I'm not a Stern machine owner nor have I really kept up with every post in this thread, so forgive me for making any assumptions or being wrong.

I don't understand why the "fix" is to install washers under the posts, if the problem is in the clear coat and not the posts themselves. The washers will just create a larger diameter "pool"; you could install a 1" washer and you'd have a 1" wide pool, as evidenced by pictures of pooling around washers. Same goes for pulling the artwork away from the posts - is the problem caused by the artwork or the clear coat? Pulling the artwork away will just make the chipping, once it occurs, less noticeable since there won't be chipped artwork, just chipped clear coat.

I never planned to buy a NIB (after my first one from CGC), though I was tempted to get the new BK game, but now I've pretty much written off anything Stern has to offer. And JJP? Simply forget it. Seems like they embody, or are starting to embody, everything that is wrong with the pinball world.

Or maybe chipped playfields are just part of Stern's new "Lifestyle Brand"...

A lot of it is due to the lighting and angle. I've owned my BK2K for five years I think, and never noticed a dimple until last year when I was waxing the playfield in different lighting.

If I had a high-gloss shine on the playfield, the second picture would look no different than the worst pictures posted here of new games.

Same goes for my AFMr. With the lights off, the playfield looks smooth as glass; even in certain lighting it looks smooth. But turn the lights up and it looks like the moon (mostly in front of the spaceship).
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My BK2K and AFMr both have dimples. You can't see them with the game powered down, but when the lights are on (and at certain angles) they are noticeable. It's the side-effect of a steel ball flying around on a piece of wood and bouncing off stuff.

The obvious grain on the playfield, I completely agree that that is unacceptable and a quality-control issue.

I agree that playfield quality levels is an absurd idea. I can understand different artwork, but not integral parts of the machine. That's just turning a problem into a money-making opportunity, at the expense of the end product, and everyone should be vehemently against such ideas.

Stern gets away with poor QA because their customers accept it, plain and simple. A business is in business to make money; unless they start to see significant lost revenues due to these QA issues, nothing will change.