Subject:
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Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 5 Aug 1999 15:22:49 GMT
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Viewed:
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1846 times
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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
comes from sets and parts packs), I know that a lot of the AFOL's in the USA are
envious as well as angry. Here in the USA, it really sucks. That may explain
why it has been 12 years since I have had any contacted with TLG/USA.
Hmmm, 12 years is long enough (for a self imposed exile). It's time to "man the
barracades" and write some letters to Enfield and Billund. Maybe some media
attention first. (My first contact from TLG was because they saw me complaining
in a newspaper about LEGO policy back in 1985). How does this sound "LEGO Group
Ignores Its Largest Customers".
Hey Sanjay, thanks for getting me all fired up!!
Gary Istok
Sanjay D'Souza wrote:
> 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 4 Replies:
 | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| (...) Duuude! You are a columnist! Cool.... that's just what we need to get their attention. Go for it! And don't forget to post the article here :) -Tim <>< (URL) timcourtne ICQ: 23951114 Rubber chickens are the best applied use of polystyrene to (...) (25 years ago, 5-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| (...) the (...) complaining (...) Group (...) Remember all visual media wants *pictures* of *awesome* creations which is something that Gary and the GMLTC can give them (per region capita, it seems that the midwest has the most bricks). Maybe Gary, (...) (25 years ago, 5-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| SIC'EM, Gary, SIC'EM! If you have addresses of people to write to, I would humbly suggest you have them find their way in here, so that TLG gets BURIED in requests. While you are big in RTL/Lugnet, you are still small to TLG, so multiple people (...) (25 years ago, 6-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
|
| 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 (...) (25 years ago, 4-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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