zjtaylor Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Is anyone renting out pool tables for special events or long term for certain venues? What are your rates? Long and short term rates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendio Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 I'm not interested in moving a heavy slate table just for a special event, so don't do that, but I know of one operator who hires out non-slate tables for "party hire". The rates are around the same as for jukebox hire, around $200 in our currency. I have one pool table that I have just put out on a long term hire (minimum 6 months). It is at slightly above what my average take is on the usual 50:50 split for long term placements. It's a new site, so I have no idea how much it would be taking it, but I am happy with the guaranteed income and not worrying about them leaving the ball door open and forgetting to close (as happened at one site I visited today). I would like to move more over to this arrangement and away from revenue share. It means the venue has more interest in maximising its use, whether that be through paid games, or free offering like free pool Sundays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zjtaylor Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 8 hours ago, brendio said: I'm not interested in moving a heavy slate table just for a special event, so don't do that, but I know of one operator who hires out non-slate tables for "party hire". The rates are around the same as for jukebox hire, around $200 in our currency. I have one pool table that I have just put out on a long term hire (minimum 6 months). It is at slightly above what my average take is on the usual 50:50 split for long term placements. It's a new site, so I have no idea how much it would be taking it, but I am happy with the guaranteed income and not worrying about them leaving the ball door open and forgetting to close (as happened at one site I visited today). I would like to move more over to this arrangement and away from revenue share. It means the venue has more interest in maximising its use, whether that be through paid games, or free offering like free pool Sundays. So for your long term hire, the venue pays a flat rate per month, then either keeps the money it makes a month or gives free pool? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendio Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zjtaylor Posted March 3, 2017 Author Share Posted March 3, 2017 On 3/1/2017 at 7:39 PM, brendio said: Yes. What's your policy on leaving a ball door key for your revenue shared tables? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendio Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 It's a bit hard to avoid leaving one. I only have one table where a manager doesn't have a key. Hence, a great deal of trust needs to be established between the venue and the operator. The operator needs to trust the venue not to give away free games outside the agreed time and ring you when there is a problem rather than just leave the door off until you get there for your next service. The venue needs to trust the operator to report the taking correctly. (I had one venue that is part of a nationally owned hotel operator do a survey of pool table operations after operators in another city were underreporting takings. One of the guidelines that came out of the survey was that the venue should not have a door key and that a manager should be present when the operator opens the coins box and counts the money. Neither of these actually happened. No venue operators I know could actually be bothered counting the money with me.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ussb1 Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I'd like to find a device that would report balldoor is open. Always a good day when you show up and there isn't any money because waitress opens table because she gets better tips. ive just started changing locks now they call when there is a problem and we repair it. It now does in a week what it was doing in a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zjtaylor Posted March 4, 2017 Author Share Posted March 4, 2017 5 hours ago, ussb1 said: I'd like to find a device that would report balldoor is open. Always a good day when you show up and there isn't any money because waitress opens table because she gets better tips. ive just started changing locks now they call when there is a problem and we repair it. It now does in a week what it was doing in a month. That's a good idea. I wonder if you could get something like the part of a security system that reports a door opening to your phone. Either that or a really annoying alarm that goes off when the door is open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendio Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 22 hours ago, ussb1 said: I'd like to find a device that would report balldoor is open. Always a good day when you show up and there isn't any money because waitress opens table because she gets better tips. ive just started changing locks now they call when there is a problem and we repair it. It now does in a week what it was doing in a month. You can get them. See, for example, http://www.billiards.com.au/hotel-pub-7-ft-coin-op-pool-table-remote-managed-pool-table.html I recently bought a second table off a business that make table and was enquiring about electronic coin mechanisms. All my tables are currently mechanical. The Smart Pool system generates reports of number of games played, you can set time periods for free play. I decided it's probably not worth the cost to retrofit my tables. The best feature I would like to use would be variable time cost of games, so I could charge more is peak periods and offer "happy hour" reduced price games in off peak times. If you just wanted the door open alerts it shouldn't be too hard to DIY something with a microswitch on the door hooked up to a transmitter. You would have to decide whether this feature was worth your data connection costs though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ussb1 Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 i was thinking of a device that would report via internet as every location has a jukebox with Internet. best thing I've found is just change locks. I can't even imagine how much money has been lost over the years because i trusted people with keys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendio Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 If you already have internet, it shouldn't be too hard with a raspberry pi or an arduino unit. They are built to interface with inputs and output, and a door open/closed circuit is about as simple as they come. I'd add a counter on the coin mechanism too so you could see how much money should be in the box. It would be an interesting project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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