"These changes are intended to balance Euro prices, which have traditionally been slightly lower in Germany than they are in France or Benelux nations"

So why not to lower prices in France etc.?

All I know is that Finland gets the worst euro prices and they should lower them

@parsom said:
""These changes are intended to balance Euro prices, which have traditionally been slightly lower in Germany than they are in France or Benelux nations"

So why not to lower prices in France etc.?"

Because they are "convinced they offer good value for money". Because only the best (of ever-decreasing quality of bricks) is good enough (for the ever-increasing prices).

Also @CapnRex101 , the price reported for 31120 (and 31109 , might I add) is €119.99, not €109.99.

given sets have quite a short lifespan, you'd have thought they could have just applied the new model to new sets and lived with the existing price for those already released. By increasing MSRP for a current set it gives a boost to any resellers who 'bought in' at the lower price

So this shouldn't affect the already slightly high UK prices then?

We hope that under this pretext they will not apply the prices charged in Finland everywhere! Then yes that would be trouble!

I remember when Sweden was going to election about joining the EU or not many years ago and one of the selling points was that hey, this will be good for you because you're going to be able to buy products from other EU countries at a lower price.... OH WELL!

I always wondered why different countries in Europe got different prices. So I do understand the move to standardise the prices. However, instead of provoking another unnecessary temporary shi*tstorm from German AFOLs and bad PR, they should have done this for upcoming products only. No one would have complained if they announced that from now on new products would have the same recommended price across all "Euro"-countries.

Moreover, other trusted sites indicate the new price of the set 31120 (for example) 119,99 EUR instead of 109,99. That would be equivalent to a 20% increase!!! If so, LEGO would have proved once again to be out of this world!

31120 already cost the equivalent of €127 in Sweden (1299 SEK) so you'll have to excuse me if I don't seem all that upset that my fellow EU citizens have to pay what I have to pay.

Uhm, current price for 31120 is in both NL and DE 99,90, in FR 109,90... So we all to be expecting rises? It would be fair prices would level (preferably to the lowest level), but increasing all is madness - really don't understand the reasoning aside from increasing ABS-prices, or simple greed?

Lego's quality is going down both in regards to actual part quality and the overall quality of sets including value for 'the amount of stuff that you get'.

If they can adjust prices then I see no reason as to why they cant adjust Australian and New Zealand prices to be normal instead of giving us ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Auxiliary Cost). ANZAC is the random price increase included on sets sold in Australia and New Zealand regardless of value or international exchange rates.

As for our European friends the Germans, Austrians and so forth should not have to pay more because Lego doesnt understand economics. They should reduce prices for those countries who are charged more then Germany, rather then hiking German prices.

In fact I think all of Lego's products could be reduced in price, there are so many cases where the price is very unfair to plain ridiculous for the amount of plastic you get, but more importantly the finished product.

For example, the average City Great Vehicles vehicle so a campervan, dump truck, pizza van and so forth should be around $20 AU. $30 is not acceptable. They are often sold for $28, then over the course of the year reduced to $24 and eventually $19 in a Christmas or midyear sale. (but only at BigW, Kmart and Target which are like Walmart for you Americans).

Relying on sales is not right, the RRP should be a good price to begin with particularly for sets that are not as widely released such as the modular buildings. (the average modular should cost around $250 AU, unless it is a particulary special model like Town Hall which was $300 or Assembly Square which was $400)

Another example a set like the Deep Sea Research Vessel from 2015 I believe it was, cost $100 as it has animals, a large boat hull along with just being a good sized playset with multiple submarines, a large floating boat, medium sized coastal trader sunken ship, animals and minifigs. That was a good and fair price. Currently Lego likes to price sets like this (eg that new City street set with the carwash, pizzeria and small park) for $159.99. That is ridiculous. You Americans can buy a working train for that amount.

In fact Id argue Lego's step prices killed the trains theme since the only way for a young child to get a train is either $150+ for just a passenger train on a single round track or $250-$300 for a cargo train (with lots of playvalue). Naturally these prices are very much out of the range of a child saving up pocket money and a huge ask for parents on a budget and so forth. In the case of trains I can partially understand the expense with a motor, working train, lots of track pieces and so forth, however Lego would be much better off making cheaper $20-$30 locomotives and rolling stock that a child could afford (or would be a reasonable ask from parents), who could then build their railway system with ad ons like the straight and curved track pieces, perhaps invest in a station and so forth, just like Thomas the Tank Engine toys and model railways.

What, TLC doesn't make enough money already?

Unfortunately - and that's just what I heard/read - income gaps in Germany tend to be bigger, so, while you average incomes out, the prices seem to get fairer when compared to other countries, but certain jobs here aren't as well paid as elsewhere in Europe.
We'll see how the prices will affect sales in Germany.
Also, the competition from other brick brands just started growing.
Interesting times.

And people will keep buying anyways..

@florian00777 said:
"And people will keep buying anyways.. "
...when the sets have nice big discounts on Amazon :-)

This is simple greed, wrapped in a sugarcoated nonsens reason.

As a consumer and long time fan of Lego, I have decreased my spending on them, because of lower quality bricks and higher prices. Don't forget they sacked a lot of people in the near past despite still making a huge profit. It doesn't surprise me that their designs are more bland lately because of this, although that is a personal opinion and doesn't apply to their bigger sets (although not all are great ideas).

The decreasing of spending is a power we all have to send them a message. I suggest more people use it.

And people will continue to buy anyway ... but less and less.
Unfortunately, I agree that the world economy is not growing, and many countries may no longer buy the units they used to be.
To make up for it, I reduce the quantity, increase the price and the profit remains constant, indeed I also reduce research and production costs, because I repeat SETs already made but of a different color and I have to produce less to satisfy (or almost) my clients.
Unfortunately I understand the path that the brand is taking, for work I analyze similar choices all day, but at AFOL I feel a slight bitter taste in my mouth.
Sorry for my English

That's it. From now on I'll 100% buy my lego either from small local stores or second hand.

The last few years I already could never bring myself to buy things directly. Especially new things.
This year I've already been mostly buying old sets I either missed out on as a kid or sold at some point only to want them back. I've worked my way through a lot of long-standing wanted list items that way. At only two points did I buy new sets, and that was at an unusual discount (here in the Netherlands you unfortunately don't get a lot of good deals anymore. And if you do you rarely get much choice).
I haven't bought anything from a major toy store in a long time, and especially not at full price unless it was already a small set. It doesn't help that set size is continuing to be shrinking with parts getting smaller and fiddlier and models denser with no real benefit beyond more intricate builds.
Most value seems to be in the higher price brackets. But at that point it's just waaay too much money for my meager income. Not to mention that those are almost always display models anyway.

And as mentioned before: new sets just keep getting quality issues. Prints are wonky. Stickers cut badly. Instructions crumpled. Colours inconsistent. Multiple colours are now known for their brittleness. Prints on dark surfaces still often lack the proper undercoat of paint.
And the set that almost released only to be pulled last-minute and seemingly increasing level of mistakes and flops made by the marketing department. And the constant distribution issues (how many times will the site be down and great shortages for new releases?) The wreck of a website and web shop. And those black boxes for the 18+ theme that look like all the joy and creativity is sucked out. And the horribly space overload of product releases making it impossible to keep track or care about a significant part of the catalog anymore...

