Re: the great price fix debate


cchunn3@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Koz Pinlicious wrote:
i am saying stern should only let distributors mark up a machine so
much so everyone has the same sale price. a lot more units would get
sold. this would work both ways though as distributors could not lower
the price to any customer except possibly ops who have a liscence to
operate games.


I don't see how this could help. Doesn't Stern reward "big spenders"
with volume discounts? If everyone is on the same scale there would be
no reason to buy in volume. I think that would result in lower sales.

also, distributors are the ones who sell direct to ops and have had
decades of business with them. you definately keep distributors around.


Absolutely. Let the distributors buy and store the games and sell them
off while you are busy building the next one.

as far as the market past distributors, hopefully that would all dry up
so only distributors would make the money because of the cheapest
prices. that way, all these mom and pop shops pimping the hobby get the
f out and distributors can make most of the money on sales by selling
more machines.

It hasn't affected resale of older units yet. Why anything sells more
than a new Stern completely baffles me. I don't think anything will
dampen the resale market, even the fake "high end" market, until people
figure out an old pinball machine just isn't worth more than new and
stop paying the prices. It may never happen.

if someone wanted to add a warranty on a machine for
home service for a period of time, then you make that an option like a
car warranty.


Virtually impossible. Distributors sell to a way too large area to be
promising warranty service.

the idea is for stern to sell as many machines as possible.


I agree. But I think the best way to do that is to improve quality and
dependability while reducing the final cost. Maybe that's impossible,
but if I were in charge that would be priority one. I must admit Stern
has some issues with initial quality and dependability they need to
improve on. The games have to function to make money.

if the price is controlled, then more games would sell. the whole
industry would benefit.


I feel exactly the opposite. I think it would stifle it into ruin.

and for god sakes, raise the price to play already. jesus christ!


Yes, perhaps it is time. But how many people will try pinball once who
put in a dollar to find the game defective? Maybe the same as not, who
knows? Dependability is KEY.

-cody
CARGPB4

Pinlicious ( ...there is no spoon.)

Aside from being illegal, no manufacturer can fix prices legally. There
are ways to encourage certain minimum advertised prices but in this
country we have a free and open market and price is not everything as
we know.

New Pinball machines should have the following;

1- A Mars Bill acceptor - Every coin-op game outside of redemption that
really makes steady money has a bill acceptor. We do NOT need another
dollar coin, that's a waste. I don't even carry change of any kind.

2- Program the games so that the operator cannot set the game price
lower than 50 cent play per game. Sure they can use a coin multiplier
board but that is work. At 50 cent play give a bonus for $2 inserted
(not a $2 bill) at once giving 5 plays. It's an odd number and will
encourage more play.

3- Set the score display so we can see every player's score at the same
time, 1,2,3 or 4 players. I want to see all the scores at the same
time. This way I can see where I am in the competition.

4- Lower the score!!! Top score can be a million, maybe two million. I
need 10,000 points for shooting the ball??

Pinball was always a game of mechanical action and skill. I kind of
lost track when we got to multi level playfields and 100+ million
scores. I love to play but these games need to make money for an
Operator if they are to become a stable part of a route. Right now
pinball is a necessary evil for an operator who will only buy pinball
for a location if he is forced to - and - that pinball machine is just
part of a mix of other better earning games.

When I designed the Parker Bohn III Pro Bowler ShuffleAlley game #'s
1-3 on this list were most important in my mind.

Jack

.

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