A sad day in Canada....

[Lt. Col. Thok]

Bad news for all Canadian AFOLS - due to LEGO's refusal to lower prices despite the rise in our dollar, Wal-Mart will no longer be carrying the LEGO brand... :'-(

EDIT: Thanks to gylman for the link to the article:http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=289961

Edited February 9, 2008 by Lt. Col. Thok

[gylman]

Hi Thok. Interesting item of news, but it's always good if you link to the source of the information

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=289961

If you read the article, though,it is pretty clear that The Lego Company is the bad guy. They are the supplier, refusing to lower their cost to the retailer, who then has to charge a higher cost.

This is exactly what I have been ranting about since last year. Canadians are playing a pretty arbitrary 30-40% premium compared to Americans, and this is purely a result of TLC policies.

TLC deserves to get their knuckles rapped no this one.

Maybe TLC will finally clue in that their usurious pricing policy in Canada is going to harm not only their sales, but their customer loyalty. <cough>like me<cough>

[blueandwhite]

Hi Thok. Interesting item of news, but it's always good if you link to the source of the information

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=289961

If you read the article, though,it is pretty clear that The Lego Company is the bad guy. They are the supplier, refusing to lower their cost to the retailer, who then has to charge a higher cost.

This is exactly what I have been ranting about since last year. Canadians are playing a pretty arbitrary 30-40% premium compared to Americans, and this is purely a result of TLC policies.

TLC deserves to get their knuckles rapped no this one.

Maybe TLC will finally clue in that their usurious pricing policy in Canada is going to harm not only their sales, but their customer loyalty. <cough>like me<cough>

I'm not sure they care. It's not that our dollar is strong, but rather the American dollar is weak.

I wonder how much profit they are actually making in the US. There was a recent article about Volkswagen discontinuing sales of the Rabbit/Golf in North America because they are actually losing money on each car sold simply to stay competitive with the low price of American cars. The weak American dollar means little in the way of profit when you consider that the US greenback has dropped in value by over 40%. Alot of companies are staying the course in the US simply to maintain market presence, however I very much doubt that we in Canada will ever see the fruits of this.

Look at Bombardier; a Canadian company. Are you aware that they sent notice to their US dealers asking them not to sell to Canadian customers. Much like the Automakers, Bombardier does not want Canadians going across the boarder to reap the benefits of our stronger dollar; and they're subsidized by our federal government :-| . Despite getting ripped off when compared to our neighbours to the south; I don't really think that LEGO gives two pins whether they lose customers or not if it means lowering prices to match the US.

[Lt. Col. Thok]

Hi Thok. Interesting item of news, but it's always good if you link to the source of the information

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=289961

If you read the article, though,it is pretty clear that The Lego Company is the bad guy. They are the supplier, refusing to lower their cost to the retailer, who then has to charge a higher cost.

This is exactly what I have been ranting about since last year. Canadians are playing a pretty arbitrary 30-40% premium compared to Americans, and this is purely a result of TLC policies.

TLC deserves to get their knuckles rapped no this one.

Maybe TLC will finally clue in that their usurious pricing policy in Canada is going to harm not only their sales, but their customer loyalty. <cough>like me<cough>

Thanks, and good point. I guess this whole boycott idea will have a large effect on TLC's Canadian profits, thusly (and hopefully) bending their will.

Edited February 9, 2008 by Lt. Col. Thok

[gylman]

, I predict the effect will be small. There are lots of outlets for sales of LEGO in Canada, and my impression is that TLC and Walmart have never been particularly friendly to each other. It will, however, make it easier for the other major retailer, TRU, to demand some price breaks.

This past fall, from September to December pretty much every single TRU LEGO set could be found at 20-40% off at one time or another - any line from SW to creator. I bought vast amounts. I presume it was the exchange rate issue which permitted or forced TRU to do this.

I'm hoping to do the same this year, so I don't plan to buy any LEGO now. Except for S@H only sets, and special S@H sales, there is really no reason to buy anything from S@H. S@H costs the same or more than retail, and all you get for your trouble is a mashed up box half the time.

