A way to save on shipping to help offset the figure price increase for 2013....

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Please READ before voting:

While we all knew that the figure prices were increasing for 2013, it does seem as if now that this has actually taken effect, there's a case of "sticker shock" in seeing figures marked at $27 on Matty Collector for manual orders, and with subscribers actually seeing the total charge for Netossa hitting their card which also includes a slight increase in the cost of shipping.

As we know, the sub this year was scaled down a bit, and now there is only a total of 4 quarterly items in addition to the 12 monthly figures (as opposed to the former total of 8 quarterly items split up between 4 quarterly variants AND 4 quarterly large-scale items).

Since there are fewer quarterly items, this means that we will have more occasions this year of only one single figure shipping at a time (in theory, 4 months out of the year will have a monthly figure + quarterly item, the the remaining 8 months will have only one figure). For subscribers, depending on the shipping method chosen and whether or not you pay tax, this could put the total for a single figure in the range of $35 to $40, maybe more. However, as we know, when more than 1 figure ships together, often times the shipping charge is either the same or only increases by a very small amount compared to shipping one figure.

So, what I'm proposing is this....

Would you be willing to have 4 months out of the year during which we get no new (sub-included) MOTUC product shipped to us, in exchange for having the monthly figures that would ship by themselves doubled up to save on shipping?

Theoretically each quarter, which is a 3 month period, would look something like this (though not necessarily in this exact order):

-One month we get two of the (formerly) "monthly" figures
-One month we get the other "monthly" figure and the quarterly item
-One month nothing that is included in the sub get shipped to us at all

Doing this would help, at least in part, offset some of the cost increased for this year. Even for the cheapest, most basic shipping options which tend to be around $10 to ship 1 or 2 figures, this would save people roughly $40 over the course of the year (which in essence eliminate the $5 price increase for 8 of the figures). For people who choose more expensive shipping methods, the savings would be even greater.

Plus if any new items come out during the year that are not included in the subscriptions (like weapons packs, stands, random additional one-off extra figures like BP She-Ra), they could release those during those months when no sub items come out, to help keep new product coming in at least a relatively consistent manner.

I'm keeping the voting options down to a simple "Yes" or "No".

[Skystalker]

Yes, I'm all for this.

[zodak74]

Yeah, seeing the total cost for Netossa alone made me kind of sick. I'd rather just have stuff ship four times a year, in each quarter, and get a bunch of cool stuff all at once vs. the trickling one figure per month with taxes and shipping that combine to cost almost as much as a lone single figure.

[baronterror]

definatively not. id rather have at least one new fig a month. call my life what you will but its the highpoint of my month. and more than one at a time doesnt increase it only lessens it as each feels a little less important.

[dedset13]

Absolutely NO WAY I'd be for this idea.

I don't feel like waiting 3 months to receive something I should get on a monthly basis.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Absolutely NO WAY I'd be for this idea.

I don't feel like waiting 3 months to receive something I should get on a monthly basis.

You wouldn't be waiting for 3 months. During a 3 month period (a quarter of the year), you would receive sub-included product during 2 out of those 3 months. The most you would ever wait is roughly 2 months (since 1 month would be skipped and then items would ship out the following month), and during that time they could still have re-releases of remaining stock of older figures and any new non-sub items, where applicable, get released like weapons packs, etc (in other words items that we would have to pay separate shipping on anyway regardless of when they are released).

[dedset13]

You wouldn't be waiting for 3 months. During a 3 month period (a quarter of the year), you would receive sub-included product during 2 out of those 3 months. The most you would ever wait is roughly 2 months (since 1 month would be skipped and then items would ship out the following month), and during that time they could still have re-releases of remaining stock of older figures and any new non-sub items, where applicable, get released like weapons packs, etc (in other words items that we would have to pay separate shipping on anyway regardless of when they are released).

Regardless, anything that causes me to wait even an extra day for my MOTUC fix, is a bad thing.

[Colder Soldier]

In opted for this kind of plan the last quarter of '09 on the very first sub. It seemed like forever until I got Teela, Webstor, and Scarglow. Being that was the worst of it, a few months without having to pay the Matty bill does sound pretty sweet.

[Mad Scientist]

Definitely not! For international fans this is worst since a bigger package usually takes longer, has more customs and now it is not so good to ship multiple figures. Today I tried to add 2 figures, usually the sipping was 9 for one figure and 11 for 2, that is really convenient. Now the shipping is approximately 14 for 1 and 22 for 2 figures, so you see this is much more expensive. So at the end if you make a balance between shipping and customs I prefer to pay shipping each month than customs every 3 months. Also if the Griffin was 30 for shipping alone I do not want to imagine how much would be for the FFM!

[He-Dad]

I don't want the monthly model changed. I like one figure every month. Personally I think non-sub items should ship with subs with early access, but I personally would not use a quarterly shipping option.

[Uki]

Stellar idea! I'd be up for this, sure.

[InspectorZartan]

Personally I'd totally be for taking this a step further and simplifying it even more. I say just do one shipment per quarter so that once every 3 months you get a package with 3 monthly figures and one quarterly item. (Although I would add that if they were going to do something like this they should do it for the DC and Watchmen club too and make sure all the subs ship together during the same month otherwise there are no savings for those with multiple subs ).

At BBTS I use their pile of loot option in this same way for other toy lines I collect. I just let the figure waves pile up and then ship once every 3 to 6 months. Honestly if Mattel would do something similar we could save $100 per year just by reducing the number of Matty shipments from 12 to 4. That's over 1/3 of the Grayskull price right there.

[MrRoboto]

No thanks.

[Barbecue17]

I think (something along these lines is perhaps the only way to continue to keep the cost viable. I'm not really sure what the best solution for international fans is, but for domestic fans this really could save some money.