Subject:
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Re: Larry Tells All... (was Re: Lego To Close Molding, etc.)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 30 Nov 2000 21:16:19 GMT
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Viewed:
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1426 times
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Suzanne D. Rich wrote:
See, there is a god and we have invoked his holy desciple... :-) :-) :-)
:-)
> In lugnet.lego, Frank Filz writes:
> > Larry Pieniazek wrote:
> > > Someone put their finger on it, K8s are going to all of a sudden be a lot
> > > harder for US clubs to cadge. Among other downsides to this, it's small
> > > compared to the loss of jobs. But it may well hurt TLC in the long run as it
> > > impacts club recruitment and club marketing efforts to the mundanes...
> >
> > One thing which contributes to reducing my worry is that the K-8s that I
> > saw were clearly parts from sets. Depending on exactly what will still
> > be done in the US, much of the K-8 material may still be there.
> >
> > At a minimum, K-8s can be made up from the contents of sets which are either
> > retail returns, or damaged in transit. If the sets are still packaged in
> > the US, there will still likely be mismatches of quantities of
> > individual bags and boxes etc, not to mention spoilage from the packing
> > process (woops - ripped that bag, toss it in the nearest K-8). Remember
> > also that a former employee stated that the bricks which fell on the
> > floor of the manufacturing line went into the trash bin [...]
>
> Sorry to butt in, but I'm having this uncomfortable feeling at reading
> speculation over K-8's. (I assume the above is speculation.) It just doesn't fit
> with my experience in TLC's distribution of K8's.
<snip>
> That said, if folks here think there will be fewer K8s just because there's less
> local molding, I'd have to disagree. To me, that's like saying, "Retail LEGO
> sets are going to be hard to find next year." I see the two programs (K8's and
> factory floors) as separate calculations.
I think I was saying about the same as you are. I definitely agree, the
factory floor and K-8s are two different things. The only "spoilage" I
assume might go into K-8s would be situations where a bag of parts has
torn, or perhaps weighs out as wrong, or is otherwise not suitable to go
into a set box, but contains perfectly good clean parts. I see no reason
why those might not be dumped into a box, and at some point have the bag
discarded and the parts just become loose parts. Of course the labor
might be more than the cost of the raw parts. I would guess that most
parts in K-8s come from boxes of parts which have gone through no more
steps in the process from plastic pellets to set than come out of the
molding machine and go into boxes of a single part - there are always
imperfections in how the various parts for the various sets in use are
balanced out, so this is an obvious source for K-8 parts. Of course
there may even be enough volume of K-8s that they actually intentionally
produce and extra gazooble of blue doohickies just to stock K-8s.
I also agree, "trash bin" does not at all imply that someone can go to
the dump and rescue the parts. They will be incinerated or some such.
All companies do this (when IBM discards computers, they take all the
recycleable bits off and recycle them, the rest gets crushed before
leaving the premises). I just feel that in a properly free society,
there would be the possibility that some of these trashed parts could be
rescued by people unwilling to pay the full price for the parts, but
willing to work for their parts (sort through a trash bin to find the 3
useable rare parts). I think this could even be managed in a way that
would not harm TLCs reputation. I hate to see stuff which has some value
being destroyed and not made available to someone who could benefit from
that value just because people don't want to look bad. Is anyone really
bothered that some poor folks take clothing which most of us wouldn't
wear and at least get something to keep them warm in the winter even if
it isn't pretty? Does the street bum wandering around in a pair of
Levi's jeans which look like they came out of a garbage pit reflect
poorly in any way on Levi Strauss? Heck, in that case, I'd be more
woried about the high school kid who purposefully tears their jeans to
look "cool".
> This is only my opinion, but I think TLC would be shooting themselves in the
> foot by cutting back on K8s when they are beginning bulk brick sales. Show
> someone a ton of bricks and it just makes them want to buy a ton of bricks.
I agree. I suspect most of the K-8s get used directly by TLC (in the
stores, parks, and for events they run). A few additional K-8s for train
clubs and Brickfests aren't going to tax them. Heck, if I was running a
Brickfest, I'd even be happy to be able to pay for some K-8s, and as an
attendee, I'd be happy to be able to pay a few bucks to get to take home
some parts (of course the way it works today is that sometimes you get
to take home parts for free, but I don't see any reason TLC shouldn't
get some money from me, I'm willing to support organizations who produce
products I like to use [hmm, I really need to "renew" my Lugnet
membership - yea, I know it's a lifetime membership, but Lugnet isn't a
one time investment, it's a continued investment]).
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
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