Subject:
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Re: Bad Policy #2 (Why all the secrecy, LEGO Direct?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego.direct
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Date:
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Mon, 7 May 2001 15:20:29 GMT
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Viewed:
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1534 times
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In lugnet.lego.direct, Tony Priestman writes:
> Marc,
>
> I'm getting bored now.
You're bored? I have to listen to the endless drumbeat of "like it or lump
it", "you should feel lucky LEGO sells us anything" talk.
> On Mon, 7 May 2001, Marc Nelson Jr. (<GCyJ93.Cuy@lugnet.com>) wrote at
> 08:51:03
>
> > I asked what that reason was (for not shipping outside territories) and got
> > the answer at the top from Tomas Clark, basically, "that's not the way we do
> > things", which is no answer at all as far as I'm concerned. I got a more
> > detailed answer from Jake McKee with basically the same point.
>
> TLC doesn't have to tell you anything. Your question is like me asking
> you how you clean your teeth. It's just a thing you do. As a corporate
> entity, TLC does things the way it does because that's the way it does
> it. They probably can't give all the reasons. But to change the way
> things are done costs money, so it only happens if there's a compelling
> reason. Using Larry's number, 1% of your market isn't compelling.
> >
> > Maybe the answer to the duplication problem is to just have one big S@H
> > distribution center in Denmark that ships everywhere -- with 800 numbers in
> > all the countries to take calls and orders, but everything gets sent to you
> > from one place. As Jake said, they have the capacity to ship anywhere, but
> > for whatever reasons, they have everything duplicated several times.
>
> As has also been pointed out in this thread, timeliness is one of the
> critical factors in the fulfilment of orders. Can you imagine how much
> it would cost to ship your little order from halfway round the world, so
> that you get it at the same time as someone who lives just round the
> corner? A little extreme, perhaps, but consistency of service is very
> important to these people.
>
> And then there's the issue of customs. Packages shipped out of the EU
> from Denmark would have to go through customs at the receiving end,
> which would add time and possibly cost to the transaction. This seems to
> me to be the most compelling reason that there's a NA S@H and a EU S@H.
> >
> > It's not like S@H delivers your package themselves. I just can't see how
> > putting the address on an order and charging more for shipping is that much
> > of a realignment of corporate practice. It doesn't make any more work for me
> > to send something to Ohio than Nebraska. I would think it would save them a
> > step to send something directly to me and make me pay for shipping than
> > sending it to Connecticut and paying employees to receive it, store it and
> > ship it to me from there. But what do I know?
>
> See above re. costs & timings.
>
> And I don't think that most people (that 99% again) would be happy with
> the potentially massive shipping charges for their $10 order.
>
> You might think that saving a step costs less, but it almost certainly
> doesn't. E.g. compare the admin costs of getting one large container
> full of LEGO through customs, with the cost of getting each set through
> individually.
>
> And remember that this will get passed on to the customer.
> >
> > What makes me grumpy is the overly apologist (IMO) attitude that seems to be
> > so common around here, which leads to any suggestion that LEGO might
> > actually be doing something wrong being slapped down (especially if it comes
> > from a know-nothing, non-summit attending young whippersnapper like myself).
>
> No-one is apologising. TLC isn't doing anything wrong. It's just not
> doing what you want it to.
A company not satisfying its customers is doing something wrong.
> And hey, give us in the UK a break. In the past, the US has had all
> sorts of stuff that we haven't, like the Forestmen's river crossing and
> the original Space Shuttle set (1682), not to mention all those value
> packs.
This is a great case in point. Were you happy about not being able to get
those sets? I bet there were people in Europe would have liked to get their
hands on the Space Shuttle, even if it meant paying more for shipping and
customs. This isn't a Europe vs. U.S. issue. I have no problem with the
costs being passed on to the consumer. People who want something shipped
across the Atlantic should expect to have to pay for it. There Ain't No Such
Thing As A Free Lunch.
Obviously, people wouldn't pay to have something shipped from another area
if they could get it from their own S@H, so this would only happen in the
case of highly desirable items like the Lost Service Packs. And if people
don't wan't to pay those shipping charges, that is fine. But the people who
are willing to pay them to get sets they really want should be able to do that.
Sorry for boring anyone. I guess I didn't realize how unpopular questioning
official LEGO policy would be. I guess this horse can be pronounced dead.
-Marc Nelson Jr.
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Bad Policy #2 (Why all the secrecy, LEGO Direct?)
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| (...) I think that's a bit of an absolutist portrayal, don't you? The point is that people have been trying to explain *why* it is the way it is, not trying to defend it or say it's necessarily the right way of doing something, given infinite time (...) (24 years ago, 7-May-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)
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