Legos Officially Cost Too Damn Much

• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-08-26 23:40

  For Master Thieves, Legos Are the New Uncut Diamonds

  
  
  

  Thieves can sell unopened Lego sets, which are very difficult to track, almost immediately online for as much or more than the retail price.

  
  
  

  In England, bandits in Watford Gap and West Yorkshire pulled off Lego truck heists to the tune of $87,000 and $67,000.

  
  
  www.vocativ.com/underworld/crime/lego-heists/
  
  DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE A PROBLEM WITH PLASTIC CHILDREN'S TOYS THAT WILL USUALLY END UP LOST, BROKEN, OR MISSING PIECES COSTING HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS? ENOUGH FOR INTERNATIONAL SMUGGLING RINGS TO TARGET THEM?
• Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-08-27 00:05
  No, not really.
  
  The more elaborate LEGO sets are really far above mere children's toys btw.
• Darkboy132 wrote on 2014-08-27 00:13
  What... how much are legos worth now?
• Kaeporo wrote on 2014-08-27 00:22
  Imagine if there were Maple Syrup Legos...
• Yoorah wrote on 2014-08-27 00:24
  LEGOs are pretty awesome toys which promote creativity and logical thought in kids. I was a big fan of their Technic line. :D It's definitely worth the cost, even for lower-income families, so long as you don't go overboard with the pricier kits.
  Mindstorms was outright godly-tier, but sadly, my family could not afford something that expensive. ;_;
• Bunny wrote on 2014-08-27 00:48
  [FONT="Arial"]I liked Legos until I stepped on one barefoot.[/FONT]
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-08-27 00:48

  Quote from Darkboy132;1243063:

  What... how much are legos worth now?

  
  
  Last time I went to Walmart it was about $8 for one of the little hand-sized boxes with 1 mini figure and like, ~20 pieces. I don't even see the big buckets of just random pieces like I had when I was a kid on sale any more.
• Elleanior wrote on 2014-08-31 22:54
  The world really has gone topsy-turvy.
• Hanna wrote on 2014-08-31 23:00
  legos have always been fucking expensive
  i used to buy the huge tupperware bins of them at yard sales instead
• Cucurbita wrote on 2014-09-01 00:26
  I'll have to dig it up, but there was a very logical explanation of why legos are so expensive written somewhere.
• Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-09-01 09:24
  This article explains it well enough I believe. It starts off slow though.
  
  http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/08/24/why-are-legos-so-expensive/
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-09-01 10:59

  Quote from Campylobacter jejuni;1244260:

  This article explains it well enough I believe. It starts off slow though.
  
  http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/08/24/why-are-legos-so-expensive/

  
  
  I must have missed the part where any of it was explained. All I saw was that the people from LEGO are shady as fuck and refuse to answer any questions about pricing. "Why does your product cost so much?" "Go fuck yourself, it's quality or something." "How much do you make per block?" "None of your fucking business, empty your wallet or get out."
• Osayidan wrote on 2014-09-01 12:07
  Yeah I don't see any justification in that article. The argument is always "quality" but there's limits.... I don't need my lego set to outlive me. If I'm paying extra for that then I'm paying for something I don't need or want.
• Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-09-01 14:02

  Quote from Space Pirate Nithiel;1244272:

  I must have missed the part where any of it was explained. All I saw was that the people from LEGO are shady as fuck and refuse to answer any questions about pricing. "Why does your product cost so much?" "Go fuck yourself, it's quality or something." "How much do you make per block?" "None of your fucking business, empty your wallet or get out."

  
  They're not shady, they're secretive. It's their business and they don't have any responsibility towards stockholders or customers to publically reveal their pricing. If you don't like their pricing, don't buy LEGO.
  
  And it's explained well enough, even if not officially. Let's break it down, shall we:
  
  
  High quality plastics - yes such a thing exists.
  
  Expensive accurate machinery to minimise variations in manufacturing.
  
  This high quality machinery is made in Germany. This means high German wages, high German taxes that influence the pricing of the machines.
  
  Danish wages and taxes for LEGO manufacturing itself.
  
  They actually employ designers to come up with ideas, they don't jsut produce blocks and are done with it. This in itself is expensive.
  
  They have new ideas very often and change their product portfolio regularly. This means they need to adjust their manufacturing very often, even if ever so slightly, so scale effects are not as pronounced as they could be.
  
  Huge variation in parts which definitely affects the size of their manufacturing plants. Evne more machinery, higher heating costs, higher electricity costs, more workers, more construction, more land-buying or leasing.
  
  License fees.
  
  They want to make money on top of it all.
  
  
  I really don't see how anyone can say LEGO is overpriced with all that taken into account. It is priced fairly. Sometimes a fair price is a high price.
  
  Maybe watching a NatGeo LEGO documentary helps you.
  [video=youtubeold;t2wah736BAc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2wah736BAc[/video]
  Also, HOLY SHIT AWESOME, A LEGO MMO! FREE TO PLAY!
  

  Quote from Osayidan;1244277:

  Yeah I don't see any justification in that article. The argument is always "quality" but there's limits.... I don't need my lego set to outlive me. If I'm paying extra for that then I'm paying for something I don't need or want.

  
  Well then don't buy LEGO. They'll get the memo if the market demands it. There are certainly cheaper alternatives out there.
  http://brickstories.blogspot.de/2013/06/the-unfinished-list-of-alternative.html
  
  Alternatively buy LEGO second hand. Product quality won't be diminished because of their dedication to high quality manufacturing.
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2014-09-01 16:21
  Or you know... just play minecraft.