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March, 2025

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Shops jacking up the prices for mounting bindings?

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zoob
Posts: 5 - Karma: 75
So I need to remount some FKS's and all the local shops want $70-$75 to mount bindings. Last time I got some mounting done I thought it was like $30 which was about a year or two ago.

$75 to mount some bindings seems a bit ridiculous to me. Is this reasonable pricing or is there something else going on here? Seriously considering learning to mount my own bindings cause the $ saved will really add up over the years.
11 years ago
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TheDetectives
Posts: 634 - Karma: 1,472
no, that's a ridiculous price there is no way they should be charging that....
11 years ago
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benlokhorst
Posts: 344 - Karma: 234
That's insane! I work at Sport Chek and we charge 20$ haha...
11 years ago
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Kretzschmar
Posts: 6746 - Karma: 99,041
at my local shop we charge $10 if you have 2+ items bought there. (skis & bindings, bindings and boots, you get the point)

$50 for only 1 item bought from us and $75 for none.

For one, it covers the cost of getting certified for the technician each year and it promotes buying local instead of online. I understand some things people want to get online because its on sale for 50% off or we just dont carry it since we can't carry all the manufactures, but we have a large enough selection that would satisfy what they want in a ski/boot/binding. If all else fails, we can order in shit for them from the manufactures if its not to late in the season.

What I'm getting at is that if you dont want to support the local shop by buying skis there, thats fine but you will have to pay for it when it comes to mounting, and if you do support us that way we reward you in a sense by offering super cheap mounting services. We have never really had any problems with customers complaining about it when it does come to the fact that its $75 to mount though.


11 years ago
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BirtDike
Posts: 1258 - Karma: 514
Hoback Sports in Jackson charges 30 for a mount w/ DIN check.
11 years ago
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zoob
Posts: 5 - Karma: 75
I guess that kind of answers my question why prices have jumped so much in the last couple years. Ski shops are feeling the heat from online retailers and are fighting back so to speak by making it more expensive for services you can't get online and then give discounts to their customers as a reward.


11 years ago
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Bagina
Posts: 849 - Karma: 2,888
It seems so, I just payed $50 to mount mine. I found that price fair because he included bending my FKS brakes with that price too.
11 years ago
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
Im sorry, but even with certification costs 75$ is way too much. I realize you have to fight back against online retailers but that is just ridiculous. When I can pick up say a set of Head 15s, for 60 dollars (MSRP of like 275), of course I am going to buy them. Any shop however that I walk into that asks for more than 50 dollars to preform a 10 minute procedure can suck my dick. You can guarantee that I will never buy ANYTHING from you by doing shit like that.

I feel like that issue is compounded when most on-mountain tech shops will remount a binding for much less than that because they want you skiing there, and you cant ski without your bindings mounted.

I guess I havent even thought about how much bindings cost to be remounted because I get it done for free at my mountain. I had to have it done 3 times last year.
11 years ago
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freeskibum82
Posts: 6355 - Karma: 5,056
what he said.

its getting old to have all you kids buy you shit online and spend zero dollars in the store and expect to not pay $70+ for a mount. once again, we are taking on all the liability of the mount and you havent put any money in my drawer. there is an incentive to buying from small shops. while we may not always be able to beat the internet, you have to factor in shipping and mounting price when buying from evo, etc.. Buying from a shop means free mounting!

in the end it all comes down to spend some money in our store and we'll lower the price.
11 years ago
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freeskibum82
Posts: 6355 - Karma: 5,056
we dont want you shopping in our stores then. you sound like a real treat as a customer that i personally wouldnt give more than 2 minutes of my time. you probably go into shops thinking you know it all and ask dumb questions about products we dont stock.

mounting bindings (drilling, mounting, adjusting to your boot, setting your din, testing for twist and forward lean pressure) does not take 10 minutes. Your safety is important to us. Even new bindings can have a defect, and if you skip what we do, you could get hurt and then sue us, then our price to mount next year is 80.

for a customer like you, id just tell you $100 just so youd leave. Im not about to waste employee time on you when all you would even buy is a $20 line shirt and still complain its too expensive.
11 years ago
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
That's awful funny, because I have watched my local shop do all of that while I waited. It doesn't take long. It seems to me like you are a shop that thinks every customer in the store is a complete moron. And whats wrong with asking for something, how else would I know if you stock it or not?

