Orbit Balls - For Sale

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by jamie_1930

Next time you need to realize that this is what happens with game pieces commercially available, and you need to get them right after kickoff, we had purchased about 10 by the day after kick off.

I don't recall a situation like the shortage of orbit balls as a game piece before in FRC. There may be and hopefully, someone will enlighten us and explain how they handled the shortage then. The game piece/game impacts teams globally. Wal-Marts may be hard to come by in different regions and areas of the world. One can think locally when it comes to FRC but it is wise to think globally and how the teams and venues are impacted.

An example: I had a conversation with Greg Needel when he was visiting Austin this fall. He shared a little bit of the challenges that teams in Israel face. Things that teams in the US wouldn't even give a 2nd thought to. There is not the same access across the board and teams and event planners find ways to compensate by being innovative and creative, making it work.

[jamie_1930]

FIRST challenges change every year and in response to this FIRSTers around the globe are always trying to anticipate what new challenges await us at the next kickoff, so a shortage of a commercial item not usually in popularity is likely to happen when all the sudden people are ripping them off the shelfs. Also I tried to help some people out so why do I need to be told I didn't help everyone.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

I don't recall a situation like the shortage of orbit balls as a game piece before in FRC. There may be and hopefully, someone will enlighten us and explain how they handled the shortage then. The game piece/game impacts teams globally. Wal-Marts may be hard to come by in different regions and areas of the world. One can think locally when it comes to FRC but it is wise to think globally and how the teams and venues are impacted.

2006 was better only because the company made more immediately. Can't do that this time around.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by jamie_1930

Exactly why I said most teams, I've already had people say things like this to me, about how there's no walmart by them or that their already cleaned out, when I try to give some good information to fellow FIRSTers. Next time you need to realize that this is what happens with game pieces commercially available, and you need to get them right after kickoff, we had purchased about 10 by the day after kick off.

Jamie,
You think we didn't try to run and get them as soon as we saw what they were and where we could by them?? Believe me we tried...a lot. It wasn't like there were some of these balls in every store, and the teams who got there first got them. Some store simply didn't have any.....none of the stores near us did. The ones we did get, we had to find through walmarts inventory system.

Why most teams were able to grab a few from their local wal-mart, there were a signfigant amount of teams that were unable to get any, besides the 3 that FIRST offered up and the 1 that came in the kit.



I'm just trying to put things in perspective for you...not every team had the same scenario as yours.

[jamie_1930]

Ok it's just I don't see why people keep telling me that this information isn't good when I'm just trying to help out another team.

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by jamie_1930

Ok it's just I don't see why people keep telling me that this information isn't good when I'm just trying to help out another team.

Because the first thing you said in the thread was "you know you can get them at wal-mart, right?", and people were trying to tell you that that was not the case for a large number of teams, including every single foreign team (Orbit Balls were not sold outside of the USA, ever).

I think $20 is a fair price, though really any price is fair, some just might be poorer selections than others. If you priced them at $1000 apiece thats your decision, but you probably wouldn't sell many. Its all about finding the right price point to sell the maximum number.

That's a ridiculous price to ask teams in need who may have not found balls

If they don't offer the balls to other teams at all, then the price is essentially infinity, and that would be even worse. Given the labour required to make them, offering to sell them at all when that labour could be put towards actually building a bot is very generous of them.

[Cynette]

Originally Posted by jamie_1930

we had purchased about 10 by the day after kick off.

Hey Jamie! Who is using the 10 balls you purchased?

[jamie_1930]

I guess we are, I didn't really know we were even getting any but the next day most of the mentors showed up with one thinking they were the only one.

[Rick Wagner]

After the kickoff, team members went to Walmarts around LA and couldn't find any. We phoned relatives in other cities and all they could find is broken ones. At the time we didn't know they might be repairable, so we didn't get them. We have the one from the kit and the three from FIRST for testing our robot. We use some team-made ones for practice throwing.

