LUGBULK - New concept for the AFOL community

[CopMike]

The whole information package from Jan B:

LEGO User Group Bulk Order Program

Dear Community Leader,

The “LEGO User Group Bulk Order Program” (LUGBULK) will be offered to LEGO User Groups as a pilot/test program from August 2009 and possibly going into 2010. Due to new legislation in the USA, we will unfortunately not be able to offer the program to USA based LEGO User Groups until we implement some additional processes. We expect to open up the program to US LEGO User Groups at a later date.

This document explains to you how to get access to and use the program to order smaller amounts of LEGO bricks from the whole LEGO assortment directly at the LEGO Group.

Please notice again that this is a pilot project and it may be terminated on short notice at any time.

Who will be able to order?

LUGBULK will only be accessible for registered LUGs. A LUG need to meet the following requirements and submit the following information to the LEGO Community Team to become a registered LUG – the LEGO Community team will follow up on the requirements every time a LUG places an order:

• The LUG need to consist of minimum 10 members

• The LUG need to feature at least 2 public smaller or bigger displays each year

• The LUG need to exist for at least 1 year

• The LUG need to have an official website

• The LUG need to have at least a 1 page description of the LUG and the goals of the LUG on the website

• The LUG need to take part in possible surveys issued by the LEGO Group to the LUG

• The LUG is responsible for securing the needed written accept from their membership according to the local legislation to submit legally the following basic information about the LUG and the members to the LEGO Community Team:

-Number of members

-Name of members

-Address of members

-Email of member s

-LEGO ID of members if applicable

Only the personal data of the members who accept the terms can be submitted and also only these members count for the order amount.

The data will be used only by LEGO System A/S and its affiliated entities and never issued to 3rd parties.

Rules for LUGBULK:

- Only active elements (no restricted elements and no licensed elements) can be purchased

- The minimum order for one LUG is 2000 DKK

- The average amount per member to purchase is max. 200 DKK

- The minimum order qty per element is 50 pcs. and increase in 50 pcs. steps until 500 and from then in 100 piece steps (except building plates)

- The maximum amount of different elements per order is 100

- Every registered LUG can order 2 times a year

- The orders will be taken in between February and September each year – every LUG will get 2 dates

- The lead time per order which means from order is accepted until it is shipped can be up to 3 month

- It is not allowed to resell the bought elements – there will be a penalty for the LUG if a member is reselling the elements.

- The shipping costs and possible taxes/custom clearings are not included in the element price so they will get on top of the price.

- Only one single defined member of each LUG can place the order and will get the order shipped

- The order need to be submitted in an Excel file containing as much information about the elements as possible (Bricklink number or LEGO Brick ID (4 or 7 digit code)are preferred)

How is the process?

1. The head/founder of the LUG that wants to become a registered LUG to participate in the LUGBULK program contact Jan Beyer at Jan@LEGO.com and submit all above requested information and fulfills all needed requirements.

2. After Jan Beyer has checked that all requirements are fulfilled and how many of the members have submitted their data, the final max. amount for the purchase is defined.

3. One by the LUG defined member of the registered LUG will submit the wish list, the shipping address and his/her contact details to Jan Beyer – this person is now responsible for the order and the complete payment in the timeframe for this specific LUG

4. The wish list can containing max. 150 different elements in prioritized order and will be send in an excel file to Jan Beyer. Among these, up to 100 will be selected based on LUG priority and TLG availability

5. Jan Beyer will proceed the list.

6. Jan Beyer agrees with the contact person of the registered LUG the final order list of max. 100 different Elements – based on availability, element cost (not to exceed the average max. amount per member of 200 DKK) and the costs and amount per element.

7. After having an agreed list, the LEGO warehouse will check the list and determine an expected delivery date, which Jan Beyer will communicate to the LUG in question.

8. After that the LEGO Group will send an Invoice to the defined LUG member who is responsible for the order.

9. The order will not be shipped before the money is on the LEGO Company account (payment can be made in DKK/EUR/USD)

10. The order gets shipped to the LUG member who ordered.

___________

CopMike

[Skipper 24]

This seems like an interesting concept and one that will come in handy to many people. Although I doubt I will be ordering any time soon it seems like TLC is answering to more fans. Let's hope they'll continue the service and make it global.

[Sandy]

Well, isn't this a crappy idea. There's so many rules and tidbits in there that people are much better off just using PAB, Bricklink and Ebay as they are accustomed to.

I just have to ask, what is the benefit of this experiment? Who does it cater for? Would participating in this even be worth the trouble it apparently takes?

[Etzel]

This sounds very promising!

CopMike, I think it's time we get SweBrick going

It's very nice that TLG cares so much about their fans that they decides to offer us this kind of service. I will think of this every time TLG does something I don't like and then keep my mouth shut.

Thank you LEGO!

