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New EU Tariffs push pinball prices up 25%

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 2463
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But as I understand it it's not just cheaper in Germany. It's cheaper in countries that are of a similar size or perhaps even smaller market wise. Is the pound just f*ckoed? Are our import charges more egregious?
 
Stern employees get an LE around 700 USD over the BOM @ 4K USD.
Someone’s def making a killing along the channel.
 
I don’t find that number difficult to believe.
You guys have said yourself numerous times how pins used to be RRP 5k in UK. Tron LE 5.5k for example.
This came from a few reliable marketing sources in USA on more than one occasion. Common knowledge apparently....,
I’m sure you can guess.
 
Ye back in the day but not now I know people who have done work for stern and asked for a pinball and Gary says see your distributor
I suspect people on the production line don’t give too hoots about pinball and most of them are low paid migrant workers hired on a week to week basis on poor wages so I doubt they would have disposable income like that to buy a pinball
Maybe at the upper level like game design people programmers things like that more likely
 
Chris Kolluris has disclosed the BOM and it’s actually quoted as being lower on Pinside from some of the forum daddies for a modern Premium / LEs - Stern Employees are known to have received recent pins at this price. It’s been mentioned numerous times.
I think it would however, be more likely to be upper echelon staff to receive such a deal.

Edit: I know there are other overheads to account for overall of course, but it shows once the solution + manufacturing infrastructure + distribution network model is setup, it becomes money for old rope.
 
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Ye pretty sure the Mexican work force on ten dollars an hour or whatever aren't in the market for LEs.
 
Chris Kolluris has disclosed the BOM and it’s actually quoted as being lower on Pinside from some of the forum daddies for a modern Premium / LEs - Stern Employees are known to have received recent pins at this price. It’s been mentioned numerous times.
I think it would however, be more likely to be upper echelon staff to receive such a deal.
Yeah if any one working for them got a discount and there must be hundreds of workers there would be a **** ton of machines on ebay lol
 
I would be very surprised if employees got a discount on LE's. They are for customers surely.
 
Manufacturing, bulk buying etc.... it’s crazy.
My Mrs used to work as a UK Sales Manager bringing in shipping containers from China on a daily basis full of stuff for wholesale.
I was amazed at what the Chinese manufacturers could make and for what little cost - unbelievable how they could even make a profit.
So looking at pinball parts, a niche market to the biggest manaufacturer Stern. You can bet your life Stern will exploit the situation.
 
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Given Stern’s previous cost cutting changes such as moving the on switch to the back box in order to save a few cents on wiring I’d suspect the build cost is probably as low as it’s ever going to be.

Gary doesn’t strike me as a man who would miss a trick to reduce costs and hike profits. To be fair to him it’s great that he’s still bothering to make machines rather than selling up and retiring.
 
It’s been joked about on pinside for years but Stern could really hit the cost cutting by added the DIY model to the Pro, Prem, LE, SLE lineup.

Wouldn’t be made in the US, all the parts Stern use are from China anyway, ship them direct and build your game yourself!

Think of all the benefits! No over tightened rails making pooling and chipping a problem no more.
 
Given Stern’s previous cost cutting changes such as moving the on switch to the back box in order to save a few cents on wiring I’d suspect the build cost is probably as low as it’s ever going to be.

Gary doesn’t strike me as a man who would miss a trick to reduce costs and hike profits. To be fair to him it’s great that he’s still bothering to make machines rather than selling up and retiring.
To be fair:
The switch was moved due to electrical regulations, approvals CE etc..... - The PSU moved to the back box so that’s where the switch has to go.
Also, just because your the MD for a company, if you retire it doesn’t mean the coy fold their tents.
There are shareholders, board of directors etc..... the company becomes bigger than just one person.
 
Its called cost down. Every manufacturer does it. You attempt to reduce the production cost and still have the component achieve the same end goal. This is not just profit, it helps pay for that cost of living rise etc. As a supplier it keeps you competitive.
 
I actually like some of the changes. I find the snap on lock down bar change more user friendly.

I even like the location of the power button as I don’t have to bend over. Must be a nightmare though if you are short and have them in the middle of a lineup.
 
^^^ yeah, I’m the same, switch position not a problem for me either.
I think the PSU/switch approval regulation thing was something to do with it being housed in a metal enclosure (metal back box) vs a wooden cabinet.
I’m sure one of the Beta guys will know more about it 👍
 
It certainly would be interesting how much a machine would cost (BOM wise) if they sourced parts from China...
Don’t most of if not all of Sterns components and mechs get produced in China? The mechs might get built up at stern but the parts that make up those mechs are all from China surely?
 
The power switch change was driven by UL changes as it would have cost a lot more to keep the power switch where it was.
Only really cost cutting is playfield and cabinet materials that’s just mad and I doubt has saved stern any money.
 
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