OP

Quoted from VMAX:This thread was a general response to the rampant criticism of Stern being solely responsible for machine pricing increases over the last decade-ish. Even though Stern did implement the common practice of establishing a MAP (minimum advertised price), in no way can Stern be solely blamed for street prices going up.
Stern “managed” pricing to be within a range between MAP and MSRP. Distributors and dealers have been the ones detemining prices and making sales. Just because the margin from street price to MSRP has shrunk, it isn’t just because Stern is greedy and gouging the public.
What I’m ultimately saying is that the “old school” way of doing wholesale and retail business is no different than other industries who’ve made the shift from deeply discounted street prices to a more regulated margin. And the furor now over Mandalorian demonstrates what I’m saying. Dealers are up-charging already, and it has nothing to do with Stern. Stern has held the line on MSRPs while the street prices have shifted. And everyone seems to want pinball machines to remain $4000 with $20,000 worth of innovation and content.
If the increase in pricing were all Stern’s doing, no machines would have ever been sold above MAP pricing by dealers, and that’s not what has happened. About 1/3 of Pinside content is whining about manufacturer pricing and how horrible the new exploding market is. It gets tedious and ridiculously old.