Chips like any other commodity become more expensive with the number of intermediary points between the manufacturer and the consumer. If a product is sold through a distributor who in turn sells it to a retail merchant, each of those points in the channel will mark up the price a bit to cover their expenses and generate a profit. Traditionally, gaming chips for casinos are sold directly from the manufacturer to the casino. The volumes of these orders do not make it feasible for the individual consumer to order custom chips at this level, and the smaller orders incur higher labor costs per unit than would an order of say 100,000 or more chips. The average consumer order would usually fall well under the 5,000 chip minimum that even the smaller chip manufacturers require for a custom chip. That having been said, there are still processes and avenues available for personalized chips for the home market, that are still within the pricing range that has been available in the past, though that is generally limited to hot stamped impressions on unspotted chips (ASM and TR King).
And no doubt, the increased interest in poker over the past couple of years has generated a demand that has opened up the market for higher priced chips, some of which are unfounded other than by pure market demand. In the case of custom chips, they do require design work, and increased work from the manufacturer in bringing a smaller quantity of chips to market, though the tooling costs would not differ from a casino sized order that is more likely to be re-ordered several more times and may eventually total into millions of units ordered over the lifetime of the design.
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Originally Posted by spector What exactly makes chips so expensive?
I dont know the exact process of making a chip but it just seems like maybe the prices are inflated a bit from the poker craze going on but that doesnt seem likely. |