This ISN'T the best! This ISN'T good enough! Ole and Kjeld would be ashamed of this!

And then there's this tone-deaf marketing where they think that just stating the 'greatness' of their brand excuses increasing prices to the even higher neighbouring countries' prices whilst the prices in my country are already higher next to the country right next to us?
You're not making anyone happy if you suddenly make things more expensive. At least have the decency to either lower prices in those unlucky other countries that had such high prices in the first place! Or just do it without *&@ announcing it so triumpantly!

NOT TO MENTION that Germany has already been alienated by Lego's practices for some time now. This will surely go over great and is not at all a horrible mistake.

Good job. Way to go. I'll just go focus on the older second-hand stuff now.

No point in supporting a company that has lost its soul ever since it became the biggest.

Whatever your stance on quality/quantity or anything else, as someone who has started selling personal sets both used/new, I have never sold a new/used set for less than what I bought it for originally. And in most cases for much more than what I paid for it.
I have even started looking at it as a way my son will be able to make a living.
We now buy sets for our own pleasure as well as extra sets to be sold several years later because of how much they increase over time.
Yes I know resellers are evil/vile people. But it is just like Pokémon cards, other collectible toys, video games and any other number of things.
They are going to be bought by collectors or people with more money than they know what to do with.
There are still Lego sets available to the masses at regular prices, and you can always find awesome sets on sale.
Yes maybe not everyone who wants a certain set is going to get it, but I myself could never afford to get every set my son and I want anyways.
So we buy what we can, build together and now are even working on our business together.
But in the end it is a toy primarily for children and their enjoyment.
Cheers to everyone and happy building.

Hilarious, Lego. Real funny. Especially in the face of the small, creeping quality complaints people have already alluded to.

Yet more reason to always shop around, and not buy sets full price.

I guess some manager needs to reach a higher revenue margin to get his bonus this year.
All the rest is just manipulative marketing nonsense. A 20% price increase for a low-income country like Germany is just plain greed.

@IgelCampus said:
"I guess some manager needs to reach a higher revenue margin to get his bonus this year.
All the rest is just manipulative marketing nonsense. A 20% price increase for a low-income country like Germany is just plain greed."

Germany, a low-income country?
AHAHAHAHAHAH

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

I would say it is hard for Lego to justify a increase in recommended retail prices when sets or themes that do not sell well can be picked up often less then a year after release at 50% off clearance at some retailers, especially Amazon. It would indicate that Lego either sets very large profit margin for retails to make or set a very high wholesale price at first then reduces that wholesale price dramatically on clearance sets. Example is the Marilyn Monroe Art set which has been on sale from Amazon for 60% off for months. I can not imagine that either Lego or Amazon are selling sets like that so cheap without both parties still making enough of a profit to make it worth the costs. It really puts Lego RRP/MSRP benchmarks into perspective when they clear them out at half that price.

@Brickchap:
On the contrary, they do understand economics, where it seems most of the people commenting here do not. In all likelihood this is a change that was requested by their German retail partners. Sales in Germany have dropped, and raising MSRP to be on par with neighboring countries would allow German retailers to make more money on early sales, and/or discount prices even further below MSRP, while forcing LEGO.com to permanently raise their prices and potentially take themselves out of competition.

Cost to manufacture hasn’t gone down, either. This is a price hike that’s been delayed for over four decades, and frankly AFOLs have gotten spoiled with artificially low prices when other regular purchases have increased 3-4x what they were when minifigs were first introduced. It’s probably only a matter of time before the UK, and yes, even the US, see prices go up. And that’s real economics.

Changing prices of products already in production is absolutely idiotic. Especially considering the fact that lego makes so many new sets every season. It would be so much less polarizing and logical to apply NEW pricing politics to NEW products. This whole PR blabla looks similar to the announcement that LEGO will cease to make region specific sets and then they still do it (recent toysrus exclusives or the colour variations reserved for UK market). I see lack of vision and supervision from the CEO and its really disappointing.

Increasing prices for Germany so they are on par with the prices in the rest of Europe: understandable.

Raising the prices in Germany so they are higher than in the rest of Europe: unaccepable

Using some legal EU equal prices mumbo jumbo in order to increase ALL prices in Europe: criminal!

@PurpleDave said:
" @Brickchap:
On the contrary, they do understand economics, where it seems most of the people commenting here do not. In all likelihood this is a change that was requested by their German retail partners. Sales in Germany have dropped, and raising MSRP to be on par with neighboring countries would allow German retailers to make more money on early sales, and/or discount prices even further below MSRP, while forcing LEGO.com to permanently raise their prices and potentially take themselves out of competition.

Cost to manufacture hasn’t gone down, either. This is a price hike that’s been delayed for over four decades, and frankly AFOLs have gotten spoiled with artificially low prices when other regular purchases have increased 3-4x what they were when minifigs were first introduced. It’s probably only a matter of time before the UK, and yes, even the US, see prices go up. And that’s real economics."

Hahaha thanks for the laughs.

@thehornedrat said:
"INFLATION EVERYWHERE!!!

Why not Brickset put out an article about this????

Freight transport fees are through the roof.
ABS plastic prices (LEGO sources ABS from LG Korea) are through the roof.
So, cumulatively, to why do you think prices are so much? Thats why factories in China, closer compared to Denmark or Mexico lol.
LEPIN has been slaughtered, so monopoly their creative products..

Parts per piece is at least up 100% from 6-7 years ago (ref: see Aus prices for the Christmas sets)

Huw should put out the hard hitting articles, but no, he risks missing out on free awesome sets, right? ami I right???? Fcuk Lego PR.

HAH!

;)"

Not sure what you're trying to say here. Initially it sounded like you were being reasonable and acknowledging the myriad reasons Lego has for raising the prices

But Lepin absolutely hasn't been "slaughtered." Maybe one or two of the head honchos took a slap on the wrist, but it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to find their sets out there, being produced in the same numbers as ever.

Not sure what you mean by "parts per piece." If you're referencing Price per piece, that's largely held steady for the last several decades. It's tough to find *anything* that's still roughly the same cost as it was in the 80's

And you're suggesting that Huw isn't putting out an article about.....inflation......because it'll go against Lego PR? You're aware that acknowledging inflation is a very, very good reason for Lego to be raising their prices, right?

@teran01 said:
"No one would have complained if they announced that from now on new products would have the same recommended price across all "Euro"-countries."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Our German friends find something to complain about in every single announcement. I find it hilarious that there would be something Lego could do that *wouldn't* cause them to complain. Although I can agree that it probably would have flown a bit better if they just had the increase for upcoming sets, it's not like they aren't constantly releasing new things

________

"NOT TO MENTION that Germany has already been alienated by Lego's practices for some time now. This will surely go over great and is not at all a horrible mistake."

So be alienated already instead of just telling the comment section how alienated you are. Take it directly to Lego in surveys, whinging here does nothing

________

I don't really get this reaction. If Lego decided that the whole world was paying more, or countries that deal in USD were paying more, or just Northern America, I'd buy less. I'm not gonna cry in a comment section that Lego doesn't read.

before: 10c price per piece would get you > https://brickset.com/sets/3453-1/2x2-Black-Bricks
now: 10c price per piece would get you > https://brickset.com/sets/BAG5-1/1x1-Stud-Black

While the US $0.10 price per piece average is the goal, LEGO has become a rich man's toy. When I'm in stores and overhear kids ask their parents for a LEGO set, the answer is usually "that's too expensive for such a small toy."

