My LDS will no longer rent regs with mouthpiece.

[LiveBait]

So I was at my LDS and saw a sign that read something like... "For obvious reasons we will no longer rent regs with mouthpieces". What tha!!?? I honestly cannot remember if it said obvious safety reason or not. I thought it just begged for questioning.

Anyway I ask the sales person about it and he said oh yea you know you don't want to use someone's mouth pieces and it really has drastically increases our mouthpiece sales.

I asked him about snorkels and masks and he gave me a dirty look and said that is different. We require people to buy those to take open water. lol


Has anyone ever heard of this? I own my gear so it really does not matter to me but, it just seems like a crazy way to sell mouthpieces to me..

 

[Steve_C]

Never heard of it.

 

[SOFDiver]

While we rent Reg sets with mouthpieces, it is not uncommon for a customer buy a new mouthpiece and ask that we put it on the Reg he or she is renting. This is for those people a health/hygiene issue. Some of these customers leave the mouthpiece on the reg. when they return it, others take the mouthpiece with them. We are OK with either, as we replace mouthpieces on a routine basis. Some customers feel the same about wetsuits, and carry theirs even if they rent everything else. I don't think the LDS in question is so much interested in the $, may be some type of local issue or past complaint.

 

[claymore]

It's probably a liability issue to them. Now they do not have to worry about either disinfecting the second stages and or getting sued because someone claims to have gotten sick from using their regs. A new mouth pieces is not going to do an awfull lot to stop disease transmission when the attachment lip of the second stage comes out to the edge of the mouth piece. It is a big deal to some people to put something in their mouth that has been in someone else's mouth.

How many dive shops disinfect their equipment after it has been used? Not to many I would guess, mine doesn't to my knowledge.

 

[Wookie]

That's a big deal to SSI shops. My guess is that Sea Sports Scuba is your LDS, and they just switched from PADI to SSI. Think how many mouthpieces they will sell.... I'll bet a memo went out to all of their instructors to tell them to carry plenty of spares when taking their classes to Blue Lagoon.

 

[LiveBait]

Wookie,

That must be it. The one thing they do that I really like is that if you get a vip with them you get free air. I do a good bit of local diving so that is a great deal for me. I have tried to buy other stuff from them but, did not because they have a zero return policy. Once it is out the door its yours...

 

[rhwestfall]

Hep-C scare.....

IIRC, shops around here are selling you a mouthpiece when you rent regs, or sign up for a class. Zip ties may be free in the class, or they may sell the SP clips, IDK... Its been a long time (well actually forever as I owned from day 1 after certification) since I or the folks I dive with rented....

Adding to the "humor" in this, the skills for MSD include buddy breathing (which is no longer a skill in OW or AOW as I have heard).... they let you "simulate" it... LOL.

 

[Dive Wananavu Fiji]

If the dive shop is not disinfecting rental regs after use I would be more worried about what is inside the 2nd stage reg body and on the diaphragm way more than a mouthpiece. I have serviced some really disgusting personal regs with all sorts of things growing on the inside. We soak all our regs in disinfectant after use to help avoid issues like this. Mostly because I have to service all the regs.

 

[beanojones]

That must be it. The one thing they do that I really like is that if you get a vip with them you get free air.

How long do you get free air for?

 

[Texasguy]

So I was at my LDS and saw a sign that read something like... "For obvious reasons we will no longer rent regs with mouthpieces". What tha!!?? I honestly cannot remember if it said obvious safety reason or not. I thought it just begged for questioning.

Anyway I ask the sales person about it and he said oh yea you know you don't want to use someone's mouth pieces and it really has drastically increases our mouthpiece sales.

I asked him about snorkels and masks and he gave me a dirty look and said that is different. We require people to buy those to take open water. lol


Has anyone ever heard of this? I own my gear so it really does not matter to me but, it just seems like a crazy way to sell mouthpieces to me..

Yeap, I am in Houston, have seen that sign myself.

---------- Post added August 12th, 2013 at 04:48 PM ----------

How long do you get free air for?

A year.