New York, NY
Why do pinball buyers insist on being so miserable all the time?
The hobby is supposed to be fun. If it’s causing you to clench your fists and punch things all day you really should take a break or find a less stressful hobby.
(Topic ID: 304620)
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Quoted from Zdoor:Not likely to be a popular opinion But since I no longer distribute, ill say what many dists feel.
Having been a distributor, you are regulated on how low a price a pin could be sold for. You have to eat profits on slow movers or games which don’t sell and since you can’t sell below the agreed price, you may have to hold inventory on unpopular games for a long time to recover the investment.
Margins on pins are low and customer expectations are high. God forbid there is damage in shipping. While those are covered under insurance, I never had a scenario where that happened and didn’t cost a bunch to remedy one way or the other, often eating a big chunk of profits from a batch of sales. Not to mention the HUGE amount of time those damaged games eat up trying to get to a resolution with the carrier.
Having sold many pins to customers who never took possession and then flipped for far more profit than I as a distributor, it was extremely aggravating especially the last few years I was distributing. It became common to see this happen when the pin market jumped, with almost 25-30% of sales being flipped by the original buyer prior to receiving. It required time and effort to make changes to orders so a person with a small deposit on a pin could flip to someone else for more profit. Rarely did the buyer agree to a “service fee” for this effort without a mountain of bitching. The distributor is stuck with the service, support and warranty claims and yes warranty claims costs distros money. It was extremely frustrating. I don’t begrudge any dists who are now taking that profit for themselves. They have staff, overhead, the usual business expenses and deserve the profit more than someone who put a deposit down and flipped without ever receiving IMO.
Ok. Enough said. Flame away…
It’s rare that anybody with any actual experience distributing pins comes in here and lays out some actual truth of how it works. It’s not going to change any minds as most pin buyers are ridiculously entitled but thanks for saying what active distributors can’t.
Quoted from JohnTTwo:Having dyslexia and being older and successful I sit back and able to laugh at those who ridicule me on grammer e on purpose.
Please help me get a metallica premium at MSRP.
Not sure if you are aware of this but Metallica premlum hasn’t been in production for years. There’s no such thing as “MSRP” on games that are only available used or because a hoarder has one in a box stashed somewhere. Be prepared to pay well above “MSRP” circa 2017 on Metallica, Even if it’s used.
It’s like asking repeatedly for a 1969 Les Paul guitar or 1982 DeLorean at “MSRP.” Doesn’t make a lot Of sense.
Quoted from Waxx:Currently Stern gets all the credit and none of the blame. Distribution brings them to shows, takes all service calls, complaints, orders, and pays up front in advance making every single game a sell out.
Stern sold every Led Zeppelin to distributors. They never have a failure, only distributors do.
The “failure” of Zep in any capacity is a total pinside construct myth. If distributors didn’t want them, why are they currently being produced? If distributors are sitting on them, why aren’t they available via IFPA discount?
It’s Munsters all over again.
Quoted from Brtlkat:So why buy at all in these so called crazy times? Did you really need the car/truck?
Well you see, cars are kind of like pinball machines…
Quoted from underlord:Deleted post
Do you really believe this nonsense?
Pretty depressed that my rent will triple in 3 months. Better sell all my pins!
I think we need a whole new sub forum for OT inflation rants.
Quoted from Frax:Is there some specific reason you're using the logic of an 11 year old? Nobody is holding a gun to my head for me to have a job either, yet, we both know that without a job, I can't buy food, housing or clothes, but hey....I guess you're right, I'm not forced to have a job and I could choose to live on the street, right? Really moronic reasoning there, and I'm sure you're capable of doing better than that mess.
I don't have to justify why my family needs two vehicles, or the specific vehicle choice I made, to you or anyone else. Was I FORCED into taking the COVID surcharge, cosmetic damage warranty, cargo mat, the door protection trim, and the wheel locks? Absolutely. I asked them to not put that crap on there several times and they refused, and this is a place I've bought FOUR prior vehicles from. The finance guy recognized us immediately, and it's been YEARS. Other dealers we went to after they told us that (because I was pissed off about it) *literally* had sales guys laughing in our face when we even asked if they even had the models we wanted, that their entire next two shipments were pre-sold. Devils you know vs. the ones you don't. At least the place I bought from told me the actual truth WITHOUT any BS. They were up-front about it, even telling me before we'd settled on a car that they're adding a 1000.00 "screw you because of demand" fee (yes, also on used cars) when I just stopped by the first time to see what was available.
If you don't understand this, then....I don't even know what to say.
Is there a single discussion involving Frax that doesn't involve multiple eye roll emojis and someone being called a moron?
Relax buddy! Why are you always at war?
Quoted from Palmer:I am so tired of everyone vilifying distros. They are running a business, not leaching off the hobby...
Pinside always wants every narrative to have a "bad guy," a villain who is responsible for that game they can't get, or that price that's too high, or that topper they just can't score. It's getting really old.
There's not always heavy, or someone out to get you. Sometimes it's just what it is. Pinball in 2021 is what it is.
Maybe find a new hobby if it's always making you so angry, stop trying to rile up the mob into burning a bunch of people trying to make an honest living at the stake, and stop pretending you can somehow berate or shame prices into going down. That's not how it works.
Quoted from Psw757:If the above MSRP pricing by distributors becomes the norm then what’s to stop Stern from just selling direct at these new prices and reaping all the reward?
.
Best I can tell Stern doesn't want to deal directly with us turkeys, they have their hands full designing, producing, and manufacturing games.
I have a feeling dealing directly with thousands of customers a year wouldn't be worth the "reward."
Yes why can’t stern just “figure out” how to increase production? It’s so simple!!
All it would take is to build a new additional factory, also for all of the supply chain issues to magically disappear via Gary finger snapping.
Why isn’t stern doing this? Are they dumb?
Stern really should turn over the reigns to pinside. Hiring that new president guy was a total waste of money.
2 months later
It’s almost as if sad sack lives in a prepper bunker and rarely if ever interacts with the outside world.
4 weeks later
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