What happens to the old models?

[Valkyrion]

When the new Berzerkers are released all of the old Berzerkers aren't going to turn to dust and blow away, but GW will no longer sell them, so what happens to the dozens/scores/hundreds of boxes left on GW's shelves.

 

Same with the Blood Angels tactical squads, or old Eldar Guardians etc - they surely can't have sold exactly the right amount to clear expiring stock, can they?

Do they get sent to trade dealers for 75% or something, and they are then free to sell them off? 

 

[Scribe]

I would hope, the ones still in GW control/stock, are rendered down and reused as raw material for new models.

 

Ones already sold? Sold off cheaply.

[Halandaar]

My local stockist (not really a FLGS, just a toy shop with a model section) has continued to sell discontinued stock after it's been replaced, usually at a heavy discount. I think GW puts out a recall/rebate form and stores can send back the barcodes clipped from the product for a credit on their account, but they get to keep the item which they can then sell for whatever price they want in order to clear it.

 

For GW's own stores I'm not sure; they never seem to have discontinued product on their shelves and I think those products get sent back to the warehouse. I've seen Facebook posts from local GWs where they've put "X or Y product is going back to the warehouse at the end of the week, so if you want it buy it now" kind of thing. Pulling the last remaining stock back from stores to the warehouse allows them to be sure how many they've got left, and the mini design pipeline is long enough that they will have known for 2 years or so that they'll need to wind down production of Berzerkers so they get as close to zero as possible for when the replacement kit arrives.

 

After that, who knows. There have been images of dumpsters full of sprues at the factory so it may be the just get disposed of, although without context I don't know if those were soiled kits or whatever.

 

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by Halandaar

[gideon stargreave]

Years ago the individual managers sold stuff off super cheap to get rid of it, but I'm talking 2nd/3rd times. 

[Inquisitor Eisenhorn]

49 minutes ago, Scribe said:

I would hope, the ones still in GW control/stock, are rendered down and reused as raw material for new models.

 

Ones already sold? Sold off cheaply.

Can this plastic be rendered and reused?  That would surprise me!  This comment reminded me, I always notice that my older sprues tend to be a lot lighter grey than my newer ones.  I can never tell if that’s because the plastic fades with age or if the composition of their plastic has been updated.  Does anyone know what the deal is?  Is it fading with age?  

Edited November 25, 2022 by Inquisitor Eisenhorn

[RWJP]

For stock at an actual GW store: Sent back to the factory in Nottingham for recycling or disposal.

For stock at an independent store: Possibly sent back to GW so the store can get credit, or sometimes held on to and sold off.

[apologist]

I was under the impression that the bases are made from reused/recycled plastics – old sprues and the like.
 

If that is the case, it wouldn’t surprise me if old kits (like the soon-to-be surplus Khorne Berserkers – become next generation’s bases.

[m_r_parker]

28 minutes ago, Inquisitor Eisenhorn said:

Can this plastic be rendered and reused?  That would surprise me!  This comment reminded me, I always notice that my older sprues tend to be a lot lighter grey than my newer ones.  I can never tell if that’s because the plastic fades with age or if the composition of their plastic has been updated.  Does anyone know what the deal is?  Is it fading with age?  

 

The plastic isn't naturally grey - there's a colouring agent that get's mixed in. The natural colour is closer to white. When you see sprues that are different shades of grey (don't say 50...) it's most likely that there is slightly more / less of the colouring agent added.

 

I heard old stories that sprues that were miscast due to bad molds would be melted down and used to make the bases. Not sure if true or not, but if it is then I can see some of the out-of-production stock going towards that.

[TheMawr]

1 hour ago, Halandaar said:

After that, who knows. There have been images of dumpsters full of sprues at the factory so it may be the just get disposed of, although without context I don't know if those were soiled kits or whatever.

 

 

 

Generally wether you recycle something or not it gets gathered in dumpster bins first, so the fact that people saw sprues in dumpster doesnt say alot. I even know of some companies that dont divide (recyclable materials) on the spot, as its more cost and time efficient to have a seperate crew do that on a secondary location. ( in fact, I think this might be common practise for store chains etc. )

[Stitch5000]

I imagine uncontaminated material can be reground and recast.

That said I imagine end of production lifespan