[Svelte]

I take it the point of the scheme is that bulk orders mean attractively discounted prices on parts for the LUG? If so, what level of discount is this? Without specifics it's hard to know if its worthwhile.

'The average amount per member to purchase is max. 200 DKK' - does this mean the average maximum spend per head for each order is only 200 DKK? That doesn't seem like a lot...

This all sounds very intriguing but I'm not sure exactly what the intended purpose of the scheme is... to get access in bulk amounts to active elements not covered by PAB? Is this for personal use or more generally for the good of the LUG as whole, for public displays and suchlike, which seems to be implied by the requirement to have displays a certain amount of times per year and so on?

EDIT: As Sandy says, it does seem like a lot of effort and organisation on the part of the LUG to organise this, with paperwork, taxes and customs, and so on, so a clearer idea of the benefit may be helpful

[Ralph_S]

I'd say this is excellent. It might be the only way of getting certain pieces in quantities in which you'll never be able to get them simply through buying sets (think lots of cheese slopes, for instance). I'm sure Brickish (one of the LUGs that I am a member of) meets all the requirements. Hopefully it will be cheaper per part than on-line PaB!

Edit: I just realised that 200DK is only about €30. Not a lot. However, imagine being the member to order on behalf of 200 members who are ordering without a spending limit! Is your garage large enough!

Cheers,

Ralph

Edited August 13, 2009 by Ralph_S

[Sandy]

Sorry, I phrased my last post wrong. The idea is fine, but it gets drowned under all those rules and regulations. A minimum of 50 pieces per element? You can only order twice a year? You cannot resell what you buy (how are they going to even regulate that)?!

This sure sounds like a crappy deal to me, and I'd never participate on it. Seriously, this isn't TLG trying to cater fans, this is them trying to get their share of the money that's in the resale market of their products. It's greed, not generosity.

[CopMike]

Sorry, I phrased my last post wrong. The idea is fine, but it gets drowned under all those rules and regulations. A minimum of 50 pieces per element? You can only order twice a year? You cannot resell what you buy (how are they going to even regulate that)?!

This sure sounds like a crappy deal to me, and I'd never participate on it. Seriously, this isn't TLG trying to cater fans, this is them trying to get their share of the money that's in the resale market of their products. It's greed, not generosity.

Wow, hold your horses !

This is for LUG´s, meaning IRL clubs that build and display their stuff. I don´t think it´s a bad deal to be able to buy loads of these for example to build a forest! It´s not for single people getting stuff for their collection. I know of lots of LUG´s that want this, but you´re of course entitled to your opinion.

[Rick]

This is for LUG´s [...] It´s not for single people getting stuff for their collection.

Aaah, that wasn't immediately clear from your opening post. Now the requirements start to make some more sense. And it explains the purpose of the program!

[-JD-]

This sounds like a good idea, but there are quite a few rules. When I saw this I really hoped lisencsed parts would be available, but ah well. I'll stick with PAB and BrickLink.

[CopMike]

Aaah, that wasn't immediately clear from your opening post. Now the requirements start to make some more sense. And it explains the purpose of the program!

LUGBULK will only be accessible for registered LUGs. A LUG need to meet the following requirements and submit the following information to the LEGO Community Team to become a registered LUG – the LEGO Community team will follow up on the requirements every time a LUG places an order: ........

If one reads the actuall information - how isn´t that clear ?

[Rick]

LUGBULK will only be accessible for registered LUGs. A LUG need to meet the following requirements and submit the following information to the LEGO Community Team to become a registered LUG – the LEGO Community team will follow up on the requirements every time a LUG places an order: ........

If one reads the actuall information - how isn´t that clear ?

But then following are requirements, some of which are per user (as I understand it now, that's to differentiate small from big LUGs). I think many LUGs are still going to be using this to the benefit of individual members' collections. But the 'per user' requirements and the following discussion in the thread about whether this is better than PAB, for example, suggested it was for individual LUG-members purchasing bricks. At least the purpose of the program is much clearer now.

[aawsum]

This is for LUG´s, meaning IRL clubs that build and display their stuff. I don´t think it´s a bad deal to be able to buy loads of these for example to build a forest! It´s not for single people getting stuff for their collection. I know of lots of LUG´s that want this, but you´re of course entitled to your opinion.

I guess this still means the Lug can send in one order, which is generated from a complete wishlist from their members, and then the members will use it for their private collection.

I have not the feeling that this program is obligated to use it for a lug layout, it can be used for private layouts as well.

[CopMike]

Ok Rick, get your drift now !

[stuifzand]

Wow, hold your horses !

This is for LUG´s, meaning IRL clubs that build and display their stuff. I don´t think it´s a bad deal to be able to buy loads of these for example to build a forest! It´s not for single people getting stuff for their collection. I know of lots of LUG´s that want this, but you´re of course entitled to your opinion.

I don't know where you've read that it's for the clubs?

