The Price of Sticks Must Come Down

[DarkStar50 679]

^ +1 and thank you. Very well said.

[shotty 7]

thank you. now if only i could land a sales job with a hockey company. no one wants a guy who "only knows skis".

[AIREAYE 248]

thank you. now if only i could land a sales job with a hockey company. no one wants a guy who "only knows skis".

Now if I could get a job designing sticks/other equipment :P Only in high school now...how will the economy affect the market for these types of careers in the future? say 5-7 yrs from now?

[gxc999 7]

The production cost of just the stick (just the materials and factory cost) is a fraction of the $189-249 final price, approximately a quarter. Unless the warranty cost of each stick is greater than the actual production cost, $200+ leaves them plenty of room to maneuver. However, I've often wondered why they even sell price point sticks, there simply has to be less money than that.

[furlanitalia 1]

Yah but unfortunately to produce "just the stick" you have to look at R&D, marketing and freight costs along with the factory/material costs.

[shotty 7]

Now if I could get a job designing sticks/other equipment :P Only in high school now...how will the economy affect the market for these types of careers in the future? say 5-7 yrs from now?

if you know what you want to do now, commit yourself to it and it'll happen. dont worry about the economy... the best companies hire the best talent (except when it comes to reps. it a ------ old boys club, in canada anyways)

The production cost of just the stick (just the materials and factory cost) is a fraction of the $189-249 final price, approximately a quarter. Unless the warranty cost of each stick is greater than the actual production cost, $200+ leaves them plenty of room to maneuver. However, I've often wondered why they even sell price point sticks, there simply has to be less money than that.

see my post on page one.

[gxc999 7]

Yah but unfortunately to produce "just the stick" you have to look at R&D, marketing and freight costs along with the factory/material costs.

Marketing And seriously, will a company please offer a high end stick with no warranty? The real problem is a mix of the occasional bad production batch and people ripping off the warranty departments of various companies, but I guess that's a different thread.

[TBLfan 25]

[shotty 7]

And seriously, will a company please offer a high end stick with no warranty?

they do. see: pro stock

the cost of the warranty is a small fraction of price you pay. its an insurance policy.

[gxc999 7]

I know, I know, don't let the cat out of the bag, I'm sorry. This thread results from a sort of argument I had with someone I used to play with, I was trying to explain it to them but they didn't understand...

[shotty 7]

do you understand?

[gxc999 7]

do you understand?

Yes, bet your bottom dollar on it... 

[shotty 7]

then why the hell are you asking for products with no warranty programs and for manufacturer's to lower their prices? have you not read ANYTHING in this thread, coming from people who earn their livelihood from this very industry and very similar others?

PRODUCTION COST! no way!!!! $45!!!! how much does it cost to run the machines that make those sticks, how much does it cost to pay the PHds on the engineering team, and the R&D losses that they accumulate trying to bring you that One95 among a WHOLE HOST of other things.

buddy, you're comparing PRODUCTION COST to WHOLESALE cost without factoring in what it takes to get it there. forget about shipping and warranty, those are probably the two cheapest expenses.

[TBLfan 25]

I know, I know, don't let the cat out of the bag, I'm sorry. This thread results from a sort of argument I had with someone I used to play with, I was trying to explain it to them but they didn't understand...

...not what I meant at all.

[gxc999 7]

then why the hell are you asking for products with no warranty programs and for manufacturer's to lower their prices? have you not read ANYTHING in this thread, coming from people who earn their livelihood from this very industry and very similar others?

It's frustration- A friend of mine is starting some things and was going through the process of pricing inventory for a pro shop and realized how insane it all was. The customers have to pay so much because the stores themselves do too- the companies have a pretty good margin on the sticks but the pro shops have almost NONE by comparison- that's bull.

[epstud74 24]

So the One95 is the lowest priced top of the line stick of the major brands? Works for me because I like it better than any Easton (other than ST) or Reebok and Warrior stick out there.

[Neo5370 132]

Quote from Drew: Also, SW has had some issues with production so don't be fooled, that is not your father's 5030 anymore!

