Question about table time

frankncali said:
Give me about 300k and I will run one for the rest of my days :D

I have worked in pool rooms and managaed them. No two have ever been the same.

I can safely say that I will guarantee that there are more BAD business owners out there thean GOOD business owners. Thats all businesses but pool rooms fall in the same way.


I once had an owner ask me how come my day shifts made more than anyone elses dayshifts. I think he thought I was giving the place away.
I just told him I talked to every person, invited them back, checked on them while they were playing and was friendly.
He shook his head and said "no thats not it. Just must be the certain days"

I shook my head.

I really would like to have my own business one day whether its a pool room or not. I have managed others businesses successfully for too long.
I wish all room owners luck as its a tough time. My focus right now would be ultimate customer service.
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Maybe you would do fine, but my point was, there are a lot of people on here that have never had to run a room or business. They talk a lot, but have no idea whats all involved with it. They think you just flip on the open sign and people will come in, lol. If you have ran rooms and businesses, then you already have an idea of what to do, and how to do it, but the vast majority of people dont realize how much it takes to run a room, or any type of business.



Joe
 
snipershot said:
Maybe you would do fine, but my point was, there are a lot of people on here that have never had to run a room or business. They talk a lot, but have no idea whats all involved with it. They think you just flip on the open sign and people will come in, lol. If you have ran rooms and businesses, then you already have an idea of what to do, and how to do it, but the vast majority of people dont realize how much it takes to run a room, or any type of business.



Joe
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I agree. It just always has been frustrating watching poorly run businesses.
I read some books about past business giants and they all said it killed them to go places and see poorly managed money. To all of them a business was simply ..money. Another thing that stood out to me was that they all said that if you can run a business successfully that you can run almost any business successfully.

I also have no doubt that if I were to open a room that I would learn alot and make mistakes.
 
How you charge depends on supply and demand

How a pool hall charges usually depends on supply and demand. If you almost always have empty tables charging by the person makes sense. If you have a waiting list most of the time charging by the table makes sense. Charging by the person inclines people to spread out to multiple tables, charging by the table discourages this.

My understanding is that the basic theory of business for a pool hall is that two people will be on a table so the base rate for the table is what you would charge for two people to be playing on it. If every table is in use and you have only one person on some tables you are losing money if you charge a cheaper rate for a single than for two people. If you have three or more people on a table you charge a little more because everyone playing is paying for entertainment. Harking back to the days of drive-in movies, all cars took up one slot but unless it was "family night" when they flat rated per car, you still paid per person in the car because they all were going to be entertained, one way or another.

I'm happy when I am charged less than the two person rate when practicing by myself and I don't complain too loud when I am charged the two person rate because I am getting roughly twice the use of the table I would get if someone was with me.

Every room owner has to figure out what works for them. Often the pool tables are just the draw that holds people there so that they spend money on other things. Sometimes the pool tables are the money makers. Easy to see that the rates have to be different for the two types of rooms. All rooms have to make expenses and turn a profit or they go away.

Hu
 
now, i didn't get to read through this entire thread, but i used to go to a pool hall that would charge 3 bucks an hour for one player, and 6 bucks an hour for two!

well, why am i not going to rent out two tables if i play with somebody and just leave the balls on the table next to me so a banger doesn't get in our way?? my only point, you cant charge double for 2 players cus people will do this. sorry if i didnt reply on topic enough.
 
i didnt read teh whole thread except for the OP. three played, three should pay. sorry. I work at a pool hall and this is how it works, at the one i work at, and all other ones in my area.

the best is on saturdays when like 6 people show up and look confused when it comes time to pay up...

"but, only one person played at a time...."

would you ask for money off of your car loan and insurance because you don't drive on sundays?
 
mmm. nevermind. i just don't care enough. i get enough of it at work.
 
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snipershot said:
Not really, if a place is charging 8 bucks an hour per person, they are either in a super prime location, with lots of rich folks that play pool, or freakin crazy and destined to fail. I have played in my share of pool rooms, and when Ive had to pay flat table rate is when I have paid the most. My local room charges 3.00 an hour per person, with the 3rd hour free, and a cap of $10, meaning, you will never pay more than $10 a day for pool. Ive seen places where they charge $10 an hour table rate, and if you are playing alone they do you a real favor by only charging you 4 or 5:rolleyes:, still more than most rooms around here charge. Or what if there are 3 guys playing on a flat table rate of 10 an hour. Thats still more than 3.00 an hour. I think a fair hourly per person charge is the way to do it, but thats my opinion.



Joe
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Joe, everything you say makes perfect sense to me. As I stated, I've not really frequented places that charged a per person rate per hour. If the going flat rate is $7-8 per hour and the per person rate is around $3, then it's really 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of the other and it's a good deal for those playing alone. I've not played in many places that charged per person so I was looking at my local rate of $7/hour and multiplying it by 3 or 4 players and coming out with some monstrous hourly rate, but obviously that is not the case.

