I responded to the warranty issues in another post so I'll jump over
that here...

> > By shopping on leisure-pro, me an my girlfriend have saved about $500 on
> $1000 worth of gear based on prices offered in town.  The mark-up on gear in

Interesting - $500-1000 out of how large a total purchase?  What I'd
like to
know is what is the percentage reduction in price you got.

> dive shops is ridiculous and these manufactures are backing up this gouging.
> If anything, the online stores are bringing some competition to the dive
> gear market, the dive shops could always choose to offer a more competitive
> price on their gear.

Yes this is indeed true.  Also, as diving grows there are even more
local
stores and price pressures are even occuring locally.  The two favorite
local shops that I listed previously (Andy's and Aqua Ventures) always
did
give reasonable discounts along with excellent service and so between
then
they have my loyalty.  But, if their prices because TOO much more than
I could get via a reputable mail order place I would go with the
mail order for that item (note: this hasn't happened yet and I don't
expect it to).

> True!  Let's apply that principle across the board to the entire labour
> market!  (There'll always be somebody prepared to do your job for half the
> money that you get!) :-)

If they can do my job as well as me - go for it!!!  This is simply NOT
the
case and as anyone who is in a hiring position right now can attest
there
is actually significant upward pressure on salaries because of all the
open positions.  I'm not just talking about hi tech either - the common
labor market is in need of additional people and they just can't be had
without a bidding war!!!

> Personally, I've never shopped on price alone.  And I do like the idea of
> dealing face-to-face with the person that I buy a product from -
> particularly in the area of life-support equipment.

I too do not shop on price alone, however, there is a point at which I
will go mail order for something.  The mark up of $500-$1000 for gear
that was mentioned above is OUTRAGEOUS and he's right, dive stores
are cutting their own throats with prices like those.  While I do NOT
like Leisure Pro and will not buy from them, there are plenty of other
dive shops that I WILL do mail order business with.  The VAST majority
of the time the mail order items I buy are because my favorite local
stores simply do not carry it.

Carl