Other than CMF and holiday related sets, I wait for Walmart price rollbacks and clearance and Target sale prices or clearance. It's in my financial interest to wait for better prices.

@graymattr said:
"While the US $0.10 price per piece average is the goal, LEGO has become a rich man's toy. When I'm in stores and overhear kids ask their parents for a LEGO set, the answer is usually "that's too expensive for such a small toy."

Other than CMF and holiday related sets, I wait for Walmart price rollbacks and clearance and Target sale prices or clearance. It's in my financial interest to wait for better prices."

"Become" isn't really correct, it's always been a luxury toy. And that's what my parents told me 20 years ago, and what I overhear parents telling their kids about every other toy today. Not sure how many kids are out there whose parents buy them every toy they want except Lego because it's too expensive. How many adults out there have memories of getting every single set they wanted in the 60's/70's/80's? Almost none. The vast majority remember the very few sets they had, because the pricing has remained consistent.

@jnscoelho said:
"Germany, a low-income country?
AHAHAHAHAHAH

Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

As mentioned above, it's a bigger gap in wealth distribution, and it depends on your job. Top jobs maybe better paid than elsewere, low-end or basic jobs worse.
Yeah, I get that there are countries with even unfairer prices and/or lower average income.

@eiffel006 said:
"I thought price differences in Europe could be explained by tax rate differences between countries. For example, I thought sets were more expensive in Finland because taxes were higher, etc. I guess I was wrong.

In NA, taxes are not included in the retail price of stuff. In Canada, 31120 is $139.99 CAD, which is only about €94, but when you add the 15% sales tax, price goes up to $161 CAD, or €107. Still better than Europe…"

VAT in the EU zone is usually just over 20%, somewhere between 17-25% (https://www.avalara.com/vatlive/en/vat-rates/european-vat-rates.html). In Germany it is 19%. Most price differences have other reasons.

Well, all that matters is that they get a "safe product". If Im paying more for a set, at least it will consist of "safe" plastic bricks. Great...

Sometime I just wish I knew someone who regularly commuted to the US who could make various lego purchases for me...

Sets being €5 €10 or even €20 higher in NL compared to Germany made little sense to begin with.

@Brickchap said:
"Lego's quality is going down both in regards to actual part quality and the overall quality of sets including value for 'the amount of stuff that you get'.

If they can adjust prices then I see no reason as to why they cant adjust Australian and New Zealand prices to be normal instead of giving us ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Auxiliary Cost). ANZAC is the random price increase included on sets sold in Australia and New Zealand regardless of value or international exchange rates.

As for our European friends the Germans, Austrians and so forth should not have to pay more because Lego doesnt understand economics. They should reduce prices for those countries who are charged more then Germany, rather then hiking German prices.

In fact I think all of Lego's products could be reduced in price, there are so many cases where the price is very unfair to plain ridiculous for the amount of plastic you get, but more importantly the finished product.

For example, the average City Great Vehicles vehicle so a campervan, dump truck, pizza van and so forth should be around $20 AU. $30 is not acceptable. They are often sold for $28, then over the course of the year reduced to $24 and eventually $19 in a Christmas or midyear sale. (but only at BigW, Kmart and Target which are like Walmart for you Americans).

Relying on sales is not right, the RRP should be a good price to begin with particularly for sets that are not as widely released such as the modular buildings. (the average modular should cost around $250 AU, unless it is a particulary special model like Town Hall which was $300 or Assembly Square which was $400)

Another example a set like the Deep Sea Research Vessel from 2015 I believe it was, cost $100 as it has animals, a large boat hull along with just being a good sized playset with multiple submarines, a large floating boat, medium sized coastal trader sunken ship, animals and minifigs. That was a good and fair price. Currently Lego likes to price sets like this (eg that new City street set with the carwash, pizzeria and small park) for $159.99. That is ridiculous. You Americans can buy a working train for that amount.

In fact Id argue Lego's step prices killed the trains theme since the only way for a young child to get a train is either $150+ for just a passenger train on a single round track or $250-$300 for a cargo train (with lots of playvalue). Naturally these prices are very much out of the range of a child saving up pocket money and a huge ask for parents on a budget and so forth. In the case of trains I can partially understand the expense with a motor, working train, lots of track pieces and so forth, however Lego would be much better off making cheaper $20-$30 locomotives and rolling stock that a child could afford (or would be a reasonable ask from parents), who could then build their railway system with ad ons like the straight and curved track pieces, perhaps invest in a station and so forth, just like Thomas the Tank Engine toys and model railways."

- Claims Lego doesn't understand economics

- But is clearly confused and thinks American/Australian dollars are the same thing

- Doesn't actually make any sort of case, just says things should be cheaper because they want it

- Totally ignores Lego's cheaper approach to Star Wars Lego this year

Pricing for Lego has always, ALWAYS been less about exchange rates and more based on the perceived value in a particular market. Which is why in some markets, 3 sets can have the same price point, and in another market, they're at 3 different price points.

Exactly why I don't buy from Lego to begin with. The VIP 5% back is pretty much a joke. Amazon often has sets for 20% off MSRP within a few months, so unless you are a must have first day of release then what's the point. Also other retailers offer much better incentives. At Amazon if you have a credit card you get 5% back on all purchases, so when you buy all that toilet paper for the pandemic, you get to purchase large sets for free with all those points. Took me just 6 months to save $700 worth of points and bought the UCS Imperial Star Destroyer for free!... I agree with everyone, prices should come down to reflect the higher prices across the board and be equal across all countries. They did that with their VIP points which are now pretty much a terrible system.

@fakespacesquid said:
""NOT TO MENTION that Germany has already been alienated by Lego's practices for some time now. This will surely go over great and is not at all a horrible mistake."

So be alienated already instead of just telling the comment section how alienated you are. Take it directly to Lego in surveys, whinging here does nothing

________

I don't really get this reaction. If Lego decided that the whole world was paying more, or countries that deal in USD were paying more, or just Northern America, I'd buy less. I'm not gonna cry in a comment section that Lego doesn't read. "

The part you replied to wasn't about me being alienated. I'm from the Netherlands, not Germany. What I meant is that Lego is throwing Germany under the bus whilst their PR is already bad there. Not exactly a delicate move on their part.

My main point is not that I'm mad at high prices by itself. It's that Lego is not only abrubtly deciding to increase them, which is already bad PR. It's moreso that they decide to anounce it with an 'only the best is good enough' as an excuse.
This whole anouncement just reeks of both Lego being full of themselves, incompence in adressing your customers, and greed.

As I started my post: I'm basically not going to support Lego anymore unless I can support small struggling businesses like mom-and-pop stores. The secondary market is out of Lego's zone of influence (beside Bricklink). And I mean largely only OLD sets, so I won't just increase demand on current products much. Besides, prices are seriously outpacing my income, so that's frustrating too.

I'm just frustrated that Lego is barely going to be affected by this. In the Netherlands you barely have any options when it comes to buying Lego anyway. For years now prices here have been higher even when you adjust for inflation. For the general public there would be no choice but to either swallow their pride or to reduce their spending... which is just sad for Lego's target audience: children.

