Should OW Courses Be Expensive?

[novicediver]

Charge whatever you like for instruction, but provide quality instruction as opposed to the short 2 days and you are done classes. Give students an opportunity to try different masks and fins during the pool sessions but don't berate them if they purchase gear elsewhere. People test drive more than one car at more than one dealer, it's a similar concept. Keep the equipment prices competitive and eventually you will create customer loyalty.

 

[rstofer]

Around here the PADI open water course with lake dives costs $120 and with ocean dives it costs $170. To that you need to add personal gear ($100-$200) plus materials (about $70). If you select ocean dives, you need to include $50 or so for a 'diver grade' motel. Equipment rental (wetsuit, regulator, BC, weights, etc) run $50 for the course so the total bill is about $400.

That's not terribly expensive for the full program. There's probably room to reduce the cost and we might see some 'sales' later in the year. Winter is never the best time for classes (it really is but prospective students might not see it that way) but summer is on the way!

I don't have any interest in the argument that lower costs bring in less determined students. Who cares? Divers come and divers go, some stay longer than others. But the idea that retention is some kind of worthy metric just doesn't make sense to me. If I were an instructor (and I'm not) and I owned a shop (and I don't), I would give the course away for free! I would let the student rent or even borrow everything they needed. I would sell the material at the lowest price possible and help them find the cheapest motel.

My goal would be to create divers that someday could become customers. Long time, loyal, customers. And I wouldn't take it personally if they ultimately decided that diving just wasn't their thing. Of course, I couldn't afford to keep the lights on and would be out of business in a month or so.

Does anybody care that I buy a Ford and a year or so later decide that a Chevy is a better car for me? No! Same with diving. Perhaps golf turns out to be a more interesting pastime.

When cold water beach dives are all you have to offer, why would anyone take up diving? Not everyone will have the opportunity to dive in warm clear water from a boat. A six hour round trip to the beach to bash through surf while bundled in neoprene wearing 80# (or more) of gear just isn't everyone's idea of a good time.

Obviously, people on SB feel that scuba is a wonderful sport/hobby. It is, for people that like diving. But it is conceivable that someone could try diving, make a couple of dozen dives and then just walk away. It could be due to some 'near miss' or it could just be circumstances. It doesn't matter. Some stay longer than others.

PADI certifies about 180,000 entry level divers in the 'Americas' each year. Let's just say that all of them are in the US even though it isn't true. However, there other agencies so it is probably fair to say that the US gains 180,000 OW divers per year. If they all hung around, there wouldn't be room to swim! After just 10 years, we would have 1.8 MILLION more divers. If they all hung around where would we park?

I wish people would quit using retention as a metric. It just doesn't matter. The shop has made all the money they're going to get and it's time to move on to the next group.

Some stay longer than others...

Richard

 

[Standingbear56]

While discount courses shouldn't mean lowered standards, the old sayings that "You get what you pay for" and "Let the buyer beware" still apply. Make sure you are getting a full quality course. If it's a zero to hero in 8 hours course, you are not getting enough time! Remember, certified does NOT mean qualified. A day of cramming academics + a marathon pool session is NOT the way to learn. There is just no way a weekend course can equal a multi day course with 30 to 40 or more hours of training. The instructor willing to put in all those hours deserves to be properly compensated for his/her time. That translates to a higher price. This is not including pool fees etc. Think of it this way - which way would you want someone you love to be taught - Sign today and be certified tomorrow or receive proper instruction till you are fully qualified to dive? Quality is always more expensive, but is generally well worth the added expense.
Take care,
George

 

[Daveo957]

You get what you pay for

 

[Walter]

Most classes aren't worth what they charge, the good ones aren't charging enough.

 

[novicediver]

I like the idea of instruction and equipment purchase being separate entities. Charge a price that you think your time and energy is worth but keep in mind it shouldn't be too cost prohibitive.

 

[nelia1978]

I am from Montreal and I am just going through the process of getting certified, start my class in March. I paid 120$ to do online theory and I got a special of 300$ to do the pool and the open water certification. This is because I am paying both the pool and open water together. If i was paying seperate it would be 200$ each.
when i was 15 i really wanted to start scuba, however I was never able to do it because of the price of the course and no support from my parents, they always thought it was too dangerous and I was too young. So 16 years later here I am in the process of getting certified woohoo lol.
(mind u I went on vacation with them in 2008 and they were hyped about me going to dive and was asked a million and one questions after i got back from intro to diving.. go figure)..

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Shops need a continuous flow of new divers to maintain business. There are minumum standards required for OW classes, so for even the cheapest classes you will get the information you need to learn to dive. What you do with that information is up to you.
My OW class was a six week course for only $160, including rental gear and air fills. The draw of affordable classes is what cinched the deal for me. I have over 1400 dives now and still love diving as much or more than I did as a newbie. If my class would have been $600 I couldn't have afforded it and would probably still be free diving.

 

[mike_s]

shops often do OW classes as "loss leaders" to get new customers in the shop.

If you were an independent instructor with no rental gear or compressor, it wouldn't be cheap to certify students

rental gear for pool sessions $25/day, 2 days............. $50.00
tanks rental/fills for pool, $8each, 2/day, 2 days......... $32.00
OW Books/materials/tables, etc .............................. $60.00
agency fee ($35 to $50 est depending on agency........$50.00
rental gear for checkout dives $25/day, 2 days.......... $50.00
tanks rental/fills checkout dives , $8ea 2/day, 2 days...$32.00
Instructor fee/pay (estimate).................................. $50.00
--------------------------------------------------------------
Total on estimated 'cost'.......................................$324.00


That doesn't include boat charter fees for checkout dives. Figure adding 2 days of $80 each charter fees. Add that and you're up to about $484.

Also doesn't include any "Personal gear" such as fins/mask/weights....


Getting any class that takes basically 4 full days of instruction lead by a trained professional for what most shops charge ($250-$350) is pretty cheap.

Try getting that at a normal workplace for a professional certification class in the field you work in. Most of those classes easily his $2k/week.

 

[Teamcasa]

Obviously, people on SB feel that scuba is a wonderful sport/hobby. It is, for people that like diving. But it is conceivable that someone could try diving, make a couple of dozen dives and then just walk away. It could be due to some 'near miss' or it could just be circumstances. It doesn't matter. Some stay longer than others.

Shops need a continuous flow of new divers to maintain business. There are minumum standards required for OW classes, so for even the cheapest classes you will get the information you need to learn to dive. What you do with that information is up to you.

The initial cost of training is irrelevant as long as the customer is happy to pay it and the instructor/shop is happy to receive it.
Diving is an activity that requires money. Today, money is short and business are struggling to survive. But diving is also a sport generally made up of adults, of which, most are able to decide to continue their diving and training.

As for the responses here, we have to remember the people who post are both avid divers and are generally passionate enough to post.

I see no sense in spinning this into another quality of OW training thread.