What benefits do instructors get?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

CAPTAIN SINBAD

Contributor
Messages
2,997
Reaction score
1,153
Location
Woodbridge VA
# of dives
200 - 499
Fellows: I understand that DMs in the industry pretty much work for free or do it for tips. Instructors working for diveshops are not making a lot of $$$ either. In order to understand how this industry works and what pulls people into it, can instructors (and dive shop owners) explain what benefits they get from the shop that they teach for? Besides the nominal next to nothing instructor fee that they would charge per student, do they get things like free-airfills, free nitrox or helium fills, discount on gear, lead trips to exotic destinations for free??? I am just trying to calculate how much the instructor makes per year by putting the monetary value of "perks" that normally go unaccounted for. Id love to hear from instructors as well as shop owners.

Thanks for your input.
 
All shops are different. In general,

1. Free Air, some might give free nitrox
2. Better pricing on gear. It could be anywhere from free, cost, keyman pricing (cost plus 10%), to just good discount. It depends on the gear, the shop, the instructor, half a dozen different factors, but yes they get better pricing on gear
3. They get to go on trips for free- General rule is that for every 10 people that go on a trip,"another dive leader" gets to on for free. If you have a great relationship with the owner and they need you, you might get airfare covered, but for the most part airfare is not included in the deal.
 
If I had to pay for gasses and dives I wouldn't be able to afford diving even 20% as much as I currently do. Gear at cost is nice too.
 
Free entry into lakes around here.
I went with one of my close friends yesterday and or wives. He's an instructor and I was doing dives for Navigation specialty and Search/Recovery.

So he got in free and got two tanks filled for free. Plus the four tanks he brought out with us we're filled for free at our home shop.

It's little things but it adds up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The typical scuba instructor is someone who spent $5,000 on training to learn how to pack $10,000 worth of gear into a car worth $1,000 in order to drive 3 hours so they can spend the weekend earning $200.

But at least the airfills are free!

:D

06TDb.jpg
 
One perk not yet mentioned can be discounted liability insurance via group rates through the store, or even better if the store chooses to subsidize.
This can be a two-edged sword, though. Typically the insurance has a limit, so I always kept my ear to the ground in case another instructor got sued. Had that happened, my plan was to get individual insurance that year.
 
What most have said all ready and for me I live in land locked Colorado. Not really a lot to see in the lakes so instructing gives me a good reason to get in the muddy lake with horrible viz.
 
One perk not yet mentioned can be discounted liability insurance via group rates through the store, or even better if the store chooses to subsidize.
This can be a two-edged sword, though. Typically the insurance has a limit, so I always kept my ear to the ground in case another instructor got sued. Had that happened, my plan was to get individual insurance that year.

The insurance perk is great if you only do work for the store as it often has limitations. It generally only covers the instructor when working for the store. It does not offer coverage when not working for the store. I teach friend and family outside of the store and would need individual insurance to be covered if the store is not involved. I am in Canada and believe it is the same in the US. If I am incorrect someone will let us know.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom