House chalk

J

Jagr Fan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As absurd as this may sound, our APA league plays at one of the greater Balt-Washington Hard Times Cafes & Billiards (specific location to go unnamed at this point), and the recently appointed site General Manager has gone on record of saying that he does not understand why the proprietor (the house) should provide chalk for the tables...?? SAY WHAT...??

In over 50 years of playing pool, this is the first establishment that I've ever seen who is balking at the concept of the house providing chalk for the tables...??

I'd be interested to hear or learn if any of the other AZBer's have ever run into this in any poolrooms across the country..??
 
No free chalk

Jagr Fan said:
As absurd as this may sound, our APA league plays at one of the greater Balt-Washington Hard Times Cafes & Billiards (specific location to go unnamed at this point), and the recently appointed site General Manager has gone on record of saying that he does not understand why the proprietor (the house) should provide chalk for the tables...?? SAY WHAT...??

In over 50 years of playing pool, this is the first establishment that I've ever seen who is balking at the concept of the house providing chalk for the tables...??

I'd be interested to hear or learn if any of the other AZBer's have ever run into this in any poolrooms across the country..??
Click to expand...

Yes, I know an owner who, a few years ago, stopped offering free chalk and put in a vending machine selling Masters for 25 cents a cube. It apparently cost him business. Now he offers deeply worn cubes for free, but still sells the new cubes...
 
Chalk vending machines

Donny Lutz said:
Yes, I know an owner who, a few years ago, stopped offering free chalk and put in a vending machine selling Masters for 25 cents a cube. It apparently cost him business. Now he offers deeply worn cubes for free, but still sells the new cubes...
Click to expand...

A room I used to play in a lot back home did the same thing , they would put the deeply worn chalk on the tables and you could get a new cube from the vending machine for a quarter.

I knew the owner pretty well and asked why he did this , he was going through 3 to 4 boxes of masters a day of course he had 40 tables and back in the 80s they were all full , every time they put out new chalk it ended up walking out the door in someone's pocket or a lot of someone's pockets

I didn't mind this my self as I can see where chalk even though cheap enough can eat into your money as a room owner , say 3 boxes a day at 10 bucks a box , that's 360 dollars a month

But not supplying at all that I have never seen
 
If your chalk costs are so high, i suggest increasing prices on table rent by a few cents an hour.
Charging for chalk is lame!
 
Free chalk is a North American convention.....I've been getting it free forever.
But I played quite a bit in the UK....
...at a British club, you bring your own...nobody minds.

At a golf course, you have to supply yourself with all the accessories...
...we're used to it and no one complains.
 
The place I play at, recovered the tables over the Christmas holiday. 5 of the tables are coin op, with ball returns, and there had been some problems with the cue ball in the ball returns. When they did the tables, they took out over 6 dozen pieces of chalk. They also lose over half of the new chalk to players bag's every day. They anchored the chalk to the tables with corded holders, as a result. Better than not supplying chalk, but still not a good solution. I can see where there are more problems than theft, at work in the decision to make players supply there own. I use my own chalk anyway, so I couldn't care less.
 
I bring my own anyway. I can't stand when someone drills a hole through the cube. I've made one cube of masters last 2 years, it finally cracked in half when it was about 3/16" thick.
 
Jagr Fan said:
As absurd as this may sound, our APA league plays at one of the greater Balt-Washington Hard Times Cafes & Billiards (specific location to go unnamed at this point), and the recently appointed site General Manager has gone on record of saying that he does not understand why the proprietor (the house) should provide chalk for the tables...?? SAY WHAT...??

In over 50 years of playing pool, this is the first establishment that I've ever seen who is balking at the concept of the house providing chalk for the tables...??

I'd be interested to hear or learn if any of the other AZBer's have ever run into this in any poolrooms across the country..??
Click to expand...

I bring my own. I wonder what will happen the day they decide not to provide house cues?! (I bring my own with that too...LOL)

I seem to recall a place long time ago where they would rent the cues as a way to charge instead of renting the table time.
 
Skratch said:
I bring my own. I wonder what will happen the day they decide not to provide house cues?! (I bring my own with that too...LOL)

I seem to recall a place long time ago where they would rent the cues as a way to charge instead of renting the table time.
Click to expand...

I see you're from Jacksonville, Skratch.

In the 80s, at Action Billiards, Harley had good cues for rent.
You could use a house cue for free, but you could rent a good cue at a
very reasonable price.....a Meucci was $2, a Joss was $5 on your total
table time.

I wish more rooms would do this.
 
Jagr Fan said:
As absurd as this may sound, our APA league plays at one of the greater Balt-Washington Hard Times Cafes & Billiards (specific location to go unnamed at this point), and the recently appointed site General Manager has gone on record of saying that he does not understand why the proprietor (the house) should provide chalk for the tables...?? SAY WHAT...??

In over 50 years of playing pool, this is the first establishment that I've ever seen who is balking at the concept of the house providing chalk for the tables...??

I'd be interested to hear or learn if any of the other AZBer's have ever run into this in any poolrooms across the country..??
Click to expand...

That's as silly as not having house cues, and maybe a bit less silly than not providing any balls.

