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This is a dangerous topic, but let's see how it goes. People need to realize this is not about larger corporations. This will damage many small business owners and force them to find ways to function without employees. As a car wash owner, if this came to NJ, I would be forced to invest 300-400K into new equipment and POS systems and lay off most of my help. Ten people would lose their jobs. Minimum wage was designed for inexperienced and young workers to get a foot in the door...it was not meant to support a family.

I feel that maybe some the people who think it's not a big deal are the same people stealing photos........

Ok folks... R2 is gone, but Arctic Supply Plane is back. http://www.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=34246876 There are just over 30 left... Gobble 'em up and don't forget to use the CineplexFeb code. I've been selling these for $120+ shipping on eBay.

Haha, I was thinking the exact same thing! But even though PS has been under siege, it's proving a little hard to kill.

I think you should get the most helpful to a new user post award

​You are asking one of the quintessentially hard questions for which there is no simple answer one can give you. Instead you are just setting yourself up for sarcastic, scornful responses. My advice is to read several pages back on this thread and the daily deals to get an idea on what people are buying and why. Also if you have a set that think might be a winner look up the particular thread for that set and see if others agree with you. An example of a set that I believe has potential is Pet Shop which we don't really call pet shop we just say PS. Look it up here and decide for yourself if it has potential.

Exo suit, B wing, Chima fire bikes. All great

Oink, oink.

​Hmm, I need to look into this. Problem is if I part out full time I will be too busy driving in my new Benz to post on BP

Went to Wal-Mart to pickup some $7 X-wing Microfighter (got 5) and came out with a mint 9493 X-wing located in the general clearance aisle for $40. I felt like a kid again when I saw it sitting there on the top shelf by itself.

More Dimensions packs confirmed. Looks like we will get Bane from the Batcave and Harley Quinn from the Funhouse. http://brickfanatics.co.uk/lego-dimensions-adds-more-iconic-characters/

Lazy selfish people shamelessly stealing other peoples time and effort and using it for their own benefit.

It is rude and disrespectful at best (when someone steals your photos to use in their listings) - especially when they lie stating in the listing that the photos are of the actual item. If I list an item (using actual photos to show its excellent condition), and they are selling a not so great condition item, using my photos, and undercutting my price - how is that harmless? Also, if buyers see multiple listings with the same photos, both stating actual photos - it will immediately raise a red flag that could keep a potential buyer from purchasing your item (they don't know which is real - why should they take a chance). Overall, it is pretty much a non issue - but it is not harmless.

​If there would be a clear consensus about the set with the most growth potential then there should be a consensus that the set can not have the greatest potential because it would be hoarded the most. The consensus would contradict itself.

​What an a-hole, he left off Epic Dragon Battle.

Source: The Brick Fan

A faded Taj Mahal would not interest me in the least. I bricklinked mine with "new" parts for this very reason, white is very finicky in Lego-world. A complete CC, even w/o instructions would be a nice pickup. Like JA said, the Carousel value really depends on whether a handful of pieces are there. The baseplate, sound brick, and sails. Am I missing any?

Good news as far as I am concerned. If a business is only able to survive due to artificially low wages paid to workers thanks to subsidies from tax payers (food stamps, housing and health subsidies, tax credits etc) then should they really be in business at all? Costco pays very high wages and is also very profitable.

​ robots have been used in factories for decades (ie production lines in EVERY factory from food to heavy machinery) self-checkouts and self/online ordering for store pickup are only the first step to getting rid of low-level service employees those screaming for increases in minimum wage dont realize that everyone will need to be paid more, hence rapid increase in inflation and we're back at the same place we started. forgot to add and agree with the consesus. mom+pop shops are definitely going to be the ones hurt the most and drive up the unemployment and need for entitlements. only the large corporations will survive, however who's going to have money to shop there if no one has a job and 1% is the thing of the past?

​I believe small businesses employ about half the workforce, so many would be left out. In my experience, if you are reliable and are willing to show up for work, you can make well above minimum wage. You don't even have to be good at what you do. Showing up is the hard part...LOL

Finally got around to putting these pieces on to smooth the dome, looks great! I believe however that the above list is missing two 1x2 dark blue tiles, and two 2x2 dark blue tiles (or whatever combination of plates you want to use) for the very top of R2's head.

​Rental properties are great if you have tenants that pay and respect your property. It is your worst nightmare if they don't and destroy your property. As you said...it is a total crap shoot.

