Ted,
Real strikers will acquire strikes as they are made available. Strikes made available directly from the machines if the collector can play the machine (in Vegas, Sparks, Reno, Tahoe, Verdi, etc.), or made available from "dealers"(local dealers). The situation is that the "dealers" make current and not-current strikes available to collectors and the collectors purchase them at a price hopefully above "dealer" cost. All "dealers" take a risk and provide a service and may make a profit if the service warrants a profit. As a "dealer" you know this. As a real striker I accept this as the free market at work. Ted, as a real striker I buy strikes from Norm, from you and Sharon, and other "dealers", and from the coin dealers you and Sharon buy from. There is a place and a reason for all of us. By the by, I have met several people that I now consider close friends while waiting to play the strike machine, maybe waiting for a "stooge" to finish. And, as a friend of Norm I will "stooge" for him any time. In fact I have and will "stooge" for other friends as well - no charge.
Your post leads me to rhetorically ask your opinion on these questions. Do you and yours add to the strike environment? (Now, I think you do.) Would you sell strikes if you made no profit? ( I know this answer) Do "local dealers" provide more or less than you to the strike environment? (?) How long would it take to distribute new strikes if "local dealers" chose not to participate? (?) Without the local dealer supply chain would the hobby suffer? (I think it would suffer greatly - think inventory turn over, revenue per square foot, traffic, and... Would other supply chains exist - catalog publishers, conventions, tournaments ... and...)
Ted, my opinion is that this is a little bigger than having to wait to play a slot machine and btw, we don't need any more big government. Also if you and Sharon come to the convention and hang around the machines waiting to play, I think you too will enjoy making new friends and renewing old ones. But just my opinion.
Respectfully I am, George Langley a real striker (I think I'm real)