Prices for Key West Resort & Casino chips will increase slightly in 2020, and the PCF Member Discount will remain in place.
Prices on our public Key West website will increase by a larger amount, which helps us here in a couple of ways. This will help prompt PFC members to send a PM here, or send an order form from the Key West site, which includes a pull-down to note that you are a PCF member.
Essentially, denominated chips will increase by 10 cents per chip, and roulette chips will increase by 3 cents per chip.
Since opening in 2012, I've only increase prices once -- in 2014. I should have increased prices by 10 cents per chip last year, but pledged not to here on PCF.
Here are the new prices for 2020. Please see below for a word about how the Key West prices are determined.
HOW PRICES ARE DETERMINED
Key West chips are purchased from Classic Poker Chips, and sold for less than Classic's retail price. I can do that because I have a large stock of chips which were bought one, two and even three years ago, when chip prices were lower. I make a profit on some of the other things sold on the site -- chip racks, cards, dice -- and use some of that to reduce the chip price here.
I determine how much I paid for each chip in stock right now -- the total amount paid for all the chips in stock -- then divide that amount by the number of chips. This is my average cost per chip. It will always be less than Classic's current retail price for new chips, because some of the chips bought months or years ago, cost much less than new chips do today. (I've always thought a semi-custom chip like Key West should cost less than a full custom chip.
As that supply of mint, unopened boxes of chips is sold off, we buy new chips from Classic to keep chips in stock. The average cost per chip goes up, and gets closer and closer to the current cost of new Classic chips. This year, we sold lots of Key West chips -- more than any year since opening in 2012. So we had to buy lots of chips to replace the chips we sold. That's why the increase you see above is different from the price increase recently announced by Classic. They are basing their increase on actual costs to produce the chips.
Several factors create a small savings on the cost of the chips. Classic puts a few extra chips in to each shipment to cover the (very rare) flawed chip -- usually more than needed, so I get more chips, reducing the cost per chip.
Whenever any factor lowers the cost of the chips, it's passed on to members here. The goal is to try to "break even" on chips, and make some money on other things.
I'll be working with UPS in the new year to get better rates and comparing the cost to ship every package via USPS or UPS. On small orders, the Postal Service wins by a wide margin. On larger and heavier boxes, UPS can sometimes save customers a few dollars. Generally, if it fits inside a flat rate, that's the most economical way to ship. The trouble is, not much fits inside a flat rate box.
I'll be actively seeking more mint-condition used Key Wests, and offering them on the Key West site for something far below new-chip cost.
In the end, I know that no one is happy that the price must increase. I am with all of you on that, and dread this myself. But I want to be able to continue to offer Key West chips for less than new Classic Poker Chip custom chips.
Prices on our public Key West website will increase by a larger amount, which helps us here in a couple of ways. This will help prompt PFC members to send a PM here, or send an order form from the Key West site, which includes a pull-down to note that you are a PCF member.
Essentially, denominated chips will increase by 10 cents per chip, and roulette chips will increase by 3 cents per chip.
Since opening in 2012, I've only increase prices once -- in 2014. I should have increased prices by 10 cents per chip last year, but pledged not to here on PCF.
Here are the new prices for 2020. Please see below for a word about how the Key West prices are determined.
HOW PRICES ARE DETERMINED
I determine how much I paid for each chip in stock right now -- the total amount paid for all the chips in stock -- then divide that amount by the number of chips. This is my average cost per chip. It will always be less than Classic's current retail price for new chips, because some of the chips bought months or years ago, cost much less than new chips do today. (I've always thought a semi-custom chip like Key West should cost less than a full custom chip.
As that supply of mint, unopened boxes of chips is sold off, we buy new chips from Classic to keep chips in stock. The average cost per chip goes up, and gets closer and closer to the current cost of new Classic chips. This year, we sold lots of Key West chips -- more than any year since opening in 2012. So we had to buy lots of chips to replace the chips we sold. That's why the increase you see above is different from the price increase recently announced by Classic. They are basing their increase on actual costs to produce the chips.
Several factors create a small savings on the cost of the chips. Classic puts a few extra chips in to each shipment to cover the (very rare) flawed chip -- usually more than needed, so I get more chips, reducing the cost per chip.
Whenever any factor lowers the cost of the chips, it's passed on to members here. The goal is to try to "break even" on chips, and make some money on other things.
REDUCING COSTS IN 2020
I'll be working with UPS in the new year to get better rates and comparing the cost to ship every package via USPS or UPS. On small orders, the Postal Service wins by a wide margin. On larger and heavier boxes, UPS can sometimes save customers a few dollars. Generally, if it fits inside a flat rate, that's the most economical way to ship. The trouble is, not much fits inside a flat rate box.
I'll be actively seeking more mint-condition used Key Wests, and offering them on the Key West site for something far below new-chip cost.
In the end, I know that no one is happy that the price must increase. I am with all of you on that, and dread this myself. But I want to be able to continue to offer Key West chips for less than new Classic Poker Chip custom chips.
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