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Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 12:15:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Todd Baldi <sandiegoaes@ya*.co*>
Subject: RE: Reality was Re: Reality Sucks for the "old timers"
To: "Mcinnis, Don" <Don.Mcinnis@in*.co*>
Cc: techdiver@aquanaut.com
You make good points. There is nothing wrong with
being passionate about diving. I still am after 10
years of teaching it and made some great friends while
doing it.  I would have loved to have done it for a
career and still would if you could make enough money
at it to sustain a reasonable (note I said reasonable,
not extravagant) living at it. 

I put in ten years of teaching, working in a dive
shop, repairing regs, doing dives with the lifeguards
and San Diego Sherriff�s and put about $20,000 of my
own money into equipment and supplies to teach scuba. 
And you know what? The best job I can get is for about
$16,000 a year. My point is that diving instructors
are talented individuals and you have to put a lot of
personal time and sacrifice to earn their stripes. 

And this is the best living that you can make? The way
the industry is structured right now is a complete
joke.  Ask any instructor if you can make money in it.
You can�t. Unless you hook up as a manufacturers rep.
They haven�t raised prices in 50 years!!!!!  It is a
stagnant industry. I know. I worked in it for 13
years.  


--- "Mcinnis, Don" <Don.Mcinnis@in*.co*> wrote:
> How the times change. My scuba course cost me $30
> back in 1973. My
> instructor worked for the state of Washington by day
> and having his basement
> diveshop was his "passion". Full rental gear was $5
> a day for students (past
> & present) and $10 a day for all others. He did it
> to get people diving and
> was just as possionate about making sure that the
> divers he turned out into
> the water were capable and qualified.
> 
> Don
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin Connell [mailto:kevin@nw*.co*]
> Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2000 10:23 AM
> To: dmdalton
> Cc: cavers@ca*.co*; techdiver@aquanaut.com
> Subject: Re: Reality was Re: Reality Sucks for the
> "old timers"
> 
> 
> At 11:49 PM 4/12/2000 -0400, dmdalton wrote:
> >My sons lessons 3 years ago cost $325 but the
> instuctor (a personal friend
> >of mine) only got $40 of that fee. When I taught
> (73-80) I used to get $40
> >per student out of a $200 course fee. This
> instructor, who works for me
> >under contract as an investigator @ $30 an hour
> said if he got that hourly
> >rate to teach diving he figured he would make close
> to $3,000 per class.
> >People spend $3,500 - $5,000 to learn to fly and
> would do the same to learn
> >to dive except for what I call "Dalton's Law of
> Stupid Supply" which states
> >"There is no end to the supply of stupid people
> willing to do something for
> >an ever decreasing amount of money, if the ego
> gratification is
> sufficient!"
> 
> Also known as "non monetary rewards"  Almost all
> teachers have the same 
> problem - they value teaching in other ways than
> money - Although most 
> scuba instructors realize this, most other teachers
> are too stupid to 
> realize this, and then complain about their low
> wages.  Hello.
> 
> "Kevin's law of shut up you stupid bleeding hearts"
> - Nobody holds a gun to 
> your head and makes you go to work
> 
> rant mode off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------
>   Kevin Connell <kevin@nw*.co*>
> 
>   NW Labor Systems, Inc
>   http://www.nwls.com
> 
>   Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate.
>   (plurality should not be posited without
>    necessity - Occam's razor)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------
> 
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