Subject:
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take a piece, leave a piece -- traveling box of LEGO
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 5 Jul 1999 03:30:45 GMT
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Viewed:
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2333 times
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Here's an idea I've been itching to try out for about 4 years... I've got a
box of several hundred (or maybe 1000 or more, I haven't counted) LEGO
elements that I know I'll never use. These come from buying up large
collections at garage sales or on the net, in order to get a few sets I
wanted for my Space collection, but there was always stuff left over.
I always kind of figured I'd find the time someday to sell or trade them,
but because this particular bunch of stuff is such a mish-mash of various
elements, I don't think it's really worth all the hassle.
So what if I sent this box of LEGO on a long, long, worldwide journey?
(I don't ever care if it comes back to me, I just want it to find a better
home.)
Let's say I mail it to someone a couple states away, and they pick out some
pieces they like, and replace them with some pieces they don't need. Then
they, in turn, send the box on to a new person. The process could repeat
itself over and over, and, eventually, the box could probably tour the
entire world. :)
I'm thinkin' a couple restrictions might be wise:
1. You'd have to pitch in at least as many pieces as you took out, and
you'd have to put in pieces that were in at least as good quality as
those you took out. (In other words, this helps prevent the quality of
the pieces in the box from slowly going downhill overall.)
2. You'd have to work quickly -- grabbing out what you wanted and repacking
the box and sending it on to the next person within a couple or three
days, so that the overall person-to-person turnaround cycle would
average approximately one week (even less would be better).
3. Putting in a little more than you took out would be encouraged --
because this way, after the box reaches a certain size, it won't fit
in a reasonable size anymore -- and that's good -- because it could then
fork into two boxes, each of which goes happily on its way independently
of the other. Over time, the forks might even fork, and there might
then be three or four boxes merrily going around.
Obviously there's a bit of a gamble in that when a box arrives to you, there
may not be anything you like, but the more boxes that get going around, the
more chances that you might have to get something interesting. I guess in
the best of all possible worlds, it could be like Christmas several times a
year for those participating. :-)
If everyone sent the pieces on to the next person via USPS Priority mail,
sealed in a 2-gallon ZipLoc bag, it ought to be fairly inexpensive (about $5
per person), at least within the U.S., which would be a good place to give
it a try.
Does this sound like a fun idea?
--Todd
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Message has 10 Replies:
 | | Re: take a piece, leave a piece -- traveling box of LEGO
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| Todd Lehman wrote in message <37802182.34769436@l...et.com>... (...) $5 (...) Cool. I'm sure I would find stuff to trade with such a box. I know I have bits and pieces not worth trying to auction off. Would a reasonable amount fit in the fixed rate (...) (25 years ago, 5-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: take a piece, leave a piece -- traveling box of LEGO
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| (...) Oh sure, come up with this right after I mailed a box of wheels away. :') Sounds like a great idea. Here's another - the route of the box(es) could be arranged so that the next recipient would have a different LEGO interest: castle would send (...) (25 years ago, 5-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: take a piece, leave a piece -- traveling box of LEGO
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| Todd Lehman wrote in message <37802182.34769436@l...et.com>... (...) Of course it is..:-) Enlarging the project to contain other countries would be much better, although the risk would be higher considering very different kinds of postal services (...) (25 years ago, 5-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: take a piece, leave a piece -- traveling box of LEGO
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| (...) This sounds like an excellent idea. A couple more suggestions: 1) You might want to limit the number of pieces that could be exchanged per person (say 10-20 at most, I don't know)... and encourage people to input a variety of pieces rather (...) (25 years ago, 5-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: take a piece, leave a piece -- traveling box of LEGO
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| Count me in. At last, a home for all those worthless space and castle pieces! I need relief on the one week deadline though as I usually only mail things on weekends. Todd Lehman wrote: <snip, unlike just about everyone else who quoted the whole (...) (25 years ago, 5-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: take a piece, leave a piece -- traveling box of LEGO
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| I'd have to say count me in! I've got a bunch of stuff here I'll probably never use that I could toss in for a few pieces... Since someone's got First dibs, can I have 2nd :) I haven't heard anyone ask yet!! I understand what you mean though Todd.. (...) (25 years ago, 5-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: take a piece, leave a piece -- traveling box of LEGO
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| (...) Very cool! There has been a fair amount of discussion regarding rules for this, but I bet that if it just started, people would keep it going well. I think the idea of a newsgroup devoted to discussion of these boxes is a good idea too. What (...) (25 years ago, 7-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: take a piece, leave a piece -- traveling box of LEGO
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| There is talk of spawning a whole newsgroup for this activity, which I think would be swell. Till then, lets coordinate in Lugnet.general Looks like I will be bringing the whole lot back with me from Boston, unless there is a change in circumstance. (...) (25 years ago, 9-Jul-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.loc.us.mi.grr, lugnet.loc.us.ma.bos, lugnet.loc.us.mn.msp, lugnet.loc.uk)
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