Jumpers

A. Selling jump cues has a lot to do with judging damage to a table BECAUSE if they did cause damage then Bob Jewett would have had them banned years ago. Why Bob Jewett you ask? Because Bob Jewett has been part of the BCA and I think the WPA rule committee for longer than jump cues have been around. So it's INCUMBENT upon the sellers of jump cues to make sure that their product or the shots made with their product DO NOT damage the table (and I should add for you - UNDER NORMAL USE.

Bob Jewett has no control over the sales of this industry, and money will find a way to win out in the end....good or not...so you get no credit with your answer!

B. So you can tell which table Shane's been practicing jump on? And this makes you special? Who couldn't tell that someone had been practicing jumps and masses on a table?

This statement by you, contradicts the next statement you said.

I said - and I will repeat it again - that if we set up two tables side by side and on one table players are allowed to jump but not allowed to practice jump shots and on the other table players are not allowed to jump at the end of ONE MONTH you will not be able to tell which table was the NO JUMPING table.

If you want to bet something here...make it worth while:rolleyes: Jump cue shots are like writing in braille for the blind...the marks stick out like a sore thumb:rolleyes:

C. Simonis HR - ok I stand corrected - I had never heard of it until a few years ago. Sterling never carried it either and we sell a good bit of Simonis. Gee, you'd think Simonis would have tried harder to get this awesome cloth that you are in love with into Sterling's catalog. So on this point I gladly defer to your superior knowledge.
Do I detect a bit of sarcasum...because you fail to know the history of the cloth manufacture you're promoting sales against?...Is your lack of knowledge part of your sales pitch to potential buyers as well?:rolleyes:

As for touting Miliken - I proudly promote it because it's a better cloth. We sell Simonis to those who want it, we sell other brands to people who want it and we "make money" on all those brands. If we wanted to make MORE MONEY on cloth then we would import some cloth from China and make up a brand name and advertise the hell out of it using the profits to strong arm our way into the market.

No, actually distributorship's of Simonis cloth like the one you represent are like snakes in the grass. You over price the Simonis cloth you sell, then offer a lower priced cloth...promote it as a better cloth in your opinion...so you can make a sale...that's called bait & switch. Some Simonis distributors have been doing this lately as a way of increasing sales, because their margin of profit is higher selling a less than quality cloth at a slightly lower price than the Simonis cloth they sell.

D. I said 80 years in the market and I meant the US market. I guess I have no real idea how long Simonis has been in the US market. I know that Mali used to be the exclusive US distributer for Simonis and in the 30s there were many other brands of table cloth in the market.
You don't seem to know shit, all you are is a salesman....a mouth piece:rolleyes:

The guys at Strachan told us that their mill is as old as Simonis' mill in Belgium. I will take their word for it. So if it's 330 year then Strachan is also at least 330 years old.

I don't know how long Miliken (Strachan) has been making billiard cloth. I say billiard cloth because that's what they make snooker and billiard cloth. Billiards being, carom billiards and pocket billiards.

Do some research, that way when asked...at least you'll be able to give honest answers!

I do know that I think that their cloth is superior to any other on the market. And it cost less, fact. And lasts longer reportedly.

EVERYONE that sells a worsted woolen cloth on the market makes the EXACT same claim as you just did...and it's always in comparison to Simonis cloth...because ALL of you SOMEHOW have to try to compare your cloth as better than Simonis....in order to talk someone into buying it.:rolleyes:

Oh and plays better according to Jeremy Jones who won the BCA's EnjoyPool.com event in Charlotte a few years ago.
That's because he won, had he lost he'd have said something else. You want some kind of credibility....name 20 Pro's that indorse your cloth...then you're getting somewhere....otherwise, all you'll ever be....is just another salesman...beating on doors trying to make a sale:rolleyes:

Build your OWN reputation for your cloth, stop trying to use Simonis as a step ladder to add sales to your profit margin:rolleyes: You don't have the support of the top mechanics for your cloth, and believe me when I tell you....without us...there is no YOU!

Glen
 
I wish there was a smiley that represented a pissing contest. Since there isn't, I'll just go with this one ... :banghead:
 
Bob Jewett has no control over the sales of this industry, and money will find a way to win out in the end....good or not...so you get no credit with your answer!

So you now think that jump cue makers have some influence in the industry and can form the rules to suit them?

The rules clearly state that no equipment used is allowed to harm any of the other equipment. Thus if jump cues were found to be harming the cloth then they would have been banned by the rules.

Nice try.



This statement by you, contradicts the next statement you said.

No, it doesn't. You state that you can see if Shane (or insert anyone's name here) has been practicing jump shots on a table as if that is some kind of feat. ANYONE can see when someone has been PRACTICING jump shots on a table. Where are they supposed to practice them? On the floor?

If you want to bet something here...make it worth while:rolleyes: Jump cue shots are like writing in braille for the blind...the marks stick out like a sore thumb:rolleyes:

My pleasure. How much would you like to bet? The mark only sticks out of the table is not cleaned. I guess you missed out on the 27 times I said I can make the marks go away.

