(Topic ID: 298696)

What is on the line at Stern Pinball / Production Schedule

By beltking

2 years ago


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  • Latest reply 31 hours ago by matt68061
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    #61 2 years ago

    I am curious to know if Stern is running their lines at full capacity, or are COVID restrictions/supply issues keeping them from running at 100%. If they are stuck at the former, they almost have to be looking at ways to expand production capacity. There is no sense spending money on designing new 3-4 new games a year, when you have more orders than you can handle for the games you already make.

    1 month later
    #377 2 years ago

    Adding fuel to the conspiracy fire...local place just put a new Deadpool pro out with the connected apron on it. Maybe that small Deadpool pro run happened and only operators got them. Stern gets them games first...

    #379 2 years ago
    Quoted from StoneyCreek:

    naah, the operators got 1st crack at the IC kits. your local place must have installed one.

    No, the just got the Deadpool. Their older Spike2 games don't have the bar, and they just announced the new Deadpool coming in.

    #381 2 years ago
    Quoted from Damonator:

    Stern sold off their demo games from Expo a couple of weeks ago. They all had insider connected installed.

    That would make more sense...i'll have to ask the owner about it next time I go in there.

    2 weeks later
    #539 2 years ago

    I'm betting Stern isn't having their scoop protectors cut out of hardened stainless. There are a lot of different options on those thin gauges, but only one works well for pinball stuff.

    3 weeks later
    #711 2 years ago
    Quoted from rai:

    Not specifically about pinball but I’ve read the auto makers have found it’s better to have a little lower inventory and be able to sell very close to MSRP than having the dealers lots full and we being able to cross shop at dealers and get better deals.

    We have been through this before. It just takes one auto maker to flood the market in an effort to gain market share, and they all will be doing the same. Chrysler was the first to blink last time.

    8 months later
    #4243 1 year ago
    Quoted from PinStalker:

    So a $26 million lease..... they can't construct a purpose built building for that much dough?
    You'd think they'd want an asset if they're spending that much cash.

    Nobody owns their buildings any more. Apparently makes more tax sense to lease.

    4 months later
    #5654 1 year ago

    Stern has publicly stated that they are bringing some of the external operations in house at the new facility. It can be assumed that these are some of the operations which caused delays in the past, so they can be more in control of lead times.

    Having another production line running will also hopefully allow them to be able to better stock their distributors going forward. I am not sure how many lines they are going to have...but having at least 3 separate lines would allow them to produce new release Pro/Prem/LE machines concurrently at launch, and strike at the point of peak FOMO and "gotta have it now" folks.

    #5681 1 year ago

    Foo Pro's and a random Star Wars cab on the line today.

    22
    #5699 12 months ago
    Quoted from Sarge:

    My (former) distributor made me buy an "overstocked" JP pro in order to get the Zilla Premium they had listed in stock, (would only "bundle" them together) then gave me the shaft when the playfield was shit, and also lied about shipping options/cost.
    Worst customer service I've ever received.
    No wonder they had games in stock...

    Name & shame...they do this because we let them get away with it.

    #5708 12 months ago
    Quoted from Sorokyl:

    I got a GZ premium from that guy in June without having to buy anything extra. Saw on pinside he had one, called him up. MSRP+ship to terminal.
    I don't really blame dist for trying to bundle first. Stern shoves less desirable games on them. The Gz/dp/imdn/jp's they get they have to make the most of.
    Plenty of dealers trying to sell pins for $1000s over MSRP.
    It's up to you to find the best deal for yourself. Dealers aren't charities.

    Stern doesn't shove anything on dealers. The dealer received a JP because they ordered it. Normalizing this behavior as "trying to put food on the table" is not acceptable.

    #5763 12 months ago

    Also, nothing is saying they run the line with the same title Monday-Friday. The line could have very well changed over the day before the video was shot.

    #5801 11 months ago
    Quoted from ASAC_Schrader:

    Never has before, always invoices me the day before it ships

    What country?

    1 week later
    #5893 11 months ago

    Don't forget Stern has a move coming up that is supposed to boost production capacity...so that may be why some things moved up.

    1 week later
    #5990 11 months ago

    Cointaker has FF premium show games coming for Pinfest next week...I wonder if this was planned or they were just a convenient benefactor of the schedule mash up?

    #5993 11 months ago
    Quoted from vikingerik:

    Yeah I don't get AIQ either. Where are these going? The license is past its peak (the Thanos movies were years ago now), it can't be a particularly big earner on location, nobody talks about it as a keep-forever machine or Marvel collectible, and secondhand premiums are already down to mid $8k.

    Do not underestimate the number of barcades and fun centers that seem to be popping up, and a lot of them want a whole row of insider connected games and a live leader board. In some areas, IC is doing very well for ops. For every Flip'n Out there is a Betson or other commercial distributor who is selling games into a different market the Pinside crowd is not really wired into.

    2 weeks later
    #6077 10 months ago

    My distro is telling me Foo LE's are finishing up and I will probably see my Foo Premium next week. I am guessing one of those two are on the line right now.

    #6101 10 months ago
    Quoted from vikingerik:

    I think people just don't think to look around for ads and listings. I made the same mistake regarding Hot Wheels on another thread, when I said I wanted one but hadn't seen any, and got several replies citing in-stock distributor listings.

    This doesn't ever seem to happen with me and a BKSOR

    #6145 10 months ago
    Quoted from Redliner911:

    So anybody getting shipment notifications for anything this week? Hard to tell if Foo LE, Foo Pro, or JP is on the line.

