Lego to Manufacture In China

[Guest TabbyBoy]

If LEGO can maintain standards in China, I'm not too worried apart from a possible over-production of sets that we want to stay rare or hard to get.  Ed, don't knock dog eating if you haven't tried it.  The Shanghainese make a wicked stew out of St. Bernard.  A bit like goat but, sweeter. ;-)

[asharerin]

They also have low shipping cost as well. I don't know how they manage to have a free shipping for an item that cost fews dollars to oversea and still profit. 

 They negotiated a special deal to get heavily discounted shipping rates with the world's largest economies. They have already decimated many selling categories on ebay. 2017 may be lego's turn.

[Guest brickcrazyhouse]

peoples republic of chima    off topic ok with eating dog.. sorry never had pets, and meat is tasty.  on topic china having a factory makes more sense then mexico.  I hope they have their own set of exclusives, and crush all  knock offs.  There are a lot of U.S. buyers who won't take the risk of international buying, but I will.  The knock offs are getting really similar (looking at least), hopefully having an investment that size (factory and shipping infrastructure) will pressure them out

[Brickshopper]

The way China sellers are able to ship to the us is actually very interesting. Today I can buy an Item and have it delivered from china by USPS cheaper than I can from my neighbor. I have read about it quite a bit it was a trilateral agreement between ebay USPS and China. The sellers are able to ship it overseas at a weight per pallet type system so a seller can ship 500 or more of a light weight item for less than .25 each. They dont pay per package and as with all international mail USPS delivers it free...This is how I understand it maybe someone else can explain it better. It is pretty messed up and puts US sellers at a huge disadvantage I couldn't imagine competing in the electronic accessory category among others..They have cheaper goods labor and now can ship to your customers in the US for a fraction of your cost. Ebay has made it so they can send 1,000s of smaller packets for 1.00 or less each and no longer need the large wholesale orders. If our trade deficit wasnt bad enough. Ebay really makes it tough for the average US seller.One last thought another big problem for this program is the China sellers are selling junk poor quality knock off stuff and if you are unhappy it is ridiculous the amount of money it would take to return something and is such garbage 10-100x more to return an item than it cost the CH seller to send it.

[boliramirez]

peoples republic of chima    off topic ok with eating dog.. sorry never had pets, and meat is tasty.  on topic china having a factory makes more sense then mexico.  I hope they have their own set of exclusives, and crush all  knock offs.  There are a lot of U.S. buyers who won't take the risk of international buying, but I will.  The knock offs are getting really similar (looking at least), hopefully having an investment that size (factory and shipping infrastructure) will pressure them out

 

Well, If it does sense, then why Lego is doubling their molding capacity in the Monterrey, Mexico factory they just opened 4 years ago ?

 

It is a monster of Facility they have here.....  Lego molding and packaging is not very labor intensive, it has become very automated,  hence, distance and product weight/Volume are the critical variables way over cheap labor...... but hey , I guess they already knew that....

[Guest brickcrazyhouse]

are you anywhere close to the factory Boliramirez?  Factory work is very automated now but how cool would it be to work there.  Bricks flying all around on belts

[BrickPick3r]

On the good side, you might be able to get the set at a cheaper price. Especially for those countries with high retail price 

[boliramirez]

It is about 15 minutes drive from home, A couple of friends work there in Enginering and Maintenance and I can tell you after having worked for Mattel for over 6 years , that you do not pay attention what are you manufacturing after a while, they are just toy numbers...... I remember when I started @ Mattel, I was 21 and excited to be in Engineering, we designed the production lines for the new toys (it was the start up of their second facility in Monterrey) and every body in admin and engineering wanted to participate in the debugin of the lines, as operators, but after the third of fourth new toy development, nobody wanted to stay after 6 to help out....  all the excitement faded in about 6 months..... But hey, no regrets, it was a really good job to have when Christmas was arround the corner, they used to sell us waaayyy to many toys at cost !!   Now they are down to 6 per employee.....  I guess like everything, we abussed.....

