Well, I don't mean to tick off instructors, especially since I'm not one. I am wrong about no classroom time but it was still much less than before.
From the consumer's point of view all we saw was the NRA create an online program that was required for an additional $60 and many instructors cut their class time significantly, then the same short live fire test with one revolver and one semi-auto.
So to the consumer it was a $60 increase for us and a lot less time/effort on the part of the instructors. So would you feel ripped off a little if you had to pay more money for the same thing while the instructors got the same money for doing less? I think you would and I know people who definitely felt that way.
Now, if they weren't doing it right and the classroom time should have been about the same then that's another issue and in that case I certainly see your points.
Many instructors are doing it for the money. The main guy I knew, who is no longer around, was operating out of commercial space owned by his family's business. Technically you could argue that they had to pay a mortgage on that space but he just cleared out some room in the storage area and put out a couple of tables and some chairs. It's not like that space had to be set aside for the class. Now that he is not around that space is doing the same as usual, storing crap. The live fire was outside behind the building, no real extra "space" there.
He did not hold classes unless he had at least 6 people but he usually had 8-12, sometimes as many as 15. He got his wife to assist if he had larger classes. She was an instructor too and as his wife he probably didn't have to pay her like you would for hired help.
So yeah, he had a lot of advantages to make it more profitable than some other instructors. He told me the materials (before the blended learning crap) cost him like $13 or something like that plus a few rounds of .22 ammo for each student.
He charged $95 for the class, which was about the same as others in our area. So he was making about $75 per student. Ten students on average per class so he made $750 per class pure profit two Sundays a month (on average) from 10:00 to 5:00.
That's just over $107 per hour. Not too shabby and that's why to the customer it seemed like we were the ones who would have to take it on the chin if we wanted to take the course (or pay for a spouse to take it) for an extra $60 over the $300-$350 it already cost in total to get a permit in CT.
Did I think instructors like him should eat the whole $60? No but when he was making $107 an hour I think he could have met folks half way and split it when he was doing a little less work.
From the consumer's point of view all we saw was the NRA create an online program that was required for an additional $60 and many instructors cut their class time significantly, then the same short live fire test with one revolver and one semi-auto.
So to the consumer it was a $60 increase for us and a lot less time/effort on the part of the instructors. So would you feel ripped off a little if you had to pay more money for the same thing while the instructors got the same money for doing less? I think you would and I know people who definitely felt that way.
Now, if they weren't doing it right and the classroom time should have been about the same then that's another issue and in that case I certainly see your points.
Many instructors are doing it for the money. The main guy I knew, who is no longer around, was operating out of commercial space owned by his family's business. Technically you could argue that they had to pay a mortgage on that space but he just cleared out some room in the storage area and put out a couple of tables and some chairs. It's not like that space had to be set aside for the class. Now that he is not around that space is doing the same as usual, storing crap. The live fire was outside behind the building, no real extra "space" there.
He did not hold classes unless he had at least 6 people but he usually had 8-12, sometimes as many as 15. He got his wife to assist if he had larger classes. She was an instructor too and as his wife he probably didn't have to pay her like you would for hired help.
So yeah, he had a lot of advantages to make it more profitable than some other instructors. He told me the materials (before the blended learning crap) cost him like $13 or something like that plus a few rounds of .22 ammo for each student.
He charged $95 for the class, which was about the same as others in our area. So he was making about $75 per student. Ten students on average per class so he made $750 per class pure profit two Sundays a month (on average) from 10:00 to 5:00.
That's just over $107 per hour. Not too shabby and that's why to the customer it seemed like we were the ones who would have to take it on the chin if we wanted to take the course (or pay for a spouse to take it) for an extra $60 over the $300-$350 it already cost in total to get a permit in CT.
Did I think instructors like him should eat the whole $60? No but when he was making $107 an hour I think he could have met folks half way and split it when he was doing a little less work.
