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Um..... Ben, yes the USA is the center of the known Universe. :-)
If you want any bulk orders before it is available in Australia, I am sure that
there are many AFOLs in North American and (Germanic) Europe that would be happy to
order for you until then.
After reading your post, I'm sure that there are a lot of people who would be dying
to flame you, but maybe they are happy that you reminded them (with your Australian
inferiority complex) that they live here and not there.
I personally don't understand why you just can't order (over the internet) bulk
LEGO over the internet, even if it means shipping from a foreign land. Perhaps
import duties/postage are such that it would be cost prohibitive.
I do agree that late 2001 is a long time to wait.
Gary Istok
Benjamin Whytcross wrote:
> In lugnet.lego.direct, Brad Justus writes:
> > Well, it's the end of the week. And I did promise. So here's welcome (I hope!)
> > news:
>
> Hooray. Good news from LD.
>
> > On September 11, we will relaunch LEGO.com. As part of this relaunch, we will
> > extend the LEGO Shop At Home service to the Internet. Though we may limit the
> > assortment available online for a few weeks (as we grow comfortable with our
> > new fulfillment processes), by October you will be able to place any LEGO Shop
> > At Home order online as well as through the "traditional" phone, fax, and
> > snail mail channels.
>
> Sounds good...Don't like the 'limiting the assortment' bit, but getting
> anything done by TLG for us Aussies is a big effort. Anything would be better
> than what we've got.
>
> > Perhaps more significantly, we are taking LEGO Shop At Home international.
> > Also from September 11, you will be able to order online in the UK, Ireland,
> > Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, and Austria.
> > We will be adding service to Switzerland in November. The full LEGO Shop At
> > Home assortment (with a handful of exceptions) will be available to these
> > countries, including bulk elements. (By the way, we'll be expanding the bulk
> > assortment in October.) Toll-free numbers will be available for phone orders,
> > and we are also exploring offering printed catalogs in some of these European
> > markets.
>
> Australia ???
>
> > Currently, we plan to add the remaining EU countries, as well as Australia,
> > New Zealand, and selected Asian markets by the third quarter of 2001 (but we
> > are working hard to do it earlier if we can). I wish we could bring LEGO Shop
> > At Home to everyone right now, but it takes time and an incredible amount of
> > effort to build and manage a global e-commerce service to the standards which
> > our customers (and we) expect.
>
> So this is the 'news that I think everyone is looking forward to.' ???[1] That
> the work required to 'make even a limited offering to you by the end of the
> year'[2] was harder than you thought? Well, how about a compromise...BRING
> BACK the ability Lego Australia had to get individual parts in quantity for
> the people who are unable to use this new S@H service. [Like either what Lego
> Aus had, or what NZ had]
>
> Strangely, I'm not surprised that there's nothing really in this news for
> people more than a country or 2 from where they actually produce LEGO,
> although I would have thought that they'dd realise...If they treat somewhere
> like a second [third, fourth,...]-class area, then of course it's not going to
> have great sales. Strangely enough, I think TLG would be better served by
> closing down LA, and making it a sub-entity of Lego UK...After all, that's how
> NZ gets all the good items that don't make their way to our stores...even
> though LA handle them for NZ :(
>
> > We are quite excited about the new LEGO.com. I think that you will find that
> > LEGO.new (as we're calling it here) is a big leap forward for The LEGO Company
> > online. Though much of the existing content will remain, we will be
> > introducing a new interface and content architecture that will allow us in
> > future to expand our offerings -- not just to the current core audience of
> > kids, but to parents and adult enthusiasts as well. Of course, once we've
> > launched, we welcome your comments and suggestions. An Internet site is always
> > a work-in-progress, and as proud as we are of this new one, we are already
> > thinking of ways to make it better.
>
> So not only don't we get what Brad said they would "try" to do [3], but now we
> won't even be able to order the little amount of service packs shown in the
> Australian Lego catalogue...5 technic 'powerpacks' shown on page 67. Looking
> back, now I realise what the "Not all products listed are available" was
> actually about.
>
> > We hope that you look forward to this new site as much as we do.
>
> I suppose I do...In the 3rd quarter of 2001 :(
> [When typing this I actually mis-typed 20001, and I thought it represented a
> more acurate time-frame, but I thought I'd give TLG the benefit of the doubt,
> AGAIN.]
>
> > Until the launch... Play Well!
> >
> > -- Brad
> >
> > Brad Justus
> > Senior Vice President, LEGO Direct
>
> Yep, I'll "play well"...with what I've currently got, and not much else :(
>
> [1] http://news.lugnet.com/lego/direct/?n=632
> Yep...Australia is looking forward to it...a long way forward.
>
> [2] http://news.lugnet.com/lego/announce/?n=14
> Seems that even a limited offering [5 technic supplementary packs in
> catalogue, and current range] are too much for Australians to expect/hope
> for...And TLG wonders why Australia is a "small market" for their products.
>
> [3] How much effort would it take to allow Australians to purchase from what
> little lego arrives in Australia. Even the ability to know when Lego Australia
> will be selling sets themselves that aren't officially available would be
> appreciated.
>
> Brad, in case you don't know, what I'm referring to here is the way that Lego
> Australia got in an assortment of train sets not shown in our catalogue around
> Christmas last year. They then sold these from their offices in Sydney without
> even advertising this to the people who might have been interested in them,
> and it was only found out by Santosh around March this year. When I was
> talking to the Customer service not long afterwards, I was told that this sort
> of thing happens occasionally, and that they knew about Lugnet. However, for
> some reason they neither try to let people know about this through a mention
> in the catalogues that there may occasionally be offers/one-offs like this
> available or post a message here to say that there is a new shippent arrived.
>
> Also, Lego Australia's sales head seems to have some strange sales
> practices...this year, he first decided that no-one in Australia would want
> any soccer/football set other than the large field, even though all the sets
> are shown in the catalogue. Then, when he hears what people really want, he
> gets these sets in...and they are priced in stores as the best value for money
> sets available. How is he able to sell these for a lower price than they are
> in the US [allowing for currency conversions] when almost all the other sets
> available down here cost a lot more than they do from the US. [And often
> ordering a larger set in the US, and posting it Airmail to Australia is
> CHEAPER than purchasing it in Australia.]
>
> I look forward to hearing more...[Although I don't expect a response...After
> all, what happens outside the US generally ddoesn't worry international
> companies working in the US...They all seem to endd up considering the US as
> the centre of the universe, and ignore the rest. :( ]
>
> Benjamin Whytcross [Preparng to be flamed for standing up for his country,
> insignificant though most consider it.]
>
> bwhytcro@pacificaccess.com.au
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: LEGO.new is coming
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| (...) Hooray. Good news from LD. (...) Sounds good...Don't like the 'limiting the assortment' bit, but getting anything done by TLG for us Aussies is a big effort. Anything would be better than what we've got. (...) Australia ??? (...) So this is (...) (24 years ago, 27-Aug-00, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.loc.au, lugnet.org.au)
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