What is up with SouthWest Cues?

The cue flipping is actually the reason that she decided to raise her rates to market price. She said they were barely getting by at the time, and she saw people selling the cues as soon as they got them for double or more what they had paid for them. They needed some of that additional revenue to stay in business
Joe

I have to assume that whatever their retail selling price is, some people will pay more than that to avoid the wait.
 
When i ordered they said 5 years. It was 9 years before i received it! I sold the cue one month after i received it. The cue was nice but not the specs i ordered! Was off by half ounce! Custom?
 
I don't know if he invented it, but I cracked up when I first heard of Jerry Franklin's 'pacifier cue' concept. That is just classic! Did you have to give him the pacifier back when your cue was ready?


I was still cue recovery, and my CA sponsor advised me to keep it.
 
Why would anyone bother to wait 7-10 years for a cue?
How many cues does a company like SouthWest turn out in a year?
If the demand is so big, why don't they just hire more people?
The whole custom cue business seems a bit strange to me, years of waiting time and prices so high i would be afraid to actually use the cue.
Hell, a drumcompany like DW or Sonor that also uses the finest woods manage to build you a one off kit in a couple of months.
 
Why would anyone bother to wait 7-10 years for a cue?
How many cues does a company like SouthWest turn out in a year?
If the demand is so big, why don't they just hire more people?
The whole custom cue business seems a bit strange to me, years of waiting time and prices so high i would be afraid to actually use the cue.
Hell, a drumcompany like DW or Sonor that also uses the finest woods manage to build you a one off kit in a couple of months.

Yeah, why don't they just hire a bunch of people for minimum wage? Making a cue can't be that hard...I'm sure they can handle it. Crank 'em out so you can keep up with demand- that's never been a bad move by any cuemaker in the past.
 
I would go insane waiting 10 years. I would have changed my mind with what I wanted 15 times already.
 
I have owned and played with 6 Southwest cues. They are nice cues, but there are plenty of other choices out there that play and look as good or better for a lot less dollars, and a heck of a lot less wait to get one.



Double Ditto. These cues are not in the same league as Jerry's were...sorry not even close.
 
I ordered a cue in 2000 and was told that the wait would be seven years. Finally in March 2010 I received the following email:



I responded and have since provided the company with the details of the cue and received pricing and dates for assembly that never materialized. When I inquiry I get responses like: "there in one group ahead of yours", "final assembly in a month", "we are pretty backed up so it will be a couple of months for the nosepiece to be ready", etc., etc., etc.

Is anyone else getting the runaround from SW?

seems like they're so busy raking in the cash that they've become complacent when it comes to building the cues. who cares about customer service when there're 8 years worth of customers waiting to take your place if you're not happy with how you're treated

just a thought. i'm not saying that's what's really up
 
seems like they're so busy raking in the cash that they've become complacent when it comes to building the cues. who cares about customer service when there're 8 years worth of customers waiting to take your place if you're not happy with how you're treated

just a thought. i'm not saying that's what's really up

Joe said above that a few years ago they were barely making ends meet. I would doubt highly anyone in cuemaking is "raking it in". I would think Ernie probably makes more than anyone if I had to guess, just because of his machines and the process he makes cues through.
 
Joe said above that a few years ago they were barely making ends meet. I would doubt highly anyone in cuemaking is "raking it in". I would think Ernie probably makes more than anyone if I had to guess, just because of his machines and the process he makes cues through.

good ninja edit there Brandon :)
 
I'm sick in bed. My brain is so filled with fluid, I've got no math left in me, lol. And math is typically one of my strengths. I haven't used a calculator in years.

Hope you get well soon brother! No worries on the math front :thumbup:
 
I think it's funny anybody would wait that long.

They might have to start over because the wood is unstable? LOL! Are they making cues in the Philippines?

I have a cue sitting here that is 38 years old and straight....stable that is....plays great.

After being away so long and coming back to the sport I would have expected that the search for the "magic" cue would have ended by now. I guess not.

If I ever want one, I will buy one, but I certainly wouldn't order one. In ten years I will just be 10 more years used to the cue I have been shooting with since 1985....why would I want to change?
 
Yeah, why don't they just hire a bunch of people for minimum wage? Making a cue can't be that hard...I'm sure they can handle it. Crank 'em out so you can keep up with demand- that's never been a bad move by any cuemaker in the past.

They are smart business people. Right now, as someone said they are turning out 300 cues @ about $2500 each. That's $750,000 a year. Depending on the crew size and overhead, they should be making more than ends meet. So the question is why expand or why not??? They clearly have the demand. Double your staff, double your sales, double your profit, right? Maybe so. Maybe not. Can they turn out the same quality by adding a few cuemakers? Of course. I don't think anyone wants SW to turn into a production line cue. But does increasing your sales lower the worth? I think in this case it does. Southwest makes a beautiful looking and hitting cue but so does a lot of others. The rare factor increases demand which increases prices. So could they keep their prices and increase supply? Maybe for a while but in the end it would decrease their worth and be the opposite effect of where they are now. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless they completely sold out for shortterm gain. But it sounds like they are running things perfectly.

That said, I still couldn't wait 10 years for a cue. If I want one, I'll buy 2nd hand.
 
Why would anyone bother to wait 7-10 years for a cue?
How many cues does a company like SouthWest turn out in a year?
If the demand is so big, why don't they just hire more people?
The whole custom cue business seems a bit strange to me, years of waiting time and prices so high i would be afraid to actually use the cue.
Hell, a drumcompany like DW or Sonor that also uses the finest woods manage to build you a one off kit in a couple of months.

Would you wait 7-10 years for a Picasso? Around 250 a year, I think I remember a pin in the 520's or 530's.. was the highest pin I remember seeing. They start the yearly series at 300.

On top of that, they do a lot of repairs, shafts, and refinishes. They are solid and make a very good product that is in demand.

JV
 
According to Laurie, at this time, there are no SW dealers and no discounts. She said they are over 3000 cues behind in production (avg, 300 cues year x 10 years), so no reason to have any dealer discounts.

The cue flipping is actually the reason that she decided to raise her rates to market price. She said they were barely getting by at the time, and she saw people selling the cues as soon as they got them for double or more what they had paid for them. They needed some of that additional revenue to stay in business.

Joe

I find this hard to believe. With an umlimited number of orders, and their pricing, how could they possibly be struggling to stay in biusness?
 
What is up with them? Well, they have a great product, they have a great marketing plan, and they have a great following, which all leads up to a great backlog, which in turn means great business even during tough economic times. I wish I was that successful. :embarrassed2:

Roger

How can you possibly defend this type of business practice. They should stop taking orders on cues if they are this far behind, and start taking them again when they start to get caught up. A minimum of 3 yrs more than the original time estimate is not acceptable buisness.
 
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