Subject:
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Re: AFOLs as cheapskates
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.shopping
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Date:
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Mon, 15 Jan 2001 15:35:23 GMT
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Viewed:
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883 times
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"Jeff Johnston" <sakura@mediaone.net> wrote in message
news:3A62FB37.367D182F@mediaone.net...
> James Brown wrote:
>
> > In lugnet.market.shopping, David Eaton writes:
> > > But I do buy stuff for regular price... Am I one of the only ones?
> > If I see something that I like, I'll typically buy one off the shelf, at
> > whatever the price happens to be. About half the time that's 15% off, • but
> > that's because I do more shopping when Zeller's does their monthly sale, • not
> > because I particularly care.
> >
> > If I see a set that looks interesting, but is expensive, I'll wait for a • sale,
> > but I can't rely on seeing any given set at more than 20% off, ever. • Locally
> > (and in most of Canada, as far as I can tell) we don't get the huge
> > 126% off clearance sales that seem to sweep the US on a weekly basis. ;)
> >
> > If I'm buying repeat copies of something to break up for parts, then • I'll shop
> > around until there's a bargain.
>
> That about sums up my shopping strategy too. For example, I've wound up • with the
> smaller Life on Mars alien stuff on more or less impulse, but I'm waiting • for a
> sale before I go for the big tan four-legged one. I'm also waiting for a • sale to
> snag more of the bouncy hoppy one. (Mmmm, wide variety of click hinges). • I also
> picked up some of the new SW classic sets at full price - TIE Fighter, • Droid
> Escape, and Imperial Shuttle. I'll be buying more of the latter two for • parts
> when the sales hit...
>
> J
My shopping strategy is all over the map. I buy on clearance when I can
find it. Frank Filz has mentioned that the clearance deals here in the
Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill (NC) area are pretty limited but this year has
been a little better than last. I am pretty happy with 50% off as LEGO
rarely makes it to the next clearance level around here. My local Target
was virtually void of LEGO a week before Christmas but they must have gotten
some new stock in for the last Christmas buying rush because there was stuff
left after Christmas. Since I travel a fair amount for work, my ability to
find clearance outside my local area is probably better than most peoples.
I have actually found my best clearance deals in other cities.
I'll buy older or promotional sets at full price when I find them. I'll buy
new sets at full price if they interest me for some particular reason
(either as a set or for parts). This is particularly true for smaller sets
like the Movie Maker dinosaur head and Inidiana Jones (not sure of the name
but the set has two of the 1x8 plate with the rail) set and the Droid Escape
set. Larger sets I tend to wait until I find them on sale. I waited to buy
a UCS X-Wing until Wal-Mart.com had them for 50% off. The most I have paid
for a 4561 train set is $77. Since my interests are pretty much limited to
Town and Train I am finding that the majority of my LEGO money is going to
secondary market parts sales.
Which leads me to my next point, if LEGO had a slew of sets the size of the
small Shell Promo sets, I'd buy them all the time. I wouldn't think twice
about tossing a couple in the cart every time I go to Wal-Mart or Target (or
to the grocery store or gas station for that matter). Impulse buys are
perfect market for LEGO (IMHO). Everytime I bought gas these last couple of
months I bought two or three of the small Shell sets. I don't even know how
many I have but I'd bet close to 50 or 60 of the small ones. At $1.50 a pop
they are in the same price range as a soda and a candy bar and whole lot
more healthy! I doubt I would have gone out shopping for a $75 LEGO set at
MSRP.
This actually brings up one point I was thinking about recently. It seems
that LEGO (although LoM seems to deviate from this a bit with more choices
in the lower part of the range) has used the following for each theme.
Set A: $1.99
Set B: $3.99
Set C: $7.99
Set D: $9.99
Set E: $14.99
Set F: $19.99
Set G: $29.99
Set H: $49.99
Set I: $79.99
Usually there is only one set in each price range. Seems to me that LEGO
should have five or six sets, maybe less but more than one, at each price
point in the sub $20 price range. This is the range where younger kids can
spend their own money. It is hard to build an identity with a theme if
there is only one or two sets in your price range. I see this with my own
son. He is six now and earns money from time to time for doing things
around the house. Every once in a while we will go to Target or Wal-Mart so
he can buy something. Usually he wants to buy LEGO but when he realizes it
will use all or most of his money he will sometimes settle for a Hot Wheel
or two ($0.69 at our Target these days).
The HTO sets like the 5911-5914 Adventurers sets are a great example for
LEGO to continue. We were in Orlando in early December and my son used his
money to buy three of the four (cost $10)[1]. Over the course of the next
few days of our vacation he played with these three sets making all sorts of
different things out of them.
Mike
[1] One sad note about our visit to the Orlando LIC: The night we were
there it was extremely busy both in the store and in the play area. While
building a Christmas ornament, someone took my son's purchase. We realized
it when we got to the car and my wife went back to the store with him. The
woman working the counter was particularly unsympathetic stating we were
responsible for watching our own packages (which I agree we were) and it
highly unlikely that someone "took" them. My wife then asked to speak with
the manager who replaced the sets on the spot at no cost to us. My wife was
able to glean from him that theft is a problem (how big we aren't sure but
it clearly wasn't the first time it has happened) in the play area so be on
the lookout!
--
Mike Walsh - mike_walsh at mindspring dot com
http://www.nclug.net - North Carolina LEGO Users Group
http://www.nclug.net/ctb - Carolina Train Builders
http://www.brickbay.com/store.asp?u=mpw - Brick Depot
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: AFOLs as cheapskates
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| Yes, the promo sets like shell you have to get at full price, but the shell sets are soooo cheap. Lego does offer the small sets like the shell does - but they charge $3.99 for them. I love the fact that the small shell sets were like $1.60 - I WISH (...) (23 years ago, 15-Jan-01, to lugnet.market.shopping)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: AFOLs as cheapskates
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| (...) That about sums up my shopping strategy too. For example, I've wound up with the smaller Life on Mars alien stuff on more or less impulse, but I'm waiting for a sale before I go for the big tan four-legged one. I'm also waiting for a sale to (...) (23 years ago, 15-Jan-01, to lugnet.market.shopping)
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