives was only 50% off for instructors. They either needed a $240 yearly membership, or $20/visit.

you are correct Instructors do not make much compared to time put in. Most Instructors such as myself do it for the love of scuba and training others and try to make enough each year to cover all PADI fees and liability insurance. Everyone has to realize that PADI is a multi-million dollar corp. and that they are in the Scuba business for one thing- Profit.

 

[Scuba J7]

I don't know how anyone makes money off of the different PADI classes (except for PADI). I mean, the amount of time involved (as far as I saw) didn't have a crazy payoff in the end. For OW, AOW, and EANx I have about $850 all in, and there were days of someone else's time it took to get there?

Where do instructors make any $? What's the point? Just the love of scuba / teaching? Or am I missing something? Just curious...

I know there's a yearly fee for ins., a fee from PADI to keep inst. cert., and I'm sure others. Not to mention the place where we did some of our dives was only 50% off for instructors. They either needed a $240 yearly membership, or $20/visit.

A lot of us don't do it for the $$. With that said there are a lot of perks dive pros receive(site entry, air fills, discounts on equipment, free rental, etc). Most of the instructors I know that teach scuba for a living are independent instructors and they are able to do because they are sought out for their knowledge and skills.

 

[boulderjohn]

I don't know how anyone makes money off of the different PADI classes (except for PADI). I mean, the amount of time involved (as far as I saw) didn't have a crazy payoff in the end. For OW, AOW, and EANx I have about $850 all in, and there were days of someone else's time it took to get there?

Where do instructors make any $? What's the point? Just the love of scuba / teaching? Or am I missing something? Just curious...

I know there's a yearly fee for ins., a fee from PADI to keep inst. cert., and I'm sure others. Not to mention the place where we did some of our dives was only 50% off for instructors. They either needed a $240 yearly membership, or $20/visit.

Believe it or not, PADI does not make a lot of money off those classes--just the cost of the materials. In a typical dive shop operation in my area, the dive shop makes the most money, but it isn't that much. The instructor makes very little. When I was working for a dive shop, I frequently made less than minimum wage while teaching a class.

Of course, the average SB poster thinks it is all money gouging and cannot understand why those money grubbing instructors are charging anything.

 

[Roger Hobden]

. Everyone has to realize that PADI is a multi-million dollar corp. and that they are in the Scuba business for one thing- Profit.

And me who was thinking that the main point of any scuba teaching organization was to train us on how to avoid dying when we went underwater ?

 

[boulderjohn]

Everyone has to realize that PADI is a multi-million dollar corp. and that they are in the Scuba business for one thing- Profit.

So it is your opinion that it is not possible for an organization to want to stay in business (make a profit) and try to work to create a good product at the same time? Are you saying that there are only two options in life--pure corporate greed or loving philanthropy?

 

[nadwidny]

A lot of us don't do it for the $$.

Which is quite stupid on their part and a problem for the industry in general.

 

[Scuba J7]

Which is quite stupid on their part and a problem for the industry in general.

I meant we are not getting rich teaching, I always get paid.

 

[tridacna]

We’re getting away from the PADI issue. Why do Padi charge more than twice as much for E-learning? They don’t have to provide a textbook, stickers, student folder. Just a click and access to the server. Makes no sense.

 

[oly5050user]

We’re getting away from the PADI issue. Why do Padi charge more than twice as much for E-learning? They don’t have to provide a textbook, stickers, student folder. Just a click and access to the server. Makes no sense.

Perhaps because PADI needs to pay the company that actually runs elearning for them.? PADI may have created their version of elearning, but has a separate company managing it for access to the public.

 

[tridacna]

I’m OK with that. I get that. I used to write software. It’s the business model thats f’ed up. (And trying to get an answer from Stosh is even more frustrating than the actual problem).