Pricing question

Rodney

Rodney

hot7339
Silver Member
I am wondering what to charge a customer for a new ferrule.

I install 20-25 tips(6$ ea.) a year for a small club, and they are all house cues. They are all cheap cues, and they could pretty much buy a new cue for $15-$20 dollars. I have replaced two in the past, and i only charged them $16 for the tip and ferrule. Should i just tell them to buy new ones when the ferrules break, or should i charge them more? I obviously don't make money at $16 for a tip, and ferrule, but i appreciate their business. What should i do?

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rodney
 
My places choose to just replace the cue also. Even at a discount, it's not really cost effective for them, but sometimes I'll throw a spare on one just to help them out. The nice thing about fibre ferrules, is they can get beat all up, mushroomed, then just be trimmed, sanded out, and refaced over and over, but some of the new import type cues they are getting now don't come with fibre, and would probably have to be replaced with that much damage. most are dufferins now, but as they go down, they are replaced with new, so I'm keeping My eye out on the new ones. It may turn out that It would be better To atleast replace them once with fibre, and get more life out of the cues, but still yet to be seen. The new cues are also skinnier, and need to be supported farther back than usual with a steady rest, or they will get too wippy with the lathe on. Greg
 
Cue Crazy said:
My places choose to just replace the cue also. Even at a discount, it's not really cost effective for them, but sometimes I'll throw a spare on one just to help them out. The nice thing about fibre ferrules, is they can get beat all up, mushroomed, then just be trimmed, sanded out, and refaced over and over, but some of the new import type cues they are getting now don't come with fibre, and would probably have to be replaced with that much damage. most are dufferins now, but as they go down, they are replaced with new, so I'm keeping My eye out on the new ones. It may turn out that It would be better To atleast replace them once with fibre, and get more life out of the cues, but still yet to be seen. The new cues are also skinnier, and need to be supported farther back than usual with a steady rest, or they will get too wippy with the lathe on. Greg
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The rooms around the city that collect repair work for me I only charge 3.00 per h/c to retip. If they need a ferrule I charge a total of 15.00 for a capped melamine ferrule and tip. Most of these h/c are Dufferins and 2 rooms have cuetechs. You can't replace a Dufferin cue for that price and even if it is a cheaper h/c it is worth the extra expense as the tips last much longer on a melamine ferrule than a fibre ferrule.
At only 3.00 per tip I can do 10 tips an hour so that's 30.00 bucks plus a whole lot of good will. I've only got about a dollar in a melamine ferrule so I'm making money there and once installed changing tips is so much easier.
By having these collection places for repair work I give the rooms 25%, which isn't much money for their agravation of collecting, writing the repair notes, storing and collecting the money, of all repair work that they collect and this can add up anywhere from 100 to 500 extra work per week for me. They appreciate, and so do their customers, the proffesionaly installed tips on their h/cs. I'm doing them a favor and they're doing me one. I've got 2 rooms from over 50 miles away who bring me repair work.
Dick
 
rhncue said:
The rooms around the city that collect repair work for me I only charge 3.00 per h/c to retip. If they need a ferrule I charge a total of 15.00 for a capped melamine ferrule and tip. Most of these h/c are Dufferins and 2 rooms have cuetechs. You can't replace a Dufferin cue for that price and even if it is a cheaper h/c it is worth the extra expense as the tips last much longer on a melamine ferrule than a fibre ferrule.
At only 3.00 per tip I can do 10 tips an hour so that's 30.00 bucks plus a whole lot of good will. I've only got about a dollar in a melamine ferrule so I'm making money there and once installed changing tips is so much easier.
By having these collection places for repair work I give the rooms 25%, which isn't much money for their agravation of collecting, writing the repair notes, storing and collecting the money, of all repair work that they collect and this can add up anywhere from 100 to 500 extra work per week for me. They appreciate, and so do their customers, the proffesionaly installed tips on their h/cs. I'm doing them a favor and they're doing me one. I've got 2 rooms from over 50 miles away who bring me repair work.
Dick
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Yeah, My price was right at what you mentioned, I tried to tell them they were dufferins, and worth while, but I guess they just look at it as being able to replace a cue cheap. I need to talk with them and explain that the ferrules will have to be changed on the cheaper cue more then likely anyway. Will the melamine hold up to people smashing the ferrule without a tip? I Have'nt tested it to see what abuse it will take.

