Better protection for instructions and stickers

 

  • Better protection for instructions and stickers

    Posted by Grahame, 02 Mar 2011 08:44. Filed under Miscellaneous.

    8070: Super Car
    Technic, 2011
    More details...
    ©2011 LEGO Group

    Gareth M. reports that his 8070 Super Car came with the instructions and stickers sealed in a plastic bag complete with a thick piece of corrugated cardboard to stop them getting bent. Let's hope this becomes the norm especially for the larger sets or where there are several books of instructions.


    51 comments, latest one posted 26 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by TooMuchLEGO in United States, 02 Mar 2011 08:51

I hope so, I'm tired of bent books. Does it also have easier to read instructions as well? Sometimes I can't tell the difference between grey and black.

Posted by Aquapolis in United States, 02 Mar 2011 08:53

YEAH!

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 09:06

Diagon Alley sets are also apparently now being shipped with similar protection for the instructions. :-))

Posted by Lehr in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 09:12

I had the same in the 8043!

Posted by Teethgrinder in Netherlands, 02 Mar 2011 09:15

This is what a LEGO representative said about the issue in a Q&A session in December 2010:

"1. Instruction booklets come loose in the boxes. They sometimes get damaged during transit. If they were tightly packed in polybags, it could prevent such damages. Stickers also get wrinkled, they could be packed with instructions.

a. Yes we know and we have started to package building instructions, labels and textiles in all sets with more than 1000 pieces in a poly bag. The current solution is a quick and dirty one. Version 2 will be ready with-in the first 3 month of 2011."

I have bought several sets in the past couple of months with protected instructions/stickers. Grahame, I wonder whether this is version 2 of the packaging you are reporting about? If so, how does it differ from version 1?

TooMuchLEGO, the subject of distinguishing colours in the instructions was also mentioned:

"2. Fans are having hard time choosing colors from instruction booklets. Black and dark grey are especially very hard to distinguish.

a. It is not only fans that have the issue. All of us have. The last 4 years we have tried to optimize this 2 or 3 times by adjusting the printing technique with no luck. For 2012 second half products we will introduce an out-line for black elements – cross fingers that it will help."

Posted by Pepper in United States, 02 Mar 2011 09:19

It's about time! Thank you Lego!
@Teethgrinder- Thanks for the news about the change in the black in the instructions, it is very useful information!

Posted by ncbarrett in United States, 02 Mar 2011 09:32

Good news. However is it only sets with over 1000 pieces?

Posted by Jarod98 in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 09:40

Great! I've never had a set with the stickers bent, but I have had my instruction booklets bent (specifically, my Battle of Endor and Slave I and a few other I can't a the time remember). I can't believe it's only for sets with 1000+ pieces though, both The Battle of Endor and Slave I are less than 1000 pieces, I think it should be decided by the size of the instructions. As for distinguishing the colors of bricks, I had a major problem with that in the past (especially with The Battle of Endor), so hopefully the change Teethgrinder mentioned will help.

Posted by jamesster in United States, 02 Mar 2011 09:48

Woot! Thank you LEGO! :D

Posted by natro220 in United States, 02 Mar 2011 09:55

This is great! I think the 1000+ piece limit is fair. I've had stickers completely mangled on a couple occasions (Town Plan was the worst, the letters for the Cinema came completely loose and were unusable) and they've both been on large sets. This combined with a smaller box size across the board should cut down on some of that I hope.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 10:09

It is indeed good news. The first set I saw them was in the Space Shuttle http://www.brickset.com/detail/?set=10213-1 at the back end of last year. I don't think there have been too many 1000+ part sets released since then: Diagon Alley as Dr. D mentioned and now this Technic set. What about the Imperial Shuttle and Tower Bridge? Do they have them?

Posted by Jarod98 in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 10:10

@natro220 - If you read my post I said that a my Battle of Endor and Slave I sets both had the instructions bent, which made it much more difficult to build and neither of the are 1000+ pieces. As I said Lego should decide if they should put instructions in poly bags depending on the size of the instructions.

Posted by bigospedros in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 10:12

The stickers in my recently opened 7930 and 7931 sets (T-6 and Bounty Hunter ships) were completely mangled. I think this 1000 piece limit is daft. ALL stickers should be packaged with a card backing. Why should I have to put up with not being able to completely build a set with the stickers? I've lost count of the amount of sets that have been like this over the last few years. I'm quite sure Lego Customer Services are getting tired of me requesting replacements for free. They send the replacements in a card envelope, so why not cut out the middleman and do it in the first place!

Posted by mkoesel in United States, 02 Mar 2011 10:14

I noticed this last year as well. Both my Emerald Night and Motorized Excavator had the instructions and stickers packaged in clear plastic with cardboard backing.

