LDS vs online?

[scubadobadoo]

So piping in, give your Local Dive Center a chance... tell them what you are looking for, ask their opinions and, most importantly, if you are going to buy it somewhere else, online or otherwise, give them a chance to do good by you... if they don't or can't ,they cannot hold it against you.

Rich

Thanks for your support as well Rich and good luck to your shop. You have stated a policy I wish all LDS's would and should have.

 

[k ellis]

Id say I have to agree. If the shop can do good on price match or within a reasonable amount (5-10 dollars) Id buy it at the shop simply because its in my hands at the exchange of cash. But I have come to expect LDS not to be over stocked with alot of the supplies I need so I purchase some online. But as I have said before my local dive shop has been awesome to me so I try to return the favor in loyalty too

 

[jbrians]

As a owner of a Dive Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan which has an online shop... I can tell you that if you saw my compressor, electricity, filter and oil bill you would know without a doubt that we cannot survive on air fills... After we pay the insurance and pool fees we cant make all that much on Lessons either....

So piping in, give your Local Dive Center a chance... tell them what you are looking for, ask their opinions and, most importantly, if you are going to buy it somewhere else, online or otherwise, give them a chance to do good by you... if they don't or can't ,they cannot hold it against you.

With the economic climate the way it is I am sure that we are going to lose a lot of LDS in the next two years... we have lost 4 in the past year in my area... there are people who drive over an hour to get air fills at our quarry because their local dive center is gone. Look at where you get your airfills and think of what you would do if that shop was no longer there... and give them a chance to do what you want them to do.

My 2 cents... Thank you for your support.

Rich

An excellent post from the LDS side. I have a friend who owns a water supply store....RO water, softeners, etc. His cash flow is mostly made up of water sales....100's per day. He makes his real money by selling systems but he can't prosper without each income stream.

I know what it's like to have to drive an hour for a fill. It's enough of a hardship in lots of cases to make it easier to do something else on the weekend. It also made it easier to buy more than one tank!

It's nice to have 2 LDS in an area because the two of them will have friendly competition to keep things fair for the clients (I liked to support them both). When you just have 1 you realise that too often you are paying too much for products. None isn't a good option.
There still isn't a LDS in my city. The last one (several years ago) failed after a few years. I thought they were very expensive and apart from air, didn't get anything else from them. I wonder if they had charged more reasonable prices if they wouldn't still be here now?

 

[redacted]

So piping in, give your Local Dive Center a chance... tell them what you are looking for, ask their opinions and, most importantly, if you are going to buy it somewhere else, online or otherwise, give them a chance to do good by you... if they don't or can't ,they cannot hold it against you.

Rich

Unfortunately, some can and do hold it against the online or elsewhere buyer. And they respond to lost sales by denying service or by charging exuberant prices.

Shops need to find tactful ways to let customers know they want the opportunity to compete for the sale and will welcome the customer back in later regardless of his purchasing decision.

The "well now you can go buy your air and training online too" attitude is a double looser for those shops.

 

[psychocabbage]

For me, I was soured by many of my experiences with several of the LDS around here. (we have 3 within 5 miles and a huge Gander Mountain with SCUBA within 6!)

When I started, I researched online and found the LDS I eventually got my certification with. I also happen to spend too much money on our gear. LDS owners and everyone else can complain all they want but nothing will change the fact that $ motivates. If I can save 50% by buying elsewhere, I will.

Here, shops offer at the minimum, 1 yr free air fills with a tank purchase. Just seeing the cost per tank fill has already let me to look into buying our own. It is even in our eventual plans once our pool is complete to have our own compressor for tank fills. Sure $1500-$2500 is a decent amount of $. But with our cell phones already costing a 1/3 of that, why wouldnt it be a decent investment?

On this subject, I constantly hear and read a bunch of complaints from both sides (I know i contribute to them) but if more people took a proactive approach to solving the issue, there would be less complaints.

My little message to LDS owners and operators. When I am wanting something, I am not looking at it from your perspective and do not want to. I dont want to think of who all I have to support with my purchase. I simply want the product I choose at the price I feel is best. I dont care about your bills, rent or family to support. Thats your deal. Not ours. I have my own family to support and do not burden my clients with that. (I also own my own business.) When my profit margin is being challenged by online sales, I call up my rep and DEMAND a better price. I can usually count on 3% markup. 3.. not 30 but 3. I still live fine and have a good life and all of our bills are paid. LDS owners could perhaps band together fight. When just one of you complains it can fall on deaf ears. When 100 of you complain together, then maybe some change can be made.

Telling us customers stories of how items are counterfiet from online stores or the grey market scare tactic doesnt help you at all. Just makes me think you are in it for YOURSELF and not for your customer.

In my business, I am in it for both of us. My customers get me my clients so by providing fair prices at the current market rate I can sleep well knowing I didnt overcharge. They pay their bills and do not look for another service provider because I am fair and do very high quality work.

Sure we all have costs. Its a given in life. Sometimes you just have to eat some of it in the interest of keeping good customers happy. Those happy customers can and will often help you get more.

 

[MasterFritts]

Hearing some of these stories I can tell you how lucky I am. I watched on Saturday as the LDS told a guy he did not need an $800 vest when a $100 purchase would fix him up with what he needed. I see that all the time there. They really work with you to get the best pricing and go out of their way to help you.

So I will pay more to do business with them, even $100+ more as I have said before in this post I think. I just wanted to point out that not all LDS's are in it for the money. Rhea's is into building a customer relationship and not lining their pockets.