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My favourite DIR shop is set up with a Halcyon wall, and a non-Halcyon wall. On the Halcyon wall, you find, all the good stuff like the wings, harness/BP, reels, spools, liftbags, etc. On the non-Halcyon wall, there is an array of ridiculous stuff like snorkels, tank-bangers, and various gadget-type stuff that is commonly found in most PADI OW classes. The Halcyon gear often sells itself on its own merit, however some customers come in wanting a standard OW BC like they learned on, or that their instructor used, or simply because it is cheaper. The staff will recommend Halcyon and take the time answer any questions and give complete explanations. There are however some customers that cannot be swayed, and will end up buying half-a-dozen tank bangers so that they can signal their buddy the same way the cool PADI divemaster did on the boat. I do not frown on the dive shop for selling this kind of gear. This is one dive shop that has bent over backwards for me. There aren't many shops that will let me mix my own gas, fix my own gear, borrow gear or tools, and call me at home if there is a last minute chance to get diving on a remote wreck that I'd been trying unsuccessfully to dive for a couple months. If selling stroke gear keeps a shop like this in business, then I say "sell more stroke gear". DIR is NOT for everybody. If a diver has made up their mind to buy a Sherwood BC, then they will go out and find it. I just hope they find it at my local DIR shop to keep the good times a rollin' ss On Fri, 9 Nov 2001, terry michael wrote: > Tankboots are necessary for pool dives. As for rationalizing selling or stocking inferior dive equipment "products" being "OK" to make a buck. That's complete stroke bullshit in my opinion. I'd personally rather find another line of work then betray principles that I believe in. > > -----Original Message----- > From: "Gertje"<gert.je@wo*.nl*> > To: ScottBonis@ao*.co*, jimholcomb@x-*.co*, techdiver@aquanaut.com, cavers@ca*.co*, quest@gu*.co* > Date: Fri Nov 09 03:19:59 PST 2001 > Subject: Re: [cavers] RE: GI and SS to Merge > > >Scott, > > > >Never been at Brownies, have you? > >[they even sell tankboots!!!!!!!! ;-) ] > >If there is ONE shop that's supposed to DIR, it's them. Two GUE-instructors > >behind the counter, several GUE courses a year given. And EVEN THEY have to > >sell strokegear to keep paying the bills. > >DIR won't feed you, cashflow does! > >By selling the shit and making money out of it, they can develop new > >DIR-gear and keep our show on the road. > >They only can ADVISE the people that come in, to DIR. > > > >If you go to a hardwarestore for a tool, and they only sell a brand you have > >never heard of, and looks 'strangely differend' from the tool you learned to > >work with in class, what would YOU do? I would go to another shop that gives > >me a choice. I MIGHT buy the 'strange' looking tool, but only after I had a > >chance to listen to the salesrep. and compare. > > > >Gertjan > >[the Netherlands] > > > >> Hi Jim, > >> > >> I am sending this message to three separate lists as your message, to > >which I > >> am replying, was sent to these three same lists. > >> > >> Jim, I guess that your message explains a major portion of the difference > >> between you and me. You see I could never supply gear to anyone that I > >> thought was not the proper gear for that person to be using in any given > >> situation. > >> > >> Your boast of << I sold tons of bullshit stroke gear ... <snip> ... folks > >> have got to sell stuff to pay the bills. You going to make my house > >payment > >> while I sit on my ass and be a purist? >> , and the rest of your message > >> indicating to me that you knew that what you were selling was not > >acceptable > >> gear at the time you sold it, is so repulsive that I find it hard to > >contain > >> my disgust for your actions. It is people like you, using the excuse that > >"I > >> need to make a living," that are a detriment to the scuba diving industry > >and > >> IMHO, just possibly the cause of various scuba accidents. "Farm animal > >> stupid" is too kind for you because you knew that what you were doing was > >> wrong at the time you were doing it. Make a living some other way, but > >not > >> by knowingly placing divers in potentially unacceptably dangerous > >> predicaments. > >> > >> To me, there is no reason to ever supply a diver with unacceptable > >equipment > >> for him or her to use in any given situation. Either supply acceptable > >gear > >> or inform the diver that the proposed diving cannot be accomplished safely > >> with the other gear that you have presently for sale. And then offer to > >help > >> get (special order, alternate supplier, more expensive initially but > >second > >> hand, etc.) alternative acceptable gear to satisfy the diver's needs. > >This > >> is known as professionalism and any other course of action is, IMHO > >grossly > >> irresponsible if not downright criminal. > >> > >> I am certainly glad that your message is in the past tense << ... until a > >> couple weeks ago, I ran a dive shop in Atlanta. >>, as I'd rather not need > >to > >> think about your still supplying unacceptable equipment to divers. > >> > >> And you profess to support the DIR philosophy??? Is that "use acceptable > >> equipment unless that doesn't sell and then Jim Holcomb can make a little > >> more money by having someone buy unacceptable equipment"? Just whom do > >you > >> think you're kidding? > >> > >> But then, this is just one instructor's opinion. > >> > >> Take care and dive safe, Scott > >> > >> Some weeks it's just not worth the effort to gnaw through the restraints > >and > >> scramble up out of the pit. > >> > >> > >> > >> In a message dated 11/7/01 7:59:18 PM, jimholcomb@x-*.co* writes: > >> > >> << Well, in a fucked up kind of way, I agree. But wouldn't it be a whole > >lot > >> more hypocritical to sell a stroke "stroke" gear. Up until a couple weeks > >> ago, I ran a dive shop in Atlanta. I sold tons of bullshit stroke gear to > >> folks. If you got to sell something to somebody to pay the bills it would > >> probably be better to sell them gear oriented toward the DIR philosophy as > >> opposed to some of that shit I sold. My point being, folks have got to > >> sell stuff to pay the bills. You going to make my house payment while I > >sit > >> on my ass and be a purist? Better to sell DIR stuff to strokes than stroke > >> shit to strokes. Make any sense????? > >> > >> Jim Holcomb >> > >> > >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: quest-unsubscribe@gu*.co* > >> For additional commands, e-mail: quest-help@gu*.co* > >> > >> > > > >-- > >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > >Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > > > ___________________________________________________ > GO.com Mail > Get Your Free, Private E-mail at http://mail.go.com > > > -- > 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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