Authoritative Incompetency

[Drew Sailbum]

I know that economic pressures exist. It's a fact of life.

But I cannot teach a single student without equipment and air fills. Say what you will, but my students will buy or rent that dive gear from someone. I depend upon dive shops for a living.

And dive shops depend upon a steady flow of customers buying masks, fins, and snorkles; the occasional BCD or dive computer too. Air fills provide a service that drives traffic and keeps customers coming back.

The shops would have no customers without instructors teaching new divers. I would have no students without the shops.

I recommend the area shops which I feel will do the best job meeting my students' needs. I even can work out deals with some of those shops for air fills and rental gear for my lessons.

The area shops can run their own classes or recommend other instructors in the community to meet their customers' needs. If I am a good instructor, I get referrals from the shops. If not, I get what I deserve.

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

Dive shops would also have more clients if they didn't have 150% markups and try to rape everyone including vendors. Not to mention attempting to peddle junk on unsupecting divers.

Ed

 

[TwoBitTxn]

You can't totally blame the mark up on the shops. Scubapro is one if the biggest mfr's that tell the shop what the price of a product will be. If the shop won't comply the run the chance of losing their status as a rep.

There were three LDS's that went under in this area in the last 12 months. That I know of. Yes we have been in a recession and the first thing that goes is spending for recreational items, but I also believe from talking to more than one shop owner the total operating margins are not as great as some people think.

I have seen the government regulations that Isreal has put in place from reading Liquids threads. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea. Texas is finally enacting some sensable regulation regarding boating and jet skis. Too many people have been hurt and killed by careless people. I would honestly expect to see regulation on the state level before the federal level.

Regulation of some sort may help solve some of the problems addressed here.

:flame:

I wish I still had my bunker gear.

Disclaimer: I enjoy playing devils advocate. I won't say if I truely believe what I write.

Tom

 

[The Chairman]

What's in a mark up... actually they are not calculated as you might think.

If a shop buys an item for a $1.00. They have to ship it, stock it, and hope it sells. That item would probably have a 75% "mark up" or cost the consumer $4.00. Thats right. 75% of the selling price is actual "Gross Profit". A 50% mark up is double the shop's price and a 40% mark-up is 1.62 times the shop's price. Due to competition, some pricing is less than a 15% or 20% mark up (like tanks). Clear as mud yet?

Now take away from this "Gross Profit" all of the costs of doing business... that fancy store front which is convenient for you, the lights so you can see the merchandise, enough employees to show the merchandise and service you, federal and state taxes on your business, the costs of being OSHA compliant, the costs of workman's comp, of vacations, of sick days, of broken or missing merchandise, of store fixtures, of training for your employees, of air-conditioning or heating the store, of buying and maintaining equipment like compressors etc., of advertising, AND LOTS MORE THAN ALL THAT I HAVE LISTED. Even the owner should make some money on their HUGE investment. They have to eat, and I am sure that they like to dive too! The resultant "Net Profit" is usually quite small... a few measely percentage points.

It's no wonder that so many stores fold. Too many people want internet prices and still demand competent local service. You get what you pay for... either pay for the extra service, or don't complain about an entire lack of it. Am I guilty of this? Well, I have been in the past, but now I do not buy from the internet UNLESS it is not available locally. If it can be ordered, I will try and wait... and pay the freight and pay the mark-up. AND, I hardly ever haggle price. Hey, I like my LDSes and I want them around this time next year too!!!

End of rant... back to topic!

 

[VTWarrenG]

One year later: the instructor referenced in the first post in this thread has since been found guilty on felony drug trafficking charges. It seems he had developed a habit of storing bags of cocaine inside sealed and pressurized air cylinders. I don't know all the details just yet, but it seems fitting end to his career.

- Warren

 

[Dee]

If one of those bags leaked, it would have made for a helluva trip at depth, eh?

 

[WileEDiver]

VTWarrenG once bubbled...
It seems he had developed a habit of storing bags of cocaine inside sealed and pressurized air cylinders.

Could that explain the 1500 psi "fills"?

 

[Custer]

"There were at least fifteen divers, and only one instructor."

They weren't students anymore.

"There was no divemaster, nor any form of support team. Just him. And he dove."

The instructor was the divemaster. His presence wasn't required, period.

"However, the instructor encouraged, instructed, and helped the students' efforts to dig up and collect any artifact they could."

Common practice in many places. IIRC, Halcyon once sold titanium crowbars.

"All of them dove nitrox."

No reason not to on a 60 ft hard bottom. More than one agency permits this.

"They did not mark their tanks."

This is poor, but does happen. Sometimes my tanks are delivered to the boat unanalyzed, and there's no need to label a tank you're immediately getting off the boat with.

"I saw hide nor hair of a dive table anywhere on the boat."

No need. Tables are archaic, a form of back up at best. If -every- diver had a computer, there was no need. I carry a dozen different tables in my dive bag, haven't used them in years, and it would take me an hour to figure one out (by which time, I'd have sufficient SI )

"The reason was that every tank was different."

Topping off, I bet. Not uncommon.

"Several more had problems with their regs either not breathing right, or not breathing at all."

You should name this shop and this boat. First, because if what you say is true, you have a responsibility to the safety of other divers, secondly, it would be interesting to hear their side.

"two people had showed up on the boat with zero air in their tanks."
"both had less than 1500 psi in them."

Both of these are the fault of the diver. You shouldn't accept tanks that you didn't personally check. If you waited till the second dive, it's no one's fault but your own.

"It just really bothered me, folks. Comments?"

If what you say is true, you really have an obligation to the rest of us to name names.

- Warren

 

[learn-scuba]

artsprite once bubbled...
<snip>
I'm glad your SSI instructor taught you the tables, and I'm not saying they are all like the one I came across, but I'm sure this one is SSI.<snip>

Ummm... for the record... I have a hard time believing you were SURE this one was "SSI" -- SSI covers the tables in detail in the video, they are covered in detail again in the manual including problems the students must answer in the study review questions, there are questions on the tables in the academics quiz taken prior to open water that must also be answered and I know that I always work tables problems with my students to ensure they understand how to use their tables both for tracking nitrogen loading and for multi-dive dive planning as I'm sure probably all SSI instructors do since the tables are part of the academics quiz.

Regardless of how sure you were, I'd bet dollars to donuts is was not an SSI facility that "wasn't teaching the tables"

 

[PhotoTJ]

OK, I realize that we tend to notice an emphasis on the negative, but here lately the general thrust of this board seems to be;

All agencies suck. (Except the one we're a member of)

All instructors suck. (Except us, or our current mentor/guru.)

All equipment manufacturers suck. (Except what we dive with.)

All LDS' suck. (Except for one, that only one or two of us know how to find. Evidently, it's in Wyoming someplace.)

Anyone meet a new, good PDAI/NAUI instructor, that had them try new gear, at a LDS that they liked, followed by a great dive?

You say instructors have a swagger/attitude? Most Scubaboard members should check the mirror! (And no, I don't exempt myself from these criticisms!)