After Brexit Lego Availability In UK

donutboy

Hey there.
I'm in the UK and was wondering what peoples thoughts were on whether I'd need to buy all this years Christmas Lego before October 31st (assuming a no deal brexit, which is seeming more likely by the day). I think I may start buying a few bits now as a precautionary measure.
Cheers Joes and have a great Bank Holiday in this amazing weather.

DB361

I’m thinking that general stock levels should be fine. I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere that Lego are stockpiling (and indeed were for the original March exit date). That plus I think people will be watching their wallets more than ever over the Autumn, and we could actually be in a situation where there’s substantial Boxing Day discounts as they try to clear old stockpiled stock.

But, as has been the case the whole time with Brexit, trying to predict anything is a near impossible task, so playing it safe and preparing ahead is almost certainly the wise thing to do.

CCC

I doubt there will be much difference in availability or prices if we leave with a deal, without a deal, remain or kick the can down the road even further.

Paperballpark

I don't think there'll be too much to worry about tbh.

RogerKirk

Stop the madness. Stop the uncertainty. There there really is nothing to be concerned over.

TheFew

PANIC BUY!

Mr_Cross

"I'm gonna start looting."

Fireheart

After Brexit and when a free trade deal with the US is done, the best thing would be no import duty on LEGO from eBay.. which makes SDCC and NYCC purchases 20% cheaper!!

MaffyD

I'm with @TheFew - or at least that's what I'm telling the other half. She's already telling me how much more expensive Jellycat stuffed animals will be after we leave... and I'm pretty sure they're British.

Fizyx

I'm going to be honest, I was looking at some items in a British seller's Bricklink store, and I bought this last week instead of waiting for a few months like I was planning on, just so I didn't have to worry about any potential issues with international post/shipping or pricing/tax issues, and I don't really regret it. (Although I was eventually going to buy the things I got anyway :P)

In the short run, I think most retail companies have been expecting a bit of a crap-shoot, so I expect it won't affect prices much.  But if the Johnson government doesn't have trade/import agreements in place very quickly after Brexit (especially with individual countries in the case of a no-deal Brexit) than I could see it having a considerable effect on both price and availability in the medium to long run.

Bumblepants

If y'all aren't burying a minimum two year supply of soybeans in your yard you aren't prepping hard enough!

richo

I’ll be staggered if there is any noticeable difference to Lego supply regardless of what happens. 

Fizyx

richo said:

I’ll be staggered if there is any noticeable difference to Lego supply regardless of what happens. 

Eh, to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the effect on supply is minimal, true.  I'd be more worried about price increases, due both to the pound taking a beating and potential tariffs/duties/etc.

KungFuKenny

Bumblepants said:

If y'all aren't burying a minimum two year supply of soybeans in your yard you aren't prepping hard enough!

The " y'all " is what put this comment over the top... 

TheFew said:

PANIC BUY!

Sounds like a business opportunity... anyone one the coast want to start a Lego smuggling ring?  :-)

The_Rancor

We’ll probably just have to pay £5 more per set that costs £40-80 and £10 more per set that costs £80-£150 or so. But at the moment I like to think of ‘our situation’ as something I can neither control nor influence (besides the original vote many years ago) so from that perspective I just have to see what happens and not worry about it.

milamber

After the recent Argos reduction I now have 7 of #70618 Destiny's Bounty. Secretly building an Ark in the back room.......

Shib

@milamber - don't forget the disclaimer on the boxes about the boat not actually floating :-P

CCC

LEGO prices their sets for the markets they are in - we already see this arising as different prices across many Eurozone countries despite having the same currency. If they increase prices more than rival toys, then they can expect sales to drop.

I doubt they are considering that Brexit will be a problem. After all, they are opening even more stores here - if Brexit was an issue they would have held off.

PJ76uk

Any AFOL worth their salt should have enough sealed sets in their "backlog/to build" pile to keep them going for several years if obtaining new sets became an issue. Plus think of all the fun you will have tracking down sets you missed out on during the "Brexit Ages", almost as much fun as we've had after coming out of our "Dark Ages"!