We get work out of a few smaller places around here, but have one big room, we do all the work for, and As far as the aggravation of collecting, pick up, and run around, you could'nt be any more right, I do need to work something out on that. They give us the work anyway, and take care of some of it because We trade favors, but 25% would be worth while to me to just be done with it, send everyone to them, and advertise. We don't advertise at all, and still staying too busy now to pick up, and go out all the time like before. It would save alot of phone time and delivery.I'm close by the pool action, and It's already getting to be a run around all the time, but going to move out west of here alittle ways soon, so will have to just start doing pickup a couple of times a week, and write up a sheet, so they can handle it, or have people drive out to the shop.

Thanks, Greg
 
Cue Crazy said:
Yeah, My price was right at what you mentioned, I tried to tell them they were dufferins, and worth while, but I guess they just look at it as being able to replace a cue cheap. I need to talk with them and explain that the ferrules will have to be changed on the cheaper cue more then likely anyway. Will the melamine hold up to people smashing the ferrule without a tip? I Have'nt tested it to see what abuse it will take.

We get work out of a few smaller places around here, but have one big room, we do all the work for, and As far as the aggravation of collecting, pick up, and run around, you could'nt be any more right, I do need to work something out on that. They give us the work anyway, and take care of some of it because We trade favors, but 25% would be worth while to me to just be done with it, send everyone to them, and advertise. We don't advertise at all, and still staying too busy now to pick up, and go out all the time like before. It would save alot of phone time and delivery.I'm close by the pool action, and It's already getting to be a run around all the time, but going to move out west of here alittle ways soon, so will have to just start doing pickup a couple of times a week, and write up a sheet, so they can handle it, or have people drive out to the shop.

Thanks, Greg
Click to expand...

Greg, melamine, or any good phonelic ferrule, is almost indestructable. I guarantee my ferrules for the life of the shaft and have only replaced about 3 over the years from chipping. Super glue sticks to capped melamine so good that I seldom ever have a tip come off. As you probably know, most h/c ferrules are either just slightly glued on or just pressed on and act like a sliding hammer knocking the tips off. I've never had real good luck using 454 on fibre ferrules to start with.
There is a little more work involved and a little more expence in making a capped melamine ferrule but the finished product is so much better. I don't like having to retip h/c if I don't have to and the tips on the melamine last until they're worn out. The rooms are happy and so am I.
When talking to the room owners about installing the ferrules on h/c I explain that the are getting a 35.00 ferrule and tip for 15.00 and how it will save them so much money in the long run as the tips aren't coming off prematuraly so they don't need as many cues laying around, for use, as others are being worked on.
Dick
 
rhncue said:
Greg, melamine, or any good phonelic ferrule, is almost indestructable. I guarantee my ferrules for the life of the shaft and have only replaced about 3 over the years from chipping. Super glue sticks to capped melamine so good that I seldom ever have a tip come off. As you probably know, most h/c ferrules are either just slightly glued on or just pressed on and act like a sliding hammer knocking the tips off. I've never had real good luck using 454 on fibre ferrules to start with.
There is a little more work involved and a little more expence in making a capped melamine ferrule but the finished product is so much better. I don't like having to retip h/c if I don't have to and the tips on the melamine last until they're worn out. The rooms are happy and so am I.
When talking to the room owners about installing the ferrules on h/c I explain that the are getting a 35.00 ferrule and tip for 15.00 and how it will save them so much money in the long run as the tips aren't coming off prematuraly so they don't need as many cues laying around, for use, as others are being worked on.
Dick
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Thanks, Yep I am familiar with the sliding ferrules, they can be a pain. there was a guy doing them by hand before Me, and they asked me to do some for them to help him keep up, then the other guy got tired of fixing the tips that popped off the ones he did, said they're all yours, and he could'nt handle it anymore. when I first started doing them, all the ferrules would loosen up, so I glued them back on. I guess I must of been going through 10-20 cues a week, now that I have went through them all, I have only had 1 needing a tip in over a month, and the tip was still half way on, thin, and in need of a new tip anyway. They seem to be holding up well now that I have been through all of them and worked the problems out. Some of them get broken beyond repair, and they give those to me, they seem to make decent sneaky petes. BTW, I was just using duro gel on the fibre, and It seems to be holding up well, now that the ferrules don't slide anymore.

I offered to do the tips & ferrules for 15, and I thought that was a good deal Myself. Maybe I'll try a melamine on one for my own testing purposes, and see how It does. Is the LBM the same kind you are using? or is there something else I should be aware of. I have some of It in rod form.

Thanks, Greg
 
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