Subject:
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Re: 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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Wed, 7 Jul 1999 16:06:48 GMT
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Viewed:
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1645 times
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Todd Lehman wrote:
>
> In lugnet.general, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
> > > 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.
> >
> > It would be cheaper for non-priority. I'm thinking that 1000 pieces is
> > too many. How about 200 to start?
>
> I think it's important to get the benefit of the strong USPS Priority Mail
> boxes, which are built-in to the cost of shipping. Even without, it almost
> never makes sense to mail LEGO non-Priority unless it's a very small (say,
> 10-oz. or less) package. Anyway, what's so bad about $3.20 to $5.40
> (depending on the weight) for what you might get?
>
> > I'm thinking too that it would be fun to just buy a box off the shelf
> > and send it around for trades and see how it ended up after n trades.
Hm, an idea which would really get things going quick, everyone who
wants to play in the game, either put a box of X pieces together, or buy
a set off the shelf with that many pieces or more (maybe require 10%
more or so since there will be many "common" bricks). You can even trade
with the set off the shelf before sending it on its first trip. If you
ever want out of the game, you keep the next box you get, and tell the
person after that to send the box to the next person you were going to
send (or otherwise remove yourself from the algorithm). If you started
the game by buying a new set, it might be reasonable to be put on a "I
want out" list, at which point, the next time a new person is coming in
who will be paying the entry fee by buying a new box, either buys in
interesting box you would like, or just sends you a check. Of course in
this case, you still need to send along the box you currently have.
We could have a random shuffler which tells everyone who their next hop
is. You're also still welcome to share your box with anyone in the same
town.
The big question with this is is it worth $3.20 per week to be involved?
I think the boxes could be smaller in this situation (for those with
huge piles, you can always "sell" a box to someone comming into the game
without a box of their own to contribute). At that point, it might even
be worth picking a weight which can be mailed for just a buck or two.
Thereal interesting thing would be what would be in there after 10-20
hops? How many hops would be needed to basically re-distribute all the
unwanted, but interesting, parts? If the time period is long enough of
course, you'll have gotten new unwanted parts. If the scheme works well
enough, you'll even be more willing to bid on some of those weird lots
on eBay, because you get the 50% of the parts you wanted, and have lots
of neat stuff to trade with future boxes. Another interesting idea, how
long would it take to build a specific set from a few years ago from the
trades? After two years you post "Yay! I finally got the xoozle-woozle I
needed for the frim-flotz! It's now complete, all parts were acquired
from trade boxes." Now the question is do you tell people what set
you're trying to build? I would definitely say it would be "unfair" to
list specific parts you need, though in a general sense, I see no
problem saying, in the newsgroup for this trade box idea, "I need
zoodle-boobers, I've got frizzle-goozles to put in the box."
There are just too many fun ideas to play with with this idea.
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: take a piece, leave a piece -- traveling box of LEGO
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| (...) I think it's important to get the benefit of the strong USPS Priority Mail boxes, which are built-in to the cost of shipping. Even without, it almost never makes sense to mail LEGO non-Priority unless it's a very small (say, 10-oz. or less) (...) (25 years ago, 7-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
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