COST VS VALUE - ARE TENNIS BALLS REALLY EXPENSIVE? {2002}
By Vince Chiarelli, PTR, MRT and Owner of String Along With Vince in Largo
Everyone, even Bill Gates, is cost conscious. A product's price is based upon its cost to manufacture and distribute plus its value to the buyer. The cost of something is objective, but our notion of value is totally subjective, as you can tell from the Antiques Road Show.
What does that have to do with tennis equipment? Currently "good" racquets are priced from about $100 to a whopping $500. Balls have slowly increased in price over the last 15 years to an average of about $3. Many of you may feel that the prices are too high. Would it shock you to find out that Prince made a frame in the mid 80's priced at $500, or that an Italian designer made a frame over 10 years ago that sold for $1000? Would it interest you to know that the dealer cost of balls has changed little since large sports stores were selling them for $1.69?
Our perception of value results largely from skillful marketing and advertising departments rather than what it costs to manufacture and distribute a product. In the case of balls, large stores have used them as "loss leaders" to entice us into their stores to buy other items where they make a profit. Ten years ago, the fair retail price of a can of balls was estimated at $4.50. Presently, the average price should be about $5.50. You may think this is outrageous, but the other part of the equation I just touched upon, is what drives the market and has been, in my opinion, overlooked since the mid-80's: PROFIT.
We have all been conditioned through marketing and advertising to want to pay less for what we buy. Unfortunately that has led to a situation in the tennis industry where fewer and fewer merchants are finding it profitable to sell tennis products, or even stay in business. Many tennis clubs are operating at a loss, or at best, just breaking even. Some have succumbed to developers who can profit from other use of land where clubs have stood. Many current tennis retailers must have outside income to survive. At this moment, there is only one company on U.S. soil (Ashaway) that makes racquet strings, all racquets are manufactured overseas, and Penn is the only U.S. ball manufacturer still left (and I hear rumblings that this may change).
There are many economic reasons for these changes, but they all boil down to one thing: there is no incentive to run a business unless you can make a profit. If the trend continues, tennis could become extinct, and the value of a can of tennis balls may wind up being $10,000...(on the Antiques Road Show). It's time to re-appraise our values, pay the price, and just enjoy the game.
Copyright 2002 (Previously published in FLORIDA TENNIS - Oct., 2002)
By Vince Chiarelli, PTR, MRT, Owner of String Along With Vince
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