Lego jacking up prices this year

[brickvoyeur]

https://www.stonewars.de/news/lego-preiserhoehung-september-2022/

 

Quote

The current global economic challenges in the form of increased raw material and operating costs are affecting many companies.

As a company, we put the consumer first, and we've absorbed that cost for a while to keep prices stable. However, as these costs have continued to increase rapidly, we have decided to increase the prices of some of our sets. This increase will take effect in August and September.

The increase will vary by set, with prices changing on about a quarter of the portfolio. Some sets will not change prices, others will have a single digit increase, and larger, more complex sets will have a higher percentage increase.

We will continue to work to ensure our products offer value for money and recognize how important this is to our fans and everyone who loves our products.

Looks like adult oriented sets are going to be hit the hardest. If a set is hit by a price increase, you can be fairly sure it's not going to retire. More than half of the sets not set to have price increases, are retiring at the end of the year. 

Like every other company, they got used to those "record profits" year after year, and don't want to give ground due to rising costs on their end.

[Voltron]

There's been alot of backlash from people on lego forums / brickset etc regarding this. However, I don't think lego sales are going to be affected by this that much.

I remember a great quote by Ed Mack on here which he mentioned that lego is a toy set for the middle/ upper class, and even during the last financial crisis lego survived. There will always be "rich" parents that buy the toy for their kids even during a recession. Sure there may be some hiccups along the way, but people calling this the "end" for lego is premature.

[marcandre]

Odd to see new sets like Ferrari & Optimus on the list. Why not just get the price right at launch? 

I was going to wait on the Ferrari but will probably buy one now. Few others to stock up on too. Happy to see no modulars on the list. 

[exciter1]

10874 - Duplo Steam Train is on the list, lol

[Pseudoty]

I thought this was for the EU only and at this time no price changes for the USA?

[redcell]

4 minutes ago, Pseudoty said:

I thought this was for the EU only and at this time no price changes for the USA?

No, this is coming to the U.S. as well.

[Graphicski]

Very selfish move if you ask me. Crowing about year after year of increasing profits, have only just had one price jump start of the year. Lego market themselves as a family and customer friendly focused, family run, environmental friendly and wholesome business but this action shows how they are indeed deep down yet another highly uncaring, capitalist venture not just looking for profit but to rinse out every last penny. Shouldn't be surprising as they are a business, but when it's lego just makes it a bit more depressing.

Also poor timing with their horrible new instruction booklets (so even with price increases their cutting costs elsewhere by cutting on the ink costs). 

If they want to charge those prices they can damn well get rid of stickers from the big sets, the stupid colour choices like the continued eyesore blue pins in the fancy Technic sets (I remember when the used to use black ones!). Oh and the colour discrepancies in parts (looking at you dark red). And the crap easy to scratch new window plastics. If they want to be so premium priced they can provide a more premium product. 

Anyway I think rant over lol

Edited June 2, 2022 by Graphicski

[RightDwigt]

1 hour ago, brickvoyeur said:

https://www.stonewars.de/news/lego-preiserhoehung-september-2022/

 

Looks like adult oriented sets are going to be hit the hardest. If a set is hit by a price increase, you can be fairly sure it's not going to retire. More than half of the sets not set to have price increases, are retiring at the end of the year. 

Like every other company, they got used to those "record profits" year after year, and don't want to give ground due to rising costs on their end.

Golly....... $70 for helmet sets now.... these are drastic increases. $90 for Dagobah Diorama is insane.

[cladner]

17 minutes ago, RightDwigt said:

Golly....... $70 for helmet sets now.... these are drastic increases. $90 for Dagobah Diorama is insane.

meanwhile in Denmark...

Edited June 2, 2022 by cladner

[exciter1]

This makes my retired sets look cheap. Bring on the bread!

[cladner]

1 minute ago, exciter1 said:

This makes my retired sets look cheap. Bring on the bread!

some of my walmart clearance buys just got better.  might have to get those bunny ranch (lol) minecraft sets @ $21 now.

[Mark Twain]

Earlier in the year I saw Lego jack up prices by about 20% on most of their education sets, so this isn’t surprising. What is surprising is how they justify their price increases. I cannot imagine that Speed Champions deserves a 25% increase across the theme while other larger and more complex sets only see an 8% mark up.


