!!!!!!!!!! Haven’t been out for a long time as our date nights since having the Pi-Bo Wizard have tended to involve sitting outside Croydon station with a box of Bajan fish cakes… but I’ve just added up what we would pay in SE London, given what we used to, and it’s £60 for two!Meals out are now shockingly expensive. Anything under £200 for 2 people seems positively cheap in a mid range restaurant and yet the restaurants and bars in central London are still heaving.
You’re not too far off the mark- there’s record amounts of debt locked up in car finance too, payments have increased way above the rate of wage growth in the last 5 years. I know having worked through the credit crunch, customers were defaulting or having trouble getting out of HP agreements- it’ll be worse this time next year unless other living costs start coming down (food and utilities). Owning pinball will be the last thing on the minds of many struggling when their current mortgage deals expire. Sorry to be all doom and gloomI don’t think we have seen the bottom yet.
Inflation is still with us both in usa and uk. that will keep putting up NIB prices. This prices more and more folk out in a world that is currently seeing a shrinking of disposable income. manufacturers may find they need to cut prices to continue to make sales. that may mean reduced bom games!!!
gbp could strengthen against us$ but probably not too significantly to counter inflation.
rising base interest rates haven’t yet trickled into around 1m homeowners who are on fixed deals currently. many of these will unwind over next 18 months.
Food price inflation is higher than it should be due to profiteering.
energy prices are falling but not as much and as fast as they should do, again due to profiteering.
The usa are really to blame for the russian invasion of ukraine, and this is all really a calculated money grab to make the super rich richer and the rest of us poorer. It’s working!!
We face the biggest living std squeeze for more than a generation. Most of the workforce haven’t experienced this before.
Disposable income has taken a massive hit and this is seen in dwindling spend on everything that is non essential.
Pins are not selling due to lack of buyers. we have classic oversupply of games as people have left the hobby. many the single pin casual owners. this stifles the market as we’re seeing already. even if you want a new pin, you can’t sell the one you need to get rid of to make space for the new one.
Pinbars / arcades are suffering with the rest of the hospitality / leisure industries therefore they’re not sucking up pins like they were previously.
The bargain hunting horders are sat in the sidelines waiting for the bargains to appear , knowing we haven’t yet hit rock bottom.
PS: Dont take any of the above too seriously.
Mortgages will be the killer for the general population, especially if interest rates keep rising - which I keep hearing in the press are levelling out/have hit peak, then they keep being raised again. I suspect quite a few who've been in the hobby for well over a decade also paid for it by dropping extra debt on their mortgages when borrowing was almost free too, and even if mortgage increases aren't financially crippling to them, if their repayments increase a lot, people are going to be far less inclined to have tens of thousands in depreciating-value luxuries sat around.You’re not too far off the mark- there’s record amounts of debt locked up in car finance too, payments have increased way above the rate of wage growth in the last 5 years. I know having worked through the credit crunch, customers were defaulting or having trouble getting out of HP agreements- it’ll be worse this time next year unless other living costs start coming down (food and utilities). Owning pinball will be the last thing on the minds of many struggling when their current mortgage deals expire. Sorry to be all doom and gloom
I think Pinball is pretty recession proof for the most part. Only those on the very lowest rungs of the ladder will be dropping out. No one on here is going to be wondering where their next meal is coming from any time soon.
I think used prices will start to drop a little, we're already seeing that now but doubt they will be anywhere near pre-covid prices, especially with NIB prices
I imagine that the average pinhead is relatively old. I certainly feel mid age range at anything I go to. There’s a smattering of people in their 30s but late 40s-60 seems pretty much the norm. (Owing to the need for space for games/available cash etc)
Lots of people with their mortgages paid off or huge amounts of equity in property. Quite a few people sitting on inherited cash as well. Most of those are going to be pretty unaffected by interest rate hikes etc
If prices drop by a significant amount there’s a few people who I know who will end up going on a spending spree and keep games in storage.
Perhaps a bigger price decrease is going to be seen when people start retiring and looking to free up cash or downsize. (Similarly there is very little mention in the news about the impact of multiple home owners all popping off at similar times over the next 10 years)
A Scared Stiff has just come up on eBay and they say it was an uncles who recently passed away, they have a collection that will be up for sale.Or circumstances change , no space , need cash , die
Tha needs to get a bottle of stout ladGuessing you’re not having a bottle of wine or cocktails with thAt meal then. alcohol really whacks up the cost.
A Scared Stiff has just come up on eBay and they say it was an uncles who recently passed away, they have a collection that will be up for sale.
Its very sad when this happens, I bought a pin recently because the husband passed away and the money went to charity.
Who knows when your time is up, not good leaving a load of pins for them to sought out as well.
Time to sell up and move to Thailand
People don't want to sell at a loss or just believe they can get what their asking for eventually?The market in uk has for sure slowed down? anyone disagree?
However, asking prices appear to remain pretty high. Why is that?
I agree Alan. A brief look at the unsold games on the for sale section will tell you it's slower.The market in uk has for sure slowed down? anyone disagree?
However, asking prices appear to remain pretty high. Why is that?
A concept known as 'Optimism bias' - humans are naturally optimistic and think things are going to get better, even in the face of significant evidence to the contrary.The market in uk has for sure slowed down? anyone disagree?
However, asking prices appear to remain pretty high. Why is that?