pneumag "upgrade" rentals....

[txaggie08]

I've been talking with my boss about possibly offering "upgrade"rentals for the field. We used to do a-5's, but they've walked off.


I think I have a solution to THAT issue worked out(aka, DL and a credit card when you rent, and authorization for me to charge the value of the gun to your CC if not returned...), But I'm searching for a cost effective gun.


My thoughts turned to a classic valved pneumag. I think I could acquire the basic mag(a basic classic with a double trigger frame) for ~100-150$ in good condition. he conversion, using an cheap cocker LPR shouldn't run more than another 50. I think I can turn that investment around in a month or two.

I guess the question here is, how have the pneumag conversions held up durability wise? are there problems with the MSV's wearing out quickly at all? how maintenance intensive is the pneumatics system?


Feedback on that idea would be appreciated, as would suggestions....

[Ninjeff]

seems a bit of an overkill when you could just do cheap-o electronic markers.

But hey, more power to ya!

[senghing27]

Um Spyders were made to be Rentals... They're cheap and no one really cares about them, thus making them less likely to get stolen...

And in agreement with the above poster, It's a tad overkill to be making pneu'ed classics as rentals...

[txaggie08]

You missed the point......


We have about 150 rental guns already, mostly tippmans and spyder clones(gt's to be exact). The idea here is for "upgrade" packages....ie you pay me more(usually 10-15$ above the standard 7.99 rental fee), you get a much nicer gun. We USED to do this with A-5's that were property of the field. Those have walked off, I'm working on a way to turn money on my own by filling a niche. You would be amazed at the number of requests we get for something like this, I was thinking about pneud classics because there durable, fast, and extremely difficult to tinker with or break(there no reason for them to go push buttons trying to get it in full auto as there is with electros...)

Like I said, think y'all missed the concept here.

[senghing27]

See, now that makes better sense...

From the first post, it looked like you were going to upgrade all the rentals to Pneu'ed classics....

Anyways, Yeah, Pneu'ed classics would be a good idea for an 'Upgraded' Rental.

$100 for a base classic and just add more cash for the Pneu modifications and what not.

But wouldn't Ions be cheaper to have as "Upgraded rentals"? Seeing how their whole new line is out, and Ions can be picked up as pennies on the dollar?

[txaggie08]

I had thought about those to.


My two concerns are :

Co2 is nearly mandatory. No on site compressor, and it's nothing for us to eat our tanks in a day. If i was going to provide a service I have to do it all or nothing. I would consider it unethical, and it would be bad business, to rent guns I couldn't support through the day. Keeping my own tanks on site to fill from are a possibility but that would cost me a good bit of money a weekend. I COULD run the ion of A/S Co2, and I do have a couple of stabs sitting around, but even then I think I'm asking for it.....

Durability- let's face it, there new heights of sp junk. I've spent to much time repaiting them for customers....


The ion is another consideration though. I may get one of each to test the concept...

[txaggie08]

On a completely random note, I had also considered acquiring a couple if LED or LCD angels. I see the base models go for 100-150$ now days, and God those would fly off the shelves .

[Army]

(Nearly semi-literate occasional player at front counter) "Hi! Can we get a couple rentals?"

"Sure....here ya go" (lays two, sadly beat to crap, Spyders on counter)

"Uhhh...ya got anything a little better?"

"Sure do! Here ya go!" (lays two, badly mangled, worn down to bare metal Tippy's on counter)

"Geez, these don't look any better than the other ones. You sure you have nothing that's less, you know, used up? Something with straight shooting qualities and high end engineering?"

"Well....... we don't normally rent them out.......but we have these PneuMags, they're gonna cost you a bit more, but dang if they ain't worth it!" (begins to snicker to himself for scoring mucho dinero on the rentals. maybe tonight he can finally afford to take Gladys to the freezy burger)

"OMFG! I can't believe it! These are the children of Tom! Please, please please...I'll pay whatever you want, just for the priveledge of being able to be seen with them. I'm not sure we want to actually use them in a game, but we'll take them. OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, we will be the envy of everyone here. Players will swoon when they see us, heck, they'll prolly just go home in absolute fear of us when they gaze upon the muppet mowing wonders in our hands. Oh yeah, we are gonna kick butt today!! Thank you mister, thank you, thank you, thank you!"



....or something like that.

[txaggie08]

doh!


You really would be surprised what people will pay to get the "advantage". Rented a G7 out to a dude one day for 30$.....