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[BrickLover80]

8 hours ago, brickvoyeur said:

Looks like adult oriented sets are going to be hit the hardest. If a set is hit by a price increase, you can be fairly sure it's not going to retire. More than half of the sets not set to have price increases, are retiring at the end of the year. 

 

That's an interesting observation. Some of the sets on the list are believed to be retiring (e.g. DV Helmet, Pirate ship, 4 Privet Drive, ...).

For missing sets, keep in mind that this is from German unaffiliated stores, so there is a limited selection. The basis is this catalog (minus sets that were released after Jan 1):

https://catalogs.lego.com/BrandCatalog/dea/?page=1

For example, the 3-in-1 castle is not in general distribution in Germany and hence the Stonewars people don't get that information (yet). So I would expect the price of the modular bookstore to increase if it indeed stays on the shelves another yet.  

 

[Bricklectic]

IMO its absolutely inexcusable to raise prices 25% in a looming recession given the insane profits they had last year. If they were losing money i could understand but when your making hand over fist profits you gotta absorb most if not all....

[Phil B]

19 minutes ago, Bricklectic said:

IMO its absolutely inexcusable to raise prices 25% in a looming recession given the insane profits they had last year. If they were losing money i could understand but when your making hand over fist profits you gotta absorb most if not all....

Talk to the oil companies. 

[Thanos75]

I think they are looking at the future forecasts. They see raw product prices and shipping costs increasing and disposable money to spend on toys dropping in the next few years. I think they are just building a buffer now while things are still good to help weather the storm. Their profits are going to drop as people have less cash to burn and I can see them reducing the amount of different product lines that they currently spend their production money and time on. 

[scrapen]

Talk to the oil companies. 

Just be glad Lego isn’t an oil company.

Exxon 2021: 23billion
Lego 2021 (if they had Exxon income): 66.5 billion

I work in a manufacturing environment and the extra costs are month to month.

At least Lego is nice enough to give a decent warning. They already show the increases in 2022 by offering what should be $15 sets for $20 and not passing any nice 20% discounts to retailers. I feel like there are no new 2022 sets on sale ever except maybe Costco.

[Thanos75]

I agree

Edited June 3, 2022 by Thanos75
Edit

[redcell]

5 hours ago, Bricklectic said:

IMO its absolutely inexcusable to raise prices 25% in a looming recession given the insane profits they had last year. If they were losing money i could understand but when your making hand over fist profits you gotta absorb most if not all....

So I guess you're going to stop buying Lego then?

[Darth_Raichu]

Yet another sign of US booming economy (tm MSNBC)

[Bricklectic]

46 minutes ago, redcell said:

So I guess you're going to stop buying Lego then?

Like others I think this is a real positive >> I have lots of inventory I need to move atm and the relative price difference will be more favorable to overpriced retired sets if new sets are overpriced as well.

Just commenting on the perceived greed.

I anyways am cutting back this year significantly due to the likely oncoming US recession.

[BrickLover80]

21 hours ago, redcell said:

No, this is coming to the U.S. as well.

I believe you, but do we have any information? Looking at the Obi-Wan starfighter, Lego increased the price in Europe pre-release from 30 to 35 Euro but left it at $30. The USD is pretty strong right now, which helps. 

[Pseudoty]

23 hours ago, marcandre said:

Odd to see new sets like Ferrari & Optimus on the list. Why not just get the price right at launch? 

This, have we ever seen a retroactive price increase? Even when they increased the prices on CMFs wasn’t it only on the new releases? If these take effect in the USA it will be interesting to see a PPP pre/post chart Vs sets that are unchanged to help determine Value. 
 

Also will be interesting to see if non-lego B&M stores like Walmart maintain prices on existing inventory that is on the shelf. I think there might be some consumer regulations on this. 

[RightDwigt]

1 hour ago, Pseudoty said:

This, have we ever seen a retroactive price increase?

Only ever from other retailers like Amazon and Target and WM. Specifically I recall the Razor Crest soaring to $169 during the holidays and hanging up there for a while. Can't say it's never happened before from LEGO SaH but I don't recall it.

[BrickLover80]

1 hour ago, Pseudoty said:

This, have we ever seen a retroactive price increase?

I haven't seen it from Lego US directly but we haven't had any real inflation in 40 decades. However, they increased prices in Germany on Jan 1 on existing sets, so they clearly can do it.

As for increasing prices of existing inventory: happens every day these days. Retailers can't increase prices on existing orders (eg. backordered sets) but you can do whatever you want for new orders.