Biggest thing killing dive shops?

[Trace Malinowski]

Olympic figure skating coaches charge $90 an hour on average. Of course, people are willing to pay that to chase the Olympic dream. A gold medal, a career doing what you love, celebrity endorsements may one day pay for an investment in pursuit of glory. The closest thing we've ever had to a gold medal in diving is the GUE C-cards. The standards for trim, buoyancy, and propulsion were high and measurable. Getting a card was sometimes like getting a medal. Divers less deserving from a skill standpoint were awarded passes for a pro-DIR attitude, while some divers with demo quality skills were passed over. So, earning a card was subjective like earning a medal in skating. But, unlike skating, there is no real benefit in diving to being world-class.

Product Endorsements? No.
Glory? No.
Fame? No.
Positive recognition among peers? For every 1 diver that gives you a pat on the back, 5 will give you a kick in the teeth.

As for instructors:
More students? Probably less. For every student willing to travel 200+ miles and pay a fair price for a true quality class, 200 others will grab the Groupon special from a volume-based LDS. Competitors will tell people you are too hard, not nice, too arrogant, bad for the industry, not a good instructor because you can't teach well if lots of students don't pass, not fun, etc.

You have to be crazy to spend a lot of time and money perfecting your craft to help others achieve a high level of skill and understanding that will enhance safety and the experience of diving to only to be berated by an industry that believes high standards are a barrier to the average diver.

 

[BDSC]

Now, I'm on the verge of quitting due to a decline of income.

Just curious. If you were to stop instructing, would you still try and find a way to make a living in some aspect of the diving industry or go a totally different direction. I guess I'm wondering if you see it as a lost cause so to speak.

 

[boulderjohn]

Or, make it so all instructors are required to be licensed by the state. They have to pass a state exam then be bonded and insured just like contractors and many other businesses.

That's what public school teachers have to go through after several years of training, internships, student teaching, etc. They also have to go through regular observations and evaluations. This costs many, many thousands of dollars for each teacher.

But it sure does ensure excellence, doesn't it? We never hear about anything but outstanding teachers in the public school system, do we?

 

[muzikbiz22]

Or, make it so all instructors are required to be licensed by the state. .

Umm, yeah, no thanks ! Keep Government (especially here in California) absolutely out of diving ! Not to mention, it will never solve a thing anyways.

 

[oly5050user]

I don’t think so. I think if somebody want’s to get certified, especially to dive around here, they will pay it.
But I would be carefull not to hike it too high to fast. But the fact remains that tuition is not keeping up with the cost of doing business.

So very true..Class tuition has not kept up to cost of doing business. Instructors and LDS must learn to charge what the market will bear in the local area business is conducted, if they want to stay in business, not give this service away ! I cannot understand why some independent instructors do not charge enough to pay themselves properly. Many may do it for a year or two eventually figure out teaching cost them more than what they earn and quit. These same instructors complain about cost of agency fees, insurance. I know of a few local instructors that paid their way to DM, IDC, IE, I believe they pay their own insurance, are paid NOTHING teaching for an independent instructor who has no storefront, no overhead costs. WHY? I cannot figure this one out, seems way too bizarre . Do not like seeing anyone abused this way.

 

[mdb]

Government intervention will not resolve any of the systemic problems with sport diving.

All the problems are self inflicted.

New divers are far fewer, Dive stores are closing (Houston Scuba Academy, Cape Ann Divers) just
two recent closures.

 

[boulderjohn]

I cannot understand why some independent instructors do not charge enough to pay themselves properly. Many may do it for a year or two eventually figure out teaching cost them more than what they earn and quit. These same instructors complain about cost of agency fees, insurance.

In some areas, dive shop costs of instruction have varied little over the last years, and the ability to work as an independent instructor also varies greatly by location.

Where I last worked as a regular instructor for a shop, the pay rate for instructors is exactly the same as it was more than a decade ago, and that pay will often not meet minimum wage standards. Instruction is by no means a loss leader--the shop does very well charging for instruction. It's the instructor who takes the loss. When they finally get sick of it and leave, they are immediately replaced. As the Director of Instruction explained it, "Instructors are a dime a dozen," and there is a new one coming in looking for work about every other week.

