Lego Mindstorm (8547) Pricing - $229.99

Toys R Us has had price matching as long as I can remember. I'd think
they'd match Amazon, especially as I believe they sell their items
online using Amazon. Tell your son not to fret, Toys R Us when it
comes to prices.

We made the purchase today with a price match using all the gift
cards. Thank you, ToysRUs!!

Also, thank you to everyone for your comments, suggestions and
different points of view.

My son certainly has learned a lot of life lessons from reading your
posts with me about this experience. He is so excited to tell his
friends what happened! And, he looks forward to visiting ToysRUs
again.

While its unfortunate that things didn't work out like you planned and
your son was unable to but the toy I fail to see how any of this is
toy r us' fault.

Maybe you should use this as a learning opportunity for you son and
explain to him the situation and how even with the best planning
sometime things don't always work out. I don't think there's any
valid reason for you to let you son go around bad mouthing something,
especially when they did nothing wrong.

looking at the item online... I see all the electronics that go into
it.


I'm just wondering if any of the parts were made in Thailand,
especially the computer that goes inside.


People involved in computers know about it but the general public may
never have paid attention to the news, or may have forgotten... There
was some pretty bad flooding in Thailand. Bad enough that some
factories were under water.


You may have noticed a drastic increase in the price of hard drives
for example. Limited supply, high demand.... prices go up.


That may be a factor.



Or it could just be generic supply / demand in effect.

Neither the employees nor the managers will kow when the Lego
Mindstorm or any other item will go on sale again. That is determined
by corporate and they will not tell you either. Your best bet is to be
patient and wait for them to go on sale again. As a former retail
manager, the store had copies of the upcoming sale ads up to a week
early. Most often, it was only a few days before the sale started.

This "toy" isn't meant for 7 year olds, the age suggested is 10 and up
-- while they are very cool robots (I know several people that own
one) it might end up being frustrating at this age.

Also, to address what you said below about a school club, while I
wonderful idea, I wouldn't suggest ever bringing this to school - for
any reason. If this is what he has his heart set on doing, start with
some smaller, less expensive models.

That you missed the sale?

Or was it sold out before you could get one?

Or were they not selling it at the price you wanted it to be?

Your 7 yr old son is going to tell all his friends to never shop at
Toys R Us? And he will NEVER EVER "patronize" Toys R Us again? I did
not know that one could save gift cards for 7 years?

wow now children are threatening to boycott a store if they dont get
their way.

This is a good life lesson for your son. Things happen in life and
you cant always get your way.

I find it funny he is mad at ToysRus, shouldnt he be mad at your
husband for having to have surgery right when his sale was going on?
Or mad at you for caring more for your huband than a toy?

on another note...

HOLY COW some of those mindstorm things are $500-$1100 bucks!! Those
arnt toys, those are investments.

Dear John,

Maybe my letter was unclear or maybe you really didn't read it.
Either way, I feel insulted. Perhaps that was your point.

My request was to find out if we have seen the last of the sale price
until next holiday season or beyond, which no associate or customer
service representative apparently knows. Our original intent was to
teach goal setting and delayed gratification through savings is
rewarding. What he learned and the perception he shares with his
peers (and anyone else who will listen) is ToysRUs gift cards are
worthless compared to Amazon or cash.

Maybe his disappointment that is now associated with the ToysRUs brand
will be greeted with your same indifference to his dream by ToysRUs.
Or maybe the marketing decision makers better understand the
developing values system and brand loyalty of the post millennial
generation.

My son's plan was to use the Lego Mindstorms to start a robotics club
at his school, where diversity is valued and supported with over
twenty percent of the families surviving at or below poverty level
incomes. Lego Robotics clubs teach children team creative problem
solving skills coupled with application programming in a fun, age
appropriate way. These are the building blocks to inspire and
collaboratively develop a passion for things like future prosthetics
on the cutting edge of today's medicine.

Have you ever invested almost all your life in a widely recommended
company, believing you are finally about to realize the important
development goal you set for yourself, only to miss the short window
of opportunity through no fault of your own? Now, imagine you are
seven years old and watching it concurrently still offered by
competitors, while you can't sell or reallocate your investment.

Yes, I was the one who missed taking him to the ToysRUs sale due to an
unexpected, necessary and thankfully successful surgery for my
husband. However, financially, even after insurance consideration, it
rendered no chance of a parent loan that probably would not be the
right call here anyway.

Only time will tell how ToysRUs chooses to influence a post millennial
consumer with big ideas to positively contribute to his school
community.

I would personally be careful with something like that.

I'm not sure what age range your son is but... not all kids in school
are careful with other people's toys. And if the toys are expensive,
some may be tempted to steal.

He's been planning to start a robotics club at his school since his
first Christmas (when these gift cards began accumulating)? My
goodness, what a precocious lad.

I would strongly advise that a multi-hundred-dollar toy never be taken
to school. I think that everyone on this web site learned creative
problem solving without a Lego Mindstorm--perhaps your son could put
together a Science Olympiad group instead (many great science and
learning activities can be found online). A school computer club
would also be a great way to learn about technology in a safe
environment. His admirable dream to help his peers learn and grow
truly does not have to wait for an expensive toy.

I am a little alarmed to hear of the large, long-term investment in
gift cards, especially cards for a specialty store that is not
handling the recession too well. It would be extremely unfortunate
for your family if the chain were to go under suddenly. I cannot, in
good faith, close this letter without urging you to either try to sell
the cards for their cash value (thus enabling an Amazon purchase of
the toy), or spend the cards on other needed/wanted items soon. I
honestly think that your good intentions regarding delayed
gratification could be swept away if a Border's-style closing
situation were to hit Toys R Us. . . please consider a plan for your
son other than hoarding of gift cards.

Hi, Deborah,

I don't know if you're still following this thread or not, but I just
wanted to let you know that these LEGO-based robotics clubs are
amazing. My son was invited last year (7th grade) to participate on a
FIRST Robotics Competition team at a high school, and it inspired him
to start a robotics club and FIRST LEGO League team at his middle
school this year (it's actually already grown to 3 teams - we're in
desperate need of another MINDSTORMS set as cheaply as possible!).

The Junior FIRST LEGO League is for ages 6 to 9 and dovetails nicely
with the middle school program. The Junior program uses the LEGO WeDo
system, which is considerably cheaper than MINDSTORMS ($129 for one
set, and the price goes down for multiple sets; or you can get a
pimped-out set from FIRST for $182). FIRST registration at this level
is $50.

If your son is still interested in starting that club, and you're
worried about sending your personally-owned MINDSTORMS to school, this
might be a good option. FIRST also has very good support for rookie
teams and provides excellent goals and direction for a club like this.
There are also tons of websites that provide information on
fundraising, many of them linked from the FIRST web site
(http://www.usfirst.org). Lots of companies provide grants too, and
you'd only need $200 to $300 for one team (up to 6 kids).