Rates are high in my area but real estate is expensive (southern Cal). My local hall is $7/hr daytime and $12 at night, flat rate for x number of players. Needless to say I don't practice by myself at night. :D If the going per person rate was $3/hour it would definitely be in my favor to have that, but there really are no per person establishments in my area. The day rates at Hard Times in Bellflower charges $3.50 for one player and $6.50 for 2-6 players. Essentially it is a flat rate of $6.50 with a deal for flying solo.

When I pay $7/hour at my local place I accept it because it is very convenient to my house and I figure, as Shooting Arts said, that even though I'd be splitting the same $7/hour cost with a playing partner if I was in a match, I would only be getting about 1/2 the time at the table, so it sort of evens out.
 
whitw said:
I feel this is a poor analogy, as a family of 5 would eat (roughly) 5 times the amount of food as 1 person. On the other hand, 5 players playing ring or scotch or king-of-the-hill on a pool table will not create 5 times the cloth wear, or power bill, etc.

My city has only 2 or 3 good rooms and they all charge for the table, at a fairly premium rate ($9-10/hr), regardless of the number of players.
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yeah i guess that was a bad analogy. but you get the point. each person uses the equipment so each person gets charged
 
DogsPlayingPool said:
Joe, everything you say makes perfect sense to me. As I stated, I've not really frequented places that charged a per person rate per hour. If the going flat rate is $7-8 per hour and the per person rate is around $3, then it's really 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of the other and it's a good deal for those playing alone. I've not played in many places that charged per person so I was looking at my local rate of $7/hour and multiplying it by 3 or 4 players and coming out with some monstrous hourly rate, but obviously that is not the case.

Rates are high in my area but real estate is expensive (southern Cal). My local hall is $7/hr daytime and $12 at night, flat rate for x number of players. Needless to say I don't practice by myself at night. :D If the going per person rate was $3/hour it would definitely be in my favor to have that, but there really are no per person establishments in my area. The day rates at Hard Times in Bellflower charges $3.50 for one player and $6.50 for 2-6 players. Essentially it is a flat rate of $6.50 with a deal for flying solo.

When I pay $7/hour at my local place I accept it because it is very convenient to my house and I figure, as Shooting Arts said, that even though I'd be splitting the same $7/hour cost with a playing partner if I was in a match, I would only be getting about 1/2 the time at the table, so it sort of evens out.
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I was in california for about a year when I was in the United States Marine Corps,(if you are wondering, yes I ALWAYS spell it out, lol), but I always played on base cuz I could play all night on a couple quarters, and I could take plenty of cash off the bums that thought they were good at pool. Well a couple times I went out in town to a real pool room, and I came back with my tail between my legs and my wallet a bit lighter, lol. Anyway, my point was, I went to a few rooms out there, and they were very very nice, but as I remember they were also quite expensive, so I feel for ya man, but hey, you could give up the sun and beautiful weather and move to corn hole Indiana so you can play cheap pool, lol.



Joe
 
snipershot said:
...Anyway, my point was, I went to a few rooms out there, and they were very very nice, but as I remember they were also quite expensive, so I feel for ya man, but hey, you could give up the sun and beautiful weather and move to corn hole Indiana so you can play cheap pool, lol...



Joe
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Or, I can put a Gold Crown IV in my garage. :thumbup: I'm liking that solution.;)
 
Sounds like 2 players to me. I don't get the belief that a 3rd person hanging around would justify charging for an extra...what does the employee do if the watcher wanders off or if someone else comes over to shoot the shizzit?

dabarbr said:
Last night I was playing in a match at a place unfamiliar to me, meaning I didn't know anyone there.

Three guys rented a table near to where I was playing. They were playing eight ball and the winner stayed on the table with the loser sitting down waiting for the next game to end. In other words there were only two players at the table at any given time.

When it came time to pay they were being charged at the three player rate. The person at the counter was well aware of the way they were playing but still insisted on the three person charge. Personally I think they should have been charged at the rate for only two persons. They eventually paid for the three but not happy campers. What do you think?
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it`s a tough thing to get right

I always told the customers that if you can guarantee me the room will be full all day I will only charge $2.00 per hour each. That never happened, when you don`t have beer or serve food you must charge more to pay the bills.

If 5 people come in and only 4 are going to play ( yeah right ) They always try to sneek on the table if im not watching. The 5th person must buy a soda or snack or they must leave, I have had no problem with this policy yet. they get to stay and watch their friends and I make a buck.

Hanging out dont pay my rent. I have players that buy a bottle of water and fill it up in the mens room.

