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PackerBarry

courtesy for your packer

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And charging $6 for a larger canopy amounts to the same thing. Hell, most big canopies only have 7 cells.



You haven't paid for a pack job at Perris lately have you?

They charge $6 for the small stuff now.:ph34r:



Is everything more expensive out there? Anything over $5 is a rip-off and not worth your money. It's just a pack and shouldn't be almost 40% the cost of a jump ticket.

I see no reason for a $6 or $7 pack unless you are trying to lose more customers. What a brialliant move >:( Well, at least I know it would be easy to steal biz at $5/pack out there.



All forms of business could use more people with your integrity. We are becoming a service oriented society but no one wants to provide "service". I would be proud to have you pack for me.
Sparky:P
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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Thanks! Honestly - I think it is just common sense and typical courtesy. I work in sales - if I have a product that you can count on, is worth the investment, and the customer service is top-notch, no sales experience is needed - the product will sell itself on reputation alone.

I feel that everything in this industry could live by that - I was quite successful as a packer by following that idea.

I'm packing only when I need to these days since I am trying to make more jumps in a year than I am pack jobs. But I may take you up on that offer.
_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

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Ok, let's look at the facts....sure packing is a tough job, but even the slowest packer can pack 5 rigs an hour. That's REALLY slow. That's $25 an hour! That's pretty good money for something that does not require formal training. Compare that to the usual $5 per student that an IAD or S/L instructor gets for putting out a student....and they had to PAY to get their rating.

Bottom line, if you CHOOSE to clean toilets, don't complain about how dirty the toilets are....especially if you are getting paid well to do it.

BTW, I always pack my own.

Just my 2 cents,
Rock

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Listen, I would like to make the job as easy as possible for a packer of student gear. I feel like I leave a god-awful tangled mess. Tigger at Elsinore was in the packing room one time after my AFF-5 jump. I dropped off my rig, and told him how much I appreciated his work. He looked at me, and laughed in Beavis and Butthead style, and said, "Dude, that OPENED?? Huh Huh......."



Sounds like Tigger. . .lol. Bob, have Tom or one of the other instructors show you how to daisy chain your lines. . .it makes the HUGE student canopy easier to carry, even for little old me. AND the best part is, when you do that, everything is neat and clean for the packer - brakes on velcro, slider up, lines neat. . .it makes everyone happy. . .

It is still $5 a pack job at Elsinore, so COME OUT and jump this weekend. We will all have a great time. . .
________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

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When i pack for people i don't expect any of that. If they stow the brakes, i consider it a bonus, but it's definately not expected. Replacing rubberbands is the packers job, not the customer. I spent 2 summers as a packer and know that it's hard work, but it's something i CHOSE to do. I still do some cash packing, but only for a few people and only when i feel like it. And i do charge more if you jump a big ass main...if you don't wanna pay me, find another packer.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

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Slider, brakes, AND PC AND rubber bands? No way. I was a packer for a good while and I never even expected someone to set their brakes? Why? Well, the way I looked at it was that I'm packing their parachute and that's part of packing it, so I'm going to do it.

I also didn't charge more for larger canopies, I packed all sizes (except for tandems) for $5. Tandems are much different and more time consuming (not just because of size, since that's not the issue), so I was paid $10.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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Slider, brakes, AND PC AND rubber bands? No way. I was a packer for a good while and I never even expected someone to set their brakes? Why? Well, the way I looked at it was that I'm packing their parachute and that's part of packing it, so I'm going to do it.

I also didn't charge more for larger canopies, I packed all sizes (except for tandems) for $5. Tandems are much different and more time consuming (not just because of size, since that's not the issue), so I was paid $10.



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Agreed!
I rarely pack anything except student gear and asking them to do anything more than return canopies without step-throughs is way too much trouble.
You might as well lecture a brick wall!

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Sorry Barry, I hate to jump on this bandwagon, but I have to agree with most of the replies here. Packing is a job that you decided to do. Setting the brakes and everything else that you want jumpers to do is you job. If you don't like the job, look for something else where.

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how many times have you missed a load because a packer didn't get you packed up in time?



Maybe you're taking on too many clients if you can't get them back into the air.

Now I understand that packing is hard work. Heck, I paid for most of my student jumps packing T-10s and PC. But I never asked the jumpers bring back their canopies to do prep work for me.

I did do some prep work for my friend that was packing for me at a big way event. The only reason I did, is because she was working off a cypress that she had bought from me and she had taken on a lot of work those three days.
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

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From the consumers point of view, no. After I've stowed the brakes, uncollapsed the slider, cocked the pilot chute, run the lines, and replaced broken rubber bands I might as well just pack the fucking thing. Tell you what, I'll do all that and only pay you $2.50 per pack job, sound fair?

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it will put more money in your underpaid packer's pocket..



Dude, it's a job, not a charity.

