My Mom lives in Florida, and I took the opportunity after the last DEMA show to visit her for a few days. At 83 she's "a trip," and with every visit my appreciation for her grows with the realization that…
Mark YoungAugust 18, 2021
Finally! In today’s society being “politically correct” is becoming less desirable. Holding back the truth so not to offend actually creates more damage over time. Some of you may find what I have to say as being nitpicky. Please take…
Tracy YoungOctober 28, 2020
Having been heavily involved with eLearning since 2001, I have seen a number of changes and improvements. Unfortunately, many dive instructors, retailers and even training agencies still do not use this tool as effectively as they could. How many times…
Brian CarneyJanuary 30, 2020
These are challenging times for those of us who make a living selling the scuba lifestyle. Surveys suggest fully 30 percent of newly certified divers in America have never been in a dive store, having completed their scuba academics online…
Dave FarrarMay 8, 2019
We would like to use this opinion page to add commentary to the Operational Survey for this month, Dive Retailers and Discounting. The survey numbers say quite a lot, and so do the retail comments, and since discounting is a…
Mark YoungDecember 3, 2013
While our industry has been keenly focused on the economy of the last few years, in the background is the belief among us that scuba has been in decline for much longer, which leads us to wonder: With diving on…
Mark YoungFebruary 18, 2013
As a 45-year-old person in the dive business, I think I will scream if I hear another person say, "well, that's how we used to do it," "that's how we've always done it" or, the best yet, "back in the…
Susan LongNovember 6, 2012
We thought we understood how the laws concerning workers' compensation worked in our state. As far as we knew, we were not required to pay for workers' compensation insurance, because we didn't have any full time employees in our dive…
Tom and Sally Robinson - Charleston ScubaAugust 3, 2011
I am not a fan of higher taxes. I believe that the more of our money we get to keep, the more we spend, so more people work, which keeps the economy working … which then produces more personal and…
Mark YoungDecember 7, 2009