I am all for supporting local shops when there is a competitive price, case in point all of my skis have been bought from local shops, on sales near the end of the season. Im not going to bitch about products that I know have a cost you paid for them. Line shirts for 20 dollars? Thats good, Cotton Line hoodie for 80? Fuck no. I know you are not jacking the price on it, but its still too much money. Thats an issue with them, not the shop. You cant fault the customer for wanting value for their dollar. When I can save 200 dollars on bindings by buying on line, your damn right I, and most anyone who isnt independently wealthy is going to take that deal. I realize that you cannot compete with that, but upcharging to 75 dollars is absurd. Instead of charging me specifically 100 to get me out of your store, you could have charged 40 or 50 and gotten that money. Instead you lost all of it to the local mountain who charges 30 because they want me on their slopes. You can act like a dickhead store owner all you want, all it does is ensure none of my money, which very well could have gone to you, never will, and will flow to your local competitors. 
11 years ago
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7springsprod
Posts: 2661 - Karma: 3,181
Thats a great business model!

"Hey we're jealous that you didn't buy our skis so we're going to take advantage of you"
11 years ago
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japanada
Posts: 13785 - Karma: 1,959
beer and or bud usually gets me squared away.

The shop I used to mount at charged $60 if nothing was from them, $40 if 1 item was, $20 if 2, and free if you got the setup there. Its a powerful price tool to always have from the sales/store point of view. Something that usually will seal the deal for most adults and adults buying gear for their kids.
11 years ago
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Avifarer
Posts: 5926 - Karma: 598
$50 at our shop. $25 if you bought skis or boots or bindings. 0 if you bought 2 of those.
$75 is ridiculous
11 years ago
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uni-corn
Posts: 13846 - Karma: 651
Mount them yourself. Or make friends with the tech and bring him a sixer.
11 years ago
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SFBv420.0
Posts: 2539 - Karma: 3,125
you sound like a total cunt
what shop is it that you think you own
you and your techs suck if they can't do sub 15 min mounts
but fucktards like you keep the fridge in the mancave full and the nug sack stocked
$ 75 ? i bought most of my jigs for less
average price in slc is $40
so what and wheres YOUR shop?
11 years ago
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teamdummy
Posts: 1189 - Karma: 2,607
I mounted a pair of skis in my garage today. It cost me $2.50, and that's because I couldn't find my 3.6mm drill bit and had to buy a new one at Wal-Mart. Download the paper template from TGR. Watch a few tutorials on YouTube. And practice on some old skis or a 2x4 a few times...... . And you'll never have to pay a shop to do shit again.
11 years ago
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kingsskier
Posts: 6212 - Karma: 2,150
I have seen my local shop progressively increase their price. I dont use them but I ask every season. They are charging $85 to mount skis this year. With a jig and a decent tech, this should take 30 minutes at the very most, but more like 15 minutes not including the testing. I remember when I got into skiing in 2002ish, I mounted my skis for $15 at my local shop (not this shop charging $85).
11 years ago
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bigskier1010
Posts: 126 - Karma: 187
Times have changed. Dollars need to be turned. It's not just your ski shop, it's business! And business is about staying alive and managing to develop . Every industry is the same . In my business, if you but my product, yes your installs are cheaper because I make profit in the sale, if I install someone else's product, my time is just as valuable, so you need to pay for it . Welcome to the real world ! If you need to research yourself, go buy Some tires online for your car, buy a water heater, ask a contractor to install the wood floors YOU bought yourself, buy some software for your business and then aftermarket hire somone to install and operate... You should get the picture by now . $50 is reasonable for the service of mounting without a purchase .
11 years ago
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freeskibum82
Posts: 6355 - Karma: 5,056
it is understandable that anyone can do a mount.

