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Subject: 
Smart and Dumb
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.market.shopping
Date: 
Sun, 25 Apr 2004 03:12:29 GMT
Viewed: 
712 times
  
Was at one of the Lego stores today - Palisades Mall in NY. Still had some techinc beams but far too many "ordinary" colors and pieces in pick a brick.  Why spoil the concept with stuff that everyone has tons of????    Pick a brick should be for the odd colors, sizes and "unusual" elements - NOT standard color bricks and plates.  I mean how often can the inventory turn over on 2x2 blue bricks?   But then that may result from the following.....

I was surprised at BOXES of Legos stacked behind the register marked "Eggs"   Now the store had a promo  "build it yourself and take it home" (for a price) promotion before Easter when you could build an Egg and I think a chick or something.   The staff had one of the "Egg" boxes open and were playing with the parts - rather common blue and yellow with some purple.

It turns out that all of these had JUST arrived - far after the Easter
promotion.  I got the feeling that the contents were destined for the wall bins
- though being rather mundane pieces, I expect they'll sit for a while.  Of
course, they'd have to be sorted (by hand) before they could be put in the bins.
It seems that there's no real plan on what to do with them.  I asked what a box
would cost and was quoted an approximation of the "Pick a bin" $12.95 rate -
rather expensive actually for fairly common pieces.  So, even a decent concept
ends up a mess bercause the product didn't arrive on time.  No wonder they're
losing money.

On the other hand, the mixed parts bags were of distinct interest this trip.
Lots of old light gray plates in bags - packed quite densely (actually stacked -
offset by one row - making them easy to separate).  These were - relatively
speaking - a bargain.  It seems that returns or damaged packaging get pieced out
into parts bags (generally randomly).  So, Lego is actually doing what so many
others are doing with sets.  However it seems that there isn't a real procedure
to all this - it depends on the employee.  Some bags are densely packed and (as
in these cases) with similar elements.  Others are pure random grab bags,
loosely packed at horrid per piece prices.

So,it seems that good ideas fall down when logistics fail and others suffer from
a lack of consistency in implementation.

Just a few observations on business practice.

BTW - quality on the Knights bus is off.  Distinct shades of purple are evident
between different size pieces.


John H.



Message has 3 Replies:
  Re: Smart and Dumb
 
(...) I visited the Paramus Park store yesterday with a group of fellow WAMALUGers...although we all came home with nice hauls, the general consensus was that PaB was not quite what we expected (as in, a greater selection of a wider variety of (...) (21 years ago, 25-Apr-04, to lugnet.market.shopping)
  Re: Smart and Dumb
 
(...) A lot of it has to do with the image of the wall. Those core 2x4s and 2x2s are the basic LEGO bricks, and to give the wall a core look, the stores always have those on hand. It’s the rare pieces that tend to be rotated out on a bi-monthly (...) (21 years ago, 26-Apr-04, to lugnet.market.shopping)
  Re: Smart and Dumb
 
(...) Well for one thing, I don't think the concept of PaB is specifically meant to cater to the unusual parts needs of AFOLs. Not everyone has tons and tons of common plates and bricks - and these are the core elements for children to play and (...) (21 years ago, 29-Apr-04, to lugnet.market.shopping)

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