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Shoplifters Love Lego
- oaiey 2y agoMaybe it is also because many families cannot afford anymore the prices Lego demands for their sets. I can imagine the poor father in front of the shelf weighting his options.
- konschubert 2y agoThats not your typical shopflifter. Btw, there are pretty good off-brand Legos.
- jajko 2y agoAlso, you can buy used ones, reuse plastics already out in this world. We bought for our small kids literal few big shopping bags full of them for maybe 50$. Not in original packages but who cares. The guy selling them also mentioned he had big trains & tracks bag, another 50$ and we are all set. Duplo bricks are relatively huge but for 2-4 year old they are perfect, and I dont see a reason for a change for a couple of years. I myself prefer them to small ones, much easier to build bigger stuff, small pieces of regular lego are very easy to scatter all across home. The plastics on original are very durable, 0 degradation compared to new ones, all pieces hold very well together. I dont expect them to sell for less once the time comes. All have lego logo (ehm) on those connecting circles, not sure if original or not but who cares.
- fortran77 2y ago[flagged]
- gostsamo 2y agoThe story you link is from 2012. This is hardly relevant.
- addicted 2y agoI also don’t understand posting articles about shoplifters being caught and prosecuted as evidence of “California loves shoplifters”. Isn’t the fact that it caught and prosecuted a shoplifter evidence that California doesn’t love them and is willing to catch and punish them?
- yieldcrv 2y ago> becoming fortran77 has been migrating those bookmarks for 12 years for this moment
- johanvts 2y agoHe probably has some sort of kleptomania.
- lagniappe 2y agoIs this growth-hacking?
- 2four2 2y agoWeird agenda, bringing politics and California into this.
- microtonal 2y agoAs an aside, I with Americans would stop using _legos_ as the plural. (Most of) the rest of the world uses _lego_ as a mass noun. The company itself insists though that it should only be used as an adjective :D: https://x.com/LEGO_Group/status/1359856214591627269?lang=en https://x.com/LEGO_Group/status/1359856214591627269?lang=en
- chasing 2y agoNot Legos or Lego: LEGO. All caps. For example: https://www.serious.global/LEGO-SERIOUS-PLAY-Trademark-Guidelines-2017.pdf https://www.serious.global/LEGO-SERIOUS-PLAY-Trademark-Guide... (It also says when you speak the word you're supposed to shout it as if you're scaring off birds. If you look down there on page 11.) Danes are weird.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Svip 2y agoIn Danish, they are called »legoklodser« (i.e. Lego bricks); seldom is the word capitalised.
- hi-v-rocknroll 2y agoYep. It's a brand style thing probably so they can trademark it. PS: I had the pleasure of having eusocial Danish neighbors growing up. The guy worked for Spectra-Physics as a laser technician and drove a Wankel '81 Mazda RX-7 that I could hear revving away towards work every morning.
- somnic 2y agoI'm curious how you're using the word "eusocial" here, because I've only heard it used to describe the structure of bee or ant (or naked mole rat) colonies.
- 2y ago
- chasing 2y agoWell, yes, Lego sets are super fun for everyone. Even shoplifters.
- londons_explore 2y ago[flagged]
- blackoil 2y agoI don't think Lego company will have to bear cost of these theft. It will be the retailer.
- fortran77 2y agoReally? What about the retailer who didn't pay "cents" to purchase the inventory?
- user_7832 2y agoI can't comment on what the earlier comment exactly meant but hopefully the shop has insurance. I'm not condoning the theft.
- rahimnathwani 2y agoRetail theft insurance isn't a magic bullet for eliminating losses. If your store experiences $X in annual theft losses, insurance premiums will likely exceed $X. Insurers need to cover their costs and make a profit. Insurance doesn't prevent theft; it shifts the financial burden. The economic impact still exists. Insurance is most effective for low-probability, high-severity events rather than frequent, smaller losses like shoplifting. Some shops in San Francisco have stopped buying insurance against break-ins, due to the increase in frequency.
- zer00eyz 2y agohttps://www.vice.com/en/article/yvx77j/why-stealing-legos-may-be-the-perfect-crime https://www.vice.com/en/article/yvx77j/why-stealing-legos-ma... This isn't a new development. And it was going on long before the vice article... in the early 2000's it was an eBay "issue". Recently I have found a bunch of "lego" sets on some Chinese websites (they are pretty good, and the unique kits are interesting). And it points to an interesting pattern. IN the west we are keen on steeling high end goods, honey, wine, TV's, fancy bags, Legos. IN china they just make a knockoff... food, wine, phones, bags, and legos. Im now kind of curious if this is a manufacturing base outcome or a cultural thing (or a bit of both).
