Master Scuba Diver. What do I need??

[Roatan Joe]

So $54 is an appropriate price for a plastic card that you already paid several hundred dollars to earn?

Desserts and ties and even candy bars are all usable products that have far greater value than that bit of plastic that would be most useful as a book mark.

Well it's $59 here in the USA, but you get an emblem, wall certificate, certification card and the prestige and personal satisfaction of knowing that you reached the highest non-professional level of PADI certification. You are obviously paying for the expense of the card itself, the machine to print on the card and the person to run the machine. You are paying for the expense of the emblem. You are paying for the actual expense of the certificate and the cost for a person to run a machine and print your name on the certificate. You are paying for the expense of someone at PADI to process your Master Scuba Diver Application and enter the info into a computer. You are paying for someone to put together your membership package and then package it for mailing. You are then paying for the postage expense of mailing it all to you. And lastly, you're paying for PADI overhead, so they can continue to exist and be a viable business.

So yes, it's $59, but it's a completely voluntary rating for the person that really wants evidence of achieving the highest non-professional PADI rating. Call it bragging rights if you want. Or maybe take a little satisfaction in knowing that you have reached the top and also helped to support PADI along the way. Otherwise, just keep your $59, call yourself an Advanced or Rescue Diver and then go around telling people, "I could be a Master Scuba Diver if I wanted to be."

 

[olphart]

Not quite; what I find AMAZING is that PADI has the nerve to charge that much for the kind of recognition you get for that cert. And upon looking around my house I don't see anything I paid 50 times the value for...at least not VOLUNTARILY .

 

[RJP]

Not quite; what I find AMAZING is that PADI has the nerve to charge that much for the kind of recognition you get for that cert. And upon looking around my house I don't see anything I paid 50 times the value for...at least not VOLUNTARILY .

You need to take an economics course. Things are worth what people are willing to pay... the smart seller sets his price accordingly. If people are willing to pay $54 for a MSD card, why on Earth would PADI charge less?

PS - I didn't say to look for things that you paid more than their value. By definition the value of anything is what you paid for it. I said you've paid more for everything you own than the cost of the underlying raw materials. I'll guarantee you voluntarily pay 100x or more than the underlying cost of a great many things. Ever buy a soft drink - do you think that 12oz of water, a few teaspoons of sugar, and some food coloring costs $1.50? Ever buy a beer? 11oz of water, 1oz of ETOH, and some residual flavor from a handful of grain? Think that costs anywhere near $3-4? (I won't even ask if you've ever eaten pasta or rice in a restaurant...)