Subject:
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Re: Lego Direct (was Re: Georgia LEGO Outlet is Cool!)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.dear-lego
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Date:
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Tue, 28 Mar 2000 01:53:52 GMT
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I've got a few thoughts here (like I haven't already):
The fact that the outlet will not ship to nearby customers sucks. There is
no good reason to limit where they ship. If that is a policy of TLC,
hopefully they will can that policy as a result of this thread. If that is a
policy of the mall they are in (which it could very well be), then we're
sort of screwed. TLC probably will not move the store just because of that
policy (however, if the result of the way they most effectively do business
is to piss off all the local buyers, they may well realize that having the
actual store is not worth the cost, and that they would be better off with a
purely mail order facility, that could be good for us).
The phone calling list is NOT some secret list of the biggest customers.
Several people have pointed out that they were NOT called, who have placed
bigger orders than I have. They simply called people they happened to have
phone numbers for, and perhaps some idea of what kind of sets they were
interested in (I seem to remember I discussed that somewhat with them when
placing my order). I'm sure that anyone who called them and asked to be on
the phone calling list, who could somehow indicate that they would be a good
prospect, would get calls. I'd bet they would be willing to call local
people, and hold product for them (but they may not, that does cost more
than shipping product since they have to store it in the back room for a
week or two waiting for you to come in, but it's a good customer service
type of thing, so who knows).
This thread has sure soured me on mentioning things like this in the future.
Instead of people saying "neat, maybe I'll call the store and see if they'll
put me on their call list" (which was really why I posted it at all, I don't
tend to crow on much about my finds, though I do some), I've been jumped on
for inside trading, and no matter how much you say you're not mad at me, you
clearly are, otherwise terms like "insider" wouldn't be being used.
Unfortunately this discussion has also probably soured various people on
listing up the "good deals" available (in fact, in some ways, I'm surprised
Tom Stangl hasn't decided to stop putting up the S@H specials since he has
indirectly been attacked in this mess also [being one of the people who was
called]).
I'm bummed that Larry "took" all the Nebula Outposts also. I'm also bummed
that I didn't get any $1 blimps (and they must have gone for real cheap
locally, they all of a sudden disappeared from several stores). But, had I
been offered the Nebula Outposts at a cheap enough cost, I would have bought
a lot of them (though probably not all, though if I thought about it, and
thinking about why Larry bought them all, perhaps I would have). If I had
seen $1 blimps, I probably would have filled a shopping cart. I happen to be
happy that Lindsay Braun has been able to negotiate LOWER prices than the
price marked when he clears out a store of some clearance item. I personally
have benefited from this, even though Lindsay has profited. Good for
Lindsay, people who do something for the community should be compensated. I
do take note of the people who have done for the community. I sent Larry
some parts from one of the Jamabalaya boxes which got overloaded with wheels
at my expense because what Larry had done to get those boxes out. I'd cut
Tom Stangl an extra deal or two for his service of posting the S@H special
(actually I sent him parts from that Jambalaya box also). I tend to remember
those who make my life easier. I also tend to remember those who make it
harder. Of course, my memory isn't perfect.
I'll also say that it is commonly accepted business practice to give some
preference to one's larger customers. I think it's bad that part of the
complaint against Microsoft is that it does this. Some of their tactics are
sleazy, but this isn't one of them. I expect that when Lego Direct starts,
that there will be some preferences given to the larger customers. Larry
will probably have more impact in WHICH parts they stock than I do. That's
not bad, it's a fact of business. The "fair" thing for them to do would be
to contact every AFOL, and find out the top 5 parts they wanted, and then
make those parts available, no matter what quantity the total interest was
in. That plan would be suicidal. They would spend thousands of dollars
making some parts than they would at most sell a few tens of dollars worth
of parts. What makes good business sense to do instead, is determine some of
the big spenders, and find out what they want. There are two reasons for
this. The first is that some thing one person wants 10,000 of, is likely to
be of high general interest. The other is that any part which they can
quickly determine there is enough interest from a few people to justify a
production run of some part, will justify their actually making any parts at
all. The fact that Larry can guarantee them several thousand dollars worth
of train doors and windows means that there is a good chance those will be
some of the items made available eventually. Now a few people will end up
being annoyed because their favorite part isn't available, or the parts
which are available are being sold in quantities which are too large. The
first, there is nothing you can do about, unless you are willing to bankroll
the production run. The second, well, they do have to have a minimum order
size to make it worthwhile, however, chances are real good that you can
either get together a group of friends and share an order, or tag along on
some other big buyer's order (though you will pay more per part than that
person does, if nothing else because there is an extra shipping step).
Frank
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Lego Direct (was Re: Georgia LEGO Outlet is Cool!)
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| (...) Of course, we thought we had a shot at this consortium thing last year through Denmark, but nothing ever came of it. And someone mentioned the Constitution set in this thread - were there really Constitution sets available??? I would like to (...) (25 years ago, 28-Mar-00, to lugnet.dear-lego)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Lego Direct (was Re: Georgia LEGO Outlet is Cool!)
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| (...) Well, here's hopefully an objective rant... The fact that LEGO has set up outlet stores means that they are bleeding. The outlet stores are a desperate attempt to limit that bleeding. The outlet stores sell obsolete stock at discounted prices (...) (25 years ago, 28-Mar-00, to lugnet.dear-lego) !
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