Subject:
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Re: USA vs. UK pay differences
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 27 Mar 2007 22:19:01 GMT
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Viewed:
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3005 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Eaton wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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In other words, the average American is poorer than the average Briton, and
therefore less able to pay the same prices for the same product.
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If you’re suggesting that Lego pricing is due to income levels of citizens, I
don’t think that’s the case. Some of the issues (as I’ve been told from
people in Lego and outside of Lego) are:
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My point isn’t that LEGO is saying “Americans make less money, therefore we will
charge less” but rather than the uneven income
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1) People in Europe are willing to pay more for toys (and goods in general),
whereas Americans are cheap-o’s. Americans are perfectly happy to get crappy
3rd rate merchandise from places like Wal*Mart BECAUSE they’re cheap.
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Americans, because they make less, do not buy equally priced (to European sets)
LEGO because it is prohibitively expensive for many people, especially compared
to super-cheap knock-offs.
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2) Americans are unwilling to pay much in the way of markup. They drastically
undervalue the service of middlemen. Americans have very little concept for
“reasonable” profit. If a car costs $8000 to manufacture, they often assume
that they “ought” to pay $8000 for it, or maybe even $9000.
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Yes, hating middlemen is part and parcel of the American identity.
Industrialists and Farmers are good. Merchants are bad.
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3) The US is considered a “growing” market. So Lego wants to maintain a
presence there because they know it’s a *potentially* valuable market base,
even though they don’t make a lot of profit there (relatively speaking).
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A huge amount of relatively poor people makes for a lucrative market. (If you
can sell for a profit at the reduced price.)
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4) Lego in the US is up against a large share of competitors, unlike in
Europe, where it’s typically more dominated by Lego. And, Lego’s US
competitors are made more cheaply than Lego, and are sold at lower costs.
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Yay free trade!
To reiterate my point - the relative poverty of Americans is an underlying
factor in LEGO’s decision to offer different prices for the same set in
different regions. Another point might be that Europeans shouldn’t complain
because, in the bigger picture, they get a better deal than Americans (more
stable, stronger economy, healthcare, etc)
;)
-Lenny
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: USA vs. UK pay differences
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| (...) If you're suggesting that Lego pricing is due to income levels of citizens, I don't think that's the case. Some of the issues (as I've been told from people in Lego and outside of Lego) are: 1) People in Europe are willing to pay more for toys (...) (17 years ago, 27-Mar-07, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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