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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Fri, 6 Aug 1999 17:55:05 GMT
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Viewed:
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1932 times
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Folks, Please!
Rather than have a pissing match, and engaging in "ad hominem" attacks, let's
reflect on this situation.
I reread Sanjay's original message, and yeah, you could read it several ways.
Larry, however has spent a considerable sum of money the last few years on Lego,
and is understandably very sensitive to this whole situation. If I were him, I
would be justifyably angered too. But that anger should be focused at TLG, for
their inept policy with AFOLs and a lack of bulk sales policy.
If what I'm hearing in this thread about TLG ignoring the Lego Train Clubs is
correct, then we need to take on more drastic measures. If the old saying "the
squeaky wheel gets the grease" is true, then we need to do some public
sqeaking!!
One idea I had was the Wall Street Journal. (The person I knew who worked for
them, left the company.) For those of you familiar with this newspaper, they do
a lot of front page feature stories about underdogs (like us) who battle against
large corporations, governments, institutions, and even local neighbors. What I
would like to see is an article about the frustrations of a private companys
largest customers. Yes we are a very small minority, but we're the largest
(volume) residential consumers - (I like LCIH - Lego Consumer Intensive
Household). The company has a history of ignoring it's largest consumers. We
could tell about the Bulk Orders fiasco (discussing the Australia/New Zealand
case). Labor intensive counting of individual pieces for bulk orders certainly
seems like a 19th century excuse for not fixing a 21st century problem. The
company simply ignores us. Well I learned many years ago that TLG doesn't like
bad publicity. If that is the only way to get them to simply acknowledge us,
than that's what we'll have to do.
But before contacting the Wall Street Journal, I am sending a letter to Peter
Eio, President of Lego USA in Enfield Connecticut. I sent him a letter in 1987,
and he sent a very gracious reply. So he is approachable. Here is a (1st
draft) copy of a letter I am sending to Mr. Eio (and maybe KKK). As always,
any comments are welcome:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Eio,
It has been 12 years since I have written you. Since that time my love for Lego
has not diminished, nor has my desire for acquiring additional sets and parts.
The major difference now is that I now find I am no longer alone in my
collecting zeal. Thanks to the internet (not in existence 12 years ago), I now
am in contact with hundreds and thousands of others who love Lego as much as I
do.
Unfortunately, not much has changed (besides your product line) in the last 12
years. Your company still doesn't seem to want to bother with large private
collectors. The bulk sales policy, discontinued in the US back in 1987, is
still discontinued. That is very unfortunate. There are many, many collectors
who would like to be able to build larger and larger structures, but due to the
limitations of your sets and buckets, are unable to do so.
Have you ever looked into Lego Collectors Websites? If not, there are some
stunning websites out there. There are many creative people throughout the
world who would be well qualified to work in you Lego Model Shops. If you
haven't seen any, here is a super list of Lego websites to browse:
(include the Lugnet (Michael Dorneich) list of Lego websites)
There are also many Lego Train clubs that have come into existence (thanks to
the internet) located in Seattle (Pacific Northwest Lego Train Club), San
Francisco (Bay Area Lego Train Club) and Minneapolis/St. Paul (Greater Midwest
Lego Train Club). These clubs set up their layouts at public (as well as
private) gatherings. It is interesting to note that this is free publicity for
your company.
Unfortunately, these train clubs, as well as the individual collectors, are
ignored by your company.
Here we are, all Lego Ambassadors, providing free publicity in many instances,
being shown on TV, newspapers, magazines and even books.
And yet your company chooses to ignore us. All of consumer affairs is geared to
children. There is no company policy (as far as any of us online Lego
collectors can tell) geared to us Adult Fans Of Lego (AFOLs as we call
ourselves). We are simply ignored. Yes, whenever we contact a representative
of your company, they are always friendly to us, But that is the extent of it.
Your company should be providing free promotional banners and signage for the
train clubs to promote your company. I have assembled a collection of nearly
1/2 million Lego parts. I have done Lego displays in toy store windows, at
public fairs, historic mansions, and even in the Danish consulate in Detroit.
Yet I don't have any Lego banners or signs to show. There is so much that we
AFOLs can do to promote your product (without compensation). And yet, you
choose to ignore us.