It's always been expensive. But now Lego is just flaunting it and does it in an incompetent uncaring way too. Their claims of deeply caring about quality are nonsense.

So I decided to _reply_ to this article about this subject about it. As far as I know nobody is hurt by people voicing their frustration here. It's only natural.

There's a LOT going on in what probably looks like a "simple" price increase - right?

There's pricing practices or "theory" - boiling down to different prices because people in different markets have different ability and willingness to pay. Plus different tax rates in different locations. LEGO of course want to maximize the number of people buying their product, and prices will mostly (but not entirely) reflect this goal. And this kind of "maximizing" effort will be slightly different in each country

There's the Euro - you might expect that all Euro prices would be the same, given that it is a single currency, but the member states retain a lot of power for local differences - taxation differences, different levels of government interaction in each country, different jobs and economic situations. So even though it's one currency, the buying power of one Euro is almost certainly different in each country

There's marketing - LEGO want to be seen as having a premium product, as a marketing / branding differentiator. I think this is a pricing factor, though almost certainly far behind the goal of maximizing sales

There's greed, sure

There's unexpected cost increases due to Covid - in raw materials, manufacturing, and transportation / delivery, just to name the obvious ones.

This seems like both a missed opportunity and a signal

The missed opportunity is that LEGO might have said "hey you know what, Covid is causing price increases due to increased costs - so we are raising prices. While we are doing that we will also take the opportunity to better level and harmonize prices in the E.U." I think people would have understood and accepted this better than what they've actually done. And I am not a marketing professional so this is either "obvious" or it's not actually a good idea for reasons an actual marketing professional can explain

The signal is - if they are doing this on existing products, but not until January - what is going on? It seems like a drastic step to take, instead of just raising prices on the new / upcoming sets. And it was bound to cause the kind of negative reaction we are seeing. So - what is so important, or what is such a problem, that they are doing this in this way? On the other hand it can't be because of fears about holiday sales, or sales in the last fiscal quarter, because the increases don't happen until January. It's puzzling

We have to kind of assume that LEGO are rational actors in determining to take this step - so - what problem are they trying to address, by doing this, in this way, at this time?

(I don't mean that I think the WAY they are doing it, means they are rational. Marketing is meant to appeal to the entire person, and to get people to make emotional decisions to buy your product (along with rational decisions about affordability etc.) So the WAY they are presenting this change, does NOT require us to think that it is a rational way to announce this change.)

For me personally, I find LEGO very expensive. I am in the U.S. so I watch Amazon closely for sales. But some sets just do not get discounts and if you want them you just have to buck up. My take is that value-for-money does end up being better (i.e. more appropriately "leveled") at the price after a 20-30% discount. But then, no one asked me :) and I still buy *some* sets and, again, I have to believe that LEGO have professionals who are highly engaged, educated, and experienced, who determine their suggested retail prices

I do not like price increases - of course! But I guess I give LEGO a little more benefit of the doubt on this. I don't imagine this is ONLY based on greed.

Just my two cents, which gets you very little these days!

@florian00777 said:
"And people will keep buying anyways.. "

I did stop buying. I've had enough of TLG's crap and really have exited the hobby with $0 in purchases in last 10? months and <$200 in the last 24 months? I used to spend obscene amounts a year. No interest in current products. LEGO isn't fun for me anymore because I personally feel that they don't appreciate their customers as anything beyond a revenue stream now. They were different in the past, engaged, and collaborating. It's just not the same anymore and killed my fun.

I feel bad for Lego -- do you guys think it's easy or cheap to make sure every dark red piece is given a completely unique color?

@bernsa said:
" @florian00777 said:
"And people will keep buying anyways.. "

I did stop buying. I've had enough of TLG's crap and really have exited the hobby with $0 in purchases in last 10? months and <$200 in the last 24 months? I used to spend obscene amounts a year. No interest in current products. LEGO isn't fun for me anymore because I personally feel that they don't appreciate their customers as anything beyond a revenue stream now. They were different in the past, engaged, and collaborating. It's just not the same anymore and killed my fun."

Had this conversation at the weekend. Too many high priced sets too regular and too many repeats. I have slowed down, ALOT, and no longer buy from Lego (unless good GWP or an exclusive) as so many retailers offer them at better prices not long after, anyway.

Their job is to sell stuff, not to give a crap about who goes broke trying to keep up, but, the constant churn is too much for most now I feel.

I've chatted in the forums about it, but I now think the time is to sell off what I have. Saying and doing though, are two different things.

@kkoster79 said:
"Exactly why I don't buy from Lego to begin with. The VIP 5% back is pretty much a joke. Amazon often has sets for 20% off MSRP within a few months, so unless you are a must have first day of release then what's the point. Also other retailers offer much better incentives. At Amazon if you have a credit card you get 5% back on all purchases, so when you buy all that toilet paper for the pandemic, you get to purchase large sets for free with all those points. Took me just 6 months to save $700 worth of points and bought the UCS Imperial Star Destroyer for free!... I agree with everyone, prices should come down to reflect the higher prices across the board and be equal across all countries. They did that with their VIP points which are now pretty much a terrible system."

That's a nice saving for you, but spending $ 14 000 on Amazon in six months is a lot.

@bernsa said:
" @florian00777 said:
"And people will keep buying anyways.. "

I did stop buying. I've had enough of TLG's crap and really have exited the hobby with $0 in purchases in last 10? months and <$200 in the last 24 months? I used to spend obscene amounts a year. No interest in current products. LEGO isn't fun for me anymore because I personally feel that they don't appreciate their customers as anything beyond a revenue stream now. They were different in the past, engaged, and collaborating. It's just not the same anymore and killed my fun."

I don't see how they're less engaged and collaborating. The entire Ideas lines would be an argument against that, and the wide variety of larger sets would also lead to them being more engaging, rather than less. Across the board there is more choice, more sets made by long-time Afols, more support for Lugs, fan events, and fan media

(I was writing a very angry comment but when I started to cool down a bit I realized it was a lot of rambling and negativity without purpose so here’s a shorter summary of how I feel lol)

TL;DR I’m upset with LEGO ‘cause they’re now raising prices while quality is continuously decreasing and other continents can supposedly still keep their lower prices. I don’t have a high budget and this just adds to the list of issues with modern TLG. I feel ditched and almost betrayed, I’ve been such a loyal LEGO lover for all my life but they just continue to stray away from ‘Only the best is good enough’ and keep showing their arrogance and ignorance. The only thing that still motivates me to buy LEGO is the designers behind the sets at this point, cause everything else happening in this company is just plain greed and selfishness.

Good.
If we have a single market, we should have a single price for everyone. It's incredibly unfair that, for example, in Souther Europe we pay on average 20€ more per big set than Germany, even though Germans earn at the very least two times as much as we do.
And thanks for the EU, now all stores in Europe are forced to charge VAT according to the country of the person shopping and not local VAT. So while we could previously take advantage of the lower German prices by buying the sets in Germany and having them shipped to other European countries, now even if we buy them in Germany we have to pay the VAT of the country where we declare our taxes on.
So levelling the prices at least makes things even for everyone.

Does it suck for Germans? Sure.
But hey, you're the ones who pushed for a single currency (which benefited mostly Germany) and for further and further European integration.
For once, you're the ones being screwed rather than Southern Europe as it's customary.

