When did paid packing start?

[steve1 5]

Back in the olden days (early 70's) everyone packed their own main. At least I never heard of anyone who got paid for doing such a thing. I quit jumping for about twenty years. When I came back, there were all kinds of new changes.....this was one of them.

At first I figured only the wealthy, did that kind of thing. Kind of like hiring someone to shine your shoes, or drive your car, or something like that.... but no.... even peons, like myself, sometimes hired a packer.
Anyone have any history on this subject....When and where did you see your first hired packer?

[Andy9o8 0]

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When and where did you see your first hired packer?

When I was a kid, I was a huge Lombardi fan.

[fossg 0]

Back in the day I remember packers packing student gear. My guess is the idea just evolved. The introduction of ZP undoubtly helped things along. Great fabric but what a bitch to pack

[lodestar 0]

Depends...I was a rigger at Zhills and was responsible for packing student rigs and reserves.
It was not uncommon for a few guys to ask for a main pack job on a casual basis. The rigs were just added to the pile and were ready the next morning for them to jump.
Now and then someone would get the bug to make as many jumps as possible in a days time and everyone kinda helped pack those rigs, the "pay" was often a couple cold ones that night at the bar.
If I had to guess on a date it would have been in '69-'75 years.

[oldwomanc6 38]

In the late '70s, I financed my first couple hundred jumps at Elsinore packing student rigs--up until it flooded. I didn't pack rigs at Perris, though.

Up through the mid-'80s the only person I ever saw not packing his own rigs was Bill Dennis--his girlfriend (non-jumper) always did his packing for him. We all thought it was funny that he could get a girl to not only show up every weekend and never complain, but to pack for him. I think we all were a little jealous, too

eta: early '90s in Hawaii, I don't recall ever seeing prof. packers there/then either.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[JerryBaumchen 1,047]

Hi steve,

The first time that I ever saw a full-time, paid packer was in Brazil in ~'92 or so.

I could not believe that people would not pack their own rig.

JerryBaumchen

[kimemerson 7]

My understanding is that it has to do with Billy Weber, Rickster Powell, Todd Charmont and maybe Andi Duff. In DeLand. circa 1984. And it also might have had something to do with a world meet around that time. If you can find and ask Billy, I damn well know he'd love to tell you, regardless of the truth.

[JohnRich 4]

When the rich yuppies took over the sport.

[virgin-burner 1]

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When the rich yuppies took over the sport.

you mean, like yourself!?

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[virgin-burner 1]

Quote

Back in the day I remember packers packing student gear. My guess is the idea just evolved. The introduction of ZP undoubtly helped things along. Great fabric but what a bitch to pack

ZP aint THAT bad after all only takes like 20 packjobs on a brand new chute to get it dialed in, after 50 or so it gets really easy..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[nt8us 0]

i was packing cheapos for 25 cents and p.c.s(para commanders) for 50 cents back in 1967.of course i was only 13 at the time

[SCR216 2]

In the mid 60's I watched a 14 year old son of a friend pack his dad's main. It looked OK to me so I let him pack my 32 LOPO. I gave him $1.50 and then went right up to do a cut-away from a line-over. The kid was sick about it. I don't stay mad long so I told him he could pack it again, but only under my supervision, and that I was not going to pay until after I landed under a good canopy. I also told him that I may not be his dad, but I for sure could kick his ass if I had another line-over. These days we still start to laugh as soon as we see each other. A few weeks ago I watched one packer do a shit job of a speed stuff into a bag and another packer work like a pro with concentration and focus. If I don't want to pack my own, I'll go with the the guy with focus.

[riggermick 6]

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Back in the olden days (early 70's) everyone packed their own main. At least I never heard of anyone who got paid for doing such a thing. I quit jumping for about twenty years. When I came back, there were all kinds of new changes.....this was one of them.

At first I figured only the wealthy, did that kind of thing. Kind of like hiring someone to shine your shoes, or drive your car, or something like that.... but no.... even peons, like myself, sometimes hired a packer.
Anyone have any history on this subject....When and where did you see your first hired packer?

When People truly got fuckin LAZY and everything was handed to to them on a plate! Instant EVERYTHING, it just get's worse every year.

Shit, I'm starting to sound like my old man! Remember the day when we all swore that we would NEVER be like that? Sighhhhhhhh

Mick.

[jackwallace 3]

The first time I remember what would be the modern style of Packer. Some one that packed for experienced jumpers, was at Freak Brother/WFFC in Quincy in 82. These where people that came there just to pack for money.
Before that it was like other people have said, a buck for a student rig or a free jump.

U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

[councilman24 36]

Freak Brothers wasn't in Quincy in 1982. It didn't get there until 1986. Freeport in 1985.

Did you mean 1992?