[Fish2977]

Haha we have 9 real ones.

[Pelicano234]

After taking in all of your comments, our team has learned a lot about economics, but have decide that we will not be selling Orbit Balls, although we will make as many as possible this weekend and may sell a few to needy teams.

[David Brinza]

A couple of parents from Team 980 with LOTS of manufacturing experience have come up with an alternative solution to the game piece shortage. They've spend a couple of weeks looking for the lowest cost approach to getting more balls to the teams. They've contacted Blip and determined that the delivery time and minimum order quantity was not going to work.

The plan is to sell Lunacy game ball kits to teams, perhaps as soon as this weekend. The kits include pre-sown fabric tubes (essentially identical as that used in the Orbit balls with no batting as found in the GUS ball), pre-cut lexan strips (far more durable than the plastic in the Orbit ball), high-strength adhesive patches to bond the strips together and instructions for assembly. To simplify and reduce cost of shipping and handling, only kits of 20 - 25 balls will be shipped via Priority Mail box to teams. The cost per ball will be on the order of $10 to $11 each (still working this number, however, there won't be much margin in this cost). Lunacy game ball sales will be done through a special web-site using Paypal.

We will post a new thread on CD in the next day or so announcing when the web-site is going up and sales will commence. Based on initial response, the quantity of kits manufactured can be increased pretty quickly.

What do you think about this approach?

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by David Brinza

...The plan is to sell Lunacy game ball kits to teams, perhaps as soon as this weekend. The kits include pre-sown fabric tubes (essentially identical as that used in the Orbit balls with no batting as found in the GUS ball), pre-cut lexan strips (far more durable than the plastic in the Orbit ball), high-strength adhesive patches to bond the strips together and instructions for assembly. To simplify and reduce cost of shipping and handling, only kits of 20 - 25 balls will be shipped via Priority Mail box to teams. ...

... Based on initial response, the quantity of kits manufactured can be increased pretty quickly.

What do you think about this approach?

I think that after making dozens of fabric tubes, your team will have a new explanation for why this year's game is called Lunacy.

I also think it will help your customers very much if the lexan strips are thoroughly deburred (the smoother, the better), and at least one end of each strip is very well rounded.

I'm wondering if your kit size is too big--10-ball increments might be more manageable, both for your team and for the recipient teams. 20 balls=120 tubes and strips.

I hope your manufacturing experts have experience with cutting massive quantities of stretchy synthetic fabric. I consider cutting the fabric to be particularly tedious.

[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by KarenH

I think that after making dozens of fabric tubes, your team will have a new explanation for why this year's game is called Lunacy.

I also think it will help your customers very much if the lexan strips are thoroughly deburred (the smoother, the better), and at least one end of each strip is very well rounded.

I'm wondering if your kit size is too big--10-ball increments might be more manageable, both for your team and for the recipient teams. 20 balls=120 tubes and strips.

I hope your manufacturing experts have experience with cutting massive quantities of stretchy synthetic fabric. I consider cutting the fabric to be particularly tedious.

We're certainly in danger of becoming a Lunatics! It just cannot be stopped!

So, the plan is to ship kits of 10. We almost meet the goal of $2 shipping & handling per ball using Priority Mail. The shipping & handling cost for 3 Orbit balls from Logoloc was more than triple that.

The Team 980 parents leading this project considered the potential for high-demand for kits in a short period, so they chose local suppliers and manufacturers carefully. Reducing cost while using high-quality materials was a major consideration too.

The Lunacy game ball web-site will provide more details on the kit contents and what effort is required to assemble the balls. We plan to start taking orders this weekend. We'll post the link in CD soon...

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by KarenH

I hope your manufacturing experts have experience with cutting massive quantities of stretchy synthetic fabric. I consider cutting the fabric to be particularly tedious.

We thought the same thing until we bought a self-healing cutting board and one of those circular pizza-cutter-type scissors.

After that it took seconds to cut each one out.