@djcbs said:
"Good.
If we have a single market, we should have a single price for everyone. It's incredibly unfair that, for example, in Souther Europe we pay on average 20€ more per big set than Germany, even though Germans earn at the very least two times as much as we do.
And thanks for the EU, now all stores in Europe are forced to charge VAT according to the country of the person shopping and not local VAT. So while we could previously take advantage of the lower German prices by buying the sets in Germany and having them shipped to other European countries, now even if we buy them in Germany we have to pay the VAT of the country where we declare our taxes on.
So levelling the prices at least makes things even for everyone.

Does it suck for Germans? Sure.
But hey, you're the ones who pushed for a single currency (which benefited mostly Germany) and for further and further European integration.
For once, you're the ones being screwed rather than Southern Europe as it's customary."

This is my biggest takeaway as well. There was a discount before, and now there's no longer a discount. Does that sting? Sure. Is that greedy or undue or a reason to walk away from the hobby? Only if you're being unreasonable

I'm fascinated by how many people call LEGO greedy but are proud of saying they buy sets with huge discouts at Amazon, Walmart, etc. Those corporations are so greedy they are owned by billionnaires who can't even pay their employees living wages. They have also been undermining (and even completely destroying) local economies around the world for decades. If you were not greedy yourself, you would not wait for sales and you'd buy your sets from your local toy shops at retail prices.

When the PR statement is that long, you it's BS. I much prefer a company stating there's a price increase because they want to earn more or cover raise in production costs.

Here in Canada prices went up as well in the last two years.

Sets styles that were $119 are now $139.

2019 release of Batmobile "1989" - $300 for a 3306 pieces set
2021 release of Batmobile "Tumbler" - $329 for a 2049 pieces set

Baseplates - gone
Printed bricks - very few

@TomKazutara said:
"The quality is dropping over years by now,
Lego don't listen to what fans want,
and now a huge price increase (on already way overpriced sets)
there is not much left to buy Lego stuff.
"

I don’t know about them not listening to fans; certain segments of the population want very specific things, and Lego does not make them. But they make a lot of things that a lot of people seem to like and still buy. So I wouldn’t say they don’t listen to fans.

@Legorides:
Sure, you can laugh if you want. Or take an Econ 101 course. Or just find someone who teaches it and ask them how much the cost of gas has gone up since 1980, or milk/bread/eggs. Or candy bars, water, natural gas, electricity, or basic automobiles. Ask them how much the cost of labor, rent (retail, not residential...though you can ask about that, too). How about shipping, taxes, and all the other things that a business has to pay for out of the goods they sell. Ask how, if all those other things cost so much more now, why AFOLs keep whinging about sets being “so overpriced” when they still cost $0.10/pc instead of four times as much.

That price has been stuck for as long as I can remember, and the only thing more consistent than that is how much people complain about LEGO prices being so much more expensive now compared to back then. They offer something like five times as many new sets per year, they’ve gradually increased the maximum size of sets over the last 20+ years, they’ve really started catering to adults with more discretionary budget, and yes, the pieces have generally gotten smaller so you’re looking at a lot of highly detailed models that put many MOCs to shame, instead of a crude, blocky construct that relies heavily on 2x4 filler and looks like it was carved out of a bar of soap with a butter knife.

The LEGO Company has fallen into the same trap as fast food restaurants, but from a different direction. Chains like McD’s started offering “value menus” or “dollar menus” to help bolster flagging sales, with the idea that it would get you in the door and you’d also buy something more profitable. Instead, many people limit their purchases to that list of food and simply buy more of it if they’re still hungry. But now that they’ve taken off, restaurants can’t simply eliminate them. They face resistance to price increases, too (just try to charge $1.10 for a “dollar menu” burger). These end up being the least profitable items on the menu, but also the most popular, and depending on wages and overhead, can actually drive a restaurant out of business if they can’t offset these sales with something that will pay the bills.

LEGO prices have been stuck for so long that any shift in price is going to draw complaints, where people don’t bat an eye when Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars get more expensive. Instead, you get people complaining about rising prices when you can disprove their claims with just a few minutes of math (which I once did almost 20 years ago, and which someone else did maybe 6-7 years ago). They complain that a 4500pc set that costs $350 is “overpriced” simply because it falls outside their budgetary comfort zone. So when long overdue price hikes inevitably show up, people throw a tantrum, sell their collection, and get out of the hobby altogether.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Legorides:
Sure, you can laugh if you want. Or take an Econ 101 course. Or just find someone who teaches it and ask them how much the cost of gas has gone up since 1980, or milk/bread/eggs. Or candy bars, water, natural gas, electricity, or basic automobiles. Ask them how much the cost of labor, rent (retail, not residential...though you can ask about that, too). How about shipping, taxes, and all the other things that a business has to pay for out of the goods they sell. Ask how, if all those other things cost so much more now, why AFOLs keep whinging about sets being “so overpriced” when they still cost $0.10/pc instead of four times as much.

That price has been stuck for as long as I can remember, and the only thing more consistent than that is how much people complain about LEGO prices being so much more expensive now compared to back then."

Calm your bricks, you're really not the only one who knows something about economics, which made me laugh in the first place.

You hammer away on that 10 cents per brick argument, which I find silly. For starters, Lego also sells sets with lots of small bricks and still goes for 10 cents a brick, but there is a lot less plastic so more profit. Also, you might also wanna dive into the concept that Jangbricks so wonderfully calls “the amount of stuff”. You can build 20.000 piece Millennium Falcon that looks the business, but do you still think that is worth 2000 dollars + a nice Star Wars License fee? At the end of the day, it’s still a Lego set. You can claim being an economic genius all you want, perceived value is a thing.

Lowering the quality of your product, increasing your prices and sacking well over a thousand people is a dream come true for shareholders but not for the consumer. And my point is: the consumer holds the power but doesn’t always realise that.

@PurpleDave said:
"They offer something like five times as many new sets per year, they’ve gradually increased the maximum size of sets over the last 20+ years, they’ve really started catering to adults with more discretionary budget, and yes, the pieces have generally gotten smaller so you’re looking at a lot of highly detailed models that put many MOCs to shame, instead of a crude, blocky construct that relies heavily on 2x4 filler and looks like it was carved out of a bar of soap with a butter knife."

I don’t care how many more sets they release, I care about if it attracks my attention or not. Consumers don’t care about amounts, they just want something they like. What good is five times more bland designs? (and don’t take my word for it, look at sales figures and how many more times sets and themes got/get cancelled).

And I don’t know what kind of Moc’s you’re used to see, but try a Lego convention once in a while and talk to some real Lego fans. They make wonderful stuff, even years before Lego started to acknowledge them and will have a thing or two to say about how much this hobby really costs. Every consumer will try to buy as cheap as possible, just as any company tries to sell at top dollar.

Finally, I don’t mind you holding a different view on the matter, but this constant “everything is awesome” when a brand does something, is fanboy behaviour I will never understand. Brands and companies care very little for you, they just want to sell you a product. If you like that product: great. If not, fine too. No need to fight the company’s battles.

I love Lego and probably always will but just like any other brand I don’t like everything they do. Which is also fine, but on this website, people always feel the urge to fingerpoint when somebody *gasp* is little more critical. Fine, if that is your thing. But don’t come telling me you are the true economic genius here. So again, thanks for the laughs.

