Quoted from Palmer:

Please tell me where your nearest community college is so I can enroll you in an economics class. If you think inflation was solely created in the last 8 months, then I have a bridge to sell you.

Quoted from Palmer:

Absolutely. I was just challenging the thought that inflation rose as a direct result of a change in leadership. This has been a long time coming, spanning multiple terms. Each one kicking the can down the road. I can't even imagine the challenges of being a business owner... especially in the last 18 months.

Quoted from konghusker:

We also know that the games aren’t costing them that much more to make than even a few years back.

Quoted from woody76:

I agree with most of your comments, but most of the people complaining have $100k + worth of pinball machines in their collections. I do not think it is a "work hard and make more money problem" for most of us. I have had large collections worth $100k and sold them off at a large profit. To me it is a value thing as I could never ever get $10k worth of enjoyment out of ANY pinball machine. I could afford an entire house full of games, but it has just gotten stupid at this point. I bought 2 sea-doos at the beginning of the summer for $11k and we have had more fun with those things than I ever have with a single machine. I really miss the days when $5k could get you a NIB or you could buy a nice B/W for about the same. I have always thought a pinball machine should never be over $5k. That is where i see value/return and we are WAY beyond those days. I am going to sell a few more off and keep a handful of older 90's games and be done.

Quoted from DBLM:

Got to love it when people make it about class warfare. Let's be real clear here: a person's bank account is not making the price of pinball go up; it is the mania of collectors that is driving prices. I see so many people bitching about the prices here and how they are not going to buy any more NIB. That rich guys are ruining the market. Then I see how many games they own. 8 machines. 20. More. So what this tells you is that all things being equal, they want the new games, but they don't want or can't afford to buy the new games. So as opposed to enjoying the games they have, buy used, go to league, whatever they crap on people that can afford to buy the games. I have seen on here people talking about raising the prices on LE's to subsidize the lower models. Absolutely ridiculous.
As I said earlier, PINBALL OWES YOU NOTHING! People get way wrapped into this and feel that they have to have rows of games to participate. People with this thought process are only hurting themselves because they are setting themselves up for failure. "If I can't buy this game, I can't participate at the level I want, so that makes me feel bad. Let me direct this anger to rich people buying games as an outlet for my fury." It is bullshit. Enjoy what you have and how you participate in the hobby. As NPO would categorize and judge me, I can stroke a check. I have one, count them one, machine. A Hook that I bought in '99 for 700 bucks. Dont care where it is on the Pinside list. I love that machine. I play other games on location. I am sure I will buy another machine sometime but I dont put the value on machines that some of you do. Pinball does not define who I am. Sadly, for a lot of you, I get the feeling that pinball is your identity. This is toxic for you and your mental health. Get your priorities straight.
Stern is raising pin pricing because they are a business. That is how businesses survive. Rich people can assuredly afford things, which factors into their pricing decisions. But the collector mentality (regardless of income) is the driving factor in pricing across the board going up.

Quoted from PinFever:

I see people build pins from Scratch threads on here all the time..
If you look at part prices back ten years ago and look and these part prices now ,the Diff in prices is not substantially drastic .
The Spike system cost cut loads of wires and wire harnesses and boards and labor putting them together / .
the upgrade from DMD cost to the Little TV Screen probably saved them money due to How u can buy a smart 60" TV LED for under 600 dollars so what does that tiny thing cost . the game is a good 50+ lighter due to how much less stuff is in them /
easier to assemble/ Workers dont get big raises . who does .
They add a Tech that no one cares for and increased again after so many

Also been a Business owner /plumbing Contractor and not much has changed in my last 20 years / Service charges are still the same 100-150 for a Service call's first hour / Again i call Bullsheet / go back 12 months/ ughhh

Quoted from epthegeek:

Did I pre-order a home before it was built just so some other homeowner couldn't get their hands on it only to sell it back to them at a markup?

Quoted from NightTrain:

I'll be honest, I haven't read through this whole thread, just the title and first few posts.
I guess I don't really understand it though. If you don't like the price of the games, why not just stop buying them and move on with your life? Is it really necessary to say fuck you to them on a public forum? Seems really odd.
I don't like the price of Ferrari's, but I don't say fuck you to the company in front of thousands of people. I just don't buy them...
Am I missing something?

Quoted from kciaccio:

To be honest you would have to be a stupid business man not to raise prices if your product is constantly sold out and behind on producing them.
There is a weird business model called supply and demand..I think they teach that in school at some point.

Quoted from explosiveegg:

I'm more annoyed that the thousands of people who had preorders in are now expecting to pay $500-$1000 more for essentially nothing. I think most companies would respect a preorder price. Especially because a lot of those preorders were supposed to be out by now but keep getting delayed.
I'm in that camp with an EHOH. They're essentially saying, by the way, we didn't make enough last run to get you your preorder, so it's delayed until 2022, and by the way, since we delayed it to 2022, it's going to cost $500 more dollars. To me, that is a shitty thing to do.
The price increase is expecting. Everything in the US is up in price. We are all aware that the lumber they need, the labor, and the microchips have all gone up significantly in the last year. And that is the stuff we're aware of because it effects other industries. I would be surprised if the other mechs didn't rise as well.
Not getting political here, as there is good and bad from the situation, but it's interesting to see what adding 20% to the money pool through these stimulus packages on top of a pandemic which stopped manufacturing for a while will do. I think we're just seeing that start of things going up.