it is understandable that in SLC where there is more competition, prices will be cheaper.

tell me again why the price in the northeast being between 50-75 is a problem? you have to remember, if the people pay it, it justifies the price.

the same people complaining about the price of a mount in this thread probably all have iphones and macbooks when they could get by without issue with an asus laptop and an motorola..
11 years ago
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kingsskier
Posts: 6212 - Karma: 2,150
Get your Asus and see how long it lasts compared to a Mac. Mac is expensive for a reason and it's not because of a hipster movement. They are quality products and quality coding.
I will buy a series of jigs and mount skis for far cheaper. They shouldn't jack up the prices because they can't make money elsewhere. Be better at sales and they can keep service prices down.
11 years ago
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freeskibum82
Posts: 6355 - Karma: 5,056
its all fun and cheap until a lawyer gets involved unfortunately. do mounts without certs and have someone break a leg. those cheap jigs just got a whole lot more expensive. id suggest looking into working with binding manufacturers to take the proper cert tests so you can have them back you in the event something happens.

i agree with you on the apple product front. have used macs for a long time being in the design industry. most of the time, computers that "break" are because of 3rd party components that can just be swapped out. have had a lenovo in the house for quite some time without issue.
11 years ago
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heFF
Posts: 5786 - Karma: 4,456
i would suggest finding a homie that works at a shop who mounts skis and throw him a doob or beer..haven't "paid" cash for binding mount in years
11 years ago
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kingsskier
Posts: 6212 - Karma: 2,150
Okay then I blame cost of certifications? It's not hard to mount skis properly. I do not know how much certification costs, but it should cost enough to jack mounting prices up to the cost of cheaper bindings. If it's on the indemnified list, it should be $30-$40 at most to mount skis. I don't care who is at fault, it is driving a lot of kids away from skiing.
11 years ago
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onenerdykid
Posts: 6737 - Karma: 11,730
I tend to be saying this a lot lately, but it's the season for mounting bindings. While I don't think a full price mount should be $85, it should not be $15 if you didn't buy any of the gear at the shop. The quoted post is spot on- would you expect a deal from a car mechanic or contractor if you didn't buy the part from them? No, of course not so don't expect the same at a ski shop. Ski shops provide service and if you support them they will support you. Their time and insurance costs money, so be prepared to pay full price for it if you have not supported them in your product purchasing.
11 years ago
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onenerdykid
Posts: 6737 - Karma: 11,730
It is not hard to mount skis properly, provided you have the right tools and training, which cost money. Add in insurance costs (which are not cheap since shops get sued ALL the time by skiers who injured themselves in skiing accidents), certification costs, payroll, overhead, and then a horrible word called profit and you can see why shops charge $50+ to mount skis that were not purchased there. If you don't want to pay that, it's totally fine you can try to mount them on your own, just as you might try to repair your car or bike on your own. Sure, it's cheaper but now all of responsibility and consequence is on you.
11 years ago
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SFBv420.0
Posts: 2539 - Karma: 3,125
thats why i only mount for weed/booze
have fun telling your lawyer/the judge the bro you nugged up didn't do things by the book.
your'e funny now what shop again is it you claim to own?
All puffy chested till it's time to put the money where that spew flinging mouth is and not in YOUR drawer.
you don't own shit and are to scared to name the shop cause you look like an idiot in this thread
11 years ago
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freeskibum82
Posts: 6355 - Karma: 5,056
never said i owned a shop at all.

as far as the weed thing.. you do know why they call it "dope" right?

i dont look like an idiot at all. this is a thread full of 15yr old kids who dont have a lot of money and are bitching things cost money.