[trooperdavinfelth]

If the American dollar rises someday and this boycott spreads to the US, we'll DEFINITELY need more TRUs around us. The closest one to my house is over 25 miles away. Sure, it's a half-hour drive, but really: We could use one locally, and I'm not about to rely on Targets and other small retailers for my Lego. |-/

Edited February 9, 2008 by trooperdavinfelth

[Lt. Col. Thok]

If this boycott spreads to the US, we'll DEFINITELY need more TRUs around us. The closest one to my house is over 25 miles away. Sure, it's a half-hour drive, but really: We could use one locally, and I'm not about to rely on Targets and other small retailers for my Lego. |-/

Technically, the whole boycott is centered around the Canadian dollar rising, so I don't think that we'll see an American boycott.

[trooperdavinfelth]

Technically, the whole boycott is centered around the Canadian dollar rising, so I don't think that we'll see an American boycott.

Well, I know that. The word IF is very powerful. :-P It all depends on the rising and falling of the dollar!

EDIT: I realize my post is confusing. I edit.

Edited February 9, 2008 by trooperdavinfelth

[hoang]

can you guys buy lego anywhere beside wal-mart in Canada? fill me in a little.

[hewkii9]

Of course you can! I don't really care about this, evil Wal-Mart...

There's also TRU and Zellers, for starters.

[Ricecracker]

Of course you can! I don't really care about this, evil Wal-Mart...

There's also TRU and Zellers, for starters.

and dont forget winners (for some reason i saw a jack stone set a couple days ago *wacko* )

anyway, wal-mart doesnt usually have lower prices anyway, so it doesnt realy effect me

(for any canadian fans, there is a bricklink store in mississauga, called Lastingtoys (if you want to look it up on bricklink), some of their prices differ in store so be cautious of that)

[tedbeard]

Actually the day this was first announced (two weeks ago now?) was a happy day, not a sad day.

It did two things that made me happy:

1) Sent a clear message to LEGO that corporations, not just AFOLs, are upset at their predatory pricing practices.

2) I am no longer tempted to enter the lair of the evil empire and support slavery, oppression and the destruction of life on this planet which hides behind the smiley face.

A win-win situation in the end. *sweet*

[hoang]

i really don't like the wal-mart here in us either it's like hunting for good sets because they always have the same old one for months

[prateek]

so what? we can always go to zellers and tru where there are always discounts (especially zellers) *y*

[Lt. Veers]

Wow. Wally World of all places boycotts LEGO. Yikes! X-O

[Mikael Willberg]

Could someone tell what kind of price cuts there should have been and exactly why. I cannot see CAD being so strong even to USD. Or was there some price changes few months ago or something or did I misintrepret these:

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=EUR&amt=1&t=1y

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=USD&amt=1&t=1y

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=EUR&amt=1&t=1y

Mig

ps. This was originally a bit longer comment, but I moved most of that to a new thread.

[BearHeart]

Well, wallmart was always my fourth or fifth choice for Lego. TRU and Zellers always have a way better selection, even Sears. Half the time I went to wallmart, the Lego section was practically non-existant.

[brickzone]

The value of the Cn Dollar versus US dollar is irrelevant in the context of Lego. The Canadian dollar has not been consistently rising against other currencies that are more relevant, like the Euro. It's simply been fluctuating up and down over the last few months.

The only reason there's a problem here is that Lego are just having to keep selling at the same low US dollar prices in the US in order to maintain market share. Really because of the low US dollar, they should be raising prices there, but the market there wouldn't bear it as folks there don't have so much cash (they are paid in US dollars after all).

Walmart is being the bully here, and from what I've read, they're rather ruthless in selling low-cost. Like a more extreme version of Tesco in UK and Ireland (and they are really pretty bad too). Tesco only sell a handful of small Lego sets here in Ireland, whereas their predecessor that they bought out, Quinnsworth, sold the whole line-up of Lego (if I'm not mistaken, Quinnsworth were owned by a Canadian retailer).

[Lt. Col. Thok]

Well, wallmart was always my fourth or fifth choice for Lego. TRU and Zellers always have a way better selection, even Sears. Half the time I went to wallmart, the Lego section was practically non-existant.

