Subject:
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Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 4 Aug 1999 23:32:42 GMT
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Viewed:
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1714 times
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With the closing of LEGO New Zealand now is a good a time as any to reveal
the opportunity I had to order LEGO pieces in bulk through LEGO NZ. I'm
pretty certain that there are others out there who through good fortune are
likewise able to order in bulk but no doubt prefer to remain anonymous for
the time being.
-------SO HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?--------
It began when I was hunting down a discontinued set for a friend overseas.
I had no luck in finding the set locally but I managed to get the phone
number of the LEGO rep who serviced the local area. We hooked up for lunch
during which time I mentioned that I was on the lookout for a large number
of LEGO trees for a Town project I was working on. Immediately he was on
his cell phone to the spare parts manager (spm) at LEGO NZ.
The spm wasn't there at the time so the rep gave me a phone number to
contact. A couple of days later I gave the spm a ring and the rest as they
say is history.
I couldn't believe my luck when during my first conversation with the spm he
said I was able to order any part I wanted. My first order comprised of
trees and parts for lamp posts. A relatively small and very modest order
but I didn't really want to push my luck at that time.
Gradually my orders became bigger as my Town project became larger. An
example of this was the 4600 blue 2x2 tiles I was able to order. (This will
feature in the harbour part of the city). I was also able to repay a couple
of debts to friends overseas who had helped me greatly in my LEGO dealings.
I stress though that I made no money what so ever at any point. There was
never any intention to make a profit out of this.
My final order was made at a time when I knew that LEGO NZ was going to
close down. It was tough deciding what to order but in part much of the
order decided itself. I still needed parts to complete my town so ordering
pieces for those projects was reasonably straightforward but then came time
to future proof my collection. In the end I decided to order multiples of
plates and bricks of every size and colour. Not to mention tiles, roof
pieces, windows, doors. hinges, macroni's, letter boxes, and so on.
-------SO HOW DID IT ALL WORK?----------
Ordering was a very time consuming process for both the spm and myself. It
would begin by me deciding what pieces I wanted to order. I'd then scour
the net for the correct part picture (to this end Auczilla and the LCad
image repositories were invaluable). Next I'd draw up a listing in MS Word
format with part picture, colour required and spaces for the spm to fill in
the code and price.
This list would be printed out and sent to the spm who would use the list to
obtain the piece codes if available and price. He'd then send it back to
me.
I'd then drawn up a second list and on it put the part pic, code, quantity
required and send it back to the spm. He'd then raise an order with Model
Production in Denmark. All orders were shipped via sea because the cost of
air freight for the larger orders would have been prohibitive.
Occasionaly the spm would send me photocopies of pages from the Official
Spare Parts Catalogue to aid my selection of a particular piece.
Alternatively he would sometimes send samples which I would be allowed to
keep.
I must admit that during this time I'd monitor various parts auctions with
some amusement. Here was I able to order pieces at ridiculous prices while
others had to fight it out for certain pieces. Keep in mind though I'm not
attempting in any way to devalue the worth of these auctions as they play a
vital role in the online LEGO community. It just seemed amusing to me that
people were prepared to pay large amounts of money for pieces that I could
buy for just a few cents.
--------SO WHAT WERE SOME OF THE PROBLEMS?----------
Unfortunately there were some anomalies in piece availablitiy. For
instance tan slopes that feature in current adventurer sets weren't able to
be ordered nor were the white "cargo doors" on the current Space Port space
shuttles. Only transparent green was available. On the other hand all the
main colours of macroni's were able to be ordered except black even though
very few colours of that piece appear in current sets.
This year TLG moved to seven digit numbering for piece codes in response to
the greater number of parts now available. Previously there had been a six
digit code for each piece. The first four digits were the unique part
identifier and the last two were the colour identifer. This year that's
changed to a 5 digit number for the piece identifier.
Names of colours often caused a few headaches. For instance the tan
coloured pieces that feature in the adventurers sets are known as Brick
Yellow, while the brown pieces featured in many of the western sets are
known as Earth Ora.
Terminology for certain pieces was also "interesting" to say the least. The
LEGO cone tree is known as "Spruce H64", while the piece often used as a
rubbish bin top is known as "Parabola o16". The official name of macroni's
is "curved brick 2 knobs" aka "quarter circle brick".
Many of the orders came in very large and heavy boxes. As I purchased more
LEGO pieces the space to store them became increasingly rare.
-------SO WHERE TO NOW?---------
I've basically got the pieces I need to complete my town project. The only
problem will be finding the time to assemble it. The largest part will be
assembling the harbour which is where the blue and grey tiles, plates,
fences, lampposts etc come in. With 1000 Spruce H64's now added to my
collection I've got enough trees to develop the suburban area of the city to
my liking.
Having been able to order lamp posts, window's flowers, fishing rods, fences
and so on it will mean I'll be able to add details to the city that would
not have been possible on a scale such as the one I'm planning
Finally thanks to the spm and the people who worked at LEGO NZ. Without
their help none of what I'm planning to achieve would have been possible. I
was fortunate enough to take a "tour" of LEGO NZ back in Feburary when I was
in Auckland and meet some of the people who worked there. I wish them all
the best in their future endeavours
Sanjay
--
LEGO Stadium @ Http://Homepages.ihug.co.nz/~jsds
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Message has 7 Replies:
 | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| (...) <snip> Simply amazing. And I was going to ask to be your best friend too... Honestly I was, I just hadn't gotten round to it ;-) -Tom McD. when replying, order "spamaroni with 2 knobs" in quantities of 288. (25 years ago, 4-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| Well, bully for you, I guess. But think of the message instead if you had surrepetitiously contacted everyone that wanted a lot of parts, and then presented TLG with a 250,000 dollar order and a quarter million in cash. I know I have a spreadsheet (...) (25 years ago, 5-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| (...) Ouch. Had to rub it in, uh? I'm sitting here thinking that I wish I didn't know about your good luck, because it makes me all the more frustrated with those hinnies from Denmark. What on earth motivates this company, because it sure ain't (...) (25 years ago, 5-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| Sanjay, Thanks for the info. New Zealand is not the only country that had a (soon to be discontinued?) bulk order policy, but (and this is rare for me) I kept silent. As someone who has NEVER had a bulk order completed (everything in my collection (...) (25 years ago, 5-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| (...) I hope everybody remembers this the next time you need help bagging a set. I can't say I'm annoyed (like many of the others around here) at your' "good fortune" but being cocky about it is infuriating. (25 years ago, 6-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| Sanjay D'Souza <sds87@hotmail.com> wrote in article <FFys1K.Hnz@lugnet.com>... (...) Hai everybody, I have read this thread with interest. Can anyone that has had contact with Lego when he or she was bulk ordering pieces mail me the names of these (...) (25 years ago, 7-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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