Subject:
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Re: U.S. Lego (Was Re: What is Samsonite Lego?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 23 Aug 1999 16:08:43 GMT
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Viewed:
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3278 times
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I'm sure there are a lot of nuances that went into this decision. The Danish
company was only into its' 8th year of exporting it's product when it entered
the US market. As to whether tariffs were a consideration, I'm sure they were.
Even the sets that Samsonite produced contained a lot of parts made in Denmark.
I have Samsonite parts packs that say on the box "Contents Made in Denmark". I
think what happened was the basic bricks were made in the USA, but everything
else (windows, doors, signs, trees, cars & trucks, literature, etc) was produced
in Denmark. In 1961, when LEGO entered the USA, TLG was still a growing
company, far from being the billion dollar corporation that it is today.
Gary Istok
Paul Baulch wrote:
> > 1960's TLG wanted to expand to the USA and Canada. However, this was
> > such a large market for a small company like TLG to get into, that it
> > formed a licensing partnership with the Samsonite Corporation of Denver
> > Colorado.
>
> I'm wondering how accurate that explanation is. Doesn't the U.S. have
> particularly high import tariffs[1]? So is it possible that Lego would have
> been deemed shipping through U.S. import duties too expensive compared to
> making the Lego in the country? The North American market was certainly
> large enough for them to justify the cost of setting up manufacturing in
> that continent, and if they were Europe-wide before that then surely they
> weren't _that_ small. Is it also possible that having the product made by a
> U.S. company (i.e. "LEGO by Samsonite") would also avoid further (or same)
> duties slapped on by the U.S. government?
> This is all idle speculation, of course. I don't profess to knowing in
> detail U.S. trade policies of the last 30 years (or even what % of world
> Lego sales were in N. America [2]), I just remember hearing that U.S. trade
> policies protected its own industries particularly aggressively (which is
> fair enough. It's a lucky country that has the resources to allow it to rely
> on local product [4] ).
>
> Paul
> http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shuttle/5168/
>
> [1] I think that's what it's called, that amount that the government whacks
> onto an imported item (to "protect" the local product). Import duty?
> [2] Actually, does anybody here know roughly what proportion of Lego sold
> (say, last year) in the world was sold in North America?
> [3] Does anybody know why most Lego sets have a different title outside the
> U.S.? Did they just not bother to make them the same, or was it intentional?
> (in other words: ALWAYS give the set #'s please!!!!)
> [4] Is Best-Lock made in the U.S.? ;)
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | U.S. Lego (Was Re: What is Samsonite Lego?)
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| (...) I'm wondering how accurate that explanation is. Doesn't the U.S. have particularly high import tariffs[1]? So is it possible that Lego would have been deemed shipping through U.S. import duties too expensive compared to making the Lego in the (...) (25 years ago, 20-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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