Most LEGO sets are overpriced for what you get anyway and have been for years. LEGO is a luxury product and from next year on will be even more

I have decided I will stop buying LEGO from next year on. Not just because of this news alone though. And safe for perhaps an occasional absolute highlight of a set. Same goes for sets from alternative brands by the way.

I have felt for quite a while that I am slipping into new dark ages.
Ever rising prices, falling quality, too many new sets/themes most of which don't interest me anymore. And now even higher prices.
All comes together as a mix that for me has broken the donkey's neck.

Couple that with the fact that I feel that I have more than enough LEGO and far too little room.

My conclusion is to rather sell off many of the "secondary" sets I don't care so much about and concentrate on the highlights. I might even try to hunt for a couple of the sets I missed out on during my childhood like the 6990 bargain I found a while ago.

"The LEGO Group has no plans to increase the recommended retail price (RRP) of its portfolio of products."

"However, on a small selection of sets the RRP will either go down or up depending on the set and the country."

Who is in charge of Lego's press release, the Ghost of Rick James?

@jnscoelho said:
" @IgelCampus said:
"I guess some manager needs to reach a higher revenue margin to get his bonus this year.
All the rest is just manipulative marketing nonsense. A 20% price increase for a low-income country like Germany is just plain greed."

Germany, a low-income country?
AHAHAHAHAHAH

Sorry. Couldn't help myself."
Laugh all you like, but while Germany may be a big economy, the majority of people here have very low wages, coupled with some of the highest taxes and costs for compulsory social security insurance on the planet. We have so many and so high taxes, it's a wonder no one one has thought of putting a tax on taxes. Then again, come to think of it, we do have even that. Some products have special taxes added to their net price and then VAT is added based on the new net price INCLUDING the special tax. So indeed tax on tax!

There was a study a couple of years ago on how rich people were on average in different countries, based on savings, houses, equity, etc. and Germany was quite low on that list compared to countries many would think of as "poorer". Just because there is the image of the rich German doesn't mean it holds true for the majority of the population.

Good grief, I feel bad for my European brethren. I'll echo the sentiments of many in this comments section because I do believe it's the truth: Lego's quality control has been slipping, and the fact that prices are rising is shameful. I've been purchasing fewer sets this year due to that steady decline in element and print quality that has been happening for the past few years, along the overabundance of licensed sets. While this price hike in western Europe doesn't impact me, bad business practices are yet another reason for me to spend my money elsewhere.

@Legorides said:
"Finally, I don’t mind you holding a different view on the matter, but this constant “everything is awesome” when a brand does something, is fanboy behaviour I will never understand. Brands and companies care very little for you, they just want to sell you a product. If you like that product: great. If not, fine too. No need to fight the company’s battles.

I love Lego and probably always will but just like any other brand I don’t like everything they do. Which is also fine, but on this website, people always feel the urge to fingerpoint when somebody *gasp* is little more critical. Fine, if that is your thing. But don’t come telling me you are the true economic genius here. So again, thanks for the laughs. "

This is true, I will add that -

1. There's "Lego" the brick and "Lego" the company. It's OK to love the brick, but not the company, or be critic of the company. These two are not the same. You can dislike Microsoft but love Excel, for example.

2. You're spot on with "fanboy behaviour", it's easy to forget but behind the "Awesome" PR friendly faces there's a company that is there to profit. They are not "our friend".

Trains didn't sell well? Gone are the complex train systems from the 80's and 90's. Tomorrow Disney will raise the Star Wars license fees by 20% ? No more Lego Star Wars.

It's crucial (in the context of what this topic is, all about, that is) we will make sure our voice, and wallet, is being heard.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Legorides:
Sure, you can laugh if you want. Or take an Econ 101 course. Or just find someone who teaches it and ask them how much the cost of gas has gone up since 1980, or milk/bread/eggs. Or candy bars, water, natural gas, electricity, or basic automobiles. Ask them how much the cost of labor, rent (retail, not residential...though you can ask about that, too). How about shipping, taxes, and all the other things that a business has to pay for out of the goods they sell. Ask how, if all those other things cost so much more now, why AFOLs keep whinging about sets being “so overpriced” when they still cost $0.10/pc instead of four times as much.
"

@PurpleDave
This is too simplistic; as the cost of all of this goes up, EFFICIENCY and PRODUCTIVITY increase as well. In fact, they are key to enable the growth in costs, wages etc. we have observed in modern times. In practice, this means that LEGO sets are manufactured at a far higher rate per worker hour today than previously, i.e. you make more sellable inventory for less resource investment.

Another point is, you are comparing LEGO with commodities, a comparison which isn't very accurate. It would be better to compare LEGO with products that require a certain amount of continuous R&D and fairly sofisticated manufacturing processes while still selling at high volumes such as consumer electronics, computer software, or reading glasses. Their cost growth over time is far less than for commodities, when taking into account their increased abilities as well.
I would expect LEGO sets to stay priced fairly stationary, as TLC will always find improvements and additional efficiency in production to offset the general cost level increase.

In short, I agree with those who think the costs have gotten a bit too high compared to what you get in return. I had already decided this spring that I'd cut back spending significantly, as the new sets don't really appeal to me anymore. Ah well, but I might have been spoiled, catching the Castle craze in the late '80s and throughout the '90s, the magnificent Technic sets of the '90s, an increasingly brilliant run of Technic sets between 2004 and 2018, the rise of the Creator Expert fairground sets and first larger Ideas sets in the last 6 years, as well as the occasional single gems from other themes such as Tower of Orthanc, The Sea Cow and NINJAGO City.

The one thing that would get my money instantly would be an accurate replica of a working steam locomotive in a Technic/Creator hybrid scheme, using pneumatics as the power source, and limiting electronics and motorization to driving a compressor. That would, in my opinion, be hailing back to the greatness and educational value of 8868, 8880, 8480, 8479 and 8485.

Love LEGO, Hate TLG!

@Legorides said:
"I love Lego and probably always will but just like any other brand I don’t like everything they do. Which is also fine, but on this website, people always feel the urge to fingerpoint when somebody *gasp* is little more critical. Fine, if that is your thing. But don’t come telling me you are the true economic genius here. So again, thanks for the laughs. "

For what it's worth, my remark on this website concerns certain visitors, not the website itself and its creators. I visit this site almost every day, they are one of my main news sources and I maintain my collection here. If anything, I've found Brickset more (healthy) critical in recent times on TLG and Lego sets than several years ago.

@jnscoelho said:
" @IgelCampus said:
"I guess some manager needs to reach a higher revenue margin to get his bonus this year.
All the rest is just manipulative marketing nonsense. A 20% price increase for a low-income country like Germany is just plain greed."

Germany, a low-income country?
AHAHAHAHAHAH

Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

Sorry to say that but you seem to be unaware of the reality in Germany. Here the official graph about the wage development since 1999: https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Monatsberichte/2017/03/Bilder/b02-abb03-entwicklung-lohnstueckkosten.jpg?__blob=poster&v=3
Hint: Germany is the dark line below the middle which tells that every year the wages grew between 5-10% too slowly.

More than 3 million need to have multiple jobs to be able to survive. The middle class is eroding dramatically while the rich get richer in obscene ways.

I'm probably wrong, but I've always believed that quality toys like Lego should be available to low-income families. With this greedy move, Lego could remain an unfulfilled wish for many children next Christmas.