Yeah, I never actually went to Wal-Mart (Except when I worked there - don't ask :-| ), seeing as Zellers had a better selection......

[blueandwhite]

Could someone tell what kind of price cuts there should have been and exactly why. I cannot see CAD being so strong even to USD. Or was there some price changes few months ago or something or did I misintrepret these:

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=EUR&amt=1&t=1y

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=USD&amt=1&t=1y

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=EUR&amt=1&t=1y

Mig

ps. This was originally a bit longer comment, but I moved most of that to a new thread.

The Canadian dollar hasn't really improved on the world market. It's just that the American Dollar has lost alot of value in the past seven years. This of course feels incredibly frustrating to Canadians as we share an open boarder with our neighbours to the south. Despite the falling U.S. dollar, American prices have remained relatively flat, meaning that the price of LEGO in Canada feels far worse than it did a few years ago. Price wise, we pay about the same as the rest of the world, but we would definitely prefer US pricing given our proximity to the U.S. . It's very annoying knowing that despite having an open boarder, pricing is so skewed.

[Nyundi]

Walmart is being the bully here...

I'm glad someone mentioned this. Sure TLCs inflated prices in Canada, especially given the fall of the USD in comparison may be off, but one of the bigger pictures here is Walmart and its notorious policies of bullying its suppliers into lowering prices under the threat of no longer carrying merchandise.

For a lot of smaller businesses, this can mean the difference between nationwide (or even global) penetration, versus local markets at best. The issue is complicated when a smaller business has invested lots of money to increase their manufacturing capacities to be able to supply Walmarts across the world, and can't afford too suddenly not be supported by them. So they have to cave, lowering their bottom line so Walmart can (or can not) reduce the price a few pennies.

TLC is not in such a precarious situation, and good for them for not giving in to this. I imagine the difference in currency values was really just an excuse on Walmart's part to try to push their bullying policies around.

[Joey Lock]

Walmart is being the bully here

I thought it was Canada being the bully, since it was there refusal in lowering the Dollor price, wasnt it?

Edited February 10, 2008 by Joey Lock

[gylman]

There's no doubt that Walmart is a bully. Universally despised by everyone.... except that people keep going there because the bottom line is that money talks. I've actually never bought at Walmart except a single Toa Lhikam and Kikanalo set a few years ago, and it was a full price. Their LEGO selection usually sucks. TRU is FAR better.

Also, TLC is not being a bully.... they are standing on their principle of not reducing prices in relation to market fluctuation. That's their right. Just like it's my right to stop buying their product at full retail price.

Reality for TLC is that they are actually LOSING money big time because of how weak the US dollar is - a large part of their sales is in the US. However, it is a very competitive market and they can't raise prices because of fear of losing sales. They have to hang in and hope that the currency thing straightens itself out.

So, I am in fact defending TLC partially.

However, two things remain:

-the Canadian dollar has appreciated significantly in relation to the Euro, and practically all currencies in the past year. The Canadian economy has outperformed practically every major economy in the world except China

http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=qkchart&symbol=FX%5EEURCAD

-the optics to Canadians of paying 30-40% more for the same product across the border from a nation where we have supposed "free trade", and when OTHER sellers have accommodated the exchange change change to a partial or full degree in the past year, is very bad.

Could someone tell what kind of price cuts there should have been and exactly why. I cannot see CAD being so strong even to USD. Or was there some price changes few months ago or something or did I misintrepret these:

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=EUR&amt=1&t=1y

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=USD&amt=1&t=1y

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=EUR&amt=1&t=1y

Mig

ps. This was originally a bit longer comment, but I moved most of that to a new thread.

This is the more relevant graph Mikael. Look at the 5 year chart;

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=USD&amt=1&t=5y

And the fact is that 5 years ago I was paying a 30-50% premium for LEGO in US dollars vs Canadian. Now I am paying a 30-40% premium.

[Zaktan of the Shadows]

Dammit.

Oh well, I can leave those stuck up freaks - TRY FTW!

-ZotS

[azathoth]

Well, I guess I can stop going there and thinking they just haven't replenished from xmas. *n*

Well, I guess its off to Toys R Us and Zellers for me. :-|