(Topic ID: 264361)

Rental (of pinball machines)

By Greenandwhite

4 years ago


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  • 111 posts
  • 57 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 3 years ago by DocFinlay
  • Topic is favorited by 12 Pinsiders

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    Pinball Rental Contract 2.pdf (PDF preview)
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    #25 4 years ago
    Quoted from ccbiggsoo7:

    local guy wanted to do that here, he was quoting $750 for first month, $500 for second plus a set up fee of like $250!

    That is kinda silly $250 to setup? Why wouldn't your home be just another location for there pins to go, How much are locations (Bars, Barcades etc..) charged when they bring a game to vend to set them up? For rental prices, What are the average on pins income (250 a month per pin?), Some locations/pins more/less then others im sure?

    #26 4 years ago
    Quoted from ryanwanger:

    I operate games and have been asked about this a lot. I posted something similar on Reddit earlier today, as this subject came up there as well.
    My quote is $250 a month, minimum of 3 months.
    I wish it could be cheaper, or have a shorter minimum, but it's just impossible for me. It's probably 3 hours of moving to: break down a game, load it, drive to you, unload, set up, and drive back home. Then that needs to happen again when the rental is over. 6 hours of moving, regardless of the length of the rental period.
    Imagine a one month rental for $300. I tried to find someone to move games for $50 an hour and had zero takers. If I had found someone, I'd be making nothing on a one month rental. Yes, I could do the move myself and make $50 an hour, but honestly, moving machines should probably be like a $75-$100 an hour job. It requires specialized equipment: a truck or something that can load a pinball machine, multiple dollies, straps. It requires height & strength if you're moving solo. And it's stressful: one wrong move and you can damage the game, the building you're moving into or out of, and yourself (I mean, to be honest...death is possible if the mistake involves stairs and a person on the wrong side of the machine).
    Imagine a two month rental for $300 a month. You lose the first $300 in moving expenses, and if you have to do a single service call in those two months, you're down to making about $150 to have your $5000 machine in a strangers house for 60 days.
    And even with something like a 3 month minimum, your customers are probably going to get bored of a single, unchanging game day after day after day.
    It's too bad the economics don't really work out on this. The amount you need to charge to barely make it worth your while is an amount that's viewed as unfairly high by your potential customers.
    TL;DR moving pinball machines sucks so bad that it changes the entire economics of this into something that almost isn't worth it for either side.

    How do you move machines to the locations that you vend in now?

    2 weeks later
    #84 3 years ago
    Quoted from ReplayRyan:

    It sounds like a good idea until you start looking at all of the risk involved:
    1) Damage to the machine during transport.
    2) Damage to the client or their location during transport/set up.
    3) Damage to the machine while it is at the location.
    4) Machine breakdowns that cost you time/money.
    5) Complete loss (theft, fire, water, etc.) of the machine.
    The way I see it, there is just as much if not more risk than operating a machine at a commercial location, not to mention more potential headaches.
    Sure it could be profitable with a bit of luck and a good system, but it a few bad deals could put you at a loss very quickly. Holding a credit card on file and trying to work out insurance details isn't enough to prevent those major losses, IMO. Never mind the infectious issues right now.
    But hey, I suppose if the pinball market tanks like I keep reading about here and I can't stand looking at my games anymore, maybe I'll give it another thought.

    Beside the virus,, Would these 1-5 not all be the same as if you are setting it up in a bar/location to vend with no guarantee of any income in the machine?

    #86 3 years ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    Good question.
    Read up on past posts here on Pinside and Rec Games Pinball. About people loaning games to friends or storing games at friends houses.
    What happens to those games is way scarier than what happens on location. One of my favorites was a guy moving his friends Twilight Zone into another room and he didn't know the head folded down. So he cut all the wires from the cabinet into the head.
    Even if you don't leave keys to the game. Home owners will get into them somehow.
    If you do rent games. I'd sure as heck check the posting history of the person, to get an idea of what you are getting into.
    LTG : )

    This is when a contract is put in place to protect the item/machine.

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