Plastic Prices

[TexasOutlaw]

I forgot how pricey premium plastics are...just submitted an order consisting of z, star, esp, and sirius plastic, and I was quite astonished by the total.

I may have to stick with x and d from now on.

[Grendel]

Yea when I bought my champ sidewinder from a local dealer, it was $17+tax.

[sleepy]

I was thinking about this the other day...


What do you think will happen to disc prices in the next few years (5-10?) if disc golf continues to expand and gain more of a spotlight? Do you think they'll remain constant, or do you think we'll see a noticeable if not dramatic price increase as manufacturers realize they can now raise prices due to increased demand?


sleepy

[presidio hills]

i think it's going to get more expensive... i mean, STAR plastic costs more... why? probably as an experiment to see if people are willing to pay more for a 'better' plastic. is it really better plastic, though? i guess if it lasts longer it should cost more... just sucks losing 'em and throwing 'em in the water or something. which is why buying DX is cool... way up in the tree? in the water? in that huge bush of poison oak? just leave it
hopefully the low grade plastics stick around and stay the same price...

[discmonkey42]

Man, you guys need to get better at finding lower prices on the internet. I've never even paid close to those prices for discs of any plastic. Ebay my friends. There are 4-5 disc golf stores within ebay with the lowest prices you'll need. Sun King, Marshall Street, Gotta Go Gotta Throw all have good prices and service. Don't pay some gas station or 7-11 $18 just because they're close to the course and want to gouge you.
....Wow, $18 for a disc. I hope it was dyed at least.

[Blake_T]

there's a flipside to it.

any place that maintains a store front has to obey pretty rigid rules of retail in order to stay alive. if they can't make 100% markup on it, it's barely worth carrying due to overhead. i know with play it again sports their standard mark up is 150% (e.g. buy for $4, sell for $10).

the pinch comes in with the future of dedicated disc golf retailers. the standard $7/10/13 pricing scheme is below 100% markup and so online stores with no storefront can succeed much better than any store that bases its sales on walk-in retail. the other thing they offer is immediate gratification and being able to hand pick your discs. there's so much variance out there amongst runs and molds that often this is necessary to get what you want.

i agree that $17 is too much to pay for champion on a regular basis, but i am not so opposed to say, $15. the more that places are able to make money on disc sales, the more places that will sell discs. the more places that sell discs, the more exposure the sport gets. the more exposure the sport gets, the more courses will go in. the more courses in, the more players, the more players, the more future money in the sport, the more future money in the sport, the more interest from corporations to get involved, etc. and so forth.

the super america/speedway gas station chain stocks discs in my area and they are priced $8/11/15, which imo is a pretty fair price for the convenience aspect of grabbing a disc 5 blocks from the course.

as for pricing in the long run, the real stabilization won't really happen until the majority of golf discs are manufactured in china, indonesia, malaysia, mexico, etc. but i'm not sure that's the best thing either. similarly, the price of plastic fluxes with the price of oil.

as for pricing in the short run, honestly, prices in disc golf have moved slower than inflation. in 2000 it was ~$7-8 for DX and ~$9-11 for kc pro/elite pro and $14-15 on the launch of ce/z. i believe the last real jump happened in 97-98 or so when everything moved up like $1 on average.

[Grendel]

When buying a single disc, I have no problem supporting my local dealers. Ordering a disc online at a discount and then having it shipped still comes out to about the same price. Now, when I want to buy several discs at once, I'll def be ordering on the net.

[TexasOutlaw]

Blake makes some good points. There really isn't a decent dedicated disc shop where I live unless you count academy that will surely have aviars, beasts, and valkeries.

I do believe we should support local shops if possible though. I know one thing that happened to dart shops when the Internet took over....they don't exist anymore. I have to drive for 2 hours to find a decent dart shop (it's actually a combination dart, knive, cigar, and gun shop). If you're thinking, "so what, at least I am getting better prices..."

Well, it's a double edged blade. Yes prices are cheaper, but does anyone miss being able to go and shoot a dart set for an hour? Or needing equipment and having to wait for the mail before a big tournament?

One of the disc place in Austin (this was several years ago) would let you throw their elite z plastic before they would let you buy it. If you couldn't throw it due to a stamp or something, the owner had his personal collection and you could try out his discs.

BTW, my order was from Marshal, and I wasn't really complaining. I just hadn't ordered premium plastic in a while because I've fallen for x and pro plastic. This is the first chance I'm getting to try out esp, star, and sirius plastic.

[Blake_T]

btw, i used to buy lots of plastic (5+ at a time 2-4 times a month) and i did the majority of my buying online because i agree, a $1 or 2 on every disc really cuts down the number of discs you can buy over a long period of time.

what i would suggest doing for the local vendors (if they aren't giant heartless corporate azzholes) is to approach them with some ideas for ways to reward the people that drop a large chunk of disposable income on plastic.

some ideas:
-club affiliation discount
-frequent buyer punch card, e.g. buy 12 discs get 1 free (this averages out at saving around $1 a disc for you, but more like $0.70 for them)
-VIP club membership, e.g. $15 for the year gets you $1 off every disc you buy
-buy 5 at once, save 10%

it's not a very hard sell if you pitch it in the right way (especially if the manager is a disc golfer). something like "i spend $30 a week on discs and i buy online because $30 gets me 3 discs rather than 2. I want to support local businesses, but the price difference just ends up being too great over a few months. myself, and i'm sure others, would be willing to drop that money to you if there was a way to make the long run price a little more competitive. it's true you will make slightly less per disc selling to us, but it is us that will really bring the money in."