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Subject: 
Re: The LEGO Revival Survey
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Mon, 25 Jul 2005 00:15:32 GMT
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Why do LEGO toys have value to you?

1.  I can build anything I can imagine.

2.  No matter which "set" the pieces came in, all of them can be used
collectively, to enable me to build whatever I want.  (Exception: Special
decorative pieces, such as Bionicle, I find to be too specialized to use.)

3.  No matter which "set" the pieces came in, all of them will match perfectly
with other pieces of the same shape and/or color.  Any 2x4 brick, regardless of
color, will function _precisely_ the same as any other 2x4 brick.  Just as any
piece of a specific color will _precisely_ match any other piece of the same
color.  (Exception: The retirement of classic Grey, classic Brown, and classic
Dark Grey prevents this for these three basic "natural" colors.)

4.  These properties listed above have no expiration.  That is, LEGO pieces I
acquired 20 years ago still match perfectly with pieces I can buy today.
(Exception: "New" grey, "new" brown, and "new" dark grey, as stated above, do
not match with the classic shades of these colors.)

What makes LEGO brand construction toys worth your money?

(These are the same answers as I gave to the question above, but I'm repeating
them anyway...)

1.  I can build anything I can imagine.

2.  No matter which "set" the pieces came in, all of them can be used
collectively, to enable me to build whatever I want.  (Exception: Special
decorative pieces, such as Bionicle, I find to be too specialized to use.)

3.  No matter which "set" the pieces came in, all of them will match perfectly
with other pieces of the same shape and/or color.  Any 2x4 brick, regardless of
color, will function _precisely_ the same as any other 2x4 brick.  Just as any
piece of a specific color will _precisely_ match any other piece of the same
color.  (Exception: The retirement of classic Grey, classic Brown, and classic
Dark Grey prevents this for these three basic "natural" colors.)

4.  These properties listed above have no expiration.  That is, LEGO pieces I
acquired 20 years ago still match perfectly with pieces I can buy today.
(Exception: "New" grey, "new" brown, and "new" dark grey, as stated above, do
not match with the classic shades of these colors.)

In what way has the LEGO brand let you down?

1.  The "Color Fiasco" -- the retirement of classic Grey, classic Brown, and
classic Dark Grey -- still annoys me to no end.  All pieces of the "new" shades
of these three colors in any sets I've acquired (even the Technic pins and
axles!) I keep segregated in a "Bag of Shame".  Furthermore, I _refuse_ to buy
any set having pieces in these new colors at full retail price; I will wait
until I can catch them on clearance, or I will do without!

2.  Too many new colors are introduced in just a few pieces.  If you _really_
need to introduce a new color, USE IT!  Offer this new color in the
quintessential LEGO piece, the 2x4 brick, in bulk quantity!  Off sets having
large numbers of pieces in this new color.  Do _NOT_ just have this color used
for one or two pieces in one or two sets, and then whine to us about how you had
to change _other_ colors in order to save money!

Recently, how has the LEGO brand improved?

The new Designer sets are a Godsend!  If only they used classic shades of Grey,
Brown, and Dark Grey (instead of the "new" shades of these colors), I'd already
have bought several hundred dollars worth of these new sets, perhaps even
thousands!  (To the best of my recollection, over the first three years the Star
Wars LEGO sets came out, I spent approximately $4,000 total on LEGO, mostly on
the Star Wars sets.)

What would you like to see LEGO (re)introduce in the next three years?

1.  By now, it should be obvious the most important (to me) thing to
_re_introduce would be CLASSIC GREY, CLASSIC BROWN, and CLASSIC DARK GREY!

2.  Offer us a Bulk brick set, totalling around 1,000 pieces (mostly rectangular
bricks, several slope bricks, a fair number of "round" bricks, etc.), all of
just one color, but available in _any_ color LEGO produces!

What does LEGO need to do to sell more products for less cost to them?

1.  If you insist on offering a set _only_ via Shop@Home, then you can easily
skimp on the fancy, full color, high gloss printing on the oversized box!
Instead, package that "Exclusive Shop@Home" set in a generic cardboard box that
is _just_ big enough for all the pieces (but no bigger).

2.  Offer a 10-20 percent discount on Shop@Home orders of $1,000 or more.  If
five LEGO fans in the same club want to order several sets, they will be sorely
tempted to combine their order and inflate their order, just to get that
discount.  On your end, it's usually easier and cheaper to fulfill and ship one
really large order than five separate smaller orders.

3.  Before you allow any engineer or designer to introduce a new piece (i.e., a
new mold), take several of this new piece to each of several children aged from
7 years old to about 14 years old, and ask these kids to use this new piece in
as many different ways as they can.  If they cannot come up with _several_
_different_ uses for that piece, do _not_ release that piece, as it is far too
specialized!  (Save yourselves some serious money by _not_ creating the mold for
this new piece!)

What reason(s) do you have for not buying new LEGO sets?

The "new" shades of Grey, Brown, and Dark Grey -- I will _not_ buy any set
having a large number of these pieces, until and unless I can find it on
clearance.

What would it take for you to spend more money on new LEGO products versus
buying sets/parts on the second hand markets?

1.  Offer us a Bulk brick set, totalling around 1,000 pieces (mostly rectangular
bricks, several slope bricks, a fair number of "round" bricks, etc.), all of
just one color, but available in _any_ color LEGO produces!

2.  Offer us the ability to special order _any_ piece, in _any_ color that piece
is currently produced, at bulk quantities.  For example, if I'm building a
skyscraper model, I may actually need to buy 1,000 Trans-Dark Blue 1x4x3 panels.
Sell 'em to me!  Of course, you can institute a "minimum quantity to be
ordered".  But if we _want_ to order such a huge number of them, LET US!

3.  Offer a 10-20 percent discount on Shop@Home orders of $1,000 or more.  If
five LEGO fans in the same club want to order several sets, they will be sorely
tempted to combine their order and inflate their order, just to get that
discount.  On your end, it's usually easier and cheaper to fulfill and ship one
really large order than five separate smaller orders.

What will it take for LEGO to remain the best construction toy for
all ages and be a profitable company?

Ask us, your online fans, questions like this every so often (once a year or
so).  Pay attention to our responses (and act upon them!).  Follow up with us;
let us know what you did (or did not) do as a result.  In the case of anything
that a large number of us ask of you, that you (for whatever reason) do not act
upon, _tell_us_why_ you didn't.  (We may not like the reason why, but we will
respect you for telling us the reason...)

What are your home country, first name and age?

My country is the United States of America, my given name is Franklin, and I am
40 years of age.

Is there anything you would like to say with this last question
that you feel someone at LEGO should not go without reading?

Your company has been around longer than I've been alive.  As such, you need to
be aware that, even though your "target" may be people who are currently
children, many of your "original" customers are _still_ your customers (albeit,
buying for their own children and/or grandchildren).  As such, I would encourage
you to never take them (or their intelligence, or their feelings) for granted.
We love your product.  We will continue to love (and support, and buy) your
product, _as long as you let us_.

Very respectfully yours,
Franklin W. Cain



Message is in Reply To:
  The LEGO Revival Survey
 
LEGO is a changing company that many think is not what it should be or what it used to be. The best quality construction toys are made by LEGO. The current customer relationship between LEGO and the people who enjoy the toys they make is the best it (...) (19 years ago, 23-Jun-05, to lugnet.general) !! 

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