Should OW Courses Be Expensive?

[Pacific Taco]

A year ago PADI OW courses in San Diego County (like from the Mex border up through Oceanside) were running around $295 + books and cert (group class). Total cost (not including personal gear) was close to $400 - add your mask, fins, snorkel, gloves and boots and you're over $600 or $700 just to get started. Lately, though, price wars have streaked through and we're seeing package deals on Craigslist that include books, PIC cert and instruction for $250. All-inclusive deals that cover you soup to nuts - no "mandatory" purchase of personal gear from the LDS. (granted, I don't know what classes cost in other parts of the country/world)

Now, I'm a big fan of lowering barriers to entry for activities normally considered expensive but the cautious side me is starting to worry about "low-budget" divers.

Assume that the training isn't cut rate but that it's up to par instruction. Does the lure of a relatively inexpensive training attract people who won't be as likely to keep up on the sport because of the actual expense once the OW course is done? Renting ain't cheap around here, $50-$60 for a single dive. Are dive shops spinning their wheels? Will the bargain hunters put themselves at risk with 2nd rate gear that a neighbor dug up in his garage? How does the expense of your own equipment factor into how often new divers go diving? If the cost is too low how seriously will some people take it? We are conditioned to believe that expensive trainings are important and free or low-cost seminars are less so.

edit: I want to make sure this doesn't come across as elitist or an attempted rationalization of "us v. them". I'm definitely a "them" with a good friend at a major scuba mftr that helped me get outfitted on the cheap...

Does keeping the cost of classes higher help ensure safer, more involved divers?
Or by exposing more people at lower costs increase the growth rate of the sport at such a degree that it's worth the risk?
Thoughts?

 

[NudeDiver]

A year ago PADI OW courses in San Diego County (like from the Mex border up through Oceanside) were running around $295 + books and cert (group class). Total cost (not including personal gear) was close to $400 - add your mask, fins, snorkel, gloves and boots and you're over $600 or $700 just to get started.

For the PADI OW class, a local shop here charges $900 complete for everything, except your basic equipment that you're expected to buy (mask, fins, snorkel, fin booties).

Does keeping the cost of classes higher help ensure safer, more involved divers?
Or by exposing more people at lower costs increase the growth rate of the sport at such a degree that it's worth the risk? Thoughts?

Ignoring any safety or quality issues - I believe cheap training doesn't create divers. It creates people who are certified to dive. There is a big difference.

If people are not even willing to invest in the basic equipment, they are much less likely to pony up a bunch of money to go diving later. Sure, they may make one trip - maybe two - but I don't see them going much beyond that. Hell, a local 2-tank boat trip here is $150, plus any gear rental, plus the cost of making a 2-hour (each way) drive. It can easily end up costing $150 PER DIVE. It's a pretty expensive proposition for a non-committed diver. So, from a "get people into the activity" perspective, I think it's a big fail.

Now - to make $250 OW classes worth doing, I have to think that there has to be high volume and/or low instructor to student ratios. You have to get enough people paying their peanuts to cover costs, including the opportunity cost of whatever else the instructor/owner could be doing. So, this doesn't strike me as an opportunity to find safe and high quality training, generally speaking. Yes, there may be exceptions, but I'm talking about the average - the norm - what one can expect to find. So, on this front, it's a fail too.

Overall: fail. Just my thought.

 

[mongodives]

I'm thinking that people who get a $250 all inclusive course, are probably not going to be the repeat customers the LDS is looking for. Just my thinking if they want $250 course then they probably want a complete setup (BCD,Reg,wetsuit,fin,mask) for $250 or less.

 

[tc]

When business is slow the dive shops need to use more creative ways to get folks through the door. As long as they're not cutting corners on the instruction there's nothing wrong with that.

Locally I've heard of two for one deals being offered, not a bad idea- you're offering a discount but also getting two folks through the door and hopefully selling two sets of gear.

I don't envy the dive shops in the current economy, even in a good economy most are fighting for business.

 

[samaka]

It should be expensive enough to cover the costs for a good course.

You get what you pay fore and itäs easy to give a crap course for a low price. But a good course costs more. Easy...

.....a.....

 

[stormysea]

The quality of our dive instructors (who own and run their LDS) makes every cent we have spent worth it!!! We almost always dive with them and do all our charters through them. Most of our gear we have purchased through them and now our son has started his OW with them.

 

[Buoyant1]

Think of it this way...if it cost say about $100.00 to get certified, think of the people that had an "inkling to do it" after a day of snorkeling that would be attemping to do it! I think it's good that "discover scuba" courses are cheap, it let's you try it out, and it gives you a good idea about what basic recreational diving is all about. But to keep the courses at the $300.00 plus range (not including personal gear) is probably a good thing!

 

[oly5050user]

We currently sell the weekend schedule ow class at $265.That is for classroom and pool work. Student responsible to purchase crewpak/dvd themselves.For ow training dives its an additional $239. That includes rentals for weekend-instructor fee and cert card costs.student pays entry /boat fees.
We are considering to increase class/pool fee to $365.-$415...mostly because of internet sales that students come in with for their basic gear-mask-fins-snkl-boots...
This is how it will work ,pay the course fees and when you purchase a mask-fin-snkl-boot package you have a 1 time ,non-negotiable non transferable coupon for those items with a value of $100-$150.that will be applied to the cost of said items..must purchase all items at that time for course use...
Student makes out for that coupon would lower cost of class to $265.
Facility makes out with gear sales,or if student "borrows" or gets a "gift" of gear from someone or purchases elsewhere the facility still made some $.This is designed to discourage internet purchases.
It gets tiring to teach someone at an attractive rate and then have them come in with gear from elsewhere that 80% of the time does not fit them or work properly.Why are we teaching someone elses customer to dive?We do the work and go thru the expense and do not get the benefit of it.
The facility just ran a class for 3 people @ $265. so thats a total of $795..instructor pay for that class was $288.for 18 hrs of work.Figure in pool time at $300(thats cheap)and depreciation of gear,transportation,insurance etc ($100.) and the facility makes $107.All 3 of these people had "borrowed-gift" gear(they went online for gear). Besides purchases of mask/fin/snkl/boots 2 of them purchased 3 mm wetsuits that they first TRIED on in the store with our guidance for sizing and then went online to buy.
Now ask why facilities are closing....Classes should be/must be raised to more realistic fees to compensate for lost gear sales..

 

[J.R.]

... OW should be free (POWER TO THE PEOPLE... RIGHT ON!!)... but air should cost $100 a fill and the government should charge $50 a dive if you use their water and reef (if you bring your own it would be free)...

The 'value' of something only exists in the eyes of the buyer and the seller... these two 'perceptions' often vary... it's only when the perceptions are, more or less, eye to eye that the bargan is struck.

If you think the price of OW is too high then you obvously have a different perception of the value of the course to you than I have of it... neither of us is *right* or *wrong*... we simply haven't met eye to eye... if you want to dive bad enough you'll start seeing more value in OW... if I get hungry enough I may start seeing it's value change in a different direction...

Isn't free enterprise a wonderful thing!

 

[redacted]

The cost of scuba training should be market driven. If a store decides to push training as a loss leader, so be it. The real problem is the hidden costs (some bordering on scams) that many store introduce after they have you on the hook.

I'd still like to see some separation between training and certification. Make it more like getting a drivers license.