price increase in Europe

[CastleRail]

TENTE? Good grief that brings back memories. We still have a couple of 5l ice-cream tubs full of the stuff from my younger days. Of course there was a lot of the more delicate parts that snapped pins or lost rotor blades. No instructions though so goodness only knows what the original sets were. 

On 10/25/2021 at 10:17 AM, Pato Sentado said:

TENTE has come back today. They are different enough not to call them a copy. There was even a jury sentence agreeing that in the day.

A group of enthusiasts has reopened the factory using Exin's original moulds and added new pieces.

https://www.iunits.es/

 

[Fuppylodders]

On 10/27/2021 at 1:42 PM, ks6349 said:

People never discuss the price increase for their own wages and salaries and take it for granted while they like to discuss the price increase for toys, if you are that unsatisfied about the price increase just go away and give up Lego, this doesn't worth any discussion.

If you don't like the content of someone's post, go away and post elsewhere. People are free to discuss lego related stuff here. 

Are you honestly telling me you've never discussed something you don't like, that you just walk away from it? Because I know that's BS if you say that's what you do. 

Go take your oppressive view back to the 1700s where it belongs. 

[ks6349]

42 minutes ago, Fuppylodders said:

If you don't like the content of someone's post, go away and post elsewhere. People are free to discuss lego related stuff here. 

Are you honestly telling me you've never discussed something you don't like, that you just walk away from it? Because I know that's BS if you say that's what you do. 

Go take your oppressive view back to the 1700s where it belongs. 

I'm also free to express my constructive view against this topic, according to your oppressive view. Yes, I am not satisfied with this topic, but I haven't gone away, and I can still post here, so what can you do to me? Hit me? LOL

[Toastie]

1 hour ago, Fuppylodders said:

Go take your oppressive view back to the 1700s where it belongs.

 

15 minutes ago, ks6349 said:

so what can you do to me? Hit me? LOL

Lalala ... (old Gallic tune)

Relax, folks. It is really not worth it.

Fun fact: In the 1700s there was no internet (Ha!!). Posting was tough - but >not< impossible.

Another fun fact: In the 1700s chances were: Posting this way = hit by a hammer (or the like).

And another one: 2021: Hammers are mostly gone in conversations and Frankie goes to Hollywood did their "Relax, don't do it ..." already decades ago!

I do like to think about both "approaches", but not about the wording.

All the best, and here is to feeling good:

Best
Thorsten

[Fuppylodders]

8 hours ago, ks6349 said:

I'm also free to express my constructive view against this topic, according to your oppressive view. Yes, I am not satisfied with this topic, but I haven't gone away, and I can still post here, so what can you do to me? Hit me? LOL

Except it wasn't constructive at all. In any manner.

If you feel my view is oppressive, take a look at yourself, for all I did was apply your very own logic to you. 

And given your last few words 'so what can you do to me? Hit me? LOL', I'm unsure you even meet the age requirements to be on this forum... 

[ks6349]

3 hours ago, Fuppylodders said:

Except it wasn't constructive at all. In any manner.

If you feel my view is oppressive, take a look at yourself, for all I did was apply your very own logic to you. 

And given your last few words 'so what can you do to me? Hit me? LOL', I'm unsure you even meet the age requirements to be on this forum... 

Whether my opinion is constructive or not is not judged by you, because you are not qualified. In any manner. 

Age requirement? When I speak to mature people, I will use mature wording, when I speak to childish people, I will use "childish" wording, which one do you belong to?

Edited October 29, 2021 by ks6349

[Milan]

13 hours ago, Fuppylodders said:

Go take your oppressive view back to the 1700s where it belongs. 

Do not tell other members what to do, use the report button. You have had quite a few warnings about this, do not push it.

13 hours ago, ks6349 said:

Yes, I am not satisfied with this topic, but I haven't gone away, and I can still post here

Stick to the topic. If you feel there is a need, use the report button.

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

On 10/27/2021 at 2:42 PM, ks6349 said:

People never discuss the price increase for their own wages and salaries and take it for granted while they like to discuss the price increase for toys, if you are that unsatisfied about the price increase just go away and give up Lego, this doesn't worth any discussion.

Wow, I thought my thread was dead but it escalated quickly
 

There's lots of things to discuss but here it was about price increase of Lego (=toy, hobby). I'd love more debates about wages but I guess this isn't just hard anywhere but especially hard in an international thread about Lego. There's unions you know?

Of course in general I would question the future of Lego as a toy due to the economic changes. Which I think is why they are doing more and more "adult" sets and try to touch markets beyond their reach. There's many topics to discuss. Why you don't make a thread if you are interested? (:

[Pato Sentado]

On 10/28/2021 at 10:21 PM, CastleRail said:

TENTE? Good grief that brings back memories. We still have a couple of 5l ice-cream tubs full of the stuff from my younger days. Of course there was a lot of the more delicate parts that snapped pins or lost rotor blades. No instructions though so goodness only knows what the original sets were. 

