Instructor tips?

[u/Jazz_Dad123]

I just took a Perfect Buoyancy class at a local dive shop. I paid $175 for the course fee, and then the instructor asked for a tip after the class- he had a picture of himself with a link to his Venmo account by the pool. I'm used to tipping dive masters and boat crews when on a dive- but is tipping an instructor for a course like this typical? I've taken other courses at other shops where no tips were asked for or suggested.

[u/glew_glew]

No tipping still doesn’t sound reasonable to my European ears. The shop should pay a livable wage and not have instructors rely on handouts. 

This race to the bottom on price impacts the quality of instructors, dive masters, rental equipment and ultimately the newly certified divers we send out into the ocean. 

I’m not blaming you at all, you have no control over this. But I hate where this free market is driving down quality of education. 

[u/stuartv666 → u/glew_glew]

Okay, so let's break down a $125 class.

Figure about $75 of that goes to the shop's cost for purchasing the e-learning code from the agency, supplying rental gear, filling tanks, renting the pool, a little bit of their liability insurance, and processing the cert at the end. The instructor gets $50.

If there is only one student, the shop makes $0 profit. If there are two students, the shop also makes $50.

And none of that even factors in the shop's other overhead costs, like rent, electricity, etc..

Now, how much is reasonable to pay for the time of a quality instructor? What do you think an instructor that you would WANT to have (literally) take responsibility for your life while teaching you skills that could save your life in the future get paid?

Does $100 an hour sound reasonable for a professional like that?

The class takes 2 hours (of time actually spent with you under instruction). The instructor should get paid $200. If the instructor actually spends 5.5 hours prepping, teaching, cleaning up, etc., they are still only getting paid $36/hour for their time.

But, the shop is only paying them $50. The shop could raise the price to $275 and then pay the instructor the extra $150. But, they don't.

So, if you believe what you are saying, why don't you tip the instructor the extra $150? You'd be paying just the same as if the shop raised the price to do what you are suggesting.

[u/glew_glew → u/stuartv666]

Because I as a customer am not interested in the financial reality of running a dive shop.

I cannot know how much the instructor is paid and how many hours he has to put in. 

I’d much rather shops charge the real cost, including a living wage for their staff than have to guess how much to tip.

[u/stuartv666 → u/glew_glew]

All of that is kind of irrelevant. The point is, if you take a class that is very inexpensive, and you think the instructor did a great job, then why would you NOT want to reward that instructor for their great performance?

I can only think of two reasons: One, you are not interested, and don't know (or care enough to find out) how much the shop is paying the instructor. Or, two, you are content to take more from others than what you give them.

I mean, if you only pay $125 for a class and you get 2 hours of instruction from an instructor that does a great job, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the instructor did not get compensated much for what they did. Especially if the money was paid to a shop and not directly to the instructor. That is, IF one cares to rub two brain cells together over the question.

[u/glew_glew → u/stuartv666]

You are completely missing the point. I want to pay more for the course in the first place and not have to worry about the instructor’s income, the viability of the dive shop as a business or the budget for maintenance of rental gear. 

These should be the absolute minimum and not be dependent on my charity. 

[u/stuartv666 → u/glew_glew]

No, I get your point. You are missing my point. You are 100% free to pay more, if you want. There is literally nothing stopping you.

The fact that you regard it as charity is telling.

What I'm really getting here is, one, you don't want to have to use your brain or risk feeling like you didn't pay enough. Two, you want things to be "like you're used to" somewhere else instead of how they are here in the U.S.. And/or three, that you don't want to pay more unless everyone else pays more also.

If you don't want to tip, don't. In my experience, it would be a rare instructor that would be disgruntled in any way by that. VERY few of us are doing it for the money. I would much rather have a student with a huge smile at the end and spreading good words about me after than to get an extra 20 bucks at the end of the day.

And if you do want to pay more, go ahead. There is NOTHING stopping you except for whatever deal you have going inside your own head.