Wrong, as usual, Fishie.

Look back to June 1998, when El Reno started harrassing Microsoft. :-)

Dennis

as usual you are wrong, the stock market started to tank in March of
2000.  Not only was Bush not in office, it was 7.5 months before he was
elected.  Knd of tough to blame Bushie.  They were caused by decisions,
programs, and indecisions put in place during the Clinton/Gore occupancy
of the White House.

Great if you dive with a club, but if you are a solo diver, not so great...
Great if you have local diving that is an option... Not so great if you need
to drive a significant distance to get to the dive site... Unless it is one
of the portable engine powered pumps, but I suspect they're kind of a pain
to have to lug around... Then again, lugging around an entire cascade system
is rather inconvenint also...

But can a company really stay in business just selling air in a location
that doesn't have the amount of diving that you see in the SoFl market in
which Fill Express is situated?  From their website, I see that they also
sell equipment and training in addition to renting gear, so one has to
assume that selling just gas is not necessarily profitable enough to base
the entire business upon...

    Not poor Randy, more like poor Karl.  I can afford to shop anywhere on the planet
unlike some who appear forced to make their purchases from the grey market
discount netters.

    Substance?  You jest of course?  Nevertheless, I'll give you the editorial
substance you ask for Karl.  What I read however, is a bitter consumer venting in
black and white, a whole lotta BAD, on a whole lotta GOOD people who are VITAL to
the recreational dive industry.  Mr. Karl, self proclaimed man of morality states,
"The Internet is making the LDS obsolete - and its about damn time."?   Where's
_your_ substantiation?  

    Further, you somehow suggest you're taking the high ground, wishing all those
folks go out of business and/or bankrupt?  What did they all do to you to make you
so bitter?   Did some dive store instructor screw your daughter so you take your
revenge here in usenet?  They've support groups for that sort of thing now
Karl...seek them out perhaps.

    Hardly.  Occupational hobby at best.  On the other hand, I know a great many
folks who do make their living from a "brick n' mortal" LDS retail standpoint
et.al..  These folks are in fact the foundational driving force to promoting and
shaping the recreational dive industry - not the internet.

    FYI, the internet is simply a tool.  There are retailers like leisurepro.com that
are 100% internet sales based, and sell almost exclusively gray market "hard
goods" while collecting nearly zero state taxes [albeit that is guaranteed to
change] and do nothing to promote diving, diving safety, continuing education,
environmental issues etc.  They are simply a gray market discount retailer.  My
position has always been that if one can't afford to dive, then the solution is
not "discount", the solution is, don't dive.  Very simple.  If you can't afford to
do it properly, don't do it -- scuba is a "risk" activity unlike tennis.  Those
looking for "discount" diver training and the like, should take up golf, with
there "discount" clubs or some equally benign activity and keep their heads far
above the water.  

    Then there are retailers like scubatoys.com who do both walk in front shop sales,
service and training as well as internet retail.  Scubatoys.com however also fills
cylinders, conducts dive trips, promotes local diving and dive travel as well as
environmental awareness through direct participation, cleanups and so on and so
forth.  For many folks in a regional California area, scubatoys.com IS their LDS.

    Then there are the LDS retailers who do not wish to conduct, or are not able to
conduct Internet sales, but do offer in store, front shop sales, service,
training, cylinder fills, conduct dive trips, promote local diving and dive travel
as well as environmental awareness through direct participation, cleanups and so
on and so forth and do in fact collect state and local taxes that help benefit
their local schools, roads etc..

    Each of the latter are all retailers, and 2 out of 3 are in fact the LDS --
different business models, but all retailers.  Some retailers excel and promote
the diving industry in a positive way, some do nothing but offer gray market
discount shopping.  So be it.

    As can be seen, some retailers are using the internet tool as an avenue for
equipment sales only, while other retailers offer the best of both worlds
including some who even offer online diving course academics for your
convenience.  However, internet shopping unto itself is suffering a credibility
problem, and internet sales unto themselves do nothing to promote diving, cannot
fill your cylinder, fix your unexpected equipment problem Friday afternoon before
your big weekend dive trip, do little to nothing to promote and participate in
environmental awareness, nor help the local state/provincal tax situation.  I hate
taxes as much as the next guy, but the reality is, if the retail segment isn't
bringing in the retail sales tax dough, politicians are not likely to stop
spending, they'll just get it some other way, like increased income taxes.
Further, internet sales are never going to train and/or dive with your loved ones
and/or look out for their safety etc..  The internet is hardly making the LDS
obsolete.

    Certainly an updated business model of the LDS is in fact emerging due in large
part to the internet.  It's a wonderful thing.  Those who adapt stand to profit,
those who don't are adiosed.  So be it. What Karl suggests however, is the entire
elimination of the LDS.  What a total lack of foresight.  What could possibly be
gained for the diver or the dive industry as a whole by such a thing?  

    Consider that right now, the number one driving force to certifying new divers is
the LDS.  New divers of course equate to new consumers spending newly found money
to the diving market.  According to PADI stats, independent instructors amount to
dittley squat worth of new certs compared to those generated through brick n'
mortal walk in retail establishments.  Further, ask a destination travel company
like Blackbeards out of Florida, who and/or what generates 80+% of their
business... it's not the skin diving magazine ad, it's the LDS promoting dive
travel and organizing trips, to which Blackbeards enjoys a huge repeat customer
base from it... get rid of the LDS and companies like Blackbeards can kiss their
a.s as they know it, good-bye.  And those are just some of the tips of the
iceberg...

--
Randy F. Milak
~It is morally wrong to allow suckers to keep their money?~

It doesnt matter to you, troll, what I think, your only point is to take the
cheap shots from the cheap seats.

So what?

So are the terrorists.

Maybe you're one of them.

Works for me.

--

 I'd worry about your own economy if I was you, it's been tanking since we
bailed you out in WW1.

 Ours, obviously, is doing just fine.

               
                                         Popeye  
      You have to know, not fear, that some day you are going to die.
   Until you know this and embrace it, you are useless. Tyler Durden

Man, you really are a desperate, whiny little bitch, aren't you?

S' matter, and American knock up your wife?