Subject:
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Re: Bulk Pricing (Interesting comparison?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego.direct
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Date:
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Wed, 14 Feb 2001 17:38:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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894 times
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> > I don't really think that you are a bulk-type customer, just an AFOL
> > who wants to get cheap bricks, and you thought the bulk service
> > was going to provide that for you.
>
> Now why would I want bricks cheaply? Could it be to build in a larger
> scale? Yeah, that would be the case...
>
> > The bulk service is not about cheap bricks; it's about enabling
> > creativity by making key elements widely available.
Time for me to hop on the soapbox too. :)
When I first heard they were going to make "bulk" packs available,
my hope was that they'd do something like "1000 assorted white"
for $30, and so on. The term "bulk" usually implies "large quantities
at a reduced unit cost", and I was thinking in comparison to the
Blue Tubs (3033) that are available. 1000 pieces for $30 would
still be a higher unit cost than the blue tubs, but would enable you
to conveniently buy only the colors you need, and in large batches.
I almost laughed when I saw the "bulk" page in the catalog. Let's
look at the breakdown of these sets:
Blue Tub (#3033) 1200 bricks, 4308 studs: $0.0166667/brick,
$0.0046425/stud
3033 minus 1x1s: 1008 bricks, 4116 studs: $0.01984/brick, $0.004859/stud
100 2x2 (3453): $0.07/brick, $0.0175/stud
50 2x4 (3458): $0.14/brick, $0.0175/stud
25 2x8 (3463): $0.36/brick, $0.0225/stud
100 1x2 (3725): $0.06/brick, $0.03/stud
50 1x4 (3468): $0.12/brick, $0.03/stud
50 1x6 (3473): $0.14/brick, $0.023333/stud
25 1x8 (3478): $0.24/brick, $0.03/stud
My proposed fictitious bulk pricing scheme:
1000 bricks, same proportion of sizes as 3033, $30: $0.03/brick,
$0.0083565/stud
or even:
500 bricks, same proportion of sizes as 3033, $20: $0.04/brick,
$0.011142/stud
As you can see, the blue tubs are a -vastly- better deal than the
"bulk" packages, no matter which metric you use. Even if you
say that the 1x1 bricks are of no use, and thus ignore them in
the equation, the numbers don't change all that much. The blue
tubs are still less than half a penny per stud, whereas the bulk
sets are typically 2 or 3 cents per stud. It's certainly not "bulk
pricing" when you consider that it's roughly comparable to the
price-per-piece in purchasing full sets.
Now like I said, I don't expect TLC to offer the bulk packs as
cheaply as the blue tubs, since they probably don't make much
of a profit off them... but the current pricing scheme for the
bulk packs seems silly to me, especially when offering the
standard colors. Personally I'll order "bulk" for the rare colors,
but still rely on blue tubs for the standard colors. But as I said,
they can obviously do better, and people (such as myself) would
be much more inclined to use the bulk ordering if it were much
more appealing. Personally I'd spring for lots of blue, white,
black, and grey, if I could get it by the thousand at a low unit
price.
--
-Bones- "Being Optimized for Nocturnal Exploration and Sabotage"
= http://www.necrobones.com/ = NecroBones Enterprises
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Bulk Pricing (Interesting comparison?)
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| (...) I don't think it's "obvious" they can do better. I think the buckets and tubs (pretty much only available in the US and Canada I think) are almost a loss leader. I don't think they actually are a loss leader, but I strongly suspect they are (...) (24 years ago, 14-Feb-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Bulk Pricing (Interesting comparison?)
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| (...) No, actually it's about the elements for me too. I never even wanted any space stuff until I conceived of Castle Blacktron some months back. So, it's absolutely about the bricks, but price remains important too. The only reason I care about (...) (24 years ago, 14-Feb-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)
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