Well and I get that, BUT, why would we charge so much for something if it's just a few holes and some glue? Probably the single biggest factor is whether the owner operates the shop, or has an employee do it. An employee basically takes all the profit. If one guy just has one shop that he runs, he's just paying himself. My boss has 6 shops, and obviously he can't run them all himself. The employees are a major operational cost. That's what's hard for us to take, that customer mindset of "if I don't understand it, it must not be right." It's like questioning your doctor, or mechanic, or hvac tech when you're not in any of those fields, have any experience in them, or really know what it's about. If the customer doesn't get why something is the way it is, then all the sudden we don't know what we're doing and we're idiots. It feels like a teenager mentality. They feel like they get it and they know everything, so if they don't agree with their parent on something, or don't understand why they have a curfew, or can't do this or that, then the parent is the one that's wrong. It's like you think that we haven't considered all these simple things. We are in the business, and pro shops specifically are just really in business to stay open, because very few of them actually do better than breaking even.
I can't begin to describe the ridiculous amount of time I've spent reading and listening and learning for the last 8 solid years, and I've still got a long way to go. If it was just putting some holes in the ball and a little bit of glue, you could train a monkey to do that. Read this:
http://www.bowl.com/uploadedFiles/Equip_and_Specs/Equip_and_Specs_Home/08ballmotionstudy.pdf It's USBC's ball motion study. We have to know, understand, and interpret all that, because it all factors into how your ball reacts and how we should drill it. And that's just understanding ball motion, tip of the iceberg. Our drill press is admittedly top of the line, but it cost 15,000 at the time. I have no idea what bits are now, but last time I knew they were about 35-40 bucks apiece. We have 45 of them. It costs about 8 or 9 bucks to sharpen each bit. Then we have finishing tools, such as rasps, bevel knives, electric disc sanders, etc. Aside from that we have other big things like the ball spinner and the haus resurfacing machine. Not to mention just the sheer amount of time, that's really where it's at. Not much different than going to a mechanic, the parts usually don't cost that much, it's the labor that costs. Just because you get things cheaper doesn't mean that's the standard, you could just be getting a good deal on price. But we also don't sell balls anywhere near retail. The most expensive ball we sell is the Byte at 185.
The whole volume idea doesn't work either. Even if we sold it for 160 . . it's still 160 bucks. A lot of money is a lot of money period, and people aren't spending it on bowling. Now I'm not trying to be a jackass and shove stuff in your face, because I've been on the other side, and I even wince myself when I go to put holes in something for me, because it's STILL pretty expensive. I'm simply explaining that there's a reason for it.
There is much more to drilling a ball than 4 holes and glue. Read the expectations of the people in this thread. A business can't survive taking in $35 an hour. If the pro shop charges $35 to drill a ball and they have a line out the door they should raise prices.
Everyone wants Saks service and Walmart prices. If you expect premium services you should expect to pay premium prices.
When I drilled online balls we charged more than that and I never had to see a customer face to face and never worked out a ball.
i would rather charge $50 and see 15 people a day then charge $85 and see 2 and have everyone know you are gonna pay out the butt for something so simple...
you drill the ball and then insert the finger tips and then it is good to go down the lane correct? or am i missing some big secret? like i said you will never be able to justify me spending out the anus for something so trivial