Quoted from CrazyLevi:

No, this thread is about crybabies with too much money...

Quoted from CrazyLevi:

“I can afford a $5500 pinball machine but I can’t afford a $6500 pinball machine” doesn’t sound like the call of someone with money problems.

Quoted from CrazyLevi:

Yeah, but why does "F U STERN!" have 17 pages and "Stern's price increases may push me out of the hobby" only have 7, when they are identical, expressing the exact same misplaced privileged rage and hashing out all the exact same points?
F U sells!

Quoted from CrazyLevi:

The most pointless of all posts. Could say that to any of the 500 people in this thread about anything.
I mean it's silly circular firing squad logic. If my F'n posts bother you so f'n much, who f'n cares? Just ignore my posts and move on with your life if they bother you that much

Quoted from CrazyLevi:

Inflation is so bad I'm already using $20 bills as toilet paper around here.

Quoted from kvan99:

The "Don't buy" mentality may have finally hit a tipping point. I don't know but I would love to see the numbers for Stern next quarter, they've broke sales records for the past couple of years but this may be as good as it gets from here on. I fully realize we'll never know the real numbers from Stern but the dealer
s sales numbers could be a good data point.

Quoted from CrazyLevi:

I’m just pissed off at everybody and everything these days.
F U World!!!
U R crushing my dreams daily!!!!!!

Quoted from spandol:

But no one is buying the flipped ones in the market for 13k. Is that just because they are being flipped? To me 13k is just an insane price to pay, especially when a premium with everything in it is 4k cheaper.

Quoted from PanzerFreak:

JJP just raised GNR LE prices to $11k! Insane but I'm sure they believe their products are worth more then a Stern LE at $10,500. These recent prices increases are insane but hey if you bought at the lower price points you just made thousands! lol.

Quoted from PanzerFreak:

Lol yeah. Thankfully pretty much all GNR playfield issues stopped with the late June and going forward builds, something is working. It's still BS that the issue happened in the first place after Wonka and Pirates had the issue. Free playfields should have been sent out to GNR customers with messed up playfields.

Quoted from Dr-pin:

²

If they are in full washer mode, isn´t it safe to assume the problems are not solved?

Quoted from PanzerFreak:

You act as if you are hoping for all JJP owners to have playfield issues, that's sad. We get it, you don't like JJP.

Quoted from tilt101:

We just got an email from a Stern Distributer in Australia today, about the price increases of new Stern Pinball machines.
I have pre-ordered my first NIB Stern machine a Mando Prem, back in June 2021, but wont arrive until early next year 2022.
The distributer also mentioned that the price increases also includes back ordered (or pre-ordered) games.
Is that even fair?
Can they do that?
I am interested to know, is this what other Stern Distributers do worldwide? Is this the norm?
At least JJP honoured the pre-ordered price even after they announced a price increase for their GnR SE/LE.

Quoted from Zablon:

... gas and oil is constantly manipulated, and it is way beyond what you are blaming it on....

Quoted from PinFever:

Uhmmm. Still love it. Game only has 3 pooling post of which one is chipping. But on board for a 500 Dollar extra Playfield while i play the dickens out of the CE . Worth every dollar for this tank Machine over a Stern Homepin Spike Toy , No pinmonk Fans for coils . mine are fine no flip drag after hours of multi player play filled with many multiballs . also on first set of servos with no issue > guess lucky me . also If i go to sell with or with out the New PF i won't lose a dollar .. 1 of 500 AMEN is what it is like to say AND mean Limited but yet they do not call it that . happy to be one of 500 owners and feels good that a few of them i know are with the Band members themselves .. And as far as BOM price. Way more on the Cost@dollars to JJP Over Stern / just look under a playfield or in the heads of these games..lol no fkn comparison .

Quoted from wisefwumyogwave:

Mmmmmmk dude. Sounds like a whole lotta justify my purchase right there. Enjoy your game from God!

Quoted from PinFever:

Justification makes me laugh.. Here is the deal. Buy what you like. Enjoy what you like. Do not like what you do not. easy.
Gnr Is a masterpiece. For me.
Be that as it may . The end

Quoted from PinFever:

try Justifying paying any more than 5k for spike games.. ! Do that ..Lol Be it HOMEPIN/ Or LE Same shit..Lomalolaolaollamama

Quoted from PinFever:

i will take my 3 pooling posts on the best Artwork on a Sparkle Playfield over that Guys Godzilla LE with the Vertical Grainy Lines under the clearcoat any day where is Sterns PlayField quality at ? Look . it is a crapshoot with any Manufacturer . None seem to have their shit together so why try and stand in any of their corners .
Honestly Both need to Be better At Quality Control and you know it.

Quoted from wisefwumyogwave:

Just came by to check if pinfever was still talking to himself- yep.

Quoted from PinFever:

I did not say anything about Godzilla

Quoted from PinFever:

i will take my 3 pooling posts on the best Artwork on a Sparkle Playfield over that Guys Godzilla LE with the Vertical Grainy Lines under the clearcoat any day where is Sterns PlayField quality at ?

Quoted from PinFever:

But like who cares what i say anyway .