So I thought I would start a thread where we could share what we got in our PAB cups, similar to the one on Eurobricks. Pics would be great, but if you just want to say what you got that would be cool as well. If you are new to PAB and want to see how to maximize space, check out my blog article here: http://community.brickpicker.com/blog/4/entry-242-pick-a-brick-cups-can-you-pack-an-investing-punch/

 

I thought I would kick it off with the two large cups I bought today. There's actually a bit of a story behind this. So normally the cups are $19.99 each in Canada for a large, but when I bought mine I was looking at the bill and I felt like it wasn't enough (in addition to the cups I bought a Friends set so I could get the Ice Cream Stand - I chose that over the Mech). They had charged me for one large and one small (10.99) I went back into the store, and one of the nice employees (heck, they are all nice!), I think Sidney was his name, said no problem, it was their mistake so don't worry about it. That means I got two cups for 30.98 CDN, not bad by my standards. Without further ado, here are the (badly lit) photos:

 

I used the central tower method, filling in the outside with small pieces, mostly 1x1 blue rounds - never know when you are going to need 1800 of those!

This picture is for anyone who doesn't take the time to pack their cups. I separated the pieces and poured them into empty cups, and the pieces that I squeezed into two cups filled 3 and a half cups - I'll take those extra pieces any day. And I'm not lying when I said "squeezed", I cracked one of the cups because it was filled so tight xP

And here's the spread. I thought since this is Brickpicker I should look at what I got from an investing perspective so here's the quantity list with Bricklink values:

 

3X White Doors @ 0.36=1.08

29X 2x1 Lime Tiles @ 0.05=1.45

26X 6x16 Dark Bluish Gray Plates @ 1.09=28.34

2X 1x2 Smoky Brick @ 0.09=0.18

1X 1x1 Red Brick with Stud @ 0.16=0.16

44X Clear 1x2 Brick @ 0.09=3.96

13X Dark Bluish Gray Corner Brick @ 0.09=1.17

105X Reddish Brown 1x4 Tile @ 0.06=6.30

18X 4x4 Reddish Brown Plate @ 0.08=1.44

30X 1x1 Dark Bluish Gray 1x1 Plate with Holder @ 0.04=1.20

2X Reddish Brown 2x4 Plate @ 0.05=0.10

69X 1x4 Light Bluish Grey Brick (Castle Builder's Dream ) @ 0.12=8.28

18X 2x6 Dark Bluish Gray Brick @ 0.18=3.24

41X 2x4 Dark Bluish Gray Brick @ 0.06=2.46

 

And finally: (and yes I did actually count this)

1817X Trans-Blue 1x1 Round Plate @ 0.03=54.51

 

Total Pieces: 2218 (average 1109 per cup

Price Per Piece (assuming 30.98 is cost): 0.01396... Basically 1.39 cents per piece. Ha! And people thought 10 cents per piece was good!

Bricklink Value: $113.87 Wow! Not bad for only an hour of packing. Too bad I have no intentions of starting a Bricklink store

 

So... what did you guys buy?

bit of a pick a brick newbie - why are the sand greens such a big deal?  

bit of a pick a brick newbie - why are the sand greens such a big deal?  

Sand green in large quantities is pretty rare to come by.

Just now, Alpinemaps said:

Sand green in large quantities is pretty rare to come by.

ah, gotcha.  i may head back this week then to the Lego Store to stock up in that case.  may come in handy some day

10 minutes ago, jonnyhanukkah said:

bit of a pick a brick newbie - why are the sand greens such a big deal?  

1x1 appears in these sets

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=3005&colorID=48&in=A

1x2 plate in these sets

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=3023&colorID=48&in=A

yoda, the haunted house and Statue of Liberty all use them and are somewhat popular or expensive.

1 minute ago, thoroakenfelder said:

1x1 appears in these sets

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=3005&colorID=48&in=A

1x2 plate in these sets

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=3023&colorID=48&in=A

yoda, the haunted house and Statue of Liberty all use them and are somewhat popular or expensive.

nice, thanks.  Currently building the Battle of Helm's Deep so now I understand.  

Sand green in large quantities is pretty rare to come by.

Until now ... Just picked up ~500 of each (1 large cup full). Value of these bricks, and coincidentally of UCS Yoda and Statue of Liberty are likely to drop a bit in the wake of this surge in availability. $173 worth of bricks for $16. That won't last long (unless these run out in the wall very soon)....

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

Until now ... Just picked up ~500 of each (1 large cup full). Value of these bricks, and coincidentally of UCS Yoda and Statue of Liberty are likely to drop a bit in the wake of this surge in availability. $173 worth of bricks for $16. That won't last long (unless these run out in the wall very soon)....

I was looking at the Bricklink price guide. It looks like those 1x2 pieces have been going down in value since that Statue of liberty model was released in New York. Instead of $.40 each they're closer to $.10 each.

4 minutes ago, thoroakenfelder said:

I was looking at the Bricklink price guide. It looks like those 1x2 pieces have been going down in value since that Statue of liberty model was released in New York. Instead of $.40 each they're closer to $.10 each.

Sure, but at 500 pieces in a small cup (my large cup held 500 of each) that's still $50 worth of bricks..... Won't be long until these are run-of-the-mill $0.02 pieces, unless the supply for the PaB walls is limited to a few boxes per store.

