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Lego price per part over the years

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Re: Lego price per part over the years

#51

Post by Arrath »

amelius wrote: post #38

Don't kids want 3d-printers these days?

Sure, but if they're anything like my friend's kid they're not really computer-savvy, just reasonably proficient at driving apps. Thus, when he plugged in his 3d printer and was confronted with some driver or configuration problems he threw his hands up, said it was junk, and went back to roblox.

Trying not to sound too much like a 'kids these days!' rant, but that is what happened (yes, in this one anecdotal case). I think we're doing everyone a disservice by abstracting away all the underlying layers to the point that people don't have to interact with the filesystem, but that's a whole different subject.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#52

Post by runamok »

breuleux wrote: post #11
bleepblop wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a new metric when it comes to lego kits these days. How many stickers are in the kit? And honestly it's too damn high. I have been pretty vocal to lego about this in the past and current times. If they can mass produce an uncountable amount of minifigs with detailed paint schemes; they can do the same for bricks in the set. I have a hard time believing it's nothing more than a cost cutting measure. And to add…

How many sets do you buy per year, out of curiosity? I got into Lego during the pandemic and bought around 50 sets in the past three years. Over that sample, the number of missing pieces was precisely zero.

I wonder how many pets/kids they have because my experience mirrors yours. No missing parts over maybe 15 sets (between my wife and I).

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#54

Post by donkeyboy »

elzbardico wrote: post #34
boplicity wrote: post #30

Lego is a plastics company; they're trying to become net-zero, but, unfortunately, being a plastics company, this is extremely hard: https://www.ft.com/content/6cad1883-f87a-471d-9688-c1a3c5a0b...

Why? As long as people don't burn the bricks....

Plastic is made from upstream oil and gas companies. Kind of hard to be net-zero in that sector

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#55

Post by bombcar »

ryukoposting wrote: post #47

I made a script last year that scraped LEGO pricing data from their website. Besides finding out that the Bugatti Bolide Technic set is a pretty good deal as a parts bag, I found that there's only a weak correlation between set size and PPP. The Dots sets throw a wrench in things, of course, and large Technic sets often have expensive electronic and pneumatic parts that must be considered. My conclusion was that PPP…

Just like the article, you really have to correct for outliers to make PPP work. It's more of a "rule of thumb" that you can use to determine if something is, as you said, a bargain worth getting even if it is outside your main area.

Bricklink's "part out" tool is more accurate, but some pieces get priced "wrong" and you have to know enough to determine that.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#56

Post by bombcar »

bleepblop wrote: post #27
jacurtis wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also always questioned this. I have purchased about 60 sets in the past 4 years. I have a friend who has purchased well over 100 (he runs a Lego YouTube channel - he spends > $6,000 a year on Lego by his estimation). I have never had a missing piece. There have been two times when I thought I was missing a piece and then found it stuck in a bag or hidden under another piece. I've never had to write to Lego to ge…

I don't have children and I do all sorts of kits besides lego; with even smaller pieces. Either I have bad luck or I am careless. But you'd think with multiple decades under my belt I'd eventually find the "missing" pieces. When it's like a 4x12 left wing, or a 2x1 it starts to get suss.

The only time I ever had a large piece like that missing, it was pretty clear (on afterthought) that the box had been opened in the store before I bought it.

And I've had to return a set or two to Amazon because they'd clearly been opened and returned (and usually all the minifigs stripped out).

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#57

Post by magnetowasright »

boplicity wrote: post #30

Lego is a plastics company; they're trying to become net-zero, but, unfortunately, being a plastics company, this is extremely hard: https://www.ft.com/content/6cad1883-f87a-471d-9688-c1a3c5a0b...

ft link: https://archive.is/20230924232054/https://www.ft.com/content...

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#58

Post by boplicity »

elzbardico wrote: post #34
boplicity wrote: post #30

Lego is a plastics company; they're trying to become net-zero, but, unfortunately, being a plastics company, this is extremely hard: https://www.ft.com/content/6cad1883-f87a-471d-9688-c1a3c5a0b...

Why? As long as people don't burn the bricks....

The creation of plastic products causes significant emissions, which is something that I don't think is widely understood.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#59

Post by bombcar »

bleepblop wrote: post #9
bombcar wrote: post #4

> Many people quote that a set should be priced at around $0.10 per part to be worthwhile. Is this the average? This has been the average, and it's so "perfect" that it has to be that Lego has been aiming for it. They've accomplished this by having more and more detail (read: smaller pieces) in newer sets. They appear to have been forced (or trying) to jump to $0.20 per piece in some sets (e.g., https://www.lego.com/…

I have a new metric when it comes to lego kits these days. How many stickers are in the kit? And honestly it's too damn high. I have been pretty vocal to lego about this in the past and current times. If they can mass produce an uncountable amount of minifigs with detailed paint schemes; they can do the same for bricks in the set. I have a hard time believing it's nothing more than a cost cutting measure. And to add…

I just wish the stickers were high quality plastic ones, so you'd have a chance in hell of removing and replacing them immediately if you mess up.

I've never had a confirmed piece missing (the few cases had obvious open boxes, etc), but then again I've not bought as many in the last ten years.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#60

Post by bleepblop »

bombcar wrote: post #56
bleepblop wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have children and I do all sorts of kits besides lego; with even smaller pieces. Either I have bad luck or I am careless. But you'd think with multiple decades under my belt I'd eventually find the "missing" pieces. When it's like a 4x12 left wing, or a 2x1 it starts to get suss.

The only time I ever had a large piece like that missing, it was pretty clear (on afterthought) that the box had been opened in the store before I bought it. And I've had to return a set or two to Amazon because they'd clearly been opened and returned (and usually all the minifigs stripped out).

Understandable. I am pretty selective when it comes to a kit. Dare I say autistic? Box condition is a consideration, along with down to how I open them. It's noticeable.
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