A Brick Buyer’s Guide Volume I: The Essentials

 

How to get the best deal possible on LEGO; it has long been the pinnacle of questions every LEGO fan asks his or her self. Do I buy for investment purposes, resale value, or personal preference? Do I buy before it’s out of stock or do I pull an all-nighter on eBay? Well, I personally try to do a little bit of everything to get the best deal possible. By varying my purchasing habits across themes and always looking for deals, I end up being a pretty happy LEGO fan.

What you need: 

* Credit Card – This basically is the only way to go if you plan on purchasing online, which you will be doing. The only problem is you have to be 18, at least in the states. If you’re under 18, ask your parents if you can use theirs with the promise you can pay them by cash or check.

* VIP Card – This is the official LEGO rewards program. Every $100 USD you spend, you get a $5 store credit. This basically works out to a 5% discount if you use it regularly. Occasionally there are even double and triple VIP points during special events. LEGO also offers many other perks to VIP members. So get one. It’s free and there’s no reason not to.

* A solid job – As you will quickly find, LEGO is expensive. There is no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If you don’t have a significant nest egg ear marked for LEGO, you can quickly find yourself in debt and therefore in trouble. If purchasing with a credit card, now your limit and set a budget. Taking these precautions will ensure a successful trip through the LEGO retail world.

* Vigilance and Time – Finding LEGO for 50% off or more is not an easy task. It takes time and patience to find these deals hidden in the bowels of the internet. This might mean staying up all night to place the final bid in EBAY. The bottom line is that if you are committed to this job, you will succeed. If you fail to remain committed throughout the entire process, you will be unsuccessful in your endeavors.

A Brick Buyer's Guide

This new series will help you become the best LEGO shopper possible. Learn the tips and tricks all LEGO buyers should know to make the most of your shopping excursions. Find out some of our favorite retailers and e-tailers to shop with. You will hear a few of the mistakes we have made and how to avoid them. We will focus on both in store and online shopping so you will have plenty of choices. Check back for a new edition on every other Friday starting on March 21, 2014. Reading this series will keep you enlightened and informed about all aspects of LEGO buying. Stay tuned for more awesome series in the future!

Pick-A-Brick Vol. 1

 

It has long been a debate over which LEGO® Store Pick-A-Brick cup gets you more bang for your buck. I decided to take things to a relatively scientific level and really find out which is a better deal. In the United States, a small pick a brick cup runs at $7.99 and a large pick a brick cup goes for $14.99. Just by glancing, it may be hard to see an actual difference. To conduct my experiment, I will use the most useful substance, water. Studies have been done with 1x1 flat, round bricks, but water is much more reliable. Since the cups are made of plastic, water will not damage the interior. To start, I filled the small cup with water. Then, I dumped the water into a measuring cup and recorded the volume. I repeated the process for the large cup. I rounded the volume to the nearest readable ounce mark. After that, I divided by the price of each cup. Therefore, my formula becomes: opd = V/I

opd = the number of ounces per USD.
V = the volume of the cup in ounces.
I = the initial price.

To find the price per ounce, I divided 1 by the ounces per dollar.  $ = 1/opd

My findings are shown below:

Cup	Price	Volume (ounces)	Ounces Per Dollar	Dollars Per Ounce
Small	$7.99	17	2.1276595	$0.47
Large	$14.99	34	2.2681787	$0.4408823

And the winner is…

The large cup! You save about three cents per ounce.

But Wait! We did not include the size of the lids. Most LEGO stores allow a Pick-A-Brick cup to be bought if at least one side of the lid is touching the cup. Therefore, we can basically just set the lid on the cup and our volumes will change. The lids are the same for each cup, an important attribute, and the each have a volume of 5 1/3 ounces. When this is factored in, our results change:

Cup	Price	Volume (ounces)	Ounces Per Dollar	Dollars Per Ounce
Small	$7.99	22 1/3	2.7951605	$0.3577612
Large	$14.99	39 1/3	2.6239715	$0.3811017

The odds are now in the small cups favor! There is another way to maximize your savings. Most stores offer a 25 cent discount with a reused small cup and a 50 cent discount with a reused large cup. It is, however, a better deal to get new cups every time you visit. They make great storage containers and look great in your collection. So, the verdict is... The Small Cup! Unless you need 1x16 beams, the small cup is the way to go. So take this advice, always buy the small cup and you will end up saving mucho dinero!