Hey, whadda ya want you moochers! We gots the table here for ya! Can't you at least bring your own set of balls and cues and chalk to the hall? PS, our wait staff is a bit lazy today, we have the soda in that large bucket with the ladle, drop a buck in the other bucket, take a ladle of soda. Oh.. bring your own cups.
 
I bring my own chalk anyway. There's nothing more that honks me off then the idiot behind the counter telling me there isn't any new pieces, and I'm stuck with a bored out piece marking up my ferrule, or using the corner....

If I owned a room, I'd provide chalk, but I understand the parallel made between the golf and bringing all your own equipment...
 
I bring my own since we moved to SC. I put my initials on it in case someone accidentally or on purpose picks it up and walks off with it. I never had a problem with the rooms providing chalk in NY.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
i always carry chalk, don't you

why not charge $0.25 per cube at the desk, players will take it with them when they leave.
they'll also understand to bring it when returning to play.
 
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pt109 said:
I see you're from Jacksonville, Skratch.

In the 80s, at Action Billiards, Harley had good cues for rent.
You could use a house cue for free, but you could rent a good cue at a
very reasonable price.....a Meucci was $2, a Joss was $5 on your total
table time.

I wish more rooms would do this.
Click to expand...

Hey PT109,

I'm originally from NYC. Only relatively recently moved down here. The place I was referring to was up in the Long Island area. Not surprised that other places tried that method too. With the cost of everything getting crazy (2pc chalk set=$12+ !!) I can see why they would do this. The places that were successful were more clubs than halls. Billiards was secondary to the establishment being a place to hangout in. The Old Days the hall was a place to gamble and make a few bucks.
 
Jagr Fan said:
As absurd as this may sound, our APA league plays at one of the greater Balt-Washington Hard Times Cafes & Billiards (specific location to go unnamed at this point), and the recently appointed site General Manager has gone on record of saying that he does not understand why the proprietor (the house) should provide chalk for the tables...?? SAY WHAT...??

In over 50 years of playing pool, this is the first establishment that I've ever seen who is balking at the concept of the house providing chalk for the tables...??

I'd be interested to hear or learn if any of the other AZBer's have ever run into this in any poolrooms across the country..??
Click to expand...

He is much a nit - pool players hate being chiseled for small change more
than anything else in life.

Back in the boom days - the busiest room in this area tried the chalk
vending machine - it went bust in less than a month, Tho they had many
serious players, most of their income was from bangers and kids.

Long before the boom, I owned a modest room. As a player I had liberated
chalk from rooms for years - mostly to ensure I had a good piece at the
places that were not sensitive to chalk requirements. FWIW - I would
have been happy to pay for the one cube a year I heisted, had anybody
ask me to.

So, as a newly ensconced owner, now on the other side of the counter,
I was well aware that chalk tended to grow feet and walk away. However,
I guess I understood a concept that seems to be completly foreign to
room owners today. Quite simply, you can't make any money off customers
unless they come in the door.

As an indicator of just how long ago this was, my minimum table charge
per player was a whopping 1 Dollar. I bought chalk by the gross
at a cost of 5 cents per cube,

My thinking was: anyone who wanted to come to my place and pay me
a dollar, so they could steal a nickel piece of chalk was more than
welcome to - I hoped they did it every day - hoped they brought friends.

Dale
 
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I carry grosses of chalk in the car and leave individual boxes where ever I go, just like those people who leave huge tips.
 
I'm really surprised to hear that people charge for chalk. Have scanned this thread, I went over to ozonebilliards.com to see how much chalk costs. (I have my own but I've been working on a box of 12 cubes for the past 2 years.)

A gross (144 pieces) of Master chalk is $19.95. That's 14 cents per cube so charging .25 per cube nets the room owner a tidy profit... and that's why pool is doomed! ;)

Here's what blows my mind...
A 75 count box of NIR Super Professional Chalk (I have never even heard of the company) costs $165.00. What the hell is in that chalk!?
 
krupa said:
Here's what blows my mind...
A 75 count box of NIR Super Professional Chalk (I have never even heard of the company) costs $165.00. What the hell is in that chalk!?
Click to expand...

It's made by Tweeten Fibre, aka the Masters chalk manufacturer.

I imagine they've figured out there's a market for overpriced chalk, so they have started making
masters alternatives under different brand names. Though I hope they at least changed the formula a little.
Would be sneaky if it's masters with slightly different dye or something.
 
krupa said:
I'm really surprised to hear that people charge for chalk. Have scanned this thread, I went over to ozonebilliards.com to see how much chalk costs. (I have my own but I've been working on a box of 12 cubes for the past 2 years.)

A gross (144 pieces) of Master chalk is $19.95. That's 14 cents per cube so charging .25 per cube nets the room owner a tidy profit... and that's why pool is doomed! ;)

Here's what blows my mind...
A 75 count box of NIR Super Professional Chalk (I have never even heard of the company) costs $165.00. What the hell is in that chalk!?
Click to expand...

14 cents per cube and charging 25 cents is making a "tidy profit"? You should look into other things you purchase.....

What do you think a retail establishment (pick one; let's say Dick's Sporting Goods) pays for a (retail priced) $150 North Face jacket, or a $75 Under Armor hoodie???

A quarter for a cube of chalk that will last QUITE awhile. I'd say the room owner is not gouging you!! :rolleyes: lol
 
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