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Customer service varies widely in the parachute industry. This surprises me for such a small, specialized industry. Skydivers can talk and gossip with the best of them, and a bad experience with a manufacturer or supplier can go a long way. And it seems even the recent economic downturn did little to light a fire under the companies with service issues. Yet those companies with great business sense and those who just love what they do are continuing to improve their customer service. Last month a first-time customer with Chuting Star Rigging Loft brought in two rigs for repairs, reserve inspections and repacks. A few months ago the skydiver had a reserve ride and experienced a pronounced turn in his reserve. His rigger at the time inspected the reserve but found nothing wrong with it and packed it back up. When I checked the line trim during this inspection process, it was clear there was a difference in the line trim from side-to-side. The reserve was sent to the manufacturer, Precision Aerodynamics, for a line retrim. Precision President George Galloway contacted me shortly thereafter to confirm the line trim issue and had a test jumper jump the 218 Dash-M reserve. It did indeed have a turn. For the customer’s peace of mind, Galloway has decided to replace the Dash-M reserve with its new R-Max reserve free of charge. Galloway says the reserve is still airworthy and the turn could be corrected with a retrim, but that he wants Precision customers to whole-heartedly believe in their products. This doesn’t mean every skydiver who claims to have a turn in their reserve will get a brand new canopy, but it does mean that Precision understands the value of great customer service. Companies such as Precision, Altico, Velocity Sports Equipment, Para-Gear, Larsen and Brusgaard, Bev Suits and SSK Industries are continuing to set the standard for others to follow. Support those companies!

What started as a pair of “flip-flops” left in the door way for a couple of weeks at my home drop zone turned into two-hour “ran-sacking” of litter. The garbage around my drop zone finally reached a breaking point after seeing those flip-flops for the 15th day in a row in the same place. It amazed me the amount of abandoned junk we cleaned out and threw-away. With the help of a couple of skydivers, we managed to fill up four large garbage bags of hats, bottles, shirts, wrappers, paper, broken goggles, torn gloves, socks, rubber bands, closing loops, line, broken sunglasses, etc. I couldn’t believe the amount of junk skydivers had just left lying around and then probably passed by for weeks on end without tossing in the garbage can. It was like the garbage had become a part of the general landscape. The drop zone looked so much more professional once all of the miscellaneous junk was thrown away. There is a common saying along our nation’s hiking trails that we leave only footprints and take with us only memories and photographs. The same should be said for our drop zones. On a busy weekend day it is understandable to misplace a water bottle or leave behind a T-shirt, but we should make a concentrated effort to clean up after ourselves before leaving. Take pride in helping keep the packing area, building and bathrooms cleaner than when you arrived. It doesn’t take much. In the middle of a recent Sunday someone had spilled a soft drink in the middle of a bathroom floor. It took me 5 seconds to clean it up with a paper towel. And yesterday two skydivers took two hours out of their day to find and fill all the holes in the landing area while removing the animal dung. During this busy summer season help your drop zone staff keep the building and landing areas looking good so first-time skydivers enjoy the total experience and want to come back. Drop zones should be an oasis instead of a dump. It’s all up to you. :-)