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how much to learn to pack?

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during the debrief of my last jump (lvl 8) my coach was going over things to start thinking about doing for my proficiency card. he mentioned that i'll need to learn how to pack and that i may need to give who i get to teach me some money. but i forgot to ask how much. so how much should i expect to be asked for by or to offer to give who i get to teach me to pack? just trying to get a ballpark figure. thanks
diamonds are a dawgs best friend

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I would teach you for free... But my openings are somewhat random, so you may wanna find someone else...:P

I think if you said "please", "thank you", and showed appreciation in any way that makes sense, most skydivers would teach you how to pack for free...

Maybe give the guy a free jump if he really worked hard teaching you...

EDIT: A packer at our DZ had a packing class at night once - $5 per person to cover his repacking of the student rig after we were done.....

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I've had several people who have helped me out by showing me packing tips... I've always at least given them something for their time, if they'd accept it...

I see it like this: In the 45 minutes or so they spend working with me, they could have packed 3-4 rigs, so my giving them 20 bucks or so evens things out...
Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

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Go in on a slow day and I'd be surprised(saddened actually) if someone wasn't around to show you how to pack for free.


How sad is that, that somone would charge to teach packing[:/][:/] Friday night, slow days, weather holds, these are all good times to learn,:)
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

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One of our packers taught me. I went in on a Friday night and he spent a good 2 hours teaching me and more time the next day watching me when I had questions. I paid for his time.

Not just in skydiving but in general. If I ask for help from a buddy for something he does for a living, I always offer some sort of compensation. If they refuse, I'll at least make sure to get the beer next time. Besides, bringing beer to your DZ is NEVER frowned upon.
50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

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I always offer free packing lessons to people at my home dropzone, people always seem to have issues with certain aspects, and I am always willing to show some tips or something (as a packer) in fact last night I helped someone out with packing cause he was having some issues

cheers

Dave
http://www.skyjunky.com

CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

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I paid I think $50 for a formal packing class that had 3 or 4 people in it. We did 2 or 3 packjobs over several hours. I then proceeded to get tons and tons of free help as I practiced packing later on.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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Anyone is welcome at my house for lessons as oftn as they like until they are confident to do it themselves without supervision.

As for payment, no-one charged me to teach me so keep \the tradition strong. ITS FREE YOU IDIOTS!
I like my canopy...


...it lets me down.

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Anyone is welcome at my house for lessons as oftn as they like until they are confident to do it themselves without supervision.

As for payment, no-one charged me to teach me so keep \the tradition strong. ITS FREE YOU IDIOTS!


YEAH what the Tall dorky looking guy said ;) IT"S FREE
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

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Charge for packing lessons?

Nah....too much fun watching the screw-ups in the beginning and too much pleasure in seeing them finally getting the hang of it when the light comes on. I should be paying them.

:D:)
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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Charge for packing lessons?

Nah....too much fun watching the screw-ups in the beginning and too much pleasure in seeing them finally getting the hang of it when the light comes on. I should be paying them.

:D:)



Another funny thing to do while teaching packing... Not that I did this to a guy who reads these forums and is likely to chime in... ;):)

For their first packjob... Give them your rig. Help them step by step, and watch them do it all.. Maybe throw in a few, "I'til work, but I don't know if I would jump it" even though you don't mean it, if you want to be particularly feisty...

Then on the 2 minute call, ask them if they would jump it... They will bound to say no, feeling they were super clumsy... Then throw the rig on and run to the plane...

Last time I did this, the guy came out to watch my opening - and guess what - I think it was the best I ever had and I told him that.:P

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Money or sweat?:S

I have a great bunch o' peeps who are willing to take the time to watch and critique.

Work the system, it's there for the taking....:).
.
Anvil Brother #69

Sidelined with a 5mm C5-C6 herniated disk...
Back2Back slammers and 40yr old fat guys don't mix!

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I paid I think $50 for a formal packing class that had 3 or 4 people in it. We did 2 or 3 packjobs over several hours. I then proceeded to get tons and tons of free help as I practiced packing later on.



Usually if you pay an instructor's fee for packing or anything else, you get a commitment to help you out for as long as it takes. Look at it this way, whatever you pay to learn how to pack, vs. $6 a packjob - any price will quickly pay for itself and you'll be set for life.

It's like that old adage about teaching a man to fish and he eats for life.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

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One of our packers taught me. I went in on a Friday night and he spent a good 2 hours teaching me and more time the next day watching me when I had questions. I paid for his time.



Same to me. Also I sometime ask our rigger to watch my packing when he's not busy. There was a lot of very small but important things I missed during my pack course :)

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Not just in skydiving but in general. If I ask for help from a buddy for something he does for a living, I always offer some sort of compensation.



Completely agree.
* Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

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My girl was the best student I ever had when it came to packing lessons.

She was a student with about half a dozen jumps when she wanted to learn to pack. I was a busy vidiot - S/L jumpmaster

Pack 1. Watched me pack with explanations
Pack 2. Same as lesson one
Pack 3. talked her through a pack job as she did it
Pack 4. Watch her with no input. Great pack job.

Never talked to her aobut packing again. I got about 4-500 pack jobs out of her before she became a vidiot and too busy to pack for me.

And all it cost me was .........;)

oh yeah and a Rig/camera etc etc etc
I like my canopy...


...it lets me down.

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Go in on a slow day and I'd be surprised(saddened actually) if someone wasn't around to show you how to pack for free.



Exactly. I can't believe some dropzones actually charge for a packing class. In my opinion that has always been a part of primary instruction and ought to be included in the cost of the first jump course.

Chuck

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Skratch Garrison taught me how to pack with the understanding I'd teach two more people.



Same attitude where I jump. I never paid to learn to pack or for instruction after the static line class, or even anyone's jump bill to jump with me. It's a pay it forward environment. I wonder if it were like this at more dropzones if we'd have more jumpers and more jumper retention.

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