-
Jim



In my opinion, Jim is right on track with his response. If I have time to dick around and do half the packjob for you, then I might as well finish it myself. Now generally, in the infrequent times that I do use a packer, I will unstow the slider on the dropzone. I will also stow my brakes just so the packer does not fuck it up, but that's it. I can pack my main in under five minutes and most packers I would trust are capable of the same. That means you are making a dollar a MINUTE to pack a damn parachute. NOBODY on a busy dropzone makes as much money as packers. Not the manager, the instructors, the video editors, NOBODY. I know that because I WAS the manager/instructor that shook my head everytime I saw what I was making as compared to my lead packer. Sure, packing is very hard on your body, but it's a profession you chose. If you are saying that you are too busy then I am simply going to laugh at you because that means you are clearly being greedy. I don't buy your gripe at all. You know, I have been jumping 23 years now and I am fascinated by the sheer amount of cottage industries that have sprouted up in the past decade. While I applaud the fact that you and your kind have found a way to make money off of lazy skydivers, over-worked instructors, and sponsored teams, don't expect any sympathy from me because you "waste" maybe one minute uncocking a slider and setting brakes for that person who really DOES need to sprint to the plane to make that next AFF dive.

Chuck Blue
D-12501
AFF/SL/TM-I, BMCI, PRO, S&TA (and still making less than my packer)

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Sorry brother but I don't agree at all. I am paying somebody to pack my parachute. Not to do just the parts they want to. If I do all that I may as well pack it for myself.

If you go into a restaurant and bus and set your own table, then take your own order and give it to the cooks, go get your drinks. Let's say the waitress brings the food to you. Do you tip her after? Hell no! she didn't do snything but her job, and not even the whole thing. She (or he) gets NOTHING.

Same for packers. If I am using one it is because I have a lot going on and need the extra time for debriefs or dirtdives or what ever. I am not there to make the packer more money. He (or she) is there to make things easier for me and they are getting paid for it.

Plus how can I feel sorry for someone that can make enough after one weekend that they can go out and buy a nice used car, and not even have to pay taxes on the loot they bring in?

Sorry, maybe I am an asshole but either do the whole job or get a new one.
Dom


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If they stow the brakes, i consider it a bonus, but it's definately not expected. Replacing rubberbands is the packers job, not the customer.



Good girl Sunny. I have heard packers bitch about buying rubber bands. Which is funny to me. You are in a sense running your own business. It is called overhead!
Dom


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How about paying a little more and adding a tip ?B|
Buy your packer a beer at the end of the day.B|



here is a tip:

you will make more money if you PACK FASTER, BIOTCH! :P:P

on topic: same same. you sound like you starting a union or something. lol. i got a gimpy hand and a canopy too large for my bag so i gotta use a packer. i set my brakes and stow my slider and drop the fuckin thing on the mat. and then i watch, as chuck said, someone make $50 an hour. lol.
namaste, motherfucker.

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try to uncollapse your slider, stow your brakes, cock your pilot chute, run the lines and perhaps even replace broken rubber bands...



everytime about once every year i hear some packer speak like this... and every year it seems like somone adds somthing to it....

hell if you wont stow my brakes..... i will find another packer....

i will stow my brakes if i got time in the feild when i land but i usually dont have the time to do that....

but it depends an weather we are busy... but IMHO i would expect you to do it all..... as long as i dont tangle the shit up...

while im doing all this stuff you would like me to do... would you edit my video for me>???

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Right on dude. I pack student rigs at a DZ and they're more often than not horribly tangled. And I'm a slow packer. I still earn more than I would sitting in the manifest or at Burger King.

I'd suspect the point of using a packer would that he/she would do the stuff that needs to be done. Having said that, I uncollapse my/stow brakes prior to anything else, and I would lay up the rig nicely, but the $5 a packjob people need something to do too B|. Packing is pretty draining though so i can understand their perspective...but the pay is definitely not "bad".

Heh, something funny is I've seen some packers with an attitude of "be nice to me...or I might not pack as carefully as I could". Sorta implied in what they write/say. Guess those people don't understand marketing, business and "supply and demand" B|.

Santa Von GrossenArsch
I only come in one flavour
ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

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...Cocking the pilot chute before you pick it up to pro-pack is stupid...



I agree completely. The hanging weight of most d-bags will cause them to slide down the kill line, partially uncocking the PC. Thats the grounds for a PC hesitation of PC in tow. So, to me, that's just part of a packjob (after its flaked and on the ground).

Like most folks, I stow my brakes and open the slider. For me, that happens before I even move the slider off the risers, immediately after landing. The rest happens in the packing process, whether I am paying for it with sweat or paper.

End-of-the-day tips are based on openings. If I am comfortable sucking it down to the bargain basement on your packjobs, expect some extra quan. :D If ya smack the fuck out of me on six of seven jumps, even after I tell you about it each time, don't expect anything above what's required.>:(

mike

Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

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be nice to me...or I might not pack as carefully as I could". Sorta implied in what they write/say. Guess those people don't understand marketing, business and "supply and demand"



I am the absolute LAST person to ever blame a packer for a malfunction. I mean they just are not packer induced.

HOWEVER, if I ever heard or caught a packer behaving this way after I or anyone else had a mal on a rig they packed they would understand something very quickly.

An asskicking.
----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

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I pack occasionally for fun jumpers, more often just the rentals and student rigs when needed. My opinion would be that the entire job is mine. If a pack job has my name on it, I would prefer to do everything myself. That's the deal as I see it, and probably more importantly, if the pack job works or mals, or spanks someone etc., it's my work. Besides, if someone else prepped the rig for me, I would just have to recheck everything they did anyway. I've been called the "anal packer." So be it. I'm slow, careful, and I double check everything.
As far as courtesies afforded me when someone wants me to pack, I only ask people to stow the toggles when they land so I don't have to spend ten minutes untwisting the brakes. But I still get that all the time anyway.
So my opinion is, if you're being paid, do it.

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