Can you/anyone elaborate? Is it overall quality or consistency?

[gxc999 7]

 The wife made a good point to me- the company is spreading R&D costs around the whole company and whoever buys the top of the line stuff gets hit with it- even if it didn't spring from that item. But I still don't know it's all that much, considering most of the top of the line sticks use features and tech from similar sticks. I've also heard the warranty is the most expensive part of many top end sticks now, so who wouldn't buy a top end stick for $159 instead of 209 with no warranty?

[epstud74 24]

Nice try, but the performance advantages of high end OPS over wood are so blatantly obvious that I won't even bother wasting anyone's time listing them here.

Maybe for snap shots and wristers.. Not so much for slap shots IMO

[shotty 7]

It's frustration- A friend of mine is starting some things and was going through the process of pricing inventory for a pro shop and realized how insane it all was. The customers have to pay so much because the stores themselves do too- the companies have a pretty good margin on the sticks but the pro shops have almost NONE by comparison- that's bull.

all retailers do is dispatch it. competition makes the profit margins lower. MSRP and street price are two totally different things.

bauer pays for the marketing, bauer pays for the R&D, retailers pay to sell it.

[epstud74 24]

It does not help that carbon fiber is very expensive

[bostonjuniorblackhawks 1]

When OPS originally came out they cost like $100 - $125 I believe. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that the OPS you can get in that price range today, such as the One75 or SE6, are definitely superior to those original sticks in durability and probably superior in terms of performance. It just so happens that today those sticks are not the top end in the performance range.

I'm fine with the pricing of sticks now, but I would take an original synergy over any stick that is currently priced the same as the original synergy's were. I just don't like the performance of the sticks in that pricepoint now. I loved the original synergy's on the other hand performance wise.

The price point stick that doesn't sell is the one just below the high end, in between mid and high. X:50 and even an ST can sit on the rack for quite awhile before it is finally markdown time. That is no man's land in PPs.

I've only seen one person using an X:50 since they came out. He had an X:60 too, but preferred the X:50

Looking at the costs of sticks I remember when the first Synergy's came out and were priced at $200 CDN. Well the newest ST's are out, and guess what they cost? $200 CDN. The technology is better and the performance is better, but the price hasn't really gone up. When the first Stealth came out it was $300 cdn. New S19? $300 cdn.

Good point about the ST's. In the US, the new ST's are only about $20 to $30 more expensive than the old ones at the most

they do. see: pro stock

the cost of the warranty is a small fraction of price you pay. its an insurance policy.

Pro stocks for $100 sure beats $200 for the retail version haha

[gxc999 7]

It does not help that carbon fiber is very expensive

Read the following http://www.zoltek.com/aboutus/news/47/ "Over the last decade, the price per pound of carbon fiber has dropped from $150 to about $10. That decline was necessary for it to become a viable alternative material. Many new industries are exploring using carbon fiber in their products. At the moment, both the carbon fiber industry and Zoltek are capacity constrained. One of Zoltek’s biggest challenges this year will be to raise sufficient funds for expansion and bring on many new lines in a timely fashion. The company also expects to expand into the Far East as demand develops there for its products."

[epstud74 24]

Yea, because there is no warranty factored into the cost.. I wonder if the price also reflects the cost of a warranty stick?

Read the following http://www.zoltek.com/aboutus/news/47/ "Over the last decade, the price per pound of carbon fiber has dropped from $150 to about $10. That decline was necessary for it to become a viable alternative material. Many new industries are exploring using carbon fiber in their products. At the moment, both the carbon fiber industry and Zoltek are capacity constrained. One of Zoltek’s biggest challenges this year will be to raise sufficient funds for expansion and bring on many new lines in a timely fashion. The company also expects to expand into the Far East as demand develops there for its products."

Prices sure have dropped in the 10 yrs since I worked with carbon fiber. I remember I worked for a small prosthetics company while in college. All of the parts were made of carbon fiber and the owner was a real stickler for how it was cut and prepared for production. So I was the only one allowed at the time to cut the fiber. I had to wear gloves and a mask the whole time

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

GOOD carbon fiber is expensive.