 

In the link you can find the instructions for every kit made.

[unclejeffie]

I noticed that the 3-1 pirate ship is temporarely out of stock for a long time now.

is lego not selling them and keeping them to sell when the prices increases?

[MAB]

3 hours ago, unclejeffie said:

I noticed that the 3-1 pirate ship is temporarely out of stock for a long time now.

is lego not selling them and keeping them to sell when the prices increases?

Unlikely. They are not going to without stock from the whole of Europe in a busy time in the run up to Christmas, waiting for price rises in a few countries.

[TeriXeri]

Looks like the Chinese New Year 2022 set price went Down by €10 each (compared to the 2020 and 2021 sets), for some countries like Netherlands, which is a good sign.

If this means most German prices stay the same, and the higher prices in Belgium/Netherlands will now match the German Euro prices better, it's an improvement for those countries.

 

Finland price are still higher, but at least the Ice Festival is €10 cheaper compared to Spring Lantern Festival there as well.

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by TeriXeri

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

On 11/10/2021 at 8:09 PM, TeriXeri said:

Looks like the Chinese New Year 2022 set price went Down by €10 each (compared to the 2020 and 2021 sets), for some countries like Netherlands, which is a good sign.

If this means most German prices stay the same, and the higher prices in Belgium/Netherlands will now match the German Euro prices better, it's an improvement for those countries.

 

Finland price are still higher, but at least the Ice Festival is €10 cheaper compared to Spring Lantern Festival there as well.

 

that's great to hear!

In any case: so far the '22 sets look to be normal prices for Germany. Monkie-kid and City sets are - for some reason - even much cheaper here. If that doesn't change overnight - and especially the leaked catalouges probably won't chance - then mostly we won't see the difference I guess.

New ninjago sets don't look like such good deals anymore but that was already the case starting with 2021.

[TeriXeri]

So it's 01-01-2022 now, and looks like Netherlands prices (and perhaps Belgium and other countries) of many existing 2020-2021 sets have gone down to match the german prices, which means €5-10 less in many cases, 

IDEAS Blacksmith reduced from €170 in NL to €150 which was the Germany price already. 

2017 UCS Millennium Falcon was €850 in NL from 2017, but now is down to €800, however price increased from £ 650 to  £ 700 in UK.

 

Other increases in various countries: 

10255: Assembly Square went up to €260 in Germany from €240. (was already €260 in NL) and it went from £ 180 to £ 230 in UK.

31109: Pirate Ship went up to €120.  

 

There are probably a lot more price changes.

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by TeriXeri

[MAB]

19 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

... and it went from £ 180 to £ 230 in UK.

Good luck with that price rise LEGO!

[Maple]

I did calculations of the increase vs. the USD prices. Some of the sets were just REALLY cheap, like $240USD for Assembly Square got bumped to $285, which is about the same price in the USA. Other countries, like England it's now over $300USD.

I understand LEGO needing to change prices for some old sets, but I don't get why there are still differences.

[Toastie]

1 hour ago, Maple said:

but I don't get why there are still differences

From the viewpoint of cost of production, quality assurance etc. pp. it does not make any sense. 

As a globally operating, fine-tuned and in any way (money wise) optimized fully profit oriented enterprise, it absolutely does.

Each entry per country, world-wide: Uncountable market analyses (sets sold when, where, how many and so on and so forth), income structure, perception of product "toy", perception of product "LEGO", competitor analyses, SWOT analyses all over the place ... and who knows what else they analyze (as a globally operating enterprise you need to do that, no doubts here) - plus many, many years of testing in what way a price incline affects profit - well - all that results in a "per country stress test" - and with years of experience a in "guess-this-will-work" price tag. As they did in the past, as they are doing today. And today they have the virus on their side.

Best,
Thorsten

   

Edited January 1, 2022 by Toastie

[Maple]

47 minutes ago, Toastie said:

From the viewpoint of cost of production, quality assurance etc. pp. it does not make any sense. 

As a globally operating, fine-tuned and in any way (money wise) optimized fully profit oriented enterprise, it absolutely does.

Each entry per country, world-wide: Uncountable market analyses (sets sold when, where, how many and so on and so forth), income structure, perception of product "toy", perception of product "LEGO", competitor analyses, SWOT analyses all over the place ... and who knows what else they analyze (as a globally operating enterprise you need to do that, no doubts here) - plus many, many years of testing in what way a price incline affects profit - well - all that results in a "per country stress test" - and with years of experience a in "guess-this-will-work" price tag. As they did in the past, as they are doing today. And today they have the virus on their side.

