15bps means I'm broke in 5 minutes

[Walrus]

None of you can spell but do I declare you illiterate?

Well, "None of you" didn't seem to include you. Therefore you are calling all of us with the exception of yourself illiterate. Next time include yourself by stating "None of us." I do not mean to pick, but...

I understand your reasoning for questioning the cost and markup of paintballs. It has just been part of the supply and demand. Before when paintball was not a popular sport, the paint was overpriced [Supply]. Now that it is more popular (geez, you can even buy it at Wal-Mart and Target) and redily available, the cost is much less [Demand]. (I guess the "Supply" and "Demand" could be reversed there as well) The same goes with any product on the market today. Think of DVD players, CD players, and Digi-Cams. Back when they were first available, they would cost a couple of months paychecks. Now that they are common and available, you can pick up any of them for under $50.

The reason that there was a $20 markup for the paintballs at my shop was because 4 of us worked in there besides the owner. He paid us a measly $7/hr (which isn't too bad becuase we were having fun). There was almost always 2 of us in the store at a time, so at $7 an hour X 2, there is $14 an hour he is losing. If that paint sits on the shelf for a week before selling, then think of how much money the owner has just lost because it didn't sell, but he still had to pay us for being there watching it! Again, if you don't like the markup, become a retailer and order your own to save the costs of a middle man.

[tae]

My apologies

I did state that inappropriately and I apologize. I do understand the workings of a business and how the price can go up. My view is that the manufacturers can drop their price so the the middlemen can still go home happy. I understand "thats the way things are", but if companies dropped their price shop owners and fields could still make the profit they need(possibly more). Im not mad at the guy charging me $X/case so he can live comfortably and run his business. I can just see this as a way to invigorate growth in the industry. I was just looking for information as to what it takes and what the industry is doing.

Hearing things like Smart Parts (if its even true) patenting all they can. Its up to consumers not to support practices that are unfair to other companies and to us.

[Arstron]

R&D, material, workers, machinery, QA, Shipping, middle men, the fact other people have to make a living. Paint prices are fair right now. Yes I would love it if you could buy a case of quality paint for $20, but I wont ever expect to see it. The price of paintballs have gone down and people complain, the price of gas goes up and everyone still buys it.

[11 Bravo]

A lot of the mfgers are also the middleman / distributor. Ex. Pmi and National.

[Walrus]

So True

I agree that Smart Parts has gone a little overboard when it comes to patents. They started with a concept to drill holes in a spiral pattern on a barrel along with a "special super slick coating" on the inside of the barrel and it all started there. I had posted a responce something similar to a post over at PBN. To summarize it, it basically stated that with patents comes a restriction on the growth of paintball. I agrree that if someone produces an idea or concept, that they should get the rights to it and it shouldn't be copied. But where would paintball be if they had patented things like the Tippmann pin valves for CO2 tanks? Or, what if someone decided to patent the double stacked tube blowback? What if Glenn Palmer had patented his autococking mechinism for pump paintball markers? And the list goes on and on. I cannot remember if it was Glenn or Ben that made a the statement when asked "Why didn' you patent these inventions when you saw how they would effect the future of paintball?" Whomever it was stated that they did not patent these products because it was invented to help players and to further the development paintball. Just think of where paintball is today because of semi-automatic markers and constant air tanks. Without the ability to improve on someone else's design, we would not be as advanced in out sport as we are. I think we owe a big thanks to all of those people that designed and created products with the players in mind, not with the corporate VP in mind.

[Lohman446]

lol, where did you read that? Here is OPEC's view "Acknowledging that, although growth in crude oil supply in recent years has continued to be ahead of growth in demand, and that commercial oil stocks, in particular of crude, are at comfortable levels, oil prices have nevertheless continued to rise, mainly on account of tightness in downstream capacity and concerns over availability of adequate future supplies leading to increasing activity in futures markets, the Conference reiterated that the Organization will continue its proactive policy of supporting market stability by ensuring availability of adequate supply, at prices reasonable to both producers and consumers." The last I saw aggragate oil supply is not a monopolistic curve. And all resources are limited.

one component of paintballs is plastic, plastic is made from oil. Wait...

