Tournament Player Series

[Maximw61 0]

Does anyone know what the heck is happening to TPS? Why are they seemingly falling off the face of the earth? I call, no one answers. I try and pay them for custom gloves, they don't respond to my requests (which I had to make from my prostock HG-1's, so now I have my custom gloves do to my own handy work). And they aren't really creating anything anymore.

What's happening to TPS? they're my favorite!

[Chadd 916]

TPS was sold to Sherwood more than a year ago and it looks like Sherwood is going to phase out the TPS brand.

[Maximw61 0]

Yea I knew about the sale to Sher-Wood. But TPS makes (well, made I guess) some really nifty stuff. Why would they phase out a company that does so well? Especially in goalie equipment?

[Chadd 916]

Preaching to the choir here. I still have a couple pair of gloves and a dozen sticks/shafts. The new T series SWD sticks are reputed to be based off of TPS designs and are actually pretty good quality for the price.

[Maximw61 0]

But it says Sher-Wood all over it. Meh, I guess you're right. Well when my stuff tires

out; "Easton, here I come!"

[Law Goalie 147]

The emerald ash borer beetle is going to destroy all the old white ash forests that Louisville relied on, anyway. :(

[Chadd 916]

You are incorrect. TPS was never sold.

Sorry, I was going for the short version. The effect is the same in this case.

[Maximw61 0]

It's not uber incorrect. We all know that sher-wood is pretty much in charge of the TPS name, but back to my original question; what is the future of TPS?

[Chadd 916]

what is the future of TPS?

Until Sherwood or H&B cancels the licensing agreement, there really isn't one.

[gxc999 7]

So, the end effect is that TPS brand stuff is going to be finito after 2010, right?

[Jarick 5]

When are the new Sherwood sticks supposed to hit retail?

[bostonjuniorblackhawks 1]

When are the new Sherwood sticks supposed to hit retail?

T90's are already out. T100 is spring I think. I have seen some pro stock T100's around

[Chadd 916]

So, the end effect is that TPS brand stuff is going to be finito after 2010, right?

I haven't heard anything specific. It just seems like they don't know what to do with it and marketing two lines is more expensive than marketing one.

[epstud74 24]

I could be mistaken, but you'd think Sherwood would be better off replicating the XN10 sticks than the new stuff they have. Especially if word got out..Maybe the XN10 was a niche product for a certain crowd..Who knows? I do know this, my XN10 chrome is probably my best stick and I have several $200 sticks out there. I just bought a Dolomite DD just to see how it performs. I've never used a Dolomite OPS, I've used the shafts, but never an OPS and I'd like to see how it performs compared to my XN10 Chrome and One95 P14 OPS. Anyone have any experience in comparing the Dolomite DD vs the One95?

[Law Goalie 147]

The primary problem with the XN10s is that they don't break.

[epstud74 24]

The primary problem with the XN10s is that they don't break.

Yup..and you wonder why LHS's and companies like Warrior, Easton or Bauer want to steer us in the OPS direction

[Chadd 916]

The primary problem with the XN10s is that they don't break.

Actually, they had a less than stellar rep for durability. If you shoot with them, they last forever. If you slash with them, they last for a period. They were also extremely expensive at wholesale prices and TPS volume discounts sucked for all but the largest dealers. If I paid full wholesale for an XN10 OPS and sold it for the same price as a certain website, I would make $20 on a stick. And that's assuming they paid cash and didn't use a credit card.

Yup..and you wonder why LHS's and companies like Warrior, Easton or Bauer want to steer us in the OPS direction

Because they made more money selling those other brands on a per-unit basis.

[Chadd 916]

Finally, while your statement with regards to only making $20 profit over full wholesale, then you would've sold a shit load of sticks. My dealers were all selling at $179. As I've said in other threads, the stick should've been a $209 retail, but, TPS mgmt. was scared about being the first at +$200.

The XN10 varied online between $159 and $179, wholesale was $129 and that didn't include shipping. So we may have made a little more than $20 when they were being sold at $159, but not much. The fact remains, their pricing made them extremely unattractive to a large number of smaller shops. The same margins followed through the rest of the line. If the only dealers that can make money selling a second tier brand are the ones doing more than 100k, you aren't going to have many dealers.

[DarkStar50 679]

The XN10 varied online between $159 and $179, wholesale was $129 and that didn't include shipping. So we may have made a little more than $20 when they were being sold at $159, but not much. The fact remains, their pricing made them extremely unattractive to a large number of smaller shops. The same margins followed through the rest of the line. If the only dealers that can make money selling a second tier brand are the ones doing more than 100k, you aren't going to have many dealers.

$100K in booking? That statement isn't too clear. If your shop was selling the XN10 at $20 above cost to compete with online, that doesn't seem like a good idea. Like a dealer I know in Brooklyn says, "When a guy tells me he can buy that OPS for $159 online, then why are you talking to me?!"

I agree with Sub: the dealer has to say no to product that may not sell. Being a good guy to a rep doesn't help the dealer's business at the end of the day. I know reps who just want to load up a dealer with their product and then you won't see the rep until next season anyway. When his product is still sitting in your inventory. "There are friends and there is business, and don't ever use the two words in the same sentence."

[Chadd 916]

Dealers can't be everything to everyone and that is still the problem with stores going out of business everyday. You wanted the XN10 to try and capture the "craze" of it, and by your admission (and basic math), lost $10 in every sale, but that doesn't factor in somehow? I'll say it again, the stick should've been a $209 retail, but mgmt. didn't do it. At the end of the day, it is easy to say "If the only dealers that can make money selling a second tier brand are the ones doing more than 100k, you aren't going to have many dealers", but, nobody stuck a gun to your head telling you to buy it. You can't be everything to everyone. The fact that you lost $10 on every sale by selling it at $159 and then blaming the mfg. for not providing a higher MSRP/better profit margin tells me all I need to know... You were going to kill yourself selling the stick no matter what price you bought it for.

The 6% sales tax in PA, adds in $9.54 on $159. We left 46 cents on the table, if you want to call it that. Though at that time most of the major websites were offering free shipping without oversize fees or handling charges for sticks on orders over $100 or $150. I turned a profit in my shop from the very start, even without one of the big three to build on. As much as you want to make this about your assumptions of my failings, we didn't fail and they're largely incorrect. I'd like to gt this back on topic.

I'm not blaming TPS for anything, just saying that their pricing policies are a big part of why dealers didn't carry the product and why they struggled.

$100K in booking? That statement isn't too clear. If your shop was selling the XN10 at $20 above cost to compete with online, that doesn't seem like a good idea. Like a dealer I know in Brooklyn says, "When a guy tells me he can buy that OPS for $159 online, then why are you talking to me?!"

I agree with Sub: the dealer has to say no to product that may not sell. Being a good guy to a rep doesn't help the dealer's business at the end of the day. I know reps who just want to load up a dealer with their product and then you won't see the rep until next season anyway. When his product is still sitting in your inventory. "There are friends and there is business, and don't ever use the two words in the same sentence."

And that's why we didn't order/sell a ton of TPS product, the margins weren't there. It brings me back to this particular point:

I'm not blaming TPS for anything, just saying that their pricing policies are a big part of why dealers didn't carry the product and why they struggled.

[gxc999 7]

When I found out how much TPS was charging major online sellers for the R6 and R8, I knew they were doomed.