Best,
Thorsten

   

Yeah I get all that, but to me all European Union countries should have the same price. It would be like if different states in the USA had different prices.

[Toastie]

28 minutes ago, Maple said:

all European Union countries should have the same price.

Oh, absolutely. As you surely know, the EU is categorizing cucumbers with regard to size and curvature (and many other things). But definitely not with regard to pricing. That is simply up to the seller/country. We are living in Capitalism World. Ah, that always sounds so negative: We are living in the Free World. The very moment you declare you are going to make all prices the same across the EU, the world - according to the many text books of capitalism - comes to a grinding halt. Spinning wise.

Public transportation is a good example. Should be, could be, is not: It is basically a per city thing to define the price for going from A to B - with the exact same mileage - and we are not talking Switzerland here, where they to have to drill holes into mountains.

Oh well. It's called free and fair ... and competition and so on and so forth. LEGO is a toy, but situated in a fish tank full of many (different types of) fishes.

Best
Thorsten   

[Maple]

Well public transportation should be free everywhere in every country. But this is a toy.

Again. LEGO having a MSRP that is different in different Euro countries is weird. A Lego set in Georgia (the state) with a minimum wage of $5.15 to $7.25 has the same prices for LEGO as Massachusetts does with a minimum wage of $14.25.

LEGO is not changing the prices per state because of costs of living or minimum wage. There is one set price.

[Toastie]

11 hours ago, Maple said:

There is one set price

Absolutely - for one entire country. I believe this has to do with international trade rules, but I can be mistaken.

After all, the EU is still that: A union of individual countries. With some common legislation and trade rules, but certainly not with what they call EU wide "catalog prices". The US is big - but one country. I have no clue how international trade rules are operating, but I believe the "catalog price" is the same for each country. At least it is the case in Germany. When I travel to Denmark(!) I hardly buy any LEGOs, as the Danish catalog prices are significantly higher. And then every company selling LEGOs ( many don't like the term LEGOs, but I do ) can come-up with discounts at their discretion. So I believe - and again it may be completely wrong.

11 hours ago, Maple said:

Well public transportation should be free everywhere in every country.

Amen to that.

Best,
Thorsten   

[TeriXeri]

13 hours ago, Maple said:

Yeah I get all that, but to me all European Union countries should have the same price. It would be like if different states in the USA had different prices.

Well, part of the changes seem to be at least making Germany/Belgium/Netherlands Euro prices the same. (mostly at benefit of NL/BE prices going down by €5-10 on a lot of sets.)

 

It doesn't really explain the Creator Pirate Ship price increase by €20 (20%) however. (or £90 to £105 ~16,7%)

 

I know UK isn't EU anymore, but , some sets were quite cheaper in exchange rates, £180 for Assembly Square and £650 for the Falcon in 2017 values. (they were €260 / €850 in NL at launch)

However, if looking at exchange rate history, the £ did have a peak at about £1 to €1,42 during 2015 , and still at £1 to €1,30 during early 2016 so maybe prices were calculated on those values, ever after it hasn't been higher then £1 to €1,20 from 2017-2021

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by TeriXeri

[dr_spock]

2 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

It doesn't really explain the Creator Pirate Ship price increase by €20 (20%) however. (or £90 to £105 ~16,7%)

 

Pirate Ship has a lot of reddish-brown pieces.  We all know how well reddish-brown likes to break.  Maybe to cover their customer service piece replacement costs? 

[MAB]

17 hours ago, Maple said:

Yeah I get all that, but to me all European Union countries should have the same price. It would be like if different states in the USA had different prices.

They do have different prices in different regions of the US, after applying different sales tax rates. Which is why consistent pricing across the EU is odd, as VAT rates are different. Equal prices in Germany and Portugal means that lego gets less per set when sold in Portugal and more in Germany.

[TeriXeri]

54 minutes ago, MAB said:

They do have different prices in different regions of the US, after applying different sales tax rates. Which is why consistent pricing across the EU is odd, as VAT rates are different. Equal prices in Germany and Portugal means that lego gets less per set when sold in Portugal and more in Germany.

2% VAT difference wasn't enough to explain the €5-10 price difference ,which often was over 10% difference in most cases between Benelux and Germany on many sets. For example €170 vs €150  Blacksmith, and even on smaller sets, €5 difference on a €35 set is a lot more then 2%.

And the prices are all over the place , even cases where a set was more expensive in Germany , 31105: Townhouse Toy Store was €40 in NL , €50 in Germany .

And then there were cases sets being more expensive in Spain or France etc.

Overall , it's so "random" , it can't be explained by something simple as a VAT difference.

I'll leave out sweden/denmark/norway out of the equation as they use different currencies.

Edited January 2, 2022 by TeriXeri