enjoy your ski season.
11 years ago
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kingsskier
Posts: 6212 - Karma: 2,150
I was just basing my opinion on that fact that I could get it done for $20 5-10 years ago. I can't imagine costs have gone up 4 times as much in that period of time.
I mount my own skis, so I don't have any issues. But I know I would try to if I was younger and I also wouldn't have that kind of cash to get it done.
11 years ago
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onenerdykid
Posts: 6737 - Karma: 11,730
I think shops are now paying more attention to the actual cost of doing business. It was and is still common for the buddy-buddy mounting routine to happen but we should all be prepared for that to become less common as the number of lawsuits against shops continues to rise. Binding release checks are now becoming more mandatory with a mount, which even further complicates things and thus more cost are involved. While I will agree that $85 is a bit steep, anything around the $50 mark should be expected and totally justifiable.
11 years ago
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Lemuel
Posts: 14543 - Karma: 11,148
While I do agree that it is necessary for mount price increases due to online sales, but they have gotten too high. Look how many people mount their own bindings now. That is because the cost is too high. I would pay $50 for a mount, no higher. I unfortunately had to pay $80 for a mount 4 years ago when my mom dropped my skis off while I was up at school. That pissed me off. I mount my own bindings now. I get it done how I want it, and the only price is my own time. If prices stay this high, more and more kids will start doing the same (kids that do not know what they are doing) and people will be less inclined to get into the sport.

11 years ago
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.nasty
Posts: 10596 - Karma: 11,337
We charge 50 at Slope Style if you didn't buy anything from us, but it's mostly because we're in breck and can get away with that being a small shop. Most are happy to do so, and if not they can go allllll the way down to denver to have it done for 30ish. We do 25 if you buy either a ski or binding and 0 if you buy both.

75 is insane, they need to be run out of business for being assholes.
11 years ago
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doGelyst
Posts: 2493 - Karma: 511
I got a remount and a new mount done for $60 Total. $70 for one sounds pretty redic.

This was in Steamboat, btw.
11 years ago
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.squirrely.
Posts: 7563 - Karma: 7,546
$25 and $35 at the two shops near me
11 years ago
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
No, you are wrong. Most Asus comps will far outlast anything apple puts out, especially considering that Asus and Apples are made in the exact same factory. You really are just paying for the logo with an apple.
11 years ago
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kingsskier
Posts: 6212 - Karma: 2,150
No you arent just buying an Apple logo. Apple is 100% different coding than Windows and much much better and safer. Plus the hardware is different. Apple spends a lot of money on R&D and engineering. Asus is cheap for a reason. I bought an Asus to go side by side with my macbook pro and it was garbage. I got rid of it after a few months. I can refine gold and copper in the same building, they are both metal but it doesnt make them worth the same amount of money.
11 years ago
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
As someone who works in the IT industry, I can tell you straight up that other than the Operating system, the hardware is literally identical. They run the same hard drives, processors, memory, everything. That being said, the OS is not better and safer. It is DIFFERENT, and thats about as far as you can go with that. The reasons apples crash less often is due to their closed storefront nature, where pretty much everything that goes onto the machine has to be approved by Apple. PC  is an open platform where if you can code for it, you can make programs with no problem. This may lead to some programs being potentially unstable, but it removes a barrier from devs from producing their product.

The other factor here, is that your macbook pro most likely cost $1000+, and the Asus you probably bought was a budget PC. You cannot compare a budget laptop with a High end laptop and expect the budget laptop to keep up. That would be like expecting a KIA to be able to keep pace with a Ferrari in a race. Just saying that it was garbage gives no reason why.

