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In lugnet.lego.direct, Richard Morton wrote:
> People flame Jake and threaten not to buy any more Lego
Problem is, Jake the fan is a representative of the company. I haven't read
anyone attacking his personal motives. But as the designated representative of
the company for the community, a lot of stuff we'd like to say to the company
gets said to him.
From the company's point of view, what he says about us is market research.
Market research is part of management decisions, but it's not the whole deal.
You've got history, a long-term plan, daily quality and production issues,
suppliers to deal with, and a design team you hope will create sets that don't
cost too much to make, but will fire the imaginations of your core customers:
children, massive quantities of them all over the world, and the reason why
AFOLs are only a small percentage of sales.
I'd like to second a lot of what Larry's said: this is the wrong time to give
up. By targeted purchasing (eg, the old-color bulk packs) and considered
feedback in whatever forums they offer (eg, LEGO Club Forum), we can at least
let them know in a positive way what we want. On the negative side, I've read a
bunch of posts about people reducing by thousands of dollars per year how much
they spend on LEGO. This certainly sends a message, right to their bottom line,
but the drawback with not buying at all (as opposed to shifting buying patterns)
is that you lose all influence with the company after you've made this one
statement.
I suspect that there are costs within the company of staying with the old colors
that outweigh the income from AFOLs who will actually give up the hobby. This
management, not community liaison, decision won't go away unless there is a
massive general (eg, parents and children) boycott of new product.
Unfortunately, if this happens, there's a much more significant danger of LEGO
changing its business model or organization in a way that affects the bricks in
a far more fundamental way than the shades of three colors.
For my part, I'm going to give it a try, and build some new light grey into an
old light grey structure. I think it'd probably look ok in my castles. New
dark grey, I don't know about, and it'd be a real shame if the new brown is too
unlike wood to continue to use (eg, for a palisade wall, or wooden furniture).
I'm also stocking up on the old greys and brown to hedge my bets. :)
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: 6 new bulk packs at S@H
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| "Terry Prosper" <t@rotule.qc.ca> wrote in message news:Hus8Bq.1v6E@lugnet.com... (...) solution (...) this (...) that LEGO (...) shut us (...) bulk (...) then, (...) decided (...) and (...) find (...) my (...) Um, okay - let me see if I've got this (...) (20 years ago, 18-Mar-04, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.market.shopping)
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