Posted by flump in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 10:26

This is how my Mechanical Excavator (8043) was packaged when bought from Argos in December '10.

Posted by Ypres in Canada, 02 Mar 2011 10:28

This is why I feel no shame in spending every dime I have on my Lego collection... The Lego company is just awesome! I bought the Farm set a while back and one of the stickers had seperated from the sheet while inside the sealed box. I looked at the sticker sheet and thought "Is one missing?", but I found it partly stuck to one of the bags. That's not a common issue, but having bent stickers is. Glad to see Lego is working hard to improve their product.

Posted by ambo100 in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 10:33

They started this last year when I received the Modular Fire Brigade as a xmas present

Posted by obisky in United States, 02 Mar 2011 10:45

Hooray! :) I hope this starts happening with smaller sets too!

Posted by rslotb in Netherlands, 02 Mar 2011 10:49

Yup, I have a few sets that had the cardboard + sleeve solution, which is nice. But also the occasional set with mangled stickers. At the risk of being sour though, this used to not be a problem, as large sets came with a cardboard insert which a) fixated the instructions and stickers (allthough the majority did not have any stickers) on the bottom of the box and b) supported a tray with significant parts, visible through a window in the box. Ahhh, memories...

Posted by modena in Italy, 02 Mar 2011 11:11

Yes! This is just nice. My 8453 (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=8453-1) has a rather bent instruction booklet! I think this is part of Lego's plan to revolutionise their boxes! This will help with especially cramped boxes!

Posted by modena in Italy, 02 Mar 2011 11:14

@Teethgrinder, I agree with you. Once I spent half-an-hour looking for a Technic piece that was dark grey, but I thought it was a black piece! The set was this one: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=8141-1.

Posted by natro220 in United States, 02 Mar 2011 11:22

Maybe they'll carry this over to the smaller sets (say 500+) eventually once they see the response from these sets.

Posted by electrobovine in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 11:31

@modena Cripes! And I thought it was just me who did that. I had to rebuild the Winter Toy Shop from scratch because I'd used red bits where they were supposed to be brown. Or was it the other way around?! Or are they even red or brown, I kept thinking. I can't tell, because I'm colour-blind. A lot of the new colours actually look the same to me (if I'm building my own stuff, I stick to the primary colours!). I agree especially that the difference between the dark grey and black print in the instruction manuals is darned near impossible to distinguish. For me, it's as difficult as trying to find those numbers in the coloured dots at the opticians... :)

Posted by Tomrulz25 in United States, 02 Mar 2011 11:52

This is about time, again probably another product from the survey, smaller boxes, and protection for instructions. I wonder what else will come out of this. Thanks LEGO.

Posted by Doctor Leg O'Brick in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 11:53

Yes! Finaly the Lego group listens to are prayers! I got 7622 with the first three pages in half, 7079 without the front and back pages and, even though its a polybag, 30010's instruction's torn in half.....

Posted by krklint in United States, 02 Mar 2011 11:54

@HUW, Bought the Tower Bridge (set 10214) at the beginning of February. The directions came wrapped in a comic-book polybag style :) with cardboard backboard. The corragated cardboard was narrower on the edge than in the middle, to limit cardboard-style paper cuts. Also, the cardboard was approximately longer and wider than the instructions by one inch, or 2.5 centimeters.

@everyone - This made me really happy! Now reading this news thread makes me happy, too :) First major-sized set I've purchased. I thought the poly-bag action was unique to this set. Glad to find out it is not :) Did I mention :)

Posted by axisvega in United States, 02 Mar 2011 12:02

I was shocked to see the cardboard and plastic sleeve in my Diagon Alley set. nice job, Lego!

Posted by tontonsega in France, 02 Mar 2011 13:00

Finally!!! Good news! Now Just hope LEGO add an inner boxe for the bigger sets and everything 'll be OK.

Posted by DreDarling in United States, 02 Mar 2011 13:27

The Winter Toy Shop i got last month had a cardboard packaged instruction booklet, but the Winter Bakery did not.

Posted by Sly Raskal in United States, 02 Mar 2011 14:29

Glad to hear of the improvements. Here's to hoping for better adhesives for the stickers as well!!!!

Posted by fff in Spain, 02 Mar 2011 14:52

I have the same package in the 10197 Fire Brigade, which seemed to me a nice addition in a set i didnt expect since i think it may have reached his final life by end of this year. Good for TLC!!!

Posted by Tervlon in United States, 02 Mar 2011 14:56

My Winter Bakery came with bagged instructions, this is a great trend. Thank you LEGO.

Posted by Sky-guardian in United States, 02 Mar 2011 15:07

Never really had a problem with that...but good idea nonetheless.