Next time one of the rooms in Charlotte is going to have the tables recovered I will ask if the room owner will make one table a no jumping table for 30 days. You have to show up and tell the owner which table was the no jump table.

Do I detect a bit of sarcasum...because you fail to know the history of the cloth manufacture you're promoting sales against?...Is your lack of knowledge part of your sales pitch to potential buyers as well?:rolleyes:

Good point. And yes you did detect a bit of sarcasm. I found references to the HR as far back as 2000 so again I will defer to your superior knowledge. However I am genuinely surprised that it wasn't included in out price lists until 2008. Yes, my lack of knowledge is part of my sales pitch. I tell my customers that I haven't been putting cloth on tables for 26 years but I have been playing pool on cloth for longer than that and I feel that Miliken Super Pro is the better cloth after using it for five years.

I tell them about room owners who made the switch and love it. I tell them anecdotal stories about the cloth from those room owners. I tell them about allowing Jamison "Mr. Masse' " unlimited freedom to beat the crap out of the cloth during the shows we did and how it held up perfectly.

Now that I know from you that Simonis is 330 years old and according to you Strachan is younger. I can say well, in the year 2010 the younger cloth company finally passed the old master. :-)

In my opinion that is.

No, actually distributorship's of Simonis cloth like the one you represent are like snakes in the grass. You over price the Simonis cloth you sell, then offer a lower priced cloth...promote it as a better cloth in your opinion...so you can make a sale...that's called bait & switch. Some Simonis distributors have been doing this lately as a way of increasing sales, because their margin of profit is higher selling a less than quality cloth at a slightly lower price than the Simonis cloth they sell.

Oh, now the gloves are off eh. That's a pretty heavy charge there Cowboy. We sold Simonis for the prices that Simonis told us to sell for.

Now here's your history lesson. When we introduced Milliken Super Pro to the market in 2005 it was MORE EXPENSIVE than Simonis. That's right, we took the chance on a cloth that cost MORE than Simonis. That kind of flies in the face of your little ignorant diatribe above doesn't it.

Furthermore we didn't do anything extra to promote the Miliken OVER the Simonis. We did advertisements and flyers but when people called up and said that the wanted Simonis then we sold them Simonis. Of course we did mention that we had another premium cloth and invited them to consider it but there was no bait and switch in any fashion whatsoever.

Then a few years ago Simonis raised their prices and that meant that Simonis was then more expensive than Miliken. We haven't raised our prices on the Miliken in five years since it was introduced.

So then room owners started looking a little harder at Miliken, a premium cloth that lasts longer than Simonis and is cheaper. Our sales of Miliken have taken off dramatically in the past two years and the extra table coverings has confirmed our claims that Miliken is the better cloth.

To the point where Simonis is actually selling cloth to rooms directly cheaper than their wholesale list prices. That's right Mr. Hancock. - we who sold thousands of yards of Simonis yearly were being undercut by our supplier just because the room owner was considering Miliken Super Pro. I made this bold just to be sure you get it.

You don't seem to know shit, all you are is a salesman....a mouth piece:rolleyes:

Well I am a salesman that's for sure. As are you. And I am mouthy, no doubt about it. But I know when I have a great product and I know when it's better than the competition's product.

Do some research, that way when asked...at least you'll be able to give honest answers!

Which answers have I given about the cloth are not honest? I made a few statements that were in error through ignorance. These are also not statements that even come up in conversation when speaking with a customer about cloth. Only in this particular conversation with YOU who is a loyal Simonis fanboy to the core. If Simonis brought out another brand unbeknownst to you which was the EXACT same as what they sell now then I have no doubt that you would still claim that "Simonis" is superior cloth.

EVERYONE that sells a worsted woolen cloth on the market makes the EXACT same claim as you just did...and it's always in comparison to Simonis cloth...because ALL of you SOMEHOW have to try to compare your cloth as better than Simonis....in order to talk someone into buying it.:rolleyes:

Well it's no secret that Simonis is the market leader in worsted cloth. So naturally the comparison HAS TO BE against the market leader. The number one question I get FROM BUYERS is "how does it compare to Simonis?" So you're right, ALL of us have to show why our product has some benefit over the brand everyone knows. In case of Miliken Super Pro it lasts longer and costs less.


That's because he won, had he lost he'd have said something else. You want some kind of credibility....name 20 Pro's that indorse your cloth...then you're getting somewhere....otherwise, all you'll ever be....is just another salesman...beating on doors trying to make a sale:rolleyes:

He didn't have to say anything at all about the cloth. What he said was his true feeling on the cloth.

Pros that endorse? I guess by that you might mean wear a sponsor patch? I think Miliken has one in Europe. We don't actively seek players to put patches on them so I will give it up to you that Simonis probably has a lot more players on their payroll than Miliken does. However be careful what you wish for because if Miliken, the parent company, ever decides to really go after the market and start putting money into sponsorships the way Simonis does then they have much more money to do so and I am they can buy all the endorsement they want.