As far as your little joke about refining copper and gold, yes that applies because you likely spent 1000+ on the mac and <500 on the Asus. I wont bother asking why you were buying two laptops at the same time.
11 years ago
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zoob
Posts: 5 - Karma: 75
Just mounted my bindings myself. It was actually pretty easy with the paper jig and did a few test runs with a 2x4 first. Hardest part was accurately drawing the centre line on the ski but that just took time/patience. Gonna save lots of money when it costs like $150 a mount in like 5 years haha
11 years ago
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kingsskier
Posts: 6212 - Karma: 2,150
They were comparable prices. I didn't look into hardware but I would assume apple has apple specific processors at least. Either way, the protected apple programs make it a great product. No malicious software, stable software and faster software. You can write programs for a Mac and it has to be safe and stable. Higher standards makes a better product. Windows has issues in itself let alone the fact they don't product test almost at all (that coming directly from a former windows upper exec. The reason he quit). Windows has benefits but you cannot say it is better than Mac. It is not stable and has a lot of issues with higher end software. I work with high end custom software for controllers and it is terrible, especially with real time software.
11 years ago
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kingsskier
Posts: 6212 - Karma: 2,150
There will always be people who hate on Mac because of their prices. But they do make quality products and the OS is worth it. If you are soon basic computing or gaming, it's not worth it. If you are doing editing or higher end stuff, the payoff is great.
11 years ago
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
Firstly, apple is running Intel processors, the same ones you will find in 60%+ of PCs. Second, there are viruses out there for Macs, all be it less of them. The reason that mac has <8% of total market share, less people to target, less hackers are going to write viruses for it. You can slam windows for coming out with bugs, but you cant do that and completely leave out the fact that it happens to Mac too. Take the Iphone 5 rollout. The lock screen was completely useless for a month because there was a simple workaround that anyone could do to get into your phone. Both these major companies are writing extremely complex softwear, when a major bug gets found, it gets patched in less than a month on either side. Windows is a stable OS if you are someone who actually takes care of your hardwear. Your argument about Mac being 'better' than windows is invalid. At BEST you can argue, again, that they are different. At worst I can tell you that the reason Mac has <8% of market share is because it is WORSE than PC. Go into any business operating any where on the planet, and you will find that the backbone of the business is build on a Windows (or possibly linux, but that is still unlikely) based system. Anything that can be done on IOS, can be done even better on PC (due to the open nature of high quality programing that does not need to be certified by apple). Video Editing? Better on PC, Music? PC, Gaming? Hardly even an option on a Mac. Photo editing? PC. Macs come with some decent home level editing softwear pre-installed on all of them sure, but I can guarantee you that if you are going to get really really serious (as in professional) into whatever you are creating, at some point you'll end up on a PC

