So take a few minutes to describe how the improved diving industry would work without agencies. Please deliver the details of agency-less dive instruction.
Would it be like the way my cousin learned in the early 1960s, when the salesman in the department store where he bought his equipment took 5 minutes to tell him how to use it?
I'm not exactly 100% picking one side or another.
I don't think the only alternative is
"a salesman giving a 5-minute explanation on how to use dive-equipment."
We have several dive agencies today of varying quality, and questionable vetting of their instructors. The way you find a good instructor, is somewhat like how you find a good car-mechanic. Reviewing what their material, reviews, and references. It's easily possible to pick bad ones, but that's also quite possible even today.
Still relevant in a waning market, as evidenced by the fanboys who will defend the business model at any cost.
By waning, I mean the virtual demise of US based liveaboards (fewer than 10 or so left), the general distrust of the dive shop model, as evidenced by many threads on this forum, although we hear more from disgruntled customers than happy ones, and the rise of online sales.
There seems to be a few broad generalizations here. I can only speak for me.
What I will say is as a scuba-diver, I just want to dive. I don't give a fk about scuba-shops, training-agencies, scuba-politics, and so on. That is
until those things are made to be my problem. And they are my problem when:
- Scuba-classes are very expensive, but my friendly and helpful Scuba-instructors take home pennies.
- Local-dive shops charge significantly more than online retailers.
- Local-dive shops screw me over.
- Independent tutoring is rarely available, because agencies prohibit it. (edit: this point may be inaccurate)
Someone else I dive with, who has
far more experience than I do, never really "peeks behind the curtain" or hangs out on places like scubaboard. He has similar experiences being screwed over by dive-shops, but otherwise seems much less unaware of industry problems.
"Why don't I do something about it?" The simple reason is there is only one me. The whole scuba-industry issue is just one of dozens of similar things I've encountered over the years, and I've already picked one such opportunity to focus on where my individual skills, experience, and insight will make the biggest impact and allow me to earn a living doing the thing long term. There's also seeing a problem, knowing what to do about it, and finally having the skills and resources to do the thing.
As a busy filthy-casual, I'll happily side-step "the industry" given the opportunity to do so. Independent instructors. Shopping from reputable online businesses. DIY projects. Self/online teaching. I've done all that and more. I'd even buy air-fills online, if that was a thing.