It seems like a strange thing to put out a press release about. Why not just do it in the next round of product releases without making a fanfare about it?

I think when the product is so easy to compare (because it's exactly the same) it doesn't make a lot of sense in a consumer's eyes to have different prices in the same currency.

As for the doomsaying, I don't know if quality has dropped (I haven't noticed it in the sets I've bought) but as far as the range goes there's much more that interests me than there used to be a couple of years ago. Adult targeted sets now aren't just buildings, vehicles and Star Wars, with the occasional fairground ride.

I don't think "TLG can do no right" is any better than "TLG can do no wrong" as an attitude among LEGO fans.

(I bought a set from a major off brand rival but I won't bother again. The quality of LEGO is markedly better than than the rival's pieces.)

@Paperdaisy said:
"It seems like a strange thing to put out a press release about. Why not just do it in the next round of product releases without making a fanfare about it?

I think when the product is so easy to compare (because it's exactly the same) it doesn't make a lot of sense in a consumer's eyes to have different prices in the same currency.

As for the doomsaying, I don't know if quality has dropped (I haven't noticed it in the sets I've bought) but as far as the range goes there's much more that interests me than there used to be a couple of years ago. Adult targeted sets now aren't just buildings, vehicles and Star Wars, with the occasional fairground ride.

I don't think "TLG can do no right" is any better than "TLG can do no wrong" as an attitude among LEGO fans.

(I bought a set from a major off brand rival but I won't bother again. The quality of LEGO is markedly better than than the rival's pieces.)"

This is very close to my view, I've got no issue with rational criticisms but it seems like half of the community wakes up foaming at the mouth in preparation for whatever Lego's latest announcement is. I'd argue that's worse than reacting positively to every single announcement, since it takes away any weight behind your complaints when they actually do something wrong.

Usual simping for a corporation's decision to price gouge you I see. It's honestly pathetic people are defending lego or finding ways to rationalize price gouging. Unless you're a shareholder the only thing you're doing is harming yourself. Lego makes tremendous profits in no small part to people like you

Ah, yes a "gaming" experience. Please don't tell me Lego is thinking their products are all meant to be like Hidden Side, Mario etc.

As with all consumer products, the one thing you can do that would make a difference is vote with your wallet. At the end of the day, Lego is a company that wants to make money. No matter how friendly or nice or diplomatic they try to be, no matter their “mission”, their ultimate goal is to make money. They would sell you a single brick in a package for $100 if they thought it would sell. So if someone doesn’t like the price of stuff, stop buying it. I’m not trying to sound like a jerk or criticize people, but I think Lego fans often say one thing and do another.

@Bobbtom said:
"Usual simping for a corporation's decision to price gouge you I see. It's honestly pathetic people are defending lego or finding ways to rationalize price gouging. Unless you're a shareholder the only thing you're doing is harming yourself. Lego makes tremendous profits in no small part to people like you"

*price gouging*? For real? For starters this is nowhere CLOSE to actually important price gouging situations, like food and water after emergencies or disasters. This is a toy. Secondly, you need limited supply and high demand for price gouging. These are regular-production sets in areas that (as many, many comments have told us) are falling out of love with Lego. The opposite of limited supply and the opposite of high demand.

Not to mention that these price changes are being made to *match* the other prices in the area, and that some prices will be *lower than before.* This is so completely far away from anything resembling 'price gouging' and you don't need an Econ degree to be able to tell.

The closest you could get to 'price gouging' related to Lego is resellers with SDCC exclusives, since the supply is very limited. But even then, most of those sales are auctions where people are choosing to raise the price, and we're still talking about a toy for heaven's sake. You can't gouge with something that isn't a necessity.

@BrickToBasics said:
"Why should anyone be offering "credit" to the rumor mills? Especially given that almost everything in this post is a verified fact, not rumblings from the disgruntled"

Could you please point out, which part of our original post wasn't true? We had several retailers send us proof for the rise of the RRP of 27 specific sets. Not one set of over 200 sets was dropped in price. This is what the news section said. We then had a part that was clearly marked as "opinion" where our author said something about the issue from his personal point of view.

Before we posted the article (on Friday) we reached out to an official LEGO spokesperson who gave us an official statement to post 1,5 working days later (on Tuesday) . They confirmed us, that this was the official position of the LEGO Group about the issue. Now TLG claims in LAN, our statement "isn't official" and "isn't correct". How exactly is this supposed to be our fault?

Btw: I am not saing Brickset should have given us credit, although it seems strange that we were the ones asking for an official statement from LEGO, getting one, posting it, 6 hours later someone else posts it and then they are named here as a source. But I am used to that and I don't blame anybody. But I don't like my Job being disregarded as a "rumor mill" and "rumblings of the disgruntled" in contrast of something else being "verified facts".

It's really telling that when a corporation wishes to make even more obscene profits it raises prices for consumers yet it's the classist consumers themselves defending their right to give the corporation more money and pricing out the bottom of society. I used to give no stock to the "late-stage capitalism" theories but it's becoming clearer by the day

"It’s important to note that the final price charged to shoppers is set by retailers, not the LEGO Group."

Indeed, it's important to note that while the LEGO Group demands the full price from the retailers, the retailers can take a hit, sell the sets at a discount and not make any money.

@Legorides :
I never claimed to be the only person here who understood economics. You read this article, which means someone had to post it. Previous articles have challenged the traditional perception as well. A lot of people read the site without ever commenting (or even signing up to comment). Others probably just avoid wading into the mire on articles that deal with set pricing.

But read through all the comments here. How many of these people are saying that prices have been stagnant for decades? Excluding myself, I’m pretty sure I could count them on my thumbs. Now, how many sound like Chicken Little, and are swearing to sell off their collections and exit the hobby? I’m not the only one who understands econ, but we appear to be badly outnumbered in this comment section.

To throw your example back at you, a 20,000pc MF for $2000 would have people lining up to give monologues about how it costs too much. A 2000pc MF for $200 would have people saying it’s expensive, and they’d be tempted to buy one if they didn’t already have several previous versions. And a 200pc version for $20 would have people cheering what a great value it is, and how they’re going to buy multiple copies. The price per piece hasn’t changed one bit, but the default AFOL response is that “If I can’t afford it, then it’s overpriced.” (Also, the “SW license fee” is a tired old myth that began when basic SW sets cost $0.09/pc and World City sets averaged $0.11/pc but got lauded for being “great value”).

The reduction in quality wasn’t intentional, but came about as a result of trying to avoid jacking prices up. Precolored plastic may be highly consistent, but it takes a staggering amount of storage space to sit on colors that don’t sell very fast, plus you’re sitting on a mint’s worth of raw materials. In-line coloring saved TLC a ton of money which got passed on to us in the continuation of stagnant prices, but it did come with some unexpected drawbacks like color consistency, and dark colors that turned out to go brittle with age.

People don’t understand how big a deal this was for them, but my last employer tried to jump from five colors to seven, and almost went out of business as a result of chasing the promise of doubling sales in one year. They basically doubled the amount of raw material they were sitting on and didn’t see much movement in the new half. Businesses live and die on their billing cycles. Even if it’s not earning you money, someone else expects you to pay for it. Instead of a warehouse full of ABS pellets (which have to be kept in a humidity-free environment or be completely dried before you can thermoform them), they can now run a JIT or near-JIT process and instead of basically warehousing money.

