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Has the age of "Pinflation" and crazy prices finally ended?

R

RichS

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Mar 17, 2022
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No wishing to sound like a Doomster, I am wondering if the age of crazy Pinflation prices is coming to an end or even over?
Yesterday I got a letter from EDF Energy informing me that they are gonna QUADRUPLE my monthly Direct Debit for Energy and on today media we are told that prices are predicted to double again next April. I am lucky to have a 12KVA Generator and am seriously considering hooking it up as it will be cheaper. For this reason I believe there and many many Pin owners will either be really stretched financially, they sell off their toys or are so hard up that they cant afford to run their beloved Pinball . I think we may see a lot of offloading in the coming months. I guess one good thing will come of the high electricity costs. Christmas is coming and I doubt many people will relish the though of burning many KW of juice, lighting up there houses like Harrods or as Jeremy Clarkson puts it. "A Council house at Christmas I think the days of the £5K start for many WPC games is well and truly over. I just pity the poor sods who bought when prices were silly
 
RichS said:
No wishing to sound like a Doomster, I am wondering if the age of crazy Pinflation prices is coming to an end or even over?
Yesterday I got a letter from EDF Energy informing me that they are gonna QUADRUPLE my monthly Direct Debit for Energy and on today media we are told that prices are predicted to double again next April. I am lucky to have a 12KVA Generator and am seriously considering hooking it up as it will be cheaper. For this reason I believe there and many many Pin owners will either be really stretched financially, they sell off their toys or are so hard up that they cant afford to run their beloved Pinball . I think we may see a lot of offloading in the coming months. I guess one good thing will come of the high electricity costs. Christmas is coming and I doubt many people will relish the though of burning many KW of juice, lighting up there houses like Harrods or as Jeremy Clarkson puts it. "A Council house at Christmas I think the days of the £5K start for many WPC games is well and truly over. I just pity the poor sods who bought when prices were silly
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I think the problem starts… and ends with Stern.

Stern are the main source of new pinball machines, which means the bulk of the new machines entering the market are coming from Stern.

What this means, in practice, is that - if you want a totally new pin - you’re going to want to sell your slightly older pin for a price that allows you to buy a new Stern. The price of a new Stern Pro is now approaching £8k, and that sets a benchmark for every other pin, right down to early SSs.

Obviously, if there’s a huge dump of vintage pins onto the market, they’re going to look *a lot* more attractive than a new Stern Pro and I guess Stern *might* bring down their prices due to the loss in business. But it’s not clear whether that mass dump will happen and/or whether Stern will lose business. Arcades are more popular when people are looking for cheap entertainment (as happened in the Great Depression, apparently) and an energy bill of £11k a year isn’t going to trouble the big collectors either as, if you can preorder multiple NIB Stern/JJP LE/CEs each year, you just buy one less.
 
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I think you'll see some people tightening their belts (pinball machines are a luxury item) or the odd person selling theirs off to help fund the bills but if they're selling they're going to want as much money as they can get for it.

I can't really see prices coming down a great deal for that reason - maybe the odd person with a not so desirable game struggling to sell it might knock a few hundred off but nothing crazy.

People keep pining for the days of the £1200 T2's and the £3000 TZs and just need to accept they're never coming back unless people exit the hobby en masse and there is a sudden excess of games or something else massively drastic happens.
 
I personally hope you guys are right. The problem is that as it is Energy and lets face it we are all hooked on using it. everyone is gonna suffer. I know that if it is down to heating, eating, paying the mortgage, Sadly I know what would be the first to go!
 
If all is gloomy, a game of pinball will warm me up as well as cheer me up. Prices are clearly influenced by supply and demand - and that will depend on many factors.

A sought after title - well maintained, wanted by someone who has been saving and waiting for the right game - is always going to get a good price.
 
Agree about NIB prices and Stern, a high tide raises all ships. I can't see Stern reducing their prices, can't even see them not increasing prices year on year.

I think they will continue raising prices, producing fewer Pins for more money. Maybe they downsize their workforce and factory.

The bottom feeders will drop out and the ones with money will stay in.

I only got involved in the hobby in 2015, have Stern always increased their prices every year?
 
Good article on the BBC a couple of days ago about which businesses are tipped to do well. Basically coins and watches. I suspect our toys will sadly be in the same bracket.

I can’t see pin prices falling in money terms. Everyone is going to be pressing for inflation level pay rises. 10k is going to be like 9k by this time next year. 😥
 
I doubt overall pricing will change much; but I expect alot of fire sales as credit cards run out and people start getting a bit more desperate and you see a few firesales, same thing happened during the banking crisis. UK Prices are affected by the forex rate and that will change over time but I also think they may rethinking how they price in the next year. and if the supply chain crisis improves that should save stern a packet.
 
This forum can make you think that plenty of machines exist out in the wild. When in reality very few of any title exists in the world never mind the uk.

Pinball machines are even more collectible now than they have ever been. In this climate this is when you put any spare funds you may have into physical items..
 
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I think the covid bubble has certainly burst so I think prices will level off slightly on the new stern front it’s not actually stern putting up there prices it’s the poor pound to dollar exchange 1.16 today worst I have ever seen
With stern catching up with back orders and stock starting to get back to normal I think you are certainly going to see prices come down on second hand modern sterns we have seen it with the last 2 aiq jp they haven’t exactly flown out of the door
Nice Bally Williams games and other stuff just ain’t out there like they used to be so I think those will probably stay the same I think jmac could have probably sold all his games 10 times over this weekend as I could have done with st Le and tz
It would be interesting to see how many games for sale at the show actually sold
As for watches and coins not too sure on those I see big discounts on watch finder at the moment and gold is on a big slide since Christmas as is most of the stock market
 
I'm not sure it will change. We're talking about what is essentially a luxury item hobby.

I personally think the pound will continue to tank and it'll all continue upwards.
 
its not the pound thats tanking, its the dollar that is getting stronger driven by a more aggressive interest rate policy set by the fed, also why the price of gold has gone bananas, if they continue to follow that policy which I believe they will it will get worse. Whilst we wait for a government that urgently needs to push interest rates up at least another 1% - and there is no cost of living crisis - there is a choice of living crisis with too many people making bad choices.
 
Prices got a little stupid recently, bigger selection of cheaper machines hitting the market would be nice :)
 
I do think Neil is partly correct on this
Cost of living crisis yes
But also lots of choice living crisis is true
Example is you have been on an abroad holiday this year yet you are moaning about you won’t be able to pay your energy bills truth use did you need the holiday no do you need to heat your home in the winter yes
Example 2 you have 3 pinball machines to the value of 9k do you really need these erm no and would probably heat the average house for 2-3 years
I find people s reluctance these days to give up luxury items a bit strange to pay for essential items
I would sell all my pins and give up any luxuries to keep my family fed and warm
 
I don’t think folk are saying they can’t pay. It’s just the speed of which prices have gone up. It’s not that the government has made the industry competitive. The only competition is the 2% margin that is made by the end customer supplier..
 
russdx1 said:
You shouldn’t have to spend your whole salary on Just food and energy just so a couple big companies can get crazy rich. System is very broken and the government has failed to project this country.
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Without getting too deep into this, the government have dropped the ball on oil and gas / energy support. I work in the industry and there has been no clear policy on future development or gas storage for the last 15 years and we are all paying for that now.
 
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