Post by Black Cat on Jul 4, 2016 15:48:54 GMT
I think that what really happened with Mongoose is a conjunction of two things: first, they tried to print books themselves with a very tight schedule. They made several mistakes with both the physical quality of the books and the multiple printing errors. They lost a lot of money by printing new books to replace the defective ones.
The second thing was the currency exchange rate. In 2007, £1 was worth approx. 2 $USD (I paid 599 $USD for the Mega-Deal while UK friends paid £299). Today, £1 equals only 1.32 $USD. When Mongoose switched to an American printer for the LW books, their business model for the Mega-Deal collapsed: they were losing money just by printing the books for the Mega-Deal buyers. I don't know if you have noticed it, but in 2007, Mongoose was selling the first LW book at £10. In 2011, book 15 was selling at £15, a raise of 50%. But since Mega-Deal buyers had already paid in advance, they were protected from the price rise. For this reason, I think Mongoose slowed down the production rate of the LW books because they were probably losing money instead of making some: they had to make money with their other products just to have the cash to print the next LW book.
The reason why I think the currency exchange is a big reason why Mongoose had to slow down on the printing schedule comes from a discussion I got with them. While asking for my Mega-Deal refund, they told me they could not refund me because the value of the books I got exceeded what I had paid back in 2007. In other words: the LW books I currently own worth more than 600 $USD even if the set is not complete.
However, I must say that I'm satisfied by what Mongoose tried to do. Their biggest mistake was to commit to a long term project with a business model that didn't have a chance to survive the roller-coaster changes in the economy.
EDIT: BTW, I got my refund.
The second thing was the currency exchange rate. In 2007, £1 was worth approx. 2 $USD (I paid 599 $USD for the Mega-Deal while UK friends paid £299). Today, £1 equals only 1.32 $USD. When Mongoose switched to an American printer for the LW books, their business model for the Mega-Deal collapsed: they were losing money just by printing the books for the Mega-Deal buyers. I don't know if you have noticed it, but in 2007, Mongoose was selling the first LW book at £10. In 2011, book 15 was selling at £15, a raise of 50%. But since Mega-Deal buyers had already paid in advance, they were protected from the price rise. For this reason, I think Mongoose slowed down the production rate of the LW books because they were probably losing money instead of making some: they had to make money with their other products just to have the cash to print the next LW book.
The reason why I think the currency exchange is a big reason why Mongoose had to slow down on the printing schedule comes from a discussion I got with them. While asking for my Mega-Deal refund, they told me they could not refund me because the value of the books I got exceeded what I had paid back in 2007. In other words: the LW books I currently own worth more than 600 $USD even if the set is not complete.
However, I must say that I'm satisfied by what Mongoose tried to do. Their biggest mistake was to commit to a long term project with a business model that didn't have a chance to survive the roller-coaster changes in the economy.
EDIT: BTW, I got my refund.