Hey Guys;

I just thought I had to post here and hopefully give you all some news on what's been happening at CPR this summer.

- Kevin had to shut down his home based part of CPR as we just totally outgrew it. We started with a small section of his basement and when we shut down a few weeks ago he calculated we were using 2600sqft of his house!! His entire basement, living room, hallways and at least 2 spare bedrooms were completely full of CPR stuff. Even one of his bathrooms has PFs stacked against a wall! So we found a new location not far from his place and he's been moving in over the past few weeks. He tells me he'll be fully up and running this Monday..... he's a very optimistic guy

Once Kevin said he was shutting down and I blew a board in my CNC I took it as a sign for me to also take advantage of Kevin's print shop being down and I dismantled the two small shops I had been operating out of for many years and decided to build a new two story shop that will have almost 3x the combined space of the old shop. It'll have proper power and decent insulation so anyone working there won't freeze in the winter or have heatstroke in the summer. I was told by my builder that it would be ready this Friday.... but so far all I see is a foundation..... another demented optimist

In the past year or so since Stu became a partner at CPR and he agreed to take on the roll of Art Director and he's been posting and fielding many of the questions posted online of CPR. Even though Stu's opinions are just that... Stu's opinions, whenever he stated a fact it was backed up by the knowledge of being a CPR Partner and having total access to the inner working of the menagerie that we call CPR. I was very disappointed when he recently decided to stop posting in the name of CPR because that was a very valuable asset to us that was lost. I have implored Stu to continue posting as it gave unprecedented access to all of you into where we were going. Hopefully he reconsiders and begins keeping you guys up to date once again even in some limited capacity, as having me update the CPR website once every few months.... OK, every several months... or even worse was just not doing anyone any favors.

- Preorders- The idea of preorders was a way we came up to initially gauge the demand we might expect for a PF. When I first started making PFs we took deposits but the logistics of tracking hundreds of emails with changes of addresses, emails, changes, etc.. was a nightmare. When CPR formed the preorders just seemed the best way to do things. It gave us a rough idea of how many PFs might be wanted which allowed us to make an educated guess and order the number of inserts we needed. The real issues was the long lag times for inserts. It many cases it's been 10 months to get an order and that order might have 6 months or more of inserts for planned PFs. So at least some of the PFs are 18 months away when we place the order for the inserts. Lots can change in 18 months, the artwork might not be ready yet, guys sell off their games, you name it, it's happened. we actually have inserts for many PFs which we later decided not to make or inserts for PFs that we couldn't get licenses for. Anyway, the preorder system worked as well as could be expected given the obvious limitations. It actually worked much better that we ever expected. As the list got older more and more guys would drop off, not responding to their call for payments for many many reasons. Sometimes a guy moved or changed emails etc but since we go through the list top to bottom changes like this are very hard to track, impossible really given our limited spare time. However, this gave guys at the bottom of the list to get a PF he might never have gotten. In almost all cases everyone that had showed an interest would get a crack at one if their email we had was current. I think Playboy and WhirlWind were the only ones that we completely ran out of before everyone got a shot. However, Stu has been very influential in us deciding that the preorder lists might be more of a curse than a real use. We'll retain all the data we have from our current lists but I doubt we will regularly use them except in special cases from now on.

Lastly I was going to rewrite this but decided to just cut and paste from a post a made a few days ago. It was a post that wanted us to add carts etc to our website and some other suggestions. I hope this sheds a little light on how we have ALWAYS done things.

<paste>

We're a few pinheads trying to make parts for you guys. .... carts? While shopping carts are available at the local grocery store we really haven't figured out a way to get them set up on our website. Seriously, until...well... this weekend we were a couple of guys who make this stuff "solely" in our basements. Our first and truly most important task is to actually make the parts. Then we have to find a simple way to have you guys purchase them....hence the website. Beyond these basics we think its more important to show good pictures and discuss how we make parts rather than spend a huge amount of time learning how to code the website for carts... etc..... I hope you all understand.

