LDS profit on tanks & air fills?

[Rcontrera]

Actually, teh larger compressors haven't changed THAT much over the years in cost. The technology has improved and the market for high pressure equipment has grown exponentially so it has drive the pricing down. When I set up my first system in the late 70s, it ran about $20,000. I just finished setting up a dive shop with a similar sized compressor AND Nitrox generator for about $25,000. Of course oil and filtration costs a ton more now, but the initial outlay hasn't.

I was in Monterey quite a few years back and saw a shop that had a whole row of fill hoses and customers lined up at least six deep behind every one. Not THEY made money on their air. Another shop a couple of miles up the road, away from the water had a typical two hose fill station and hadn't fired up his compressor all day. HE never made money on fills.

Hopefully shops can charge what it costs plus some for backup so that they can pay me when their system fails (and almost all eventually do).

[Black-Gorrilla]

Originally Posted by ScubaToys Larry

We are more efficient than a lot of other shops. We make $27.85 per tank fill that we charge 5 bucks for. That extra profit lets us drop our prices on the other gear sales, and offer the gift certificates on the forum.

i think this gift cert. for forum members was a great deal for the members... and im pretty sure it worked ok for you too... when people spend a 50$ gift cert... im sure most end up spending well over just the 50 bux, and it also brought alot of return customers...
but this thread is about Air and Tanks... so on with the show.

[mike_s]

well my local shop doesn't do that many air fills, compared to ones at the beach for example. I think over 50% of their fills are for "in house" use. Meaning for classes, dive staff, dive masters (who get free fills), etc.

so they only get to charge for about half of their fills. so basically it means their cost verses net profit is whacked a little.

Now compare that to a shop down at the beach that rents tanks and owns a charter boat that runs 4+ trips a weekend, then they'll do a lot more fills and be more likely to return a profit, or come closer to it.


I think all of us would LOVE to have our own compressor system and do our fills at home. I mean who wouldn't love to have a cool compressor setup in the garage?

but 99% of us don't. Mostly because of the initial cost and the time it would take to recover the initial cost, not to include operating/maintenance costs.....

Yeah you could have a "compressor/air-fill fund" jar for donations for when/if you let friends come over for fills, but that opens up a whole other bucket of liability for doing fills for others when you don't have insurance. Someone has an accident and dies and chances are their spouse will include you in the lawsuit saying you're mixing voodoo home-brew gas in the garage and lay some of the blame on you, regardless of what happened.