For me, I have several modulars, UCS, D2C and various other sets of differing sizes to keep me happy in a worse case scenario...

monkeyhanger

The_Rancor said:

We’ll probably just have to pay £5 more per set that costs £40-80 and £10 more per set that costs £80-£150 or so. But at the moment I like to think of ‘our situation’ as something I can neither control nor influence (besides the original vote many years ago) so from that perspective I just have to see what happens and not worry about it.

TLG won't charge more than the market will tolerate/bear. Lego is already considered expensive, not sure how much more they'd dare charge, if any.

If they can sell to the US market for £:$ parity (as they often do), then they can afford to do it. The American market won't bear any more than current costs and they pay less for their Lego than Europe/UK do - TLG can afford to leave prices as they are.

bookmum

It has just occurred to me that Baby Born dolls are German and it's hard and expensive enough to get these in the UK already. What am I going to tell my daughter.....
(I've been pretty much ignoring Brexit lately and hoping it will just go away. I'm doomed)

CCC

bookmum said:

What am I going to tell my daughter.....

play with LEGO instead!

bookmum

I've tried that @CCC but she is over it. It means 'her' Friends lego is now mine. So I'm happy.

donutboy

PJ76uk said:

Any AFOL worth their salt should have enough sealed sets in their "backlog/to build" pile to keep them going for several years if obtaining new sets became an issue.

That's a weird / telling thing to say. I have the small Harry Potter spider set, and the recent SW cantina that are sealed and waiting to be opened and built. How many years do you think they will last?
 Not everyone has the money to spend hundreds / thousands on Lego that will stay in boxes.

benbacardi

^ I have a feeling the "any AFOL worth their salt" part was said in jest. Although the description certainly seems to apply to many people on this site 😉 personally, I have no unbuilt sets!

PJ76uk

donutboy said:

PJ76uk said:

Any AFOL worth their salt should have enough sealed sets in their "backlog/to build" pile to keep them going for several years if obtaining new sets became an issue.

That's a weird / telling thing to say. I have the small Harry Potter spider set, and the recent SW cantina that are sealed and waiting to be opened and built. How many years do you think they will last?
 Not everyone has the money to spend hundreds / thousands on Lego that will stay in boxes.

Definitely meant as a joke! I used to build as soon as I bought sets but lately finding time to build is an issue but I keep buying/acquiring sets and the significant other (also referred to as the wife) keeps buying me sets so the build pile is growing. I've had to start using these sets for trading or selling as otherwise it'd be out of control!

Considering my current building time I'd say those two sets you mentioned would last me at least a month!

donutboy

PJ76uk said:

Definitely meant as a joke!

Doh, I clearly need a new humour scanner.

donutboy

PJ76uk said:

Considering my current building time I'd say those two sets you mentioned would last me at least a month!

That's probably pretty accurate, but they ain't gonna last till brexit day.

TheOriginalSimonB

Wasn’t the recent (probably over a year ago) general price rise on larger sets blamed on Brexit?

colay

.. anyone one the coast want to start a Lego smuggling ring?  :-)

Ouch!

I'll see myself out

The_Rancor

monkeyhanger said:

The_Rancor said:

We’ll probably just have to pay £5 more per set that costs £40-80 and £10 more per set that costs £80-£150 or so. But at the moment I like to think of ‘our situation’ as something I can neither control nor influence (besides the original vote many years ago) so from that perspective I just have to see what happens and not worry about it.

TLG won't charge more than the market will tolerate/bear.

I hope you’re right, because the Resistance Transport Pod and Unikitty Party Time still haunt me!

klinton

If you're honestly worried about product shortages and/or inflated costs.... aren't there more pressing concerns than Lego? I mean, I really can't see the EU allowing the UK to completely destabilize, deal or no deal. But, I'm not there and my knowledge of the whole ordeal is limited to heavily slanted news bytes. If you're genuinely concerned, I would think recreational pursuits would take a back burner at a time like this, no? 

bandit778

klinton said:

 But, I'm not there and my knowledge of the whole ordeal is limited to heavily slanted news bytes. 

