We've all wondered and complained about Hasbro's delivery and distribution (among other things) and I was wondering if anyone knew precisely why. Do we have any regular forum members who actually work for Hasbro direct in their headquarters, or regional distribution centers? I ask because we seem to have a few people who work for Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, who all seem to have access to those retailers' computer systems and all the info and listings those systems have, do we have anyone who is in a similar position as far as Hasbro?

 

I keep reading about how the next wave of Cybertron is out (Lugnutz, Scrapmetal, Downshift) and Alternators (Rollbar and Richochet), but they're nowhere to be found here in central New Hampshire.  It's gotten to the point where I just say the hell with it and order right from Hasbro....but they don't have any!  I refuse to order from any of the other online companys because they mark up these figures  quite a bit, and then oftentimes charge excessive postage.

 

I'm a TF Club member, but the Club store has crap really. Not happy with it at all....I joined almost exclusively for the chance to get a discount on my fave figs and get access before anyone else, but that definately is NOT the case.

 

I need a TF fix! It's been weeks since my last purchase (CD Scattershot).

 

Dave

You should move to the UK for 6 months, you'll go home a changed man!

now now siburke dont lie. we both know no usa fan could survive over here for 6 months

I did visit London, York, Dover and Canterbury (and Edinburgh Scotland) for 10 days about 10 years ago....never saw Transformers the whole time I was there. I feel for you guys over there, I really do...I can't imagine the crap you have to go through to get your goodies.

 

I just find it odd that in this day and age of e-commerce and corporations investing heavily in the global markets and internet, a toy company that's been around for decades can't get their collective sh*t together. Shame on them.

 

Shame on scalpers and 3rd party retailers marking things up significantly too!

 

The search continues.

They probably go to hobby shops. :tftongue

The one or two import shops, online shopping, praying, murdering those who get the TF we've been looking if we see them picking it up before we can get to it.  That kind of thing.  Maybe one day some TF fans in this country might block all the resupplies of Power Rangers and demand that we start seeing TF's before we melt down the endless lines of Power Rangers.  Wouldn't do any good though, they'll just do a Terminator and rise through their puddles of melted plastic.

 

-Chuckles

I honestly don't see how Power Rangers can be as popular as they MUST be (otherwise why would they keep re-hashing the crap and selling more toys)....I watched the original show like...oh hell, gotta be almost 8-10 years ago....and I thought it was a ghey Voltron ripoff back then...now the travesty continues....

 

I see the toys EVERYWHERE....the retail space devoted to them at my local Wal-Marts is rediculous....and theres dozens of each figure. Yet they have the bottom shelf, about 3 feet wide for the Voyagers, Ultras and Leaders (none of my local wal marts carry supreme starscream anymore, and I missed out on a clearance one dammit!) and they have maybe 8 pegs with the scouts and deluxes. Crap loads of ninja turtles, teen titans (I still dont understand the craze for those....) and GI Joe/The C.O.R.P.S and Marvel.

 

Oh, and B Daman....and Beyblade....Beyblade all over...does *anyone* collect that crap?

 

If I had won that 365 million Powerball jackpot, I'd go to all my local retailers, buy up all those crappy toys, stuff them all into used manure crates, spray em down with vomit, and ship em back to their respective manufacturers with a nasty note on how their toys suck, make room for Cybertron and Alternators.

 

Ya know how they have retail stores in the malls dedicated exclusively to Legos? They should have Transformer stores...or at the very least robot action figure stores.....

 

I know...I'm crazy. And an idealist.

 

Dave

The thing is all those Power rangers, Yu Gi Oh, and assorted crap is popular with young children.  Kids go nuts over the shows and want the toys.  So they sell well.

 

Transformers has gotten shafted on the show for the last few years, and they don't really put out nearly as many commercials for the toys as they did back in the 80s.  Thus althoguh they are still popular they are loseing out to that other crap.

honestly, if it wasn't for BBTS & Ebay, I'd have about 3 TF's, and 2 would be Star wars TF's

Specific toys are ordered by case from a store. Say Walmart for example. When the new product guide is released from Hasbro, Walmart will look at TF sales at various stores and determine what should be ordered. Say they want 2 cases of Cybertron and 1 case of Alternators for 1 store, but another store that doesn't sell very well will get 1 case of Cybertron.

 

So lets pretend Walmart has 100 stores. They order 200 cases of Cybertron and 75 cases of Alternators. These items get delivered to their storage warehouses. Then the cases are picked "randomly" and sent to the stores that ordered whatever quantity of whatever. So then a new wave comes out, they order more cases. Then a store needs a new case, but they have to get the older cases out first before moving onto the newer ones.

 

Also distribution is always West to East for products. So stores in California typically get items before stores in New York, sometimes months before. This has changed a bit recently, where there might be less than a month for this to happen.

 

Hasbro is the distributor, but they do not choose what goes where. The individual stores must place those orders. Hasbro creates a product that is aimed at the common folk, but they actually sell their product to other companies, and it is those companies that need to buy these items in order for us to see them.

 

The only other thing that concerns distribution is exclusives. Such as not all stores will carry Universe and the HOC/Allstars. But they all carry the main line, and any other line besides that is up to the store.

 

Hope this helps a little bit. Sorry I had to use Warmart as an example.