[Coralis]

The problem I see with using pnuemags or for that matter any higher end gun is the CO2 limitation and then the need for a upgraded hopper as well. If you had A5 walking out the door think what going to happen to your smaller pnuemags and even smaller hoppers. I'm not saying its not a worthwhile idea I'm just not sure that a pnuemag would be your best choice.

[MedicDVG]

Frankly I think its brilliant. Players are looking for speed, field owners are looking for revenue generators. Pnuemags can be the best of both worlds.

Think about it from a field owner's point of view -- no consumables to eat up your profit margain -- no batteries, no fried boards, ease of service and they throw paint as fast as the little goober can pull the trigger. Sure you can do all that with an UBER XP3200 space gun or one of the crop of **** from **** Parts... but here you have a true workhorse and money maker.

I think you may have something there.. just remove the field strip screws so people aren't walking off with your valves.

hell maybe have some premium rentals which is an vert ULE in a fancy color with an RT Pro valve or something.

Hell -- this forum is always pissing and moaning that there isn't enough exposure to automags and that AGD never did a very good job at marketing -- I think this may actually satisfy a need.

I like the idea. This could open up the world of mags to a whole demographic that heretofore has been untapped.

Way to think outside the box.

[p8ntbal4me]

I hate to say this,.. but IONs are pretty much an idiot proof way to let new players shoot a TON of paint and they are an easy way to sell a new loader at the end of the day.

I know (of one day I played) that my local field let someone "borrow" a field ION for trying it out. That player was in a private group.

After the first game,... 3 players came inside asking to rent the same gun.

One more game after that,... the same 3 guys were looking at loaders.

At the end of the day, 3 IONs were sold and 2 Empire B2s, 2 masks, 2 packs.

While I dont like the ION myself,... they are pretty simple for a tech to take apart and put bacjk together in a matter of 1 game.

The only other route you can go (affordably) would be to purchase e-trigger kits for the model 98s or a-5 and offer those guns as "upgrades".

The e-trigger would mean (to the player) faster gun that the other guys, and more paint shot for the field.

One word of caution. Players, particularly newer ones to semi-seasoned players who are buying some of their own gear,... would rather see working equipment, nice fields, good crowds, friendly staff, good prices, and the field management INVOLVED in the needs of the customer no matter how small or big the budget is.

Im not a field owner. Im just a player whom has been contracted to do THOUSANDS of dollars worth of work and man hours to help make 2 fields alot better because the field owner cares for the needs of his customers. Any business person knows they need to keep the same customer base as well as draw in a new one.

Keeping good rental fleets are a good idea,.. but think about some other areas as well. Something as simple as a new deep sink with a hose on it to let players clean their barrels out is another luxury they can have. Self serve fill stations (if your state allows it), multiple chronos (or multiple chrono ranges), a viewing area for parents, the ability to let parents "watch" the kids out on the fields as observers, new structures, clean tourney air ball fields, etc.

Running a field is a full time thing,... you can always ask your customers publicly what they would like to see offered and go from there.

~ P8nt

[p8ntbal4me]

Frankly I think its brilliant. Players are looking for speed, field owners are looking for revenue generators. Pnuemags can be the best of both worlds.

Think about it from a field owner's point of view -- no consumables to eat up your profit margain -- no batteries, no fried boards, ease of service and they throw paint as fast as the little goober can pull the trigger. Sure you can do all that with an UBER XP3200 space gun or one of the crop of **** from **** Parts... but here you have a true workhorse and money maker.

I think you may have something there.. just remove the field strip screws so people aren't walking off with your valves.

hell maybe have some premium rentals which is an vert ULE in a fancy color with an RT Pro valve or something.

Hell -- this forum is always pissing and moaning that there isn't enough exposure to automags and that AGD never did a very good job at marketing -- I think this may actually satisfy a need.

I like the idea. This could open up the world of mags to a whole demographic that heretofore has been untapped.

Way to think outside the box.

My local field had 100 mini mags with valves that said right on them "Rental".

Something that was done to the valve by AGD,....

[Coralis]

One word of caution. Players, particularly newer ones to semi-seasoned players who are buying some of their own gear,... would rather see working equipment, nice fields, good crowds, friendly staff, good prices, and the field management INVOLVED in the needs of the customer no matter how small or big the budget is.

Amen. when I first got into the game I hating having to rent knowing that atleast once per day I would have waste my valuable playing time waiting to have my rental serviced.

[viper-mayhem]

Would it be possible to somehow build the response trigger like the Benchmark or something like that. I remember that you get 4 shots for 1 pull and 1 release. This what you do not have to do alot of servicing the pneumag internals.