[Guest brickcrazyhouse]

[Miami Bomb Squad]

Lego pricing in China will not be Cheap as many of you may speculate.
Just because its made in China doesn't mean Lego will Retail it cheaper in Asia.

I believe the MSRP will be higher than the United States.

Americans have the cheapest Prices on almost all the goods from around the world.

[BrickPick3r]

 it would definitely be cheaper than buying oversea. They would set the price where it's high enough for people to buy, but not too high.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

Lego pricing in China will not be Cheap as many of you may speculate.

Just because its made in China doesn't mean Lego will Retail it cheaper in Asia.

I believe the MSRP will be higher than the United States.

Americans have the cheapest Prices on almost all the goods from around the world.

 

Too true... iPads are made in China yet cost say $399 in the US and

[legofreeman]

I'm not too concerned about losing out on selling to the Asian market...but the possibility of Asian resellers flooding the US market has me spooked.  That's the first realistic scenario for a legitimate bubble I've encountered.

 

What do you all think the likely potential impact will be?

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I'm not too concerned about losing out on selling to the Asian market...but the possibility of Asian resellers flooding the US market has me spooked.  That's the first realistic scenario for a legitimate bubble I've encountered.

 

What do you all think the likely potential impact will be?

 

Scary esp. if they can undercut us.

[BrickPick3r]

TLG won't let that happen to their US market. They will price to the point that it would be more expensive with the shipping cost. Supply will be high, but the demand will be high too. But there might be more lego investors from China lol 

[malkhaz]

"Made in China" will be a big issue - now china is associated to cheap and bad quality in my country. It will be hard to overcome this perception.

[thombockerman]

I remember recently reading how lego distanced themselves from all other block brands by going to the great extent of sourcing each and every single raw material in every part of their product- a massive undertaking. I highly doubt they plan to then junk it all up

[toy brick salvage]

China? Well if unlike the Duck or meat products they sell over here to KILL our Pets, the plastics and material is imported into China and European molding machines are used, then there is the distribution problem, lots of corruption, thief and other deceptive things that Lego could learn from them.

[Tilted]

This will be huge for LEGO investors!

 

If I recall correctly, sales in China are up 50% while the US market has shrunk.

 

That said... there's no Christmas without Chinaaaaa, there are no lights in our treeeeee!!! Ladada ladadada, we had to get them from Germanyyyy!!!

[Ed Mack]

I fear a lack of security in a Chinese LEGO factory and some valuable molds walking out the back door into the hands of some knockoff company.

[pickleboy]

I fear unions, progressives and the far right.  



Oh, are we talking about Lego

[Darth_Raichu]

It would not surprise me if the rash of knock off minifigures from China being sold on eBay has a lot to do with this decision. There are a lot plannings involved in this kind of venture and most likely some manufacturig techniques have been shared with the interested parties even at this very moment. Bits and pieces of info is enough. Some ppl do not need all manufacturing techniques to create the knock offs (ie who needs quality control on knock off stuffs ). They just need enough to get the products pasables to the eyes of average users.

[Tilted]

That said... there's no Christmas without Chinaaaaa, there are no lights in our treeeeee!!! Ladada ladadada, we had to get them from Germanyyyy!!!

 

I'm guessing no one saw Xmas Without China on PBS! 

[toy brick salvage]

Where can one find the forum entitled "Beast From The East" abount China and their knock offs.

[Miami Bomb Squad]

Just because knockoffs are made in China, doesn't mean The Consumers in China buys them.
The Knockoffs are for "Westerners" that cannot afford the real thing........ (Watches, Shirts, Purses.etc....)
Lego "Knockoffs" is actually a good thing for us "Western" Resellers.

The People in China may not even buy the Lego sets coming out of China, They may think its a "knockoff", so they rather buy from a seller in US or Europe.(Mainly in regards to EOL sets)
This happens all the time, I have some business contacts in China and they always ask me to buy them items that are available in China, but fear are fakes.

So, when 2017 comes around make sure you sport "Seller from USA"  loud and proud on your Ebay, Amazon, Bricklink stores.