- kristofferg 2y agoIts because in the west you will end up in court. In china only laws benefitting the CPC is enforced (hyperbole - maybe.. but still).
- brnt 2y agoI've been buying some Lego knockoffs with great satisfaction. There are many companies now, and their quality has been really great, only slightly below Lego. The prices are so low that I can easily buy replacements if I would need to and still come out cheaper.
- cinntaile 2y agoIt's s bit questionable to buy a Str Wrs knockoff lego set instead of an actual Star Wars lego set imo. If they cut legal corners like that, I would have my doubts about the chemical composition of the blocks themselves. They might contain chemicals or heavy metals in unsafe amounts.
- drewcoo 2y agoHeaven forfend we should not throw baskets of money at LEGO and Disney! > I would have my doubts about the chemical composition of the blocks themselves The real ones don't have midi-chlorians either.
- cinntaile 2y ago> The real ones don't have midi-chlorians either. I have no idea what you're talking about.
- brnt 2y agoWell, they're not that kind of knockoffs. They are fully legal (some are EU based), and one of those companies even have the Star Trek license, which is great. Really, take a look around, it isn't like that at all.
- cinntaile 2y agoI understood knockoffs as having the same offering but cheaper, but that wasn't really what you meant. After a quick Google it seems you mean brands like Cobi?
- BSDobelix 2y agoAhhh Lego the Oracle of Toy-makers ;)
- hi-v-rocknroll 2y agoIf I were to hazard a guess, 95% of shoplifting is to subsidize a substance abuse problem, 3% is alternative criminal enterprise, and 1% each for survival and kleptomania. Growing up, a friend's sister struggled with kleptomania. Not because it was cool or for a rush, but she had to steal shit similar to the compulsions associated with OCD.
- robk 2y agoBy volume sure but by dollar organized crime is surely far higher
- Ferret7446 2y agoFrom what I've heard, the majority of it (in California at least) is organized crime. Well, the immediate offenders are subsidizing a substance abuse problem, but the cartel pays them to steal stuff. The logistics and reselling are organized (on second thought I wouldn't be surprised if they're the same people supplying the drugs).
- CobrastanJorji 2y agoThe reason is spelled out in the article: "Lego sets are easy to resell, hard to trace, and fetch close to the original retail price." Shoplifters love stealing Tide bottles, and a stolen one's worth maybe ten bucks. A Lego set can cost $500-$1000 and is worth nearly retail price on eBay? And it's in a low security toy store? And it's untraceable? It's an obvious choice for a burglar. The worst part is finding a buyer, and if you're desperate for cash you can just mark it down 25% and it'll be gone in an hour.
- fxtentacle 2y agoI'm not surprised. Most luxury items in the $1000+ price range (such as laptops, bicycles) have unique serial numbers to discourage theft. Lego sells in the same price range but with no security features at all. I think the adjacent discussion is much more interesting: What does it say about our society that a touring bicycle with 10 years of warranty has the same price as 400g of plastic with a Star Wars license?
- mewpmewp2 2y agoThat people are fans of certain creations for which they are willing to dish out a lot for to stimulate their imagination and have fun constructing what they are fans of?
- Sirizarry 2y agoMore specifically, peoples purchases are not governed by any economic logic but instead their emotions and companies know and will exploit this. I don’t care what the tolerance is on a Lego piece if I’m going to pay the price of a new computer for some shaped plastic it better be able to do my taxes at least
- Ferret7446 2y agoI'm not a bicycle expert, but I suspect the tolerances on bicycles can't compare to Legos. You can find knockoff "Legos" for much cheaper, but the quality isn't there, and they just don't work as well if they don't match the strict tolerances. Like, are all of the parts on a bicycle within 0.01mm tolerance? I highly doubt it.
- jv95 2y agoIm not sure if you follow the „knockoff“ legos, but the quality is very close for several brands. I own several 5000+ piece sets and while there is the occasional mold issue, you get plenty of replacement parts, pay a third for it and don’t have to deal with all the random colors that Lego includes in the unseen parts of the builds. They are usually tighter compared to Legos, but since I don’t intend to take these sets apart often that’s not an issue. Also some of these sets are official as well. Like the Cada AMG One with the license from Mercedes and Michelin, which is miles ahead in feature/price compared to LEGO technic offers.
- fdhfdjkfhdkj 2y ago[dead]