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Subject: 
Re: Improving the adult image of LEGO
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:26:07 GMT
Viewed: 
12070 times
  
In lugnet.general, Michael Shiels wrote:
YES but LEGO wouldn't be around if they don't make some profits right?  How at
production cost would they survive.

I didn’t say that they should stop selling the normal sets. I just asked for an
additional service above and beyond that...

But of course you have a point regarding the need for profit. Perhaps such an
offer should be available only to certain clubs in order to limit the impact on
the market? Or something like that...


In lugnet.general, Brian Davis wrote:
Well, if you include a margin for profit (which does seem fair), this *does*
exist - it's called Pick-a-Brick, and you can do it on-line via S@H. Yes, I
*know* it doesn't have all the elements, or all the colors... but it has loads
more than previously available. When I wanted to build a large-scale mechanical
calculator out of LEGO, I figured it out and realized that the design would need
more than 300 1x4 studded beams... and I could actually purchase them, in bulk,
from S@H at lower prices than existed on Bricklink.

In my experience, Pick-a-Brick, and by extension the LEGO Factory, are crazily
expensive compared to Bricklink. When I build a model in LDD I usually end up
buying the bricks through Bricklink, thus cutting the price in half...

But perhaps it’s just me having a love for the wrong bricks...?

I'd love it if I could request custom runs of parts in the colors I choose, and
I'm sure if I could purchase enough to make it economical, TLG would probably do
it (why do you think the Maersk ship existed?). The problem is then an economy
of scale, and it's pretty impressive that they can scale it down to selling
individual elements via mailorder the way they already do.

Would they? Maybe...

In truth, I’m not entirely convinced. As has already been pointed out, TLC seems
to have been somewhat slow when it comes to dealing with AFOLs. Perhaps it’s not
a question of whether or not there’s a profit to be made, but rather the simple
fact that they haven’t thought about it? Or, at least, haven’t figured out how
to do it in a viable, and profitable, way...?

Ahh well, what do I know? I’m not, by any means, an expert on the inner workings
of TLC...


... but I can hope, right?



Message has 3 Replies:
  Re: Improving the adult image of LEGO
 
(...) That's exactly it. If you're looking for black 2x4 bricks, the market is flooded with them, so BL prices have settled pretty low (and the rarer parts in a given set help offset those low prices so that sellers will still find it worth parting (...) (16 years ago, 17-Sep-08, to lugnet.general)
  Re: Improving the adult image of LEGO
 
(...) I think that's not quite the point that was being made. The point is that selling individual bricks to individual consumers is *grossly* more expensive for the company, not that it's cheaper, and hence would need to sell sets to keep their (...) (16 years ago, 17-Sep-08, to lugnet.general)
  Re: Improving the adult image of LEGO
 
(...) Well, or maybe it's me generalizing from getting lucky once. Looking at PaB, 1x14's are currently 28 cents per piece. On Bricklink, right now, I can find them for as low as 15 cents, but not in anything like the quantities I'd needed. In fact (...) (16 years ago, 17-Sep-08, to lugnet.general)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Improving the adult image of LEGO
 
(...) Well, if you include a margin for profit (which does seem fair), this *does* exist - it's called Pick-a-Brick, and you can do it on-line via S@H. Yes, I *know* it doesn't have all the elements, or all the colors... but it has loads more than (...) (16 years ago, 17-Sep-08, to lugnet.general)

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