I have repeated this many... many times. CPR is about pinheads making parts for pinheads. We have to make a few bucks to keep the business afloat but that is NEVER our primary goal. We make many parts that we lose money on and we know this even before we give the project a go ahead. That's OK as long as the next project is able to cover the loses on the previous. That's why you see us make parts that you all know we're gonna lose our shirts on... we'll make it up on the next run.. well, hopefully. CPR was never designed to come in and take the cream of the crop, like others do. CPR was begun for Kevin and I to be able to make the parts we needed to restore our own games. Later, after we had set up a functioning system, we expanded that model to include the parts our friends needed and then to what it is today where the Art Team gets the parts they all want to have made, and hopefully you all need the same parts. It's been super because as more of you want these often obscure parts we are able to make more and more of them. We are often and I really mean often are criticized for not concentrating more on the high value parts. The reality is the high value parts will get made because.... there is profit in them. If we only based our business model on profit then at least half of our projects would have NEVER been done. I know it's not the way to make money but it's in my opinion it's the best path for the hobby, my hobby and hopefully, yours too.

Mike P.

The existing pre order lists will be used so anyone who is on one is good to go, but guys please keep in mind that many of these pre orders lists are years old and they are what I based my production numbers on at least to some extent. There were other factors too.

1. At about 100 PFs I start to get decent discounts on the inserts, for example we once ran short of a run of Centaurs. On the original run I cut about 100 but in the end we had about 15 more guys on the preorder list. Back then inserts were pretty quick and we had the time to order more inserts to make 15 more before Kevin printed them. The inserts for the original 100 were about $30 per PF and the last 15 were about $120 per PF..... not exactly inexpensive. Nowadays this is impossible anyway due to the huge lead times for inserts.

2. With the old shop we really only had room to make about 150 PFs at a time before we just plain had no where to put em. So that was the max we could make. Even if we had 300 preorders we couldn't make them all at once anyway and would have to make two completely separate runs. Hopefully we have a bit better usage in the shop and this problem can be overcome. Although truthfully we never have had to make that many anyway. I think ToTAN is going to be our biggest run yet and we will either have to make two or maybe three separate runs unless we find some new way to cycle that many PFs through the screen shop at once.

We will probably still use preorders on some games, especially licensed themes as that may help determine if it's worth paying for a license.

I noticed someone mentioned taking a good deposit.... we tried that before CPR and it was a nightmare. For example, old buddy Joe sends in his deposit, two months later he changes emails, a few months later he gets a new apt, and then if we're shipping between July and Sept we should ship to his cottage, then he sells his game due to family troubles and needs his deposit back etc... each one of those changes required a change on a customer spreadsheet. In the end many of the deposits generated many many emails each that truly had to be answered because we had this poor guys money and a responsibility to him because of that. Now multiply that by about 100 PFs in each run and maybe 8-10 runs a year. We'd need to stop making PFs just to keep up with all the extra emails!

From now on I will try to buy enough inserts so that we can quickly rerun titles that sell out but for at least the next 12 months I'll be working through existing pre order PF titles so no one has to worry about this very much. We'll still advertise upcoming titles so you guys can plan for them and in some cases we'll still run the preorders but just not in every case.

I hope you guys understand as many people see the preorder technique as broken and we're just trying to find something that works as well but doesn't make people upset at us when for some reasons they don't get one of our products.

You have other options as well, Rick at Bay Area usually and at odd times Gene gets these products as well as part of our licensing agreement so hit them up early and you'll probably be able to get one there. We often have PFs that aren't perfect that Kevin sets aside.... funny thing is after 10 minutes examining it a month or two later he can't figure out why he culled it the first time around. These are usually the silver quality. There are always a few with just plain weird stuff on them, a wrong colored insert somewhere, a weird coloration of the wood, a small misalignment on a color, or something else. These are offered up later as Bronzes with certain caveats and explanations. These type of PFs are often available for a long time afterwards even if they are not posted online because... it takes quite a bit of time to examine and photo each and every PF oddity and list them on our website.