And the great dumping of Sand Green pieces has started ... both of them now available for $0.06/ea in large quantities (>500 each). Why do people have to undercut like that?

the other option is hold on to them for a while until the price normalizes.

Is it really worth it for someone who doesn't sell on bricklink to buy large cups of these sand green pieces? I was at my local Lego store over the weekend and passed up on both pieces thinking "What am I going to do with these after I buy them?" I don't MOC or sell on bricklink so I didn't get any. Mistake?

6 minutes ago, oneknightr said:

Is it really worth it for someone who doesn't sell on bricklink to buy large cups of these sand green pieces? I was at my local Lego store over the weekend and passed up on both pieces thinking "What am I going to do with these after I buy them?" I don't MOC or sell on bricklink so I didn't get any. Mistake?

I think you assessed your position correctly.

I called the store closest to me about the sand green and they didn't have any clue as to what I was asking about. The guy told me they only have the pieces for the pick a build so I tried the store that is about twice as far away. I got some but they were limiting to a small cup of each so everyone could get some.

1 hour ago, oneknightr said:

Is it really worth it for someone who doesn't sell on bricklink to buy large cups of these sand green pieces? I was at my local Lego store over the weekend and passed up on both pieces thinking "What am I going to do with these after I buy them?" I don't MOC or sell on bricklink so I didn't get any. Mistake?

That's a very reasonable position. without an outlet for the pieces, you'd just be hoarding them.

don't know if updated, but I use this before making a trip (I don't live near a store)

 

http://wallofbricks.com/

16 minutes ago, thoroakenfelder said:

That's a very reasonable position. without an outlet for the pieces, you'd just be hoarding them.

I'm much better off hoarding sets than pieces. 

15 minutes ago, oneknightr said:

I'm much better off hoarding sets than pieces. 

My front room looks like a monument to hoarding pieces right now. Random pieces scattered across every flat surface and in boxes and bins scattered about.

7 minutes ago, thoroakenfelder said:

My front room looks like a monument to hoarding pieces right now. Random pieces scattered across every flat surface and in boxes and bins scattered about.

I'm sitting on 100k loose pieces in ziploc bags and boxes that all need to be uploaded into my store Good news is that I've finally finished my software so the upload can begin. BL will never know what hit it

23 minutes ago, Phil B said:

I'm sitting on 100k loose pieces in ziploc bags and boxes that all need to be uploaded into my store Good news is that I've finally finished my software so the upload can begin. BL will never know what hit it

I need to figure out a way to make an inventory. When you upload, do you use element number or descriptor? How do you codify the color?

1 minute ago, thoroakenfelder said:

I need to figure out a way to make an inventory. When you upload, do you use element number or descriptor? How do you codify the color?

I use BrickStock to prepare my uploads .... my software exports/imports using BSX format - and BrickStock allows me to go straight into BL to upload the inventory from that BSX. So no need to codify anything - however, internally I use a key consisting of (BL Part ID, BL Type ID, Color ID, Condition ID) to differentiate pieces.

Edited July 5, 20169 yr by Phil B

2 minutes ago, Phil B said:

I use BrickStock to prepare my uploads .... my software exports/imports using BSX format - and BrickStock allows me to go straight into BL to upload the inventory from that BSX. So no need to codify anything - however, internally I use a key consisting of (BL Part ID, BL Type ID, Color ID, Condition ID) to differentiate pieces.

All I have is the free version of Brickstock. I don't think I can do most of that stuff right now. I need to figure out how to make it live.

2 minutes ago, thoroakenfelder said:

All I have is the free version of Brickstock. I don't think I can do most of that stuff right now. I need to figure out how to make it live.

I paid the $20 but some of the additional features don't work (i.e. downloading orders etc.). Have tried many versions (Linux, windows etc.). Even went back to BrickStore - those features didn't work there either. Anyways, still worth the $20 - I use the software a lot.

3 hours ago, oneknightr said:

Is it really worth it for someone who doesn't sell on bricklink to buy large cups of these sand green pieces? I was at my local Lego store over the weekend and passed up on both pieces thinking "What am I going to do with these after I buy them?" I don't MOC or sell on bricklink so I didn't get any. Mistake?

I did the same thing over the weekend (stream of consciousness recap). Huh. lookee here at all of these teeny-tiny sand green pieces. I like sand green. But I dont need piles of teeny sand green pieces all up in my space.  I'll walk over here...

Has anyone been to the PAB walls in either NYC store? I plan on stopping by the flatiron store for the first time ever and wanted to get an idea of what to expect at their PAB wall. Is it a better selection than other stores or does it generally run the same?

11 hours ago, Phil B said:

I use BrickStock to prepare my uploads .... my software exports/imports using BSX format - and BrickStock allows me to go straight into BL to upload the inventory from that BSX. So no need to codify anything - however, internally I use a key consisting of (BL Part ID, BL Type ID, Color ID, Condition ID) to differentiate pieces.

Just be aware that your key is not unique.  BL has been known to change part IDs after they already exist.  Also you could have two lots (unintentionally) in your store with the same key.  Better to use the lotid (after a lot already exists).  You can do lots of cool stuff with their API once you figure out how to get OAUTH working.