Quoted from AUKraut:Compared to that price impression I have in the back of my mind somewhere anytime I look at car/pin prices the perception is that they seem to have gone "out of reach". The reality is that most everything goes up in price over the years, and if the price increase follows inflation, they really haven't gotten any more expensive than they were 15 or 20 years ago.
Anyone getting new into the hobby today sees NIB pin prices start around $5500, and will in the future if he stays in the hobby long enough still see that as the price that new pins should cost......
It's the false perception in ones mind that they have gotten more expensive, when the reality is in terms of constant dollars the price of a NIB pin has stayed constant......
Good story but unfortunately NIB pinball machines have outpaced the cost of inflation. And that does not even factor in that Stern Pro's are cheaper to make than just the standard pins they were making 14 years ago. Compare a 2004 LOTR to a 2017 Star Wars on BOM. A 2004 LOTR was $3800.
Obviously JJP are higher BOM than Stern's...but pins have still outpaced inlfation by quite a bit. They literally are more expensive than they were in the past in relation to value of the dollar.
Items outpacing inflation....College, Furniture...Pinball Machines.
Avondale, AZ