I hope this helps explain some of the rather odd way we do things. I know its not the way to run a "real" business because I have been told this by quite a few people, but it's the only way we really know how to.

Thanks
Mike

Stu is right, more inserts for WW have been ordered, now please understand that they could be 9 months or more before they arrive.... but we already have a CNC cut file and the ready artwork so they can get made very quickly once the supplies are here.

ToTAN inserts are here and I ordered enough to make twice the PFs we have preorders for so everyone should easily get one.

Fish Tales boats were drum sanded yesterday and should be ready to print within a week. After that it's just up to Kevin to get some press time.

Skateball PFs are coming but I don't yet have inserts for them so it won't be in the next few months.

I will endevour to order extra inserts from now on so I can flush our runs when needed. It's just expensive. Inserts can average $25 per PF and if I order enough for an extra 100 PFs then don;t need them I am out $2500. Sometimes I can scavenge them for another title but almost always it won't work because I need inserts for 125 so I wind up trying to flush out the order with a very small order for the missing ones. This drives the costs up for the remaining ones so high that it's often cheaper to just order all new for the 125 we need. Then when you have inserts from two batches you ALWAYS have inserts that are two shades of your color. Both green for example, just different shades... also not a great situation.

Mike

I just thought I'd add a bit more about the preorder list and the way we used it. We have always used it as a tool for me to be able to order sufficient inserts. This only worked up to about 125 because that was all the room we could comfortably make. We have made more in the past, Black Knight comes to mind but we were literally tripping over these things while we were cutting them and even more so during the printing and then we have had them piled everywhere for years after. The real problem was the preorder list because almost 50% of people on the preorder list dropped out. It wound up be a HUGE wasted effort at a time when money was very very tight tight. In fact we almost didn't recover from that PF. So when PF after PF we have an average of about 30-40% of guys decline to buy a PF that they wanted enough to list themselves on our preorder we start to get a bit gun shy and take this into account when we make the PFs. We have had two real exceptions so far, Playboy and Whirlwind which sold out right out of the gate. Far far faster than we ever expected. Usually we have dozens left over that we have to carry for a long time or discount and sell them to the distributors. Playfields are EXPEN$IVE to make. Getting caught with 100 unsold Target Alpha back glasses was bad but getting caught with 100 unsold PFs would be costly enough that we might not survive another one of those. So you see its safer for us to underestimate than to over estimate and then try to make a second run later if the demand is there.

We want to be around to make the next PF and the one after that and making too many PFs of any one title is a gamble.

I know that not everyone thinks about how costly a PF is to make or how long it takes to recoup that outlay but I place $25,000 insert orders about twice a year..... how many of your spouses would appreciate that little surprise when you write a check on your home equity line of credit... twice in one year? Wood is even MORE expensive! I'm surprised she puts up with me doing this at all.

Mike

Hey Swinks;

I don't EVER think a real suggestion is offensive or a waste of time. Sometimes the answer is right in from of us and we just don't see it and someone going "Duh?" is just what we need.

The poll idea is probably a pretty good one and I'll look into it, not sure about the logistics of it yet as lets say a poll says we should make such and such a PF and gives me a rough count of guys who need it. We still have to get the art made which usually takes 12-18 months..... unless some OCD pinball art guru takes it on.... yes, I'm looking at you Stu. At some point I'll get an indication that the art will be ready for sure within a few months and I can place the order for the supplies. As long as there are no oddities in molds and colors we can have the inserts about 9 months after that. If the slate was completely clear, which is usually isn't then it would be about 2 months before the first PF would be heading for clear and would ship a few weeks afterwards... I know what you're thinking, just order the inserts for the game as soon as we decide to make it.....But inserts for 100 PFs will be $2500+ and I have had inserts here for Baby Pacman, Gorgar and some other title I can't think of for years because someone was going to do the artwork for those titles... and never finished it. Let's see than $7500+ worth of inserts for games we don't have artwork for, which looking back was not a wise investment and one I don't want to repeat.

