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Subject: 
Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Mon, 9 Aug 1999 18:46:05 GMT
Viewed: 
4010 times
  
Thanks for the info John, very informative.

If we got group orders in bulks of 50,000 or 100,000, would that be enough to
justify a special run of specialty pieces (such as 1x2x2 windows, 2x2 cylinder
bricks, 2x2 tiles)?

Gary Istok

john kelly wrote:

> (Sorry for the length of this thing....)
> 
> Well said.
> 
> When I was in Enfield, I had the misfortune of having to be on the element
> team in a rotation.  (We all had to share some of the element misfortune on a
> rotating basis.)  It was very very tedious.  It would take all afternoon and
> sometimes all day for the element team to be able to place an order.  You need
> to find what the part numbers you need are.  You need to find the color code.
> You need to find if the US had it in inventory.  (Phone call to inventory
> manager, he looks at his book for the type of piece, then at another book to
> see if he has in inventory, then confirms it's on the shelf.)  Call back to
> you.  If not in Enfield, send note to Demark.  Wait for reply.  Call again and
> try to reach someone on phone who speaks english.  Confirm product.  (If they
> have it. if not, too bad.)  Get shipped on boat to US.  (Wait 4-6 weeks for
> delivery)  It was miserable.
> 
> Unless LEGO has gotten better logistics for inventory since I left, they'd be
> crazy to try to bulk order.  They don't have a strong enough system to meet
> the demand.  Should they update the system?  SOunds wonderful.  Will they?
> doubtful.  LEGO tries hard not to have excess inventory in bricks, they very
> rarely had anything other than basic bricks available in the US.  Other parts
> were special ordered, but more often than not they will still be unavailable
> in the quantities needed to build a model.  So we'd scrap that idea and find
> another way to do it.  You might be able to get LEGO to do bulk ordering of
> bricks through a centralized source, but I would doubt you'd be able to get
> anyhting other than 1x and 2x bricks and plates.  There just isn't an
> inventory position on any other pieces that would satisfy a world market.  And
> you would need to order hundreds of K8's to make a molding run worthwhile to
> LEGO.
> 
> (We tried as a model shop and we could not find a use for enough bricks to
> make the run worthwhile to us and we bought at production cost.  The only run
> we ever made was for 50 K8's of black Duplo 2x4 blocks because they were
> running them at the time.)
> 
> Now with most model shops being eliminated or cut back, there is even less
> demand for any pieces outside of what they need to produce the sets.  (Enfield
> model shop from around 35 to 9 last month as part of the fitness program.)
> 
> As a member of GMLTC, there is nothing more I'd like than to be able to bulk
> order grey 2x10s.  Nothing is more fustrating than being able to build with as
> many grey 2x12s and green 2x4s as I wanted and then be reduced to red 2x4s for
> landscape.  I hope that someday they firgure out a way to do it.  But my guess
> is that they have evaluated this with better information than anyone here has
> and found it to be not worth the inventory risk.
> 
> -john 3
> 
> In lugnet.general, John Neal writes:
> > 
> > 
> > Tim Courtney wrote:
> > 
> > > <snip flame>
> > > 
> > > There's ABSOLUTELY NO POINT in carrying this any further.
> > 
> > The facts as I see them:
> > 
> > 1.  Sanjay had some good fortune
> > 2.  Many envied Sanjay, although were happy for him
> > 3.  Some perceived a little gloating
> > 4.  Sanjay is a good guy
> > 5.  Larry is a good guy
> > 6.  Most (all?) would love the opportunity to order bulk
> > 7.  TLG is clueless
> > 
> > Tim is right; we are getting out of hand.  Hurtful things are starting to get • said
> > and that's not how to play well:-)
> > 
> > -John



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
 
Gary, You know, I was discussing this with my roommates and I said, I bet Gary Istok and maybe Larry P. would order about 50,000 of the 2x2 white cylinder pieces. Looks like I wasn't too far off. (...) (27 years ago, 9-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
 
(Sorry for the length of this thing....) Well said. When I was in Enfield, I had the misfortune of having to be on the element team in a rotation. (We all had to share some of the element misfortune on a rotating basis.) It was very very tedious. It (...) (27 years ago, 7-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)

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