Feedback Please / High Pressure / Bigger Pie
Do you know how to end up with $1 million in the Scuba industry? Start with 2 million! What’s the difference between a Scuba Instructor and a large pizza?? A large pizza can feed a family of four! Yes, these are jokes, but not far from potential reality. One chooses to own a dive shop out of passion for the underwater world and the associated lifestyle. It’s certainly not a get rich quick scheme. There’s a reason I have never divided my salary by the number of hours that I work. That reason is depression avoidance. Originality, creativity and striving to maintain a low overhead is the reason Scuba Marco has been here for 27 years as of this past Saturday. I have resisted the growing trend of businesses passing along their credit card processing fees back to the customer. Until now, and here’s why:
Several months ago, we got a call from a person in Georgia asking if we had a specific regulator. We did but were automatically weary because he did not go through Shopify or eBay. We asked him why and how he found us. He said he didn’t see that specific regulator on our sites and a good friend of his dived with us last fall and spoke very highly about us. After talking with, vetting and establishing an email thread, we ran his credit card and shipped the regulator. That transaction was fine and did not bite us in the butt. About two weeks after that he called back wanting the same regulator for his dive team. He used the team's credit card assuring us he was authorized to do so. Two months later, we received a message from Visa that the charge had been disputed. We’ve had several disputes over the years and have unsuccessfully challenged the chargeback each time. Same result this time but instead of just losing the sale, they tacked on a $600 fee for us to dispute the chargeback. Poof, just like that $1800 gone! Cash-back on credit cards adds up to free flights and what not for the consumer which is fine and well. We pay a percentage for credit card processing on every card that we run. It adds up to a very substantial deduction from our bottom line in the end. So I ask you, would you be put off and offended if we tacked on (approximately 3%) onto your purchase if you choose to use a credit card instead of a debit card, cash, or check? Offended to the point where you wouldn’t purchase those items from us? We love and appreciate our clients and don’t want to piss y’all off!
'High pressure' in the form of weather systems, not landing a crippled airplane. They are the pattern once again this summer in the new normal of our changing environment. High pressure systems are a double edged sword. We were blessed recently when the gap between two HP systems allowed massive hurricane Erin to do a U-turn and stay out in the Atlantic Ocean. I think it’s still the Atlantic and not the American Ocean. HP systems are the reason behind these large, sweltering and sustained heat domes. People think of South Florida as being excessively hot in the summer. I will grant them excessive humidity, but being near the coast usually produces some airflow, sea breeze, and heat relief. It’s still hot, but it’s scorching everywhere. As our gulf heats up local visibility has returned to average (about 15 feet in the 10 mile, 40’ range). Ninety degree water temperature leads to algae blooms and particulate suspended in the water column. Rainwater runoff and strong tides brings patchy areas of layered sediment off the seabed. Our water isn’t Caribbean-like right now, but the diving is still good. We saw a turtle and a big nurse shark on the same dive a couple of weeks ago which we haven’t seen many of recently. Remember: diving Marco Island… It’s not Fiji, but it beats TV!
My philosophy has always been to cooperate and not compete with other local dive shops. We all have our different niche, style and methods of operation. My thought is to build a bigger metaphorical pie to share, not fight over the limited number of slices in a smaller pie. The closest Dive Shop to us does not feel that way. They do not dive locally and even go out of their way to knock Gulf diving. They say on their website the diving in the Gulf isn’t safe. Newsflash: it isn’t the visibility that you’re diving in that determines whether a dive operator is safe or not! Did you know that we incorporated as Scubadventures w/ Capt. Jeff Dawson and several years later starting doing business as Scuba Marco? Kevin Sweeney, who helped us get started, was a long time dive store owner-icon in Naples sold Scubadventures several years ago. The store unfortunately crashed and burned rather quickly, but the shop is under new ownership as of recently. Jessi and I stopped in to meet and chat with the new owners. They are cutting their teeth in the dive industry, but seem very nice and energetic and have some good plans for their shop. We wish them luck and hope to cooperate and bake a bigger diving pie for the area! FYI, Scuba Marco will remain where we've always been at least through year end.
I don’t think Margaritas (1069 N. Collier, in the Towne Center) serves pie, but they do have tasty drinks and cold beer! We have frequented them for years and love their food. Hope to see you there tomorrow evening for Scuba Marco‘s happy hour starting at five.
Until Then Live Love Dive. —Jeff
1 comment
Charge the credit card fee, it’s what you have to do . It’s a well known fact that merchants have these fees and charge them . Everyone has a choice to pay another way. Make cash king again.