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Roy Wood wrote:
>
> In article <G2L63B.3xz@lugnet.com> of group lugnet.castle, "Timothy D.
> Freshly" writes:
>
> > Yikes! I had not realized that the Pod bucket was only 291 pieces (I • have
> > no interest in Pod racers so I have never looked closely at that • bucket).
> > Of course, the more specialty pieces (arches, castle walls, minifigs) • in a
> > bucket, the higher the cost per piece will be. Even so, the concept • of a
> > castle bucket remains intriguing.
>
> I'm not convinced that the cost need be higher just because of specialty
> pieces. I think the cost of producing a specialty piece in large
> quantities is probably about the same as a simple 2x4 brick in large
> quantities. Producing limited amounts of specialty pieces, however,
> would mean the overhead (setup time/labour for molding machines,
> handling of stock, etc.) would be spread out over fewer pieces, which
> would drive up the cost per piece.
Economy of scale certainly is something which affects the price of
specialty pieces, but I bet they do cost somewhat more to make (the
extra cost of plastic should be relatively small, but the mold makes
fewer parts, and probably costs more to make, the molds for basic bricks
may even be able to be semi-mass produced).
Printing also adds cost to a part.
> Also-- I wonder if Lego had to pay a per-unit royalty fee to George
> Lucas for every Star Wars item produced. If so, then a castle bucket
> might reasonably be priced lower than a comparable Pod Racer bucket.
Probably some, but it can't be too much or the Star Wars sets would have
been a bit more expensive (remember, part of what makes them a good deal
is that they maintain the 10 cents a piece pricepoint, or something
close to it as opposed to the 20 cents a piece for a town junior set).
> And I suspect that Lego has a great deal of latitude in the final
> pricing of sets. I'm sure the actual cost of the raw parts is a very
> small part of the final total price, which includes sorting of raw
> parts, inner packaging, instruction booklets, outer packaging, shipping,
> etc., etc. Yet another reason that being able to buy a box of 5,000 1xN
> light grey bricks from Lego would be good for everyone involved. :-)
There definitely are a lot of costs. Also, profit margin has an effect.
I suspect that the basic brick tubs and buckets (which cost out at under
2 cents a brick) have a very slim profit margin. The Freestyle type tubs
and buckets (which tend to cost 2-3 cents a brick) probably have a
slightly higher margin. I'm guessing that they're forced into the lower
margins by Mega Bloks.
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Theme Buckets (was Re: Bulk Direct)
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| There's been a lot of speculating about margins. Why not put some numbers on it? To get things started, how much is a ton of bricks? You may assume the standard assortment found in a blue tub or other basic bucket. Further assume that the wholesale (...) (24 years ago, 20-Oct-00, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.market.theory)
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