People who bitch and moan about PCs being too unstable and hard to use are usually doing so because they dont know how to operate one. Its like that friend you have who wonders why their car engine seized on them at 60k miles, only to find out they never changed the oil during the entire lifetime of the car.
11 years ago
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kingsskier
Posts: 6212 - Karma: 2,150
There are bugs and there are crap OSs. They kind of got there shit together recently but windows 8 is garbage. I know people who work in the tv industry and they all use macs for their editing. Check out Facebook, they write with macs. Snapchat use Macs. Thechive uses macs. All million/billion dollar companies (that I can remember off hand from seeing their work floors). Linux is a better OS for custom software. Our writer initially started on windows and we are dealing with it. Windows crashes constantly trying to run our data acquisition and real time controller. Linux would work fine (can't use Mac in this instance because the daq software we use is not Mac compatible).
I knew apple uses intel and assumed intel would make a processor specific to apple but either way intel is Intel. I do think the new SSDs and ran that is soldered to the MB on macs are proprietary.
Gaming goes to windows, but editing would go to Mac. The only reason I would consider writing a program windows based would be because of the lack of market share on a Mac. If it was a very specific software I would write it on Mac or Linux.
11 years ago
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Lemuel
Posts: 14543 - Karma: 11,148
THIS IS NOT A LAPTOP THREAD, IT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE TO THE TOPIC
11 years ago
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
I will give you that Windows 8 is a shitty OS, but there is nothing stopping you from keeping with Windows 7 if you want to, which is absolutely one of the best OSes ever made. Just because the devs write their code on a mac, does not mean the back end of the company is run on macs. Facebook specifically is running a highly customer version of Linux in their server farms. They are not running Mac servers. Same goes for snapchat. Thats the nice thing about Windows/linux is we can take the shit you write on a mac and make it work on other machines, It doesnt go the other way around. If you are trying to say that most multi-million dollar companies are running macs, you are straight wrong. Thats not a matter of opinion.
Regarding it crashing all the time, well thats because you are writing code for it, that is going to happen while you test run the softwear regardless.
The new SSDs are not proprietary, they are made by Seagate who is one of the largest SSD manufactures on the planet.
As far as editing, no, it does not go to mac unless you only need what comes with a Macpro out of the box(which is decent low-midlevel stuff). For any real photo editing, youll need adobe (which is cross platform, and my PC is faster than any mac you can buy, for less I might add), video editing you can use Adobe or the myriad of other programs that are used. Hell you could drop several thousand and edit your ski edits on the same program they make AAA blockbusters on if you wanted to (on a PC). Same with Audio. The artists who are recording multi- platinum albums are on PCs, not macs.
11 years ago
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freeskibum82
Posts: 6355 - Karma: 5,056
while we may have a healthy debate on mount pricing, i agree with you 100% on the computer conversation.

the internet was fun today.
11 years ago
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
Indeed good sir, indeed.
11 years ago
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49566738265
Posts: 0 - Karma: 7,705
It's not difficult to mount bindings, and I can't believe you still charge $10 if they buy skis and bindings! Holy shit they spend $1200 on new skis and boots off the rack and you guys ask them for $10 to mount them?
11 years ago
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onenerdykid
Posts: 6737 - Karma: 11,730
Again, it's not difficult but there are costs involved and it does take time to do a mount/release check, and that time needs to be accounted for. If you spend $500,000 on a house, does painting company paint it for free? Or install anything for free? No. In most shops, sales is treated as a separate entitiy from service and the shop is looking for X amount of revenue to be generated from service labor. Service techs need to get paid, and I'm sure everyone on here wants to have a well paying job, so it isn't unreasonable that fair service charges should be applied.
11 years ago
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
Fair and 75 dollars for a mount are not the same thing. No one here seems to be arguing with a 50 dollar mount if nothing came from the shop, but 75-80 is generally regarded as too much it seems.
11 years ago
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-SnowSnoli-
Posts: 756 - Karma: 1,703
But this is the whole reason shops do charge so much. If by buying your equipment in store you save $75 you can take it into account when looking at buying online.

Our shop offers life time services on skis brought in store without discount. think about it over a season it's alot of money (if you like to keep your skis nice)

Otherwise it's impossible to compete with online retailers
plus it's so annoying when kids come in the store buying gear online, then asking us to warranty it. Actually has got to a point where we charge to do warrantys on stuff not brought from us.


11 years ago
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
Now see, thats a damn good incentive to buy from you guys. A lifetime of hotwaxes and tunes on a pair of skis can really rack up the money if you are not doing it yourself. I have no issue with stuff like that and free mounts for gear bought from the store. With nothing bought from the store though, 75 is extreme. I understand there are backend costs but still.
The warranty stuff is a little iffy. If I was running a shop I would gladly do the warranty if it was a brand I stocked, but if the gear was not brought from me I would charge the customer the shipping fees. I cant imagine those are cheap.
I am actually surprised to see several people in this thread saying they mount their own bindings with paper pattern cutouts. That is not something I would ever presume to do. I know how to adjust dins, grease bindings, basic stuff like that, but with people drilling their own bindings its just a matter of time before a company like Tyrolia and their subsidiaries start refusing to sell bindings to individual customers or online retailers who sell direct to customers due to liability.
11 years ago
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