    Foo LE and JP Premium people are getting shipment notifications. Hearing the rest of the Foo Prems are happening right after the LE's finish up.

    1 week later
    #6213 10 months ago

    I was invoiced for Foo Premium today...shipping today, FWIW.

    #6259 10 months ago
    Quoted from vikingerik:

    This is true. I'm one of those Covid buyers (job went remote permanently so I moved to a big cheap house in the suburbs), and I bought two NIB last year, but not more since, what I've been doing is trading from the slots I have. Of course the increased supply of used from people like me will push prices down. (Particularly for AIQ.)
    And a side point - I think the NIB demand would soften first for the other manufacturers. Everybody still wants Godzilla, Deadpool, Foo; and will sometimes settle for cheap Mandos and TMNTs, and so what's not selling into those slots are Americans and Spookys.

    The $3.5k to 5.5k older games like RCT, Monopoly and RBION are getting pushed on hard. Many people are seeing that spending $5k on Ripleys is not worth it when you can add a little more and get NIB that has a longer playability to it. Although RBION is a bad example here as its one of the deeper and harder games of that era, but its still a hard sell at the moment.

    #6281 10 months ago
    Quoted from Drussksu:

    Got a call this morning that my foo fighters pro is on its way?!? Wasn’t expecting it to come until July .

    I wonder if they shrunk the Bond run down and ran more Foo's since they are already tooled up.

    I would love to know what goes into a line changeover at Stern....they obviously have it down to a science.

    #6307 10 months ago
    Quoted from PanzerKraken:

    Seeing how local distro have a ton of unsold sterns NIB, I don't see how that is true. Some games are in demand yes, but the dealers are also stuck with many games when they don't move and these are machines they have to invest thousands of dollars on to "put on a shelf". I'm sure all those dealers with unsold Turtles and other titles for over a year and thousands invested are happy.

    Prior to the COVID pinball boom, dealer stock was a normal, expected thing. Then all these new dealers popped up when they realized they could "float" on preorders and never having to stock games and just have machines pass through them as they were built for a quick and relatively painless profit. When the slingshot snaps back, some of these new dealers are going to get squeezed out.

    #6333 10 months ago

    Foo Prem arrived today...4/20 build date. So it sat somewhere a while until the distributor received it last week. Maybe aggregating a truckload from Stern? Who knows. Game looks fabulous though...no issues to report. Truck driver from R&L did a Ricky Bobby into my neighborhood and did his best to roll it off the pallet jack 3x but I saved him. Haha.

    #6383 10 months ago
    Quoted from Jason_Jehosaphat:

    I'm curious: how many raffle tickets did you buy? What was the pool? How large? Thousands or tens of thousands? Congrats, for sure!

    They are usually 200 spots at $85/each for a premium.

    #6445 10 months ago
    Quoted from Gubbin:

    Is there a particular part that's hard to source that makes DP a challenge?

    Probably more demand for higher margin games, so it keeps getting slid back in the priority line.

    #6452 10 months ago
    Quoted from pinballaddicted:

    Probably why Stern are making as many games as they can now.. To remove the backlog and build inventory

    George is already on the record as saying their typical factory move is production in the old building up to Friday night and games leaving the new facility on Monday. They have done this before fairly recently.

    #6481 9 months ago
    Quoted from MacGruber:

    Correct, but now it's exclusive. I knew alot of ppl that would order a pro and play it for 6 months until there premium was ready. Now with the ridiculous upcharge to the premiums, they're looking for any way to get you out of your pro and into that Cadillac, getting the home premiums out before home pros is exhibit A! All the more reason for me to stand pat on my first pro model.

    Its not exclusive. If dealers have extras, they are allowed to sell them to home buyers. Plenty went into homes on the first batch. If you waited until the stream to order, I can pretty much guarantee there were a lot of people in line ahead of you. I ordered my premium an hour after the initial reveal dropped, and just received it last week.

    #6528 9 months ago
    Quoted from Grantman:

    Their lease starts in October.

    And there is not going to be a "2 week shutdown".

    #6536 9 months ago

    I do not think Stern has changed much on first batch pro production when a game comes out. What has changed is every trust fundie and their brother has opened up barcades in the last couple years, so there are more operator buyers than there has been in a very long time. Couple that with the arrival of insider connected and more prevalent launch parties, there is a bigger push for locations to snag games right away to pounce on the new game hype. Now only a few pros are left for home buyers out of the first batch, and everyone is big mad. I really do not see this as some money grabbing conspiracy by Stern...its the result of growth in the operator market.

    #6540 9 months ago
    Quoted from JackG:

    According to Zach in the last TPS podcast, there will be. But he could be wrong. I’m not on his patreon so not sure what he’s putting behind a paywall now.

    George claimed in a stream that it was lights off Friday night at the old location and production resuming on Monday the following week...like last time.

    #6570 9 months ago
    Quoted from Skatewake:

    Where is the factory Friday video

    Usually in the afternoon.

    #6583 9 months ago

    Someone just unboxed a GZ prem on Facebook...maybe they ran some of those during the last week?

    2 weeks later
    #6800 9 months ago

    Classic Gamerooms is advertising GZ premiums as being in stock today...go get 'em!

    1 week later
    #6861 8 months ago
    Quoted from mbl1116:

    I’ve seen inventory of Bond, TMNT, star wars, and a few others for months.

    You mean we are going back to the way things use to be? Pre-Covid, most recent games were attainable the day you called for them. These small dealers who popped up during covid and made money hand over fist by having games only pass through may start feeling some pressure now that they have to carry stock that is already paid for by them.

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