Posted by Legoluch in United Kingdom, 02 Mar 2011 15:36

The Emerald Night I ordered last month came with it too!

Posted by Legocityfanatic in United States, 02 Mar 2011 15:45

sounds like when I recieve stickers in the mail

Posted by TooMuchLEGO in United States, 02 Mar 2011 16:43

@Teethgrinder - Ah. Thank you.

Posted by Orange Lemons in United States, 02 Mar 2011 17:15

So that's what they're doing with the extra cardboard from the smaller boxes. :P

Posted by Stacy in Australia, 02 Mar 2011 17:40

Love your thinking Orange Lemons. :)

Posted by C-Fish in United States, 02 Mar 2011 18:11

See? Lego isn't so dumb after all... ;-)

Posted by brixton in Canada, 02 Mar 2011 19:16

This is great news. The thing I love about LEGO, other than the fact that they come out with great sets, is that they listen to their fans and consumers (and treat us as valued customers). Now only if they would lower their prices...

Posted by TBOC in United States, 02 Mar 2011 19:32

A bit off topic, but have you noticed that LEGO stickers are waterproof? I had the stickers on my Penguins Submarine stay on after a few very rough times in water. Still are on and are not even peeling,

This is great though, because My sticker sheet in my Speed Racer was magled, and all of the little stickers of him were mangled to death. The worst I've ever had with instructions are that they are slightly bent in the middle and its harder to keep them open.

This is why I buy Lego, MegaBloks are terrible pieces of cow dung that people shouldn't waste valuable time and money on. They'd never do that, only Lego would.

Posted by Brickmatic in United States, 02 Mar 2011 21:14

I think this a fantastic move and I'm sure the packaging will improve more as time goes on. They just started to implement the changes.

On the note of having a hard time to figure out colors in instructions, I find it problematic too and find I have to be very careful when deciding what color it is supposed to be. A color key might be helpful. They could print a 1x1 plate in each color in the set and label with the name of the correct color. They you would have a useful reference because even if it doesn't look like the color of the actual brick, the printed color is consistent throughout the whole booklet.

Posted by xowainx in United Kingdom, 03 Mar 2011 03:44

I purchased 10198 Tantive IV the other day and it's instructions were packaged like this, which given how full the box is (for once), was a pleasant surprise. Probably the only kit i've bought so far where I wish the bags were actually numbered though!

Posted by bmwlego in United States, 03 Mar 2011 06:36

Finally! I'm sure many of us complained to LEGO about this, I know I did both online and in person. I was interviewed by a LEGO Customer Insights Rep back in October and this was my 1 complaint I had. I know from talking to other fans that they reached out to LEGO to complain about this too. It is nice to know that such a big company still listens to customers!

Posted by Bion in United States, 03 Mar 2011 12:25

The instructions to the 10193 Medieval Market Village that I have were also protected with cardboard ; i do hope this becomes a norm for larger sets.

Posted by vynsane in United States, 03 Mar 2011 15:11

The Shuttle Adventure set I received for Christmas had this treatment, but I've heard of those that didn't, so it was a running change in the production run on that set. I think Diagon Alley was the first one to have packaged instructions/stickers from the get-go.

Posted by Duq in Ireland, 03 Mar 2011 16:35

I've posted this elsewhere as well:
I don't think the piece count should determine whether the instructions are wrapped. In my experience it's not sets with many bags where booklets get damaged, but sets where the box contains loose parts like train bases and other large items.

Posted by NeverEnoughLego in United States, 03 Mar 2011 20:42

Yes this happened with my recent purchases of Medival Market Village and Diagon Alley. I was very pleased!

Posted by vynsane in United States, 04 Mar 2011 11:15

@Duq - well, we've seen them reduce the size of the box in some cases as well, so maybe this is a two-pronged approach: package the instructions and stickers with cardboard in large-scale sets, and reduce the amount of space inside the box of smaller sets in an attempt to assuage the issue of the bags flopping around and crushing the instructions. Sadly, I don't think the smaller sets will get the wrapped instruction treatment, as it's an additional cost that's just not worth it for LEGO. I'm sure the margin of profit on smaller sets is not as good as it is on the larger sets (even though the value for the buyer is better on the larger sets - 1000+ pieces for $100!)

Posted by vpustote in United States, 04 Mar 2011 21:29

@Huw - Good news, Imperial Shuttle 10212 does in fact come with a cardboard backing and sealed plastic bag. I just got this set in the mail today - https://crux.baker.edu/~lvanic02/lego/imperialShuttle.jpg

Posted by RedBrickMarket in United States, 07 Mar 2011 13:31

They did this for the Tower Bridge too.

Commenting has ended on this article.