I'm becoming more and more supportive of the bans and limits that are being imposed by many of the retail outlets, simply because it helps minimize massive hoarding, and the quick flipping mentality that can artificially inflate prices. Scarcity is a law when it comes to supply and demand, and a market is artificially inflated when 5000 out of every 6000 sets are mostly in the hands of 100 people and they are intentionally jacking up the prices. When you see 50 people saying they have horded 50 echto 1s, I begin to throw some caution to the wind on going beyond more than having a few. Cutting your loses on a few, and losing out on 20 to 3o dollars is much more pallatable, then cutting your loses on thousands of dollars. I'd suspect it's going to take a while for the market to catch up as thousands try to dump their stock at the end of its life hoping to get rich quick. Running out and buying 50 death stars, 50 modulars, etc is a real risk. The thoughts of a new death star would surely throw a monkey wrench into making a killing by hording a ton of them. The other thing is, always check the sales data on ebay. It's nice to think that every day 50 people are buying a SSD for 700.00, but that is not reality. So, those that are sitting on 50 of those, are going to be waiting a while to get all their investment money to pan out at that price. But on the other hand those that had the foresight to stock on a few green grocers sure are making thier money, and that set does sell quite a bit daily at inflated prices. And I admit, I am just as guilty in that I have horded a few sets. But, while I do set goals of 10 on some sets, once I get over the 5 mark, I tend to stop and step back and think really hard about going further. I usually impose my own limits and self-control, because while it's nice to think something is going to return 2x your money, the reality is it might not go down that way. I also will admit, i've never lost money on a set, but, i've been pretty conservative in what I buy and prefer to play the waiting game. I'm also a small timer, and only see this as a hobby to fuel my son and my lego building habits. I also don't think the TB will be a bad investment as I doubt that one is heavily horded. To me the modulars and star wars sets seem to be the most horded. Only recently have people started going bonkers over hording the TB, and that's because its' at the end of its life.

​Because a large part of my eBay strategy is happy customers, and that includes accurate descriptions and pictures of the box they're going to receive. I want to minimize SNAD defects and returns. The #1 best way to do this is post good, detailed, and many photos of the box, seals, edges, and any problems like creases, folds, or scratches. That way, no surprises for the buyer. Stock photos = complaints about box condition. It happens to all of us; the only way to prevent it is good pics of the actual item. In fact, these kind of good photos take time, and I consider them a competitive advantage when posting an auction.

​The best mine gave me was 'always have your hangover on company time'.

​July 9th? Come on man. I don't know who your source is, but he's got terrible info. According to the bugs I have planted all over Lego HQ, broadcasting direct to my satellite speakerphone, the T1 will retire precisely at 12:01 am on July 4, as an Independence Day gift for US resellers. It will be replaced this Fall by the Dodge Charger from the Dukes of Hazzard.

I really do not care if someone wants to use my photos. Have at it. Many other things to worry about.

http://www.boredpanda.com/lego-figures-photography-samsofy-pardugato/ haha

As Jeff and I mentioned yesterday, the new IP Board forum software has a module which enables private subforums. Jeff and I purchased this module so that members can once again discuss NON LEGO investing topics in a forum that works in conjunction with the normal Brickpicker forum, yet is accessible to only members which would like to view it. It will not interfere with normal LEGO discussions or forum topics, yet for those who are members, you will see the forum activity pop up on your screen. This should satisfy the many requests we received from members about reinstating this type of discussion on a LEGO based site. You can have your cake and eat it too as they say. It will operate like any other forum and Jeff can add categories for different NON LEGO topics if you like. We have already invited all the members that were active in the old thread (which is now unlocked). Any new members need to go HERE and click on the join button. Either Jeff or I will receive the request and approve it. Long time member, Pickleboy, will also have the ability to approve members and he has volunteered to take an active role in leading this forum. Moderation will be limited and basically anything legal and legit can be discussed. Please no illegal or vulgar topics! There will be more leeway given on this forum, but please be considerate of others and keep the discussions mature in nature. Thanks for your patience and participation... Ed Mack

Regardless of how you feel about this particular issue I think most would agree that something must be done about income inequality in this country. If you personally are not willing to pay your neighbor a living wage for the work or goods they produce then how will they ever afford to buy the goods and services upon which your livelihood depends. The middle class is what made this country strong, a majority who could afford to buy the products their neighbors made. Now I agree raising the min wage is not the best action to effect change, but is it better than nothing? Only time will tell. There is an alternative solution of course that does not need the heavy hand of government and it is quite simple. If you want to keep your own livelihood you simply need to buy the things your neighbor produces. And furthermore demand that if a company (I am looking right at you Lego, Apple, Microsoft, Ford, GM etc) wants to sell its products in the most wealthy and profitable economies in the world then they must also employ here. And I don't just mean employ a few programmers or executives I mean real employment with production facilities and operations, and if it means their profits get cut a little or prices go up a little then that is something they and we must accept.

​This opens up an entirely different can of worms regarding sex education in schools, ability to exercise bodily integrity, the cycle of poverty. Some folks don't have the luxury of being able to choose when to have kids. They are either grossly uneducated, or have little choice in the matter once pregnancy occurs. And then the lack of support in childcare prevents a single parent from getting a full time job. There's lots of interconnected threads which is why it's such a tricky issue.

​Didn´t you read the helicopter memo?

I'm sympathetic to the argument that a higher minimum wage would reduce workers' dependence on taxpayer subsidies. However, those workers who lose their jobs altogether due to a minimum wage hike will find themselves very much in need of taxpayer-funded support.I forget the exact statistic, but essentially if you graduate high school and don't have children until you are married and at least 25 years old, your odds of living in poverty drop to just about zero. When I read newspaper stories about single moms with three kids who can't support them all with a part-time job at Wendy's, I have to wonder what they were thinking. Most middle class folks I know don't have more than one or two children, and waited until they were married, secure in their jobs, and well on their way to paying down a mortgage. A single guy or gal should not have trouble living on a full-time minimum wage income. The pinch comes when they decide to start families right out of (or instead of finishing) high school.