I was referring to the refineries that use excuses (such as increased oil crude prices) to raise prices yet, those price increases are not correctly correlated to increase of pump prices. Oddly enough those uncorrelated price increases do correlate to record profits for the oil companies. These same companies have bought up competition in the past and simply shut down the oil refining capacity.

[11 Bravo]

Before we keep on arguing about prices - and this is something we didnt settle in the other thread is the fact that we all have a different price that we are talking about.

I was arguing that 70 and 80 dollars was too high. Paint at 60 and below would sound fair to me.

Someone compared the prices that we paid 15 years ago to the prices we pay today. I was getting a good deal on RP scherer back then at 75 a case. It would last the whole weekend.
Today most people go thru a case or more in one day. The amount of paint being used today is a hell of a lot more than what was being used back then. Just the number of paintballs being used today should lower the price and cover a good profit.
Again it depends on what price we are arguing about. Mine is 70 and $80.00.

[tae]

Indeed true

I agree with ya there. My point is that there is always a inherit flaw in the way we try to regulate things. What if Glenn Palmer did patent his idea but still aloud it to be shared and used.

People are not only talking about different paint prices but different concepts of what is being discussed. Its hard to tell what people write when the type like they talk.

I should also clarify for me $50 bucks is ok. Hell, there is a place that charges $80 a case. They do it to make ends meet. I think any field would charge less for paint if they still could make their profits. Right? There was mention of manufacturers being distributors. So why aint it cheaper?

[luke]

I can relate to most of the older guys on here who have been playing for over a decade. Used to it was 2500 for $100+.

Yes indeed, I remember paying $120 per case. I also played all day on 200-300 rounds.

[Snake_Taker]

Honestly who cares we can only get it so cheap so debating about it doesnt make it any cheaper

[player4]

This might have been posted before, but here it goes: I play pump for a reason....

[tae]

Honestly who cares we can only get it so cheap so debating about it doesnt make it any cheaper

I think it has to start somewhere.

[Duzzy]

Paint isn't that expsnsive until it hits your local store. They put a nice mark up on paint (At least my local store does.) so they can make money!

Think about how many people actually shop at their local store anymore? I doubt any stores are keeping themselves afloat on retail sales... Think about how much inurance, land tax, and all the money that goes into running the store take away from what they make from feild fees.

Paint is marked up so that your feild can stay in business, and make a little money doing it. Love of the game doesn't put food on the table or pay bills.

[tae]

I would be buying more from them but they dont carry Mag parts

Running a field is expensive but more player could help that out.

[Tunaman]

lol, where did you read that? Here is OPEC's view "Acknowledging that, although growth in crude oil supply in recent years has continued to be ahead of growth in demand, and that commercial oil stocks, in particular of crude, are at comfortable levels, oil prices have nevertheless continued to rise, mainly on account of tightness in downstream capacity and concerns over availability of adequate future supplies leading to increasing activity in futures markets, the Conference reiterated that the Organization will continue its proactive policy of supporting market stability by ensuring availability of adequate supply, at prices reasonable to both producers and consumers." The last I saw aggragate oil supply is not a monopolistic curve. And all resources are limited.

one component of paintballs is plastic, plastic is made from oil. Wait...

There is no plastic in todays paintballs . I believe a paintball is made from gelatin capsules...which is mineral based...and non toxic. Just like your Tylenol caps... and as someone else above stated, we used to pay .05 each back in the day. If we could get a box for 100 back then we were stylin' for the day. More often then not it was 125-130 bucks a case. You guys don't know how lucky you really are at 30-40-50-even 60 bucks a case. Thats cheap.