But until then you're right again, I am just a sales man beating on doors and have to get the cloth on the tables one table at a time.

Build your OWN reputation for your cloth, stop trying to use Simonis as a step ladder to add sales to your profit margin:rolleyes: You don't have the support of the top mechanics for your cloth, and believe me when I tell you....without us...there is no YOU!

We are building our own reputation. Just like in sports in order to build a reputation you have to take over the leader. Simonis is the market leader and so they are the ones we have to take over. The only way to do that is to get on the tables so people can see the results for themselves. Without Miliken's heavyweight financial support we can't outmarket Simonis so it's door-to-door, conversation by conversation.

And I'd challenge your statement about top mechanics but I am not about to name names and bring other people into our discussion for you to start tearing them down about how much better a mechanic you are than them in order to attempt to discredit them. Let's just leave it at the fact that we are making headway table by table and room by room and that's good enough for me.

You just get your challenge ready. I will be there with our ONE type of cloth Miliken Super Pro and waiting on whatever flavor of Simonis you want to put up in our wear test.
 
Glen,

When I find out I am ignorant of a subject then I go and research it. Milliken Super Pro is made by Lodgemore Mill.

Here is an excerpt describing the origins of Lodgemore Mills:

"Lodgemore Mills is still making cloth, along with its sister Cam Mills near Dursley. Both these mills originate in the Middle Ages and together they are still a leading manufacturer of cloth. Cam weaves the covering for tennis balls - for championships including Wimbledon – and felt for snooker tables while Lodgemore 'finishes' the cloth and uses dyes including vivid yellow, traditional green." from this website http://www.visitthecotswolds.org.uk/general.asp?pid=22&pgid=822

Here is a nice little read - http://sitblog.co.uk/2010/01/17/last-mill-in-town/

Now, I don't know exactly how long Simonis has been making "billiard cloth". But I am sure that the people at Milliken weren't lying to me when they said that their mill has been producing "FOR AS LONG AS SIMONIS"

And as you can see by the tennis ball blog Milliken is serious about doing their testing. So that little claim I made about the cloth lasting longer.....well it's about 30% and if I can pry the data from Miliken then I can prove by something stronger than just a boastful claim.

I might be wrong. It might only last AS LONG as Simonis. The retail price of a 9 foot cut of Simonis is $251 on Ozone Billiards. A 9ft cut of Super Pro is $210 on CueSight.

Are you saying publicly that Ozone billiards and others are jacking the price on Simonis artificially? According to Ozone the regular price is $314. ON CueSight, our website the regular price is listed as $286.

I am a little pissed off at your accusation actually.

I mean I understand that you are a Simonis diehard to the core but to take it to level of accusing us and others in the business of underhanded tactics when competing against the market leaders.

Let's shift gears away from the cloth brands I sell for a moment to one I don't.

This is a statement by Championship that they say is backed up by labratory testing;

"Tour Edition will outlast its leading competitor by a minimum of 30% under comparable playing conditions."

I can only think that this "leading competitor" would be Simonis.

Tour Edition costs $208 retail for a 9ft cut. Milliken Super Pro costs $210 for a 9ft cut. Simonis costs $251 for a 9ft cut.

$40 bucks isn't a lot more money to spend on the cloth that's most known and has the biggest reputation. I mean you can't go wrong putting Simonis on the table, it's a great cloth. No one will ever disrespect you if you have Simonis on your table.

However if you are a pool room then perhaps you are sharpening the pencil a little more and that initial savings plus the "hope" that the cloth really does last longer will make a difference.

Doing a real quick calculation using retail numbers for a 20 table room which currently replaces their Simonis twice a year, the cost per table yearly is $500 or $10,000 or $833 a month in material costs alone. This doesn't include the cost of installation.

So if my claim is true (or Championship's as well), which to restate is that our cloth lasts 30% longer than Simonis. Meaning that the cloth would need to be changed every 8 months instead of each 6. The cost of a 9ft cut at retail is $210. Mulitply that by 20 and it's $4200 which we then divide by 8 to get the per month cost - and that's $525 per month times 12 equals a per year cost of $6300.

$6300 in cloth costs vs. $10,000. That's a nice savings don't you think? Of course this is all at retail which the rooms don't pay so the actual savings will be less but in the same ratio.

And of course the room owners don't have to pay for installation two times every year. Just every second or third year when the 8 month window falls in between February and October.

How much do you charge again for recovering tables?

Well then no wonder you prefer a cloth that wears out faster........................


Now I am sure that this thought has not really entered your head and that you aren't out there promoting cloth that YOU KNOW wears faster just to insure that you get more jobs. I am sure you just are convinced that Simonis is the only mill on Earth capable of making top quality billiard cloth. Does kind of suck to have such accusations thrown in your face though doesn't it?

Well, they aren't the only ones. They just happen to be the most visible. You should encourage competition as it can only mean that more money comes into the sport and the consumer has more choices. Competition is also what drives innovation.

And to keep this on track, jump cues and the jump shots made with them do not harm the pool table cloth, especially not Milliken Super Pro.
 
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