​Just to point out, because I hear it cited a ton whenever this issue is discussed, Costco is not really like other retail businesses. They employ far fewer people because they carry very few SKUs compared to Wal-Mart, etc., and stocking a shelf at Costco consists of dropping a pallet and cutting the plastic off of it. Nevertheless, Costco does have a different philosophy than other companies in that they are actually willing to share a decent amount with their employees. But if anyone expects a place like Wal-Mart or Target to be run like Costco they're dreaming because they are completely different businesses.

So are we in agreement that the investment potential of Lego Mindstorms improves with this law?

Careful on the margin point. Most grocery chains, for example, have profit margins of around 1%. For Wal-Mart, I believe the figure is 3.5% or so, and about 4.5% for Target. Retail is not where the massive corporate profits are located (check out software or finance, and those industries pay far above minimum wage already). California frequently runs experiments like this, and they sometimes work. I don't think this will be one of those times. Especially with the added cost of mandatory health insurance, employees are going to end up being more costly than automation in many cases (automation already benefits from ultralow interest rates on business loans for equipment). As far as supporting a family goes, two parents making minimum wage full time can support one or two kids in most parts of the country. Consider that in that case the family is already entitled to substantial health care subsidies and a sizable earned income tax credit. Their effective federal tax rate will be negative. To expect to raise several children on one parent's minimum wage income in a city like LA or NY is simply not reasonable.

My buys for today...

That's the biggest problem right there. Big corporations are the ones abusing minimum wage/part-time positions as a way to avoid paying full-time wages and benefits. It's the easy political solution to raise minimum wage rather than force the big companies to fix their broken hiring practices. ​Apparently it's a little more than that... just above 4%. But if you read on, almost 80% of the minimum wage earners are 25 or over. Minimum wage earners are also disproportionately female and non-white. As I said above, raising the minimum wage is the "easy" way to try and fix the problem of too many part-time positions in the workforce. http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2013.pdf

They are trying to do this in part of WA state as well. I think in certain places where its expensive to live then it makes since. So LA would be fine but we have cities here where it makes no sense at all. Places in Seattle have already closed directly because of this law. I make most of my money from tips but my base pay is $9 something. Going to $15 an hour would give me a raise on my base pay but my hours would be cut and my overall income would take a hit. So coming from someone who makes minimum wage I say its a fail.

​'You're the cook? Oh ma gawd we're all gonna die!'

There's bound to be an "Under Siege" MOC at some point.

​This issue isn't Lego exclusive, people steal pictures of almost everything. I've been dealing with this issue for more than 15 years on eBay. Even if people conclude that it's OK, maybe eBay reporting system has the option "copied pictures or text" for a reason.

​Well... it is worth a gamble to bet on the PC in my opinion. If it turns out that PC will retire soon (as some have mentioned they heared from trustable sources) it will be a big money machine like TH. Although I guess many more will put their money on this than when it happened with TH. My personal theory is both PS and PC will retire at the same time. Please do not burn me if you disagree. It's just a theory.

Sold another 7965 Falcon NISB this morning for $250 shipped, so I bumped the eBay listing up to $260 and sold another this evening. Keep pushing those prices up, folks!

My pictures have been used several times. I have no issue with it. They are just pictures. Sure, it took me five minutes to upload them, and it took them 30 seconds to steal them, but it has never affected my sales.

Let me tell you my story: I had put up a listing for a complete set of SW Microfighters series 1. I went through a lot of trouble and it was one of the longer and more tedious listings I created. It had two pics of each set and then a pic of all 6 together. The pics had my watermark. I typed out a long description including manufacturer's description for each set, along with including all the piece counts and UPC codes. I spent a lot of time on this listing. The next day some doofus from Chicago has copied my title, my listing text and all my pics. This wasn't another Lego reseller. This was actually some guy who sold some weird items related to a group for *** members of the USMC. Now I have no problem with *** people at all, or Marines for that matter, but I really don't want my listings matching this guy's 100%. Also he had a crap feedback score. I politely asked him to remove my info from his listing and he accused me of stealing HIS images and text and said to stop harassing him or he would report me. So I called ebay and had them remove the listing. Pretty easy to tell who's listing came first. If you think this kind of activity is OK, I wonder if you engage in it yourself? If so, please stop, you are being a giant douchenozzle.

​Yeah, great buy! These come up from time to time, I just don't get why they give up and sell at such a deep discount. It seems that with minimal effort, they could sell the GE, TH, and TB for $1K on eBay. If they don't know the worth of them, that's one thing. But when people know the value and do a fire sale, I just don't get it. That said, congrats on the score!

​I think he was probably talking about when he's around your mother though.

​Can we wait until Amazon is out for at least maybe 20 minutes or so before we start saying it is for sure done. They do restocks at Amazon you know....