Why is it that when a significant thing happens to this country ,everyone put’s their prices up
coming out of the EU put the prices up , Pandemic shut down put the prices up .
Raw material price increase on almost everything has shot up during the past two years and not only one price rise but several !
yet my labour charges had to stay the same to keep a reasonable price range for my clients !
Lets take a look at some price increase’s and what they mean to people buying products and services in the cue sport industry
Fibre board or wood has seen a vast increase over the past two years resulting in things like cues , new snooker tables , and pool tables rocketing up in price .
Take pool tables for instance , for what I was paying for them trade 9 years ago to present day has seen a 30% increase .
A good third , so that means four tables ordered 9 years ago is now the price of three . but is almost acceptable over a 9 year time span of around 7.5% a year .
but I think 5% is a reasonable price increase .
cloth has fared a bit better and is reasonable apart from the last two years price increases which has seen a good 15% increase . again 7.5%
and for some special edition only available by third party cloths an extra 25% / 30% to add too .
Northern Rubber and club rubber has not escaped price increase , but only marginal over 9 years by 30% if you take the time span into consideration again around 7.5% a year .
add the increase in price of Glue and staples too .
plastic ball gully rails and pockets have also not escaped price increases .
also metal lock down clasps and hinges and alloy trim parts too .
With lock down , a lot of factory’s had stopped production and this has caused a mad scramble for available raw materials for the manufacture of pool tables ,
melamine faced Fibre board being the most used part of the table .
we have instances where table manufactures have made the carcase yet are waiting for small parts like legs and feet or even slates to arrive to complete the order ,
add to this the sudden upsurge in people having small pool tables at home during the lock down in converted garages . sheds , new build bars , and outside on patio areas too.
As you can see this is what people want and they want it NOW …… above photo of a lock down heaven for this client and these are being reproduced all over the UK by people restricted to entertaining themselves and keeping the boredom away .
I made an inquiry the other day for my own home for a small 6ft pool diner table for my Grand daughter who took to playing pool on holiday recently ,
and do not forget I am in the trade so I can pull a few strings and maybe try and get a table quicker for myself .
I wanted to order a 6ft pool diner from the two most desirable ones on the market , one supplier told me yes order today and you can expect it in January 2022 .
that is a full 6 month waiting time , the other says December 5 months away .
both factory’s are running at full speed and are restricted by volume they can produce yet get the hold ups of materials to also consider in their time scale .
AND one supplier could not give me a price of the table because they say the materials could rise again in the next 6 months .
This now has a knock on effect to second hand tables available , there are very few low cost or reasonable cost second hand ones around ,
I decided to look for a Second hand diner only to find the prices required by the seller nearly as much as a new one at trade price .
take into account this table was in Newcastle and the cost of collecting it and you can work it out it would cost me more for this table than waiting for a new one in January .
add a re-cloth and new balls and it takes way over the cost of a new one .
Right last but not least as an example to price increase .
I am having an extension done on the back of my house a small sun room , conservatory sized but with one brick wall and apex roof and tiled roof like the one in the photo below .
approx. 5×4 meters . bifold doors and sliding patio doors included .
I thought a price all in of £20.000 to £25000 would do it , think again add at least another £5000 on , materials in the building trade is even worse hit than the cue sports trade .
well that’s my rant over price increase’s this past few years .
please do not think it is GCL billiards that set the price on table re-cloths or sales , I even have to accept price increases on raw materials as an home owner putting a small extension on my property .
And I have to accept an open final supply price on a pool diner table if I order it .
We are all governed by what the raw materials cost and the chain of events of people raising their prices before the final product is presented to the Client .
there is also a huge difference in price to say a pavement drop off of a pool table by one of these internet firms who sell from direct factory stock , and a bespoke pick up from factory deliver and install of table .
at GCL billiards we take our time to make sure your table is fitted correct .
I try to be competitive and to do that as a Bespoke like for like collect supply and fit scenario ,
but with tables now having a waiting list of around 20 weeks it is getting very difficult to supply them for certain dates .
and we must now hope that as we come out of full restrictions that things will get better in the supply chain .
Every thing is affected even cloth , some colours you can get off the shelf others you have to wait for next production run .
at the end of the day we can only supply what is available off the shelf .