You almost have to own a room to understand the problem

highrun55
 
highrun55 said:
I always told the customers that if you can guarantee me the room will be full all day I will only charge $2.00 per hour each. That never happened, when you don`t have beer or serve food you must charge more to pay the bills.

If 5 people come in and only 4 are going to play ( yeah right ) They always try to sneek on the table if im not watching. The 5th person must buy a soda or snack or they must leave, I have had no problem with this policy yet. they get to stay and watch their friends and I make a buck.

Hanging out dont pay my rent. I have players that buy a bottle of water and fill it up in the mens room.

You almost have to own a room to understand the problem

highrun55
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I know some owners that have a room similiar to yours ,,, no alcohol etc.

She charges a cover to get into the room. I think its a buck or two bucks. You can use your cover towards table time or a soda etc.

She gets alot of kids and this keeps them from using it as an allnight hangout.

Good luck with you room and website... i stop by the site every now and again to check it out and see the cam.
 
Methinks this is a difficult issue to tackle.....a large part of it is what type of clientele you have and where you are located....

If you got 6 guys at a table, all six are playing a ring game, they are all drinking, ordering food, and have more friends watching the game while enjoying a beer and spending money, it's a no-brainer to give them a break on the time and try to keep that business coming....

Then you get 6 guys that come in, they all want to play, they want free water, coffee, play all day, and then they want a flat/free rate where they can pay $2 each for 4 hours of air conditioning in August....

Depending on my economic condition, I have been both of these guys :D

It's the same in every business....you gotta find that magical balance between taking good care of customers, while not being taken advantage of at the same time....you need simple, good business policies customers can understand, but you also gotta know when to bend your own rules, and when to enforce them to the letter....it ain't easy....

To the OP, I am a friend of the sliding scale....$5 for 1, $8 for two, $10 for 3.....comp a little table time for big spenders.....
 
frankncali said:
Owners should take the guess work out of it and make it less likely that
any arguement or misunderstanding takes place.

If I had a room I would have a single player rate and then a 2 or more rate.


One goal of every room should be to get larger sets of people coming into their room. Gets some girls in those groups and your golden.

If never fails that 2 people have a table and call some friends. They meet there and one of them wants to play one game or two. No need to charge a 3 person rate.

Personally I would have thanked them for coming and gave them the 2 player rate.

Theres not too many reasons to upset a customer especially right now.
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There is a potential problem with this logic of larger sets of people. If a large group say 10 -15 people come in together to drink and have a wild time and you only charge them for the same rate as you charge the single player next to them, you may have a large group that is also distrubing your other players due to the close proximity of the tables. It depends on the layout of the room. I could see a flat rate if there were a max number of people per table and after that you have to get another table. No one wants to ask 5 or 10 people to move out of your way when you need to shoot on "their" side of your table.

Just a thought.
 
dr9ball said:
There is a potential problem with this logic of larger sets of people. If a large group say 10 -15 people come in together to drink and have a wild time and you only charge them for the same rate as you charge the single player next to them, you may have a large group that is also distrubing your other players due to the close proximity of the tables. It depends on the layout of the room. I could see a flat rate if there were a max number of people per table and after that you have to get another table. No one wants to ask 5 or 10 people to move out of your way when you need to shoot on "their" side of your table.

Just a thought.
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6 max is a fairly common number. Above that get another table.
 
DelaWho??? said:
I would like to open a place that had a "rack boy" and charged a per rack fee. Have one "boy" service 4 tables, and be knowledgable in the rules for the major games. There's no arguement about a slug rack a bad hit or a rule, as there is someone there who's impartial to take care of it. Call it $1.00 for a full rack and $.50 for a short rack (ie 9 ball). One guy could easily handle 4 tables and everyone get's premium service.

:cool:
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I would be there along with a ton of one pocket players, but you would not make much money that way. ;)

If I had a room I would have prices say $6 an hour for one person, $4.50 each if you have 2 players and 3 or more players for a flat rate of $10.00 but this would either be higher or lower prices depending on what my overhead was. Certainly during the days you would run a day pass like noon to 6 or 7 for $10.00. Perhaps on slow nights I might do a night pass but you can never count on when it will be a slow night or a busy night, I had Fridays that were slow and for some reason Wednesday might be packed. Free coffee and water only to players, not sitters or sweaters, they would get charged for it. The room I play at of gives free water, well we are in Arizona, but coffee will cost you but its fresh. :tongue:

I ran a room M-F in NY for a year every night. I met all kinds of people, usually my best customers were college kids and bangers, not the players. Most players would look to play as cheap as possible and expected you to cater to their ass along with their whining. I think the thing that is wrong with pool is a lot of people playing the game are cheap. I play a tourney once or twice a week, buy food or drink every time I am in the joint. Support your local room so you have a room. ;)
 
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