The reason the quantity of sets released annually matters is a lot of the perception that LEGO sets are getting more expensive comes from the increased quantity making it more expensive for people to keep up with the sets they want to buy. A lot of people have that Pokemon mentality, especially with the high-end D2C sets where they complain that there should be less released each year because they can’t afford to keep up with them all. From there, these sets graduate to “overpriced”, even if the price per piece is significantly lower than normal. Reduce the piece count, drop the price, and you just get complaints over the lack of detail.

For MOCs, I’ve actually been to Brickworld Chicago several times. Five noms, one win. I’ve seen MOCs that exceed the best set ever produced, and others that felt more on par with the 4+ range. I’d rather buy a set that I couldn’t design myself than one that looks like it was released in the late 70’s.

@PurpleDave : I have two kids. I know what "throwing a tantrum" is.
Making a rational decision for oneself to stop investing in a hobby one doesn't enjoy anymore (for whatever reason) certainly isn't.

Plus, prices have definitely NOT remained stagnant over the years but gone up considerably. Sure, price per piece might have stayed similar, but if in former times the magic 10 cents per piece got you a colour-consistent 2x4 brick or true trans-clear scratch-free windscreen and now it's an in-line coloured 1x1 flat tile or trans-milk window pane that comes completely scratched straight out of the box, do you honestly propose that you get the same value for money?
Or when in former times instruction manuals came in perfect condition because they were packed in extra bags with additional cardboard backing to insure safe shipment while now they come crumpled or even torn thanks to simply being thrown into the boxes without any care or protection just to save a few cents per box?
Or Technic sets that used to come with proper B-models (including physical instructions for them) while now TLG just save on the effort to design such a thing in the first place.
Or functional sets that skimp on physical remotes in favor of bring-your-own-device app control, again to save a little money while providing less value for your customers.

There are reasons why TLG's profits have risen exorbitantly over the years you know. Part of the reason is people who have been trained by TLG to accept ever less value in return for their money over the years by accepting whatever BS reason they are given.

In any case, for me personally I am not really emotional about the whole matter anymore. Like I said, I feel like I am slipping into a second dark ages period and I am fine with it.

I have other hobbies I have neglected over the past decade or so in favor of brick building. Perhaps it's time to devote some more time again to these other hobbies.
This doesn't mean I will not keep following Brickset and other brick related resources. After all, even during my first dark ages I kept a certain amount of interest in the subject via sites like Peeron, Lugnet etc.

"It’s important to note that the final price charged to shoppers is set by retailers, not the LEGO Group."

So what about the WHOLESALE price, huh? Smoke and mirrors from TLG, trying to deflect any discontentment with pricing onto the retailers, who actually have ludicrously tight margins on LEGO anyway. As others have pointed out, TLG seem to have zero grasp on reality as far as pricing is concerned. And as has *also* been mentioned, pricing for In Zid and Straahlia definitely needs to be addressed to remove the illegal market manipulation and blatant price gouging.

@PurpleDave said:
"LEGO prices have been stuck for so long that any shift in price is going to draw complaints, where people don’t bat an eye when Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars get more expensive."

As someone whose hobbies also include the diecast realm, more than an eye is batted when prices of Hot Wheels & Matchbox go up. Complaints have been increasing for years, ever since the metal to plastic ratio has tipped way too far to the plastic side. Features like opening doors, hoods, trunks, etc. have all but disappeared (granted, partially due to safety concerns). Printed features used to be on all four sides are now on two, if you're lucky to get that.

@alfred_the_buttler : funny you should mention Tesla, as over here prices for their cars on average have gotten lower even though with each iteration you got more or better features (plus additional bonuses over time via software updates).
So, basically the exact opposite of LEGO.

@PurpleDave : the 2x4 brick of old I mentioned versus the 1x1 pieces of nowadays was just an example for showing how prices have effectively gone up because you get less for your money. Also, in terms of actual building, given the choice, my kids would rather take 50 2x4 bricks than 50 1x1 plates or tiles or cheeseslopes or whatever.
Regarding the quality, I can't follow your statement. I grew up in the Eighties, and I still have all my sets from back then. Most of the transparent pieces look like new. Exception being windscreens that have been heavily thrown around in the crates I used to store my pieces in. I didn't take much care of them at the time. The larger transparent pieces like those from Classic Space sets, or Model Team and the like still look pristine.

In general, much of my 40 year old bricks and pieces, especially transparent ones, look better than what I find coming out of new boxes today.
We simply have to agree to disagree on the subject, as our personal experiences clearly differ.

@Kynareth said:
"I saw in TLG annual report last year that in Australia/NZ it was noted that 30% discounts are the new 20% in these markets, and sure enough this year sets in $30 bracket (such as city vehicles) have increased to $33"

That seems like such a ridiculous decision, too. Like it doesnt take an economic genius to figure out that that's just gonna exacerbate the problem. Discounts are getting larger because people arent buying at higher prices. Increasing prices will just push retailers to either offer bigger discounts or eat the loss in sales.

@djcbs said:
" Here's the tiny flaw with your speech: You ASSUMED I was from Austria just because you see it next to my username. What about now? Am I now from Denmark? It's what shows next to my username...
Never crossed your mind a VPN might me a thing? LOL
I'm not from Austria. I'm from Portugal. Where average wages are 2 or 3 times lower than Germany.
So...you just made a fool of yourself. Think twice next time."

Here's the tiny flaw in your speech: You re using a VPN, so it's YOU who's fooling people and devices around. What clues should people have that you use one? You'd propably suggest to memorise every post and nick in this thread, though you seemingly don't do it yourself?
Because you still seem to be stuck on the wages argument. But there are still things like taxes and the cost of living and other stuff mentioned here in the comments, which are different in every country.

@CCC said:
" @djcbs said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @djcbs said:
"Good.
If we have a single market, we should have a single price for everyone. It's incredibly unfair that, for example, in Souther Europe we pay on average 20€ more per big set than Germany, even though Germans earn at the very least two times as much as we do.
And thanks for the EU, now all stores in Europe are forced to charge VAT according to the country of the person shopping and not local VAT. So while we could previously take advantage of the lower German prices by buying the sets in Germany and having them shipped to other European countries, now even if we buy them in Germany we have to pay the VAT of the country where we declare our taxes on.
So levelling the prices at least makes things even for everyone.

Does it suck for Germans? Sure.
But hey, you're the ones who pushed for a single currency (which benefited mostly Germany) and for further and further European integration.
For once, you're the ones being screwed rather than Southern Europe as it's customary."
You are from Austria. Since when is Austria part of "Southern Europe"?
And since when do Germans earn "at the very least two times as much" as Austrians? That statement is total BS.
Also, kind of funny you should complain about the huge difference in VAT, when it is just 1% difference between Austria and Germany! "

Here's the tiny flaw with your speech: You ASSUMED I was from Austria just because you see it next to my username. What about now? Am I now from Denmark? It's what shows next to my username...
Never crossed your mind a VPN might me a thing? LOL
I'm not from Austria. I'm from Portugal. Where average wages are 2 or 3 times lower than Germany.
So...you just made a fool of yourself. Think twice next time."

He hasn't made a fool of himself. You lied about your location."
+1000

Can't even begin to fathom why someone would use a VPN in order to post on Brickset other than to purposefully deceive people. Shame on such a person.