Costs would go up without distributors.

Stern makes the games and ships them out.

Distributors have the warehouse space to still be sitting on Wrestlemanias, Beatles, Guardians of Galaxy, Game of Thrones, etc. Stern doesn't have the space to store the games.

Plus, Stern isn't setup to sell directly to the consumer. They would need to hire more people to handle this. Shipping would be a nightmare for them.

Quick recap: Stern would need to hire more people, get a huge warehouse, charge more to cover the cost of unsold games, and overseas...I can't imagine the disaster that would be.

I think people are forgetting that every machine they make is sold. Their whole model is based on that. Once that changes, costs will need to go up to compensate for this.

How many are drop shipped overseas?

All the drop shipping is done by the distributors...they do the legwork for Stern.

I look at automated, Marco, coin taker, game exchange, little shop of games, game room guys, great American pinball etc. are all sitting on inventory...all that inventory is fully paid to Stern. Risk sits on the distributors to sell the games.

That $7,500,000 isn’t worth it to them...otherwise, they would’ve nuked the distributor model. I can’t imagine what their costs would be to get that last bit. They would need to be a world wide distributor, with tens of thousands of customers, and taking on all the risk for unsold inventory.

That’s why their model makes sense. Only dozens of customers that need to pay in full.

This thread is anther perfect example of why economics needs to be taught in school.

Economics is a science. It's a crying shame that when I was in high school, I was forced to take chemistry, biology, earth sciences...yet, economics was an elective.

Retailers keep prices lower and can provide services manufacturers can't.

It is 100% true that retailers keep prices lower.

Give an example.

Is it the furniture places? The ones who advertised as direct, ship in the furniture, put it together there, then ship it to you.

I am 100% correct on this...it's called economics.

You are 100% incorrect.

In the manufacturing industry, they do not sell direct to customers. It wouldn't make sense for them...now they would need to carry inventory.

Any company that says they sell direct, I can guarantee are lying. It's like the furniture example I used.

Manufacturing companies are in the business of manufacturing...that's why they have retailers...this way 100% of what is manufactured is sold. I honestly don't understand what is so incredibly difficult to understand about this.

It would be more money. All the risk is on the distributors, not stern. Before the machine is built, it is sold. That allows stern to keep their prices down. If they are going to stock thousands of unsold games, they need to pass down those costs to us.

Every game stern makes is sold.

The only time a game sits at Stern, is when it goes overseas. However, that game is already paid for.

IMO, Jersey Jack should go to 100% distributor model. If they have any games sitting in their warehouse, waiting to be sold, they are then losing money on the machine.