Probably the saddest part of this is the bulk order policy. When the collection
size of AFOLs reaches a certain point, some additional pieces always seem to be
needed. Your service packs address a part of that problem. But service pack
selection today is but a fraction of what it was in the 1960's. I counted 138
different service packs available in the 1963 catalog. That is a vastly more
than what is available today.
I still have the letter from your Consumer Affairs Service Manager stating the
labor intensive process of bulk orders. This whole process was doomed to
failure by utilizing manual counting of parts. It would appear that if the
Model Shops were to use this method, there wouldn't be a lot of Lego models
produced.
Recently it was learned that Australia and New Zealand still had bulk orders
available up until this year. This fact, spread across the internet, has made
for some very, very angry large collectors in the USA and elsewhere. There are
many collectors that spend thousands, sometimes even tens of thousands of
dollars on Lego each year. To know that the bulk order policy was a "locally"
determined process that Lego USA chose not to continue, makes them even angrier.
Perhaps a Bulk Order policy on the scale of Shop-At-Home is not an exceptable
alternative. Maybe something on a highly limited scale would be acceptable.
Say allowing the Lego Community (i.e. the LEGO online newsgroup community) to
purchase 100,000 pieces of one specific item a few times a year. That way it
would streamline the paperwork required by your company, and we (Lego community)
could prepay and distribute the parts. And no one is asking for any handouts
here. We want to pay for our Lego. Just give us the opportunity.
But to do absolutely nothing, which seems to be the pattern that we Lego
collectors have seen from the Lego Group in the past, makes for a pretty sad
situation.
I hope there is something that your company can do to improve the very poor
morale of your best Lego customers.
Thank you for your time,
Gary Istok
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Message has 11 Replies:
 | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| In lugnet.general, Gary R. Istok writes: [...] Snip Gary's pissing match and wonderful letter Gary, Excellent letter. Do you think it would be more effective if it is a letter put out by the group with many names on the list? Or do you want to (...) (25 years ago, 6-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| In lugnet.general, Gary R. Istok writes: <clip Gary's comments and letter to TLG CEO USA > One typo noticed... paragraph #4 "well qualified to work in you Lego Model Shops" Your not you. Ben Gatrelle (25 years ago, 6-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| (...) Gary, Very good letter! As a suggestion: you might want to change the above to read "We want to pay for our Lego pieces." TLG does not like "Lego" used as a noun, so that they can keep their copyrights intact. Naji (25 years ago, 6-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| Gary, I think this letter is excellent. I have a few suggestions for minor chenges you might consider: Gary Istok wrote: <snip> (...) The internet was in existence 12 years ago, although not the www. How about saying something like, "Thanks to the (...) (25 years ago, 6-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| (...) <snip of reconciliatory pleas & the letter> Gary- That is a terrific letter. I think the idea of having us all sign, including the sizes of our collections is a great idea. We could inundate the poor fellow with mail, but ultimately I think (...) (25 years ago, 6-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Letter to TLG-USA: wording suggestions
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| Excellent letter, Gary. Perhaps the list of websites could be enclosed as an appendix? (...) Your service packs address a part of that problem. But service pack (...) As an editor, I'd like to make 2 suggestions to that paragraph: Change "But" to (...) (25 years ago, 6-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| Hai everybody, You can count me in on that letter: Jeroen Ottens, senior designer segment 7-16+ (makes a better impression than my set-count (<200) ;) And being european. Why don't we send this letter to Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen? Or even better, since (...) (25 years ago, 7-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| On Fri, 6 Aug 1999 17:55:05 GMT, Gary Istok <gistok@umich.edu> wrote: [Snipped letter] That's a terrific letter, Gary! (...) The Everything LEGO weblist is awesome, but I feel that the CLSOTW site would be a better choice. It's easier to comprehend, (...) (25 years ago, 10-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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| Tony Kilaras <kilaras@speedus.com> wrote in message news:FG0zpw.FJn@lugnet.com... (...) Cocky?. Well if that's the case maybe we should get together for lunch sometime because we seem to have a lot in common. Sanjay (25 years ago, 6-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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