One of the reason's I went with DSS is because I know what the markup is on the particular lines the shop I was working with is. Even with a so-called key man discount for employees it was still outrageous. Not to mention the fact that many times an LDS may not be able to get what their customer really wants or needs due to manufacturer agreements and policies, not able to order enough of a product to warrant dealer status, or simply be locked into a narrowminded train of thought that what they have is the best and everything else is junk. I tried for months to get the owner to at least bring in a couple of different things. It was like pulling teeth to get him to ok my ordering the DSS products we did. Not because the stuff was not good but he is also locked into this recreational mindset and does not see the number of people going to BPW's, long hoses (you're not diving caves you don't need that), and cannister lights. Well the stuff got here and he said you ordered it it's yours. Guess what? Damn right it is! But now that our primary line (Oceanic) is coming out with a tech line, the stuff (tech or tech style depending on whose opinion you go by) is the best thing since sliced bread, why? Because you can get pockets, and quick releases, and colors. And you don't have to "force?" people to use a hog harness or add pockets. Alot of manufacturers have their dealers convinced that the latest gizmo, color, pockets, 25 drings(1/2 of em plastic) and no inflators, just a lever are what newbies want and worst of all need. So as long as instructors continue to listen to shops that listen to manufacturers the prices will stay up because the marketing people got to be paid, slave labor overseas takes alot of bribes, and shipping across a friggin ocean ain't cheap. But I guess it's cheaper than giving hardworking people from the countries where alot of this stuff is sold good paying jobs. And God forbid you start training people to properly use the gear they buy. And make sure they buy the most expensive, don't even try to sell them what they will really need, sell em what has the highest margin of profit even if it's too much for them. Better to sell a lower price now and get return business when they find out they really like this and want to upgrade. And most important upgrade from the dealer who didn't try to shaft em in the first place.
If you have an issue because you think the mark-up at the local scuba store is higher than the markup anywhere else, well, you are just wrong. The markup on SOLD AT RETAIL scuba gear is equal to or less than the markup on all of the other items you use every day, maybe electronics being the exception.
If your issue is that people aren't trained well enough to suit you, you need to understand that most divers are trained exactly how they want to be. It doesn't much matter how I want them trained, or how you want them trained...they will get trained how THEY want to be trained. The two weekend class is not an invention of PADI, or NAUI, or SSI, or SDI....it is a response to what new divers want. The average couple walking into my store to learn to dive on their next cruise vacation would bolt if we told them that the training process was four weeks. They don't want to be the kind of diver that many here on scubaboard strive to be. They want quick.
As scuba divers, we often forget that scuba is not only a sport, or a passion. It is also an industry. The wagon wheel business is pretty much dead in the United States, because there isn't much demand for wagon wheels. Without new divers, the same would happen to the scuba industry. Without scuba stores taking groups of divers to the ocean, the boats would mostly go away. Without scuba stores to move the merchandise, the manufacturers would go away. Diving is not any different than ANY other marketplace....there must be demand for it to work.
Even old, experienced divers that "don't want any new fancy, colored stuff" benefit GREATLY from the fact that MOST divers want exactly that. The dive industry have NEVER forced any particular product down a customers throat. They make a product based on their market study of divers, they produce the product (in all colors), and the market determines if the thing lasts.
I run a local scuba store. I clearly have a different business model than the next store closest to me. The result is I am attempting to cover overhead with volume, not high margins. There is WAY too much concentration on margin in this industry. For whatever reason, scuba divers HATE to see a local scuba store making money. Don't know why it is, but that is how it is.
Another issue about margin. You don't think Tobin makes about the same margin as your local scuba store? Don't fool yourself. He has to. He can't continue to spend money on opportunity costs if he has no way to recover it.
Phil Ellis
Then I hear it said they are life support--oh hog wallow
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