In our area far from decent local diving, the independent instructor would have to make a big commitment in order to work without a dive shop. Local dive shops will not rent equipment to students, because the independent instructor is viewed as a competitor, so the instructor needs to compile and maintain a large inventory of equipment and tanks. Those tanks would have to be filled from a compressor somewhere. The instructor would have to find a place that has a pool that will rent time. The local dive shops get to rent time at local recreation centers, YMCAs, etc. at reasonable rates. As an independent instructor, I can't get most of them to return my calls, and when they do, most tell me they won't rent to me, even though they will do it for the local dive shop. When I can rent time, the price is very high. As an independent teaching advanced classes, mostly tech, I will be teaching only a couple of students at most, and thus the pool rental takes up a much bigger percentage of my overhead costs compared to a dive shop that may be putting 16 students in the pool.

I spend part of every year in Florida, and in contrast to Colorado, I would find it easy to work as an independent there. With all that local diving, there are many operations competing for the dive market, and the independent instructors are very much a part of that market. Just about any dive shop will rent the gear my students need at a student discount, so I would not need any inventory at all. They will fill the tanks at a discount. I can do the OW dives off of my choice of boats, again with a class discount.

 

[Sam Miller III]

@BDSC (just don't log dives) stated

"Just curious. If you were to stop instructing, would you still try and find a way to make a living in some aspect of the diving industry or go a totally different direction. I guess I'm wondering if you see it as a lost cause so to speak."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This , by gum is my first posts on this thread

I had a profession which I practiced and was successful but even before I became a professional, diving and the many aspect of diving has been my hobby and passion almost seven decades. I never needed to "make a living " at diving but had several offers to join various companies
So how do you make a "living after an instructing?"
A few of my experiences:

1) Lecture circuit
In SoCal in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and possibly into the 1970s there was a core group of SoCal divers who gave lectures during the club era of diving -- generally an honorarium was presented -$50-to 100 per lecture. Honorariums are currently given to presenters at various SCUBA venues,

2) Professional witness
I was a "consultant " on a case in 1958 involving a death by a spear gun
In 1962 I began my professional witnessing on the famous Toso vs Burns involving a diver who was displaying the diver flag was struck and injured by a boat.
I have had many more professional witnessing contracts since that initial one in 1962 - It pays very well!

3) Consultant
I was a consultant with a monthly retainer and or advisor on individual products for four different companies.
(it was during one of the meetings I was informed that there were "thousands of people who dive only a few who are divers" we must make our equipment for those who dive, not the divers" )

4) Travel evaluator
In 1963 I received an AA in ":Travel Operations" with the intent of some day in the future establishing a Dive travel business, but the late Ken Seabold beat me to it with Bay Travel
I did apply my dive travel education expertise-- Mrs. Miller who is a long term diver, and was a college president and I began traveling on Fam (familiarization)trips to evaluate future and established diving locations - No $$$ but free trips to exotic places many before they became famous or trendy

5) Articles
I had dedicated columns in 4 different national and international diving magazines (a dedicated column requires a specific article in a magazine in every issue)
Twenty five years ago after I retired I authored a bimonthly column in the local news paper titled "Dive Bubbles" This dive column, according to the editor, was the very first dedicated dive related news piper column in published in the US
(each article required about a day of research and writing, very poor ROI but prestigious with name in print

6) Guest Lecturing
I taught Advanced Diving at the community college level for 15 years. I currently guest lecture to the Marine Science department of CalPoly University

And there is so much more.....but I have bored you and the readers enough for one post

I suspect Trace is well equipped to do very well after his instruction career is finished, You will be reading about him or hearing his name associated with recreational diving many years in the future. He is a true professional .
I am honored to have Trace as a friend and brother of the underwater world.

Sam Miller,III

 

[runsongas]

I don’t think so. I think if somebody want’s to get certified, especially to dive around here, they will pay it.
But I would be carefull not to hike it too high to fast. But the fact remains that tuition is not keeping up with the cost of doing business.

Judging on how few end up becoming local divers, most are certifying for convenience rather than to certify to dive in california. If you make it significantly more expensive compared to the caribbean or southeast asia, more will opt for a referral or the elearning options vs doing a class in monterey.

 

[boulderjohn]

Judging on how few end up becoming local divers, most are certifying for convenience rather than to certify to dive in california. If you make it significantly more expensive compared to the caribbean or southeast asia, more will opt for a referral or the elearning options vs doing a class in monterey.

I got certified on vacation in Mexico a couple decades ago. It was much cheaper than doing it locally. I hadn't the slightest intention of diving locally when I did it. I was looking for an occasional vacation experience. Whenever I talked with OW students about why they are getting certified, the overwhelming majority said it was in anticipation of an approaching trip to a tropical resort. Whenever I worked with a student who was doing a refresher after many years and asked why they hadn't been diving, the majority said they had gotten certified in anticipation of a trip, and now they are doing a refresher in anticipation of a trip.