To be fair, even if you live in the UK, that's as much as anyone knows (including the politicians involved in it).  ;)

CCC

Maybe @paperballpark needs to update his Houses of Parliament MOC. Minifigures with placards and rioting outside, and so on.

donutboy

klinton said:

If you're honestly worried about product shortages and/or inflated costs.... aren't there more pressing concerns than Lego? I mean, I really can't see the EU allowing the UK to completely destabilize, deal or no deal. But, I'm not there and my knowledge of the whole ordeal is limited to heavily slanted news bytes. If you're genuinely concerned, I would think recreational pursuits would take a back burner at a time like this, no? 

Of course there are multiple reasons to be concerned about the unknown future regarding brexit. Would you rather me talk about potential job losses, or lack of medicines, or food shortages, or massive queues at the border, on a Lego forum. (I'm not saying any of this'll happen, it's just some of what's been reported).
Disappointed kids at Christmas is one small concern that I can do something about right now.

Redbullgivesuwind

I am not sure why anyone is that worried. When the EU collapses because we are not trading with it, and we are laughing from our massive houses on chairs made of spare cash because there are no horrible jonny foreigners coming in. Then we can all have as much free Lego as we want thanks to our Norway, Canada, Brexit ++XYZ trade deal.  

GeordiePaul

@Redbullgivesuwind Is that you Boris?!

Also, what’s panic buying got to do with Brexit? Isn’t that the normal way to buy Lego? I usually spend whatever money I have as soon as I get it just in case it’s accidentally spent on food or the mortgage.

milamber

GeordiePaul said:

@Redbullgivesuwind Is that you Boris?!

No, that's the people who believe Boris. Even he isn't that stupid.

560Heliport

I'm sure Rocky and Bullwinkle will deal with Boris... but what's Natasha up to?

donutboy

Redbullgivesuwind said:

I am not sure why anyone is that worried. When the EU collapses because we are not trading with it, and we are laughing from our massive houses on chairs made of spare cash because there are no horrible jonny foreigners coming in. Then we can all have as much free Lego as we want thanks to our Norway, Canada, Brexit ++XYZ trade deal.  

Phew, no worries then.

Redbullgivesuwind

milamber said:

GeordiePaul said:

@Redbullgivesuwind Is that you Boris?!

No, that's the people who believe Boris. Even he isn't that stupid.

Put it on the side of a bus and people will believe anything.

gmonkey76

560Heliport said:

I'm sure Rocky and Bullwinkle will deal with Boris... but what's Natasha up to?

Spoiler she died

560Heliport

...Wait, are we mixing Brexit with Rocky & Bullwinkle with Avengers: Endgame?! ...Cool!

milamber

My news headlines this morning were shared between more Brexit madness and a pork chop which apparently looks like Freddie Mercury. Not sure which was the most sad.

richo

Personally I don’t think Brexit or politics are a good thing on this forum. Just my personal view!

CCC

milamber said:

My news headlines this morning were shared between more Brexit madness and a pork chop which apparently looks like Freddie Mercury. Not sure which was the most sad.

richo said:

Personally I don’t think Brexit or politics are a good thing on this forum. Just my personal view!

Neither are pork chops. The only pork products allowed to be discussed here are sausages. And a little bit of bacon talk.

Baby_Yoda

Ugh, now I'm in the mood for sausages wrapped in bacon...

eMJeeNL

CCC said:

milamber said:

My news headlines this morning were shared between more Brexit madness and a pork chop which apparently looks like Freddie Mercury. Not sure which was the most sad.

richo said:

Personally I don’t think Brexit or politics are a good thing on this forum. Just my personal view!

Neither are pork chops. The only pork products allowed to be discussed here are sausages. And a little bit of bacon talk.

Neh... these are okay imho:

KungFuKenny

eMJeeNL said:

Neh... these are okay imho:

I was going say “that’s a T-bone steak” but the actual name is Duplo Food Steak, so who knows what poor animal contributed it...

CCC

I didn't think of the duplo part, but this LEGO one is definitely beef.

Briking

Remoan, remoan, remoan.