So from the time we came up with a poll that said we'd be silly not to make such and such title it would realistically be more than 24 months before they could possibly be ready, unless someone had already started the artwork.

The long lead times are what have made the preorder list so unwieldy as well.

I think Stu has the right idea though because if he gets far enough ahead with the artwork then we can just pick from the completed list and have a PF in about 11 months. So maybe taking polls of the completed artwork might help us prioritize things a bit better.

As an aside I had to chuckle when Stu mentioned a ratio of 10-1 obscure projects to possible best sellers..... Then I look back at what we made in the recently and see Sexy Girl PF, Sexy Girl Back Glass, Miss World back glass, Space Odyssey back glass, Space Mission back glass, Solar City back glass, etc.... and I think that maybe we'll have hits on the next 70 or so products!! Then I chuckle some more... at myself

Thanks
Mike

Now... you know... that is one of those "doh?" moments.

I'll try and figure out how to add that to the website right away because it's simple and should be very effective.

Wish I had thought of that though

Mike

Methos

I actually have inserts for a very small run of about 25. We'll make that as soon as we get a chance. They will all be the standard version though. Hope you understand that with such a small run its hard to split it up.

Mike P.

I know guys keep mentioning these "flippers" buying 10 PFs at a time. This simply does not happen. In fact it never has. Not a single time. The largest shipment goes usually goes to Rick or some cases Gene, usually 10 or so PFs. Then the next largest shipment I ever remember shipping to an individual was 4 PFs but we were paid by three guys and they were just combining shipping to save a few bucks. I have seen a few buy 3 PFs. But that's very rare. I've seen 3 PFs bought by one guys maybe 5-6 times in many years of making PFs. Now I'd say about 10% or more take 2 PFs. Traditionally guys have stated it was because they wanted one to swap into their game and the other was to hang on the wall or to use as trade bait down the road. The flipping for cash seems fairly new to me at least in any sort of numbers.

I've been made aware of a few guys doing it but truthfully its risky business as there is nothing to stop us from remaking most PF titles which would ruin a guy who had a large stash of them, or at render the chance of making anything off them unlikely. We always hope to be able to remake PFs later on and in some cases already have remade small runs. If I take some of the advice of guys here on pinside I may further pad my insert order even more than I have been doing it and be able to make second runs quite easily.

I have always padded by 10% because my supplier always shorted me about 8% so I needed to pay the extra just to get what I ordered. But I might start padding by 20 or 30% which would allow for an immediate short run with very little effort and not a huge outlay in cost. That extra 20% would only cost about 10% more because as I order more I usually hit qty discounts that save me a bit more.

Anyway, I do realize that guys speculating on PFs does happen but the pinball community is quite small so I think it just seems more common than it actually is.

Hopefully we'll try to raise our bottom line pricing a few bucks and make more frequent reruns so that speculating becomes a little less attractive and a little more risky.

Thanks
Mike

PFs without artwork wouldn't be a whole lot cheaper because most of the labor intensive stuff is in the prepping the wood for ink. I doubt it would be worth the few bucks you'd save.... I bet a $700 PF it would be less than $100 off. You'd be better off buying the worst looking bronze and sanding the art off if you wanted to save some cash. You could save a few more bucks if you specified one without clear because that's expensive for us too.

No art plastics would be easy and can be done almost any time for almost any plastics set we have ever done. You'd have to email a special request and we'd have to figure out a price but I suspect it would be quite inexpensive.

We have made plastics protectors in the past but since all our plastics are now made of PETG they simply do not seem to break. We have always had a free replacement policy for broken plastics if they are available. Sometimes of course we sell everything but usually we have spares and when we do then we'll ship you a free replacement if you break one of ours. Pretty simple. We have sent VERY few replacements parts out since we started making plastics from PETG... its just that tough. So could we make extra clear protectors?... sure, we could and way easier than anyone else can because we already have all the laser lines...... but you don't need them.

If you really want a set Martin at Pinbits usually makes them.

Mike P.