(Topic ID: 232201)

Do you think it should be shutdown?

By Luckydogg420

5 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 67 posts
  • 42 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by goatdan
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

You

Linked Games

No games have been linked to this topic.

    Topic poll

    “A broken routed machine ”

    • Should be turned off 79 votes
      55%
    • Should be left on 8 votes
      6%
    • Depends how bad the problem is 56 votes
      39%

    (143 votes)

    Topic Gallery

    View topic image gallery

    20181226_230120 (resized).jpg
    stay-on-topic (resized).jpg

    You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider Startek2.
    Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

    #37 5 years ago

    Hey guys, I want to give you an idea of the vendor side of this question. Lets say for instance you found a pinball game setup in a Walmart store. I spent time working a Walmart route in the nineties. I would travel from the Canadian Border thru Washington State, Oregon state all the way to the California border along Interstate 5. I would see these machines every other week. If the machine worked ok I would find a nice fat full cashbox and life was great. If the machine was turned off or had an out of order sign on it the cashbox could be nearly empty. There was no middle ground. For two weeks these machines were left to fend for themselves, in a Walmart lobby or entrance, with zero support from Walmart. I had one store on the Oregon Coast that was a 3 and a half hour drive just to get there. Once on location, having fought your way to the office and actually found a manager who could delegate an employee to escort me as I deal with the machines, having done the paperwork and get the needed signatures, you are then left with whatever resources you had in your car to deal with any machine problems. Having a pinball game in such a place would just be a nightmare! There is really no possible way to keep the machine in perfect working order. there will always be some kind of issue with a switch or something else. Even the best vendors don't have enough time or maybe have a qualified enough tech to get it right. The chances of you walking up to the Walmart desk to complain about a machine and me actually getting a phone call to tell me of the problem is almost impossible. I used to tip employees who would help me just to get some loyalty! I don't want to just pick on Walmart, the route can often be like this. So if I get a call about the machine I may have a few ideas and might bring some parts and solve the problem BUT if the store is a day long adventure to go I will not make a special trip. The bottom line is this: You do not see many pinball hames on routes anymore because it is too costly to keep them running perfectly. If you turn off a machine just because it wasn't perfect for you, all you are doing is giving the vendor a reason to not put out the machines.....Our industry is not like it was back in the day. Arcades are shrinking and the experienced techs like me are retiring and soon there will be no more coin op pinball or video games.....it has been a great fun career but the money is just not out there like it was. So please as a tech and an amusement vendor, work with us not against us! if you see a sticker on the machine give a call to explain the problem. And lol if I walk in to one of my accounts and I catch you trying to kick the coin door in I will mess up your face! lol remember it goes both ways in this business. Often the machine will rip you off and there is no one around to go after, but also when I walk into an account and someone has decided to take it upon them selves to turn off my machines I will not be a happy camper either!

    You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider Startek2.
    Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

    Reply

    Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

    Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

    Donate to Pinside

    Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


    This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/do-you-think-it-should-be-shutdown?tu=Startek2 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

    Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.