You should not be surprised at all. The products you mention are all built in Asian factories and built by the tens of thousands. There is WAY too much USA labor in a pinball machine to see prices go down while building them domestically. Also, they simply don't make enough of them to push pricing down on parts, etc... You would either have to have a technological breakthrough that allowed some other way to build the machines with a drastically lowered total man hours, or move them to over seas production to ever see the price go DOWN. Stern's cost of doing business only goes UP each year. Insurance, wages, power bills, parts... all going up. That makes the game price go up.

I think trying to build a pinball machine in China/Indonesia would be a nightmare at first, but could be done. I was with a major electronics and sound company during their shift to building in China, after being all USA built for 30+ years. It was a painful process with major QC issues, but eventually very good products (complex amps, mixers, controllers, etc) are now being produced at a FRACTION of the price that they could be in the USA. Also the parts list plays a major roll in getting the price down. When you build in China, you generally start using more Chinese (less expensive) built parts too.

Fine, I will do a podcast.

Interesting experiment. I agree as most others do that the prices are too high on the 8k machines. Stern should focus on great under 5k machines.

Speaking of 8k machines, any idea when my Woz is coming? I am one of the Keller 4

I was praying for before santa arrives.

Kurt

So did the buyer of this ebay sale get his game ?

If you paid 8k for a WOZ,you've got a bad taste in your mouth coming soon

Just because a company can build a product cheaper overseas doesn't mean they will pass the savings off to the consumer. As for the price of parts, with all the new pins being made (pls, Jersey Jack, and the increased number of titles being produced by Stern compared to the lean years), I would think the parts should be about the same, if not a little cheaper. I would assume a lot of the parts in a pin are produced overseas now, and assembled here, but I may be wrong. I believe the reason for the price increases is because people are paying them, and after the Mettalica LE sell out fiasco, Stern probably figured hey let's jack the price of the next pin up and see what happens. They figured Star Trek is a hot lisence, and Steve Richie as the designer would be a double home run, so let's see how high we can go. I worked in the manufacturing industry for 25 years, and the only thing that would cause the company to lower prices were competition, or lack of sales. I don't think anyone really knows what the actual cost of producing a pin is at Stern, we only see what distributor sell them for. If Stern can produce a pro model that is significantly cheaper, then I am sure there is some gouging going on with the LE. They both do use the same basic parts, same wire, pop bumper assemblies, etc. The LE in my opinion doesn't have close to 3k more in parts on it. People may disagree, but this is just my 2 cents.

I don't buy pinball machines as investments. I buy them as toys that I expect to depreciate. Every other hobby I ever had requires purchasing things that drop in value.

So no bad taste here no matter what its actually worth. As long as I can play it and have fun, I am happy. If its worth something when I am done, its all gravy.

Kurt,

I have been disappointed by the number of machines I have received. No doubt games are going to people who ordered from JJP well after my wholesale order dated 2/26/11. I was recently told I would get no games until after Christmas. Not sure who is getting them.

Yes, shipped already. I'm sure we have a happy buyer. Looking for Sterns at unbeatable prices? Just call and say you're a Pinsider

Agree with you, but if you have done a Stern factory tour you can do the math. 40 games a day with x number of line workers. I'm thinking under $400 per unit. Parts? I haven't a clue.

A. Who is Chuck?
B. Your math is flawed beyond comprehension. It's not that easy.

Haha. Sorry, thought it was CP Pinball. Only Stern knows the cost of labor per machine. Didn't really do any math. Just conjecture.

Later games will have more of the "fixes" Its all good. I hope I get the last one off the line.

So my game will have a December or later manufacture date...WOOT!!!

That's been my attitude. My game and my tech Mark's game are in the same lot with Chad's 4. They will be some of the last ones made.

My game arrived today earlier than advertised on the ebay auction. No. 252. The bottom corner of the box had some damage so I cut it open to check-out. Was surprised that there was no protection around the corner of the cabinet but everything was OK. Will probably have to wait until the weekend to get it to the 2nd floor game room.

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Glad it got there with no damage. Please share your thoughts about the game when you get it set up!