In 1985 Rick Highsmith was trying to scrounge money at FreeBrothers in Freeport. He put a cardboard sign up next to his car. $5. He got very few if any takers. There might have been a packing concession in 86 at Quincy but I dont' remember one. Certainly by the early 90's there was. The lazy guys on 'vacation' would drop their rigs there, walk to the end of the runway where we were camped, sit and chat for awhile and eventually walk back up to see if their rig was done. Mine was packed by the time they came to sit down to wait for it to get done.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[PeteS 0]

I started packing for $$ or should I say cents in 1974. I was 12 years old and started packing for a quarter ea.My family did not have much back then and if I could come home with a few bucks every weekend, that was cool. Guy's would wait for me to get to them and one day Joe McLaughlin offered me $1.00 to pack if he could be first.
It ruined it for everyone else after that!!I did a pretty good business for a kid, learned a lot and made some good friends along the way.

Those PC's in Stylemaster containers were a bitch for a skinny kid to close, but I learned good technique. Started packing Reserves under supervision at 13 years of age then started to get really exploited, er excited, yea that's it!!

[davidlayne 5]

So it's all Joe McLaughlin's fault.

I don't care how many skydives you've got,
until you stepped into complete darkness at
800' wearing 95 lbs of equipment and 42 lbs
of parachute, son you are still a leg!

[Niki1 1]

Quote

My understanding is that it has to do with Billy Weber, Rickster Powell, Todd Charmont and maybe Andi Duff. In DeLand. circa 1984. And it also might have had something to do with a world meet around that time. If you can find and ask Billy, I damn well know he'd love to tell you, regardless of the truth.

DZ kids were probably the first to get to pack. Harold Stewarts son Johnny packed for 2 10-way teams at the '74 Z-Hills Turkey meet.Para Commanders in sleeves. No malfunctions.
"Professiona"l packing may have started with competition teams wanting to save time and energy. The Air Bears in '85 had Alaska Bob for a packer. He went north after they won the Nationals and didn't come back to DeLand for a while. Tommy asked if I wanted to go to the world meet in Yugoslavia. I let him know that I was no where close to Bob as a packer but they took me anyway. A great trip that led to the demo EVER. (That's another story)

The next year, "86, Aziz (sp) came to DeLand and hired Tommy to coach his 4 way team. That was the beginning of professional coaching. Aziz was the only one of the four who could skydive well so Tommy built a team around him. Aziz paid for everything. Skip Kniley was the paid video man, Fang was the paid packer/rigger. This might have been the first professional team other than the Golden Knights. Billy, Rickster, Todd, and Andi were all there at the beginning and jumped on the band wagon. Other teams saw the advantages of having their own packer and it went on from there.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

[steve1 5]

Shit, I'm starting to sound like my old man! Remember the day when we all swore that we would NEVER be like that? Sighhhhhhhh

Mick.

Isn't that awful! I always swore I'd never be like that. Yet there are days when I hear his words coming out of my mouth. I look in the mirror, every morning, and there's my "old" Dad looking back at me. I even walk like him....I picked up a limp somewhere along the line....If I had only had a better role model, maybe I wouldn't be such a grouchy old fart!

[fossg 0]

My canopy is 5 times as big yours. more stuff to pack

[WGore 0]

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When the rich yuppies took over the sport.

Truer words were never spoken. I doubt that I could afford to learn how to jump now.
There use to be a big crowd at the DZ on Saturday night but now you are lucky if there is someone to share a beer with at the end of the day.

GUNFIRE, The sound of Freedom!

[JerryBaumchen 1,047]

Hi Bob,

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There use to be a big crowd at the DZ on Saturday night . . .

That was a major factor on why I continued to jump.

JerryBaumchen

[jackwallace 3]

Quote

Freak Brothers wasn't in Quincy in 1982. It didn't get there until 1986. Freeport in 1985.

Did you mean 1992?

In 1985 Rick Highsmith was trying to scrounge money at FreeBrothers in Freeport. He put a cardboard sign up next to his car. $5. He got very few if any takers. There might have been a packing concession in 86 at Quincy but I dont' remember one. Certainly by the early 90's there was. The lazy guys on 'vacation' would drop their rigs there, walk to the end of the runway where we were camped, sit and chat for awhile and eventually walk back up to see if their rig was done. Mine was packed by the time they came to sit down to wait for it to get done.

Right year wrong town. I remember it, because that was the first year I wasn't jumping anymore. I thought Dam, never having to back again how cool is that.

U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

[drjump 0]

In 1970 Houston Parachute Service & School of Skydiving hired a high school student to re-pack all the student and staff rigs. When he wasn't busy he would pack other jumper's rigs just to earn more money. Real hard worker was he!

[piisfish 135]

Quote

The next year, "86, Aziz (sp) came to DeLand and hired Tommy to coach his 4 way team. That was the beginning of professional coaching. Aziz was the only one of the four who could skydive well so Tommy built a team around him. Aziz paid for everything. Skip Kniley was the paid video man, Fang was the paid packer/rigger. This might have been the first professional team other than the Golden Knights.

for those who can read french, http://membres.multimania.fr/vr8/parnov87.html contains some of the history of french teams, and Aziz is mentionned quite a few times. Very interesting

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM