Posted by Wayne on May 08, 2002 at 10:26:04:
In Reply to: Re: PADI's GOAL IS PROFIT! AND ONLY PROFIT posted by San Diego Jeff on May 08, 2002 at 07:25:15:
Liberal educators have done a number on the public. A Not For Profit enterprise also must make money. It has overhead, debt service, and all manner of costs -- just like the For Profit enterprise. The difference is in where the redisual cash is distributed. I worked for Hughes Aircraft Company many years ago and it was the largest industrial employer in California -- and it was a Not For Profit entity. Were we more noble than TRW, General Dynamics, or Boeing? Not on your life.
Everybody fights for market share. GUE, IANTD, NAUI, PADI, SSI, etc., are each trying to get a larger piece of the pie. We can all judge who among them is nobler, but they are all in the same boat. Once you get to the retail level, it is still the same. The NAUI shop around the corner is trying to compete with the PADI shop down the street. Each needs to maximize profits so the owner can take home enough money to pay his/her bills, feed the kids, take a vacation now and then, and send the kids to school.
We all benefit from this because we get better deals as they fight for our business. We get the best prices possible because they need to price in such as way to stay in business -- too much markup they lose volume, too little markup and they go under. It is a balancing act they do and we all benefit.
Do not try to villify a company because they make profits. Instead celebrate profitibility as it is the engine that drives the economy.
Wayne