Do you mean like for the club collection? How many LUGs are there that have a collection?

[CopMike]

I don't know where you've read that it's for the clubs?

Do you mean like for the club collection? How many LUGs are there that have a collection?

Ok, I might be unclear but what I mean is that it´s the LUG that orders the pieces through one person. They can then either split up the stuff between the different members (who can have wanted say 50 pieces of one part for themself and together with other members the LUG orders for example 500 of that part) OR use it in their collective display - yes, there are LUG´s who share parts (and they can of course also bring their very own parts/models to the displays).

The only thing that all this comes from is that a number of people above seems to have thought it is targeted to individuall people to buy, like PaB or BL, which it´s not.

And that´s what I´ve trying to clear up (with so-so result )!

[Ralph_S]

My understanding is that this is for members of LUGs, who can buy parts from LEGO for their own use through the LUG from LEGO. I don't know about LUGs that have a collection that is jointly owned. As far as I know, the only things the LUG I'm a member of owns are some mugs (for sale to members), some banners, and a colour printer.

Of course LEGO hope to make money out of this, but this is an excellent opportunity for members of LUGs to buy large numbers of parts that they'd normally only get in small numbers or at high cost (from bricklink) or to simply buy fairly large numbers of fairly basic bricks at relatively low cost (hopefully). I'm one of a number of people in my LUG currently working on a number of MOCs for a public display in October and this deal seems to be excellent way to get the parts I'd need.

I don't know how they want to check whether or not you start selling the parts, but that's hardly my problem.

Cheers,

Ralph

Edited August 13, 2009 by Ralph_S

[stuifzand]

I don't know how they want to check whether or not you start selling the parts, but that's hardly my problem.

I think they'll make you sign a contract.

Also, the person that does the ordering, is responsible.

So, if you order through Lowlug, and you sell the parts, I will hunt you down with an axe.

But, I too understand it in the way that individual members of the LUG will have the opportunity to order parts through the big order. The rule says that the LUG has to be part of a show 2 times a year.

The only thing that all this comes from is that a number of people above seems to have thought it is targeted to individuall people to buy, like PaB or BL, which it´s not.

I think if you are part in a bulkorder with several people, you are an individual who buys. People can order what they want, with the given restrictions.

Edited August 13, 2009 by stuifzand

[Davey]

This is great news! We've been waiting for something like this for awhile now and it's clear that LEGO is listening. It's a shame that legislation is blocking it in the US so we'll have to wait a little longer. Looking at the bright side of things, that gives LEGO a chance to refine the program before bringing it stateside.

Thanks for posting this great news!

-Dave

Edited August 13, 2009 by Cyclone Breezerider

[The Green Brick Giant]

I don't understand what is the problem with the USA? There are so many damn rules now as it is.

[Sandy]

So EuroBricks isn't a Lego User Group? Huh, I always thought it was...

Still, all the restrictions and regulations seem like too much hassle for whatever the benefit is. The fact that you can only order twice a year makes it nigh useless in itself. Who'd want to wait half a year to be able to continue with their building project?

[Big Cam]

Seems like a very good idea and props to LEGO for clearly listening to the AFOL public and delivering. Although I'm a set purist and I don't forsee myself needing bulk pieces, I think it's a great idea.

[Klaus-Dieter]

Thank you very much for that news, Copmike!

That sounds interesting - but for my needs Ebay, PaB and Lego customer's service is much more handy.

Klaus-Dieter

[CopMike]

I think they'll make you sign a contract.I think if you are part in a bulkorder with several people, you are an individual who buys. People can order what they want, with the given restrictions.

Yes exactly ! But I think people initially thought they by themself/alone/not part of a groupm, could by in bulk this way.

Still, all the restrictions and regulations seem like too much hassle for whatever the benefit is. The fact that you can only order twice a year makes it nigh useless in itself. Who'd want to wait half a year to be able to continue with their building project?

Well, if your LUG has a show scheduled and you need a bunch of a hard-to-get piece for your set-up, I think it´s a great idea. But I think the people within the LUG´s might be able to answer that question better than you and me.

[jonwil]

What defines a "licensed part"? And what is a "restricted part"?

For example, its obvious that a "Minifig, Weapon Gun, Blaster Long" is a licensed part. As is a

"Minifig, Headgear Helmet SW Imperial AT-ST Pilot".

But would a "Plate, Modified 4 x 4 with 2 x 2 Cutout" or a "Cylinder Hemisphere 4 x 4" be counted as a licensed part given that both of those parts are currently only available in the new Y-Wing set?

Or would a "Leg Mechanical, Droid with Technic Pin" count as a licenced part (it has mostly appeared in Star Wars sets but HAS appeared in 2 non-starwars sets in the past)

Would color have a bearing on whether a part is a "licensed part"?

In any case this sounds like just the thing PALS (Perth Adult Lego Society) may want to take advantage of.