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Kevin, Mike and the list, Actually supply and demand are alive and well here! This phenomenon is encapsulated in a economic theory I formulated after years of trying to make money from various activities that I enjoyed. That theory is called "Dalton's Law of Stupid Supply" (not related to Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures). This law states "There is no end to the number of stupid people standing in line trying to make a dollar doing something that they think is fun and will to do it for an ever decreasing amount of money. How little money they will accept is inversely proportional to how much fun they think the activity is and how much their ego is inflated by participating in this activity." This isn't limited to the dive industry. When I was skiing and taking instruction in Vermont in the mid 70's, every ski instructor I met only did it to get time on the slopes and made next to nothing at it. Does ski-bum ring a bell? Which, it follows is why supply & demand are causing the low prices for dive classes and the ever lowering of the hurdle to become a certified diver. Too large of supply of diving instructors for the demand of their service.If there were only 10 diving instructors in all of FL you could easily get $2000-3000 to learn to dive. Instead, in some areas of FL dive shops are more prevalent than gas stations and it has become (I am told) the home of the $99 dive course. When I taught diving in the Washington DC area (73-80) shops paid instructors $40 per student in a class of 10 students. There were no divemasters or assistant instructors, but if you had a buddy or a former student that was looking to get some extra dive time in you gave them a free air fill and got help for free. My son was certified 3 years ago by a friend of mine. I asked him what he got and he said $40 a student, but then he pays a couple of assistant instructors or divemasters $20 a day (X 2 days) to help with the check out dives. This fellow works for me on a government contract at a rate of ~ $30 hour. He said because of the extra time he usually puts in to help his students, if he made the same rate teaching diving he would make $3000-4000 per OW class. Two problems 1) Everyone I have ever known who took lessons and became a diver has fanaticized (maybe only in secret) about making money at doing this. 2) There is no controlling authority that tests and certifies you, that doesn't have a monetary stake in whether or not you make the grade (does "conflict of interest" ring a bell?). Compare learning to fly (which costs $2500- $4000). First you must spend at least (I believe) 10 hours dual time with instructor for which the instructor is paid $20 + an hour (would be higher but this is too much fun and the instructor is booking hours for his commercial ticket - like my brother is doing right now). Then, if you are really good you can solo - but most will need more dual time. Then you put in some more time until you clock minimum of 40 hrs stick time - but national average is more like 50-60. Some of this time is again with the instructor at $20 +. After you can do everything you schedule your test flight with the FAA rep who could care less if you pass or fail. He gets a government salary either way - in fact if he fails you he thinks he is protecting society from you (which he is). Although I hate the idea of more government control, I think maybe the recreational diving industry needs a similar type of procedure to insure that the instruction truly meets the need. I don't really like the government doing it since they usually make matters worse. Also the threat to unsafe diving practices is solely to one's self, not the public at large and the end result of passing legislation designed to save fools from their folly, is to populate the world with fools. ----- Original Message ----- From: Kevin Connell <kevin@nw*.co*> To: Mike Gault <gaultmike@ne*.ne*> Cc: <techdiver@aquanaut.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 8:33 AM Subject: Re: [RE: [RE: Is there a thing like inofficial training? was Re: Bonda ge Wi ngs]] > At 05:25 PM 3/14/2000 -0600, John Gault's Evil Twin Brother wrote: > > >As for unprofitability, the problem is that the general public(consumers) > >determine this to a great extent and there is definitely no controlling > >consumers. Many have gone bankrupt attempting this. > > Yes, the diving industry alone is the only place on the planet > where supply and demand don't determine price. The more likely > explanation is dive facilities go bankrupt because they don't understand > the basic rules of economics in a competitive environment. > > > > > > ---------------------------------- > Kevin Connell <kevin@nw*.co*> > > NW Labor Systems, Inc > http://www.nwls.com > > Res tantum valet quantum vendi potest. > (A thing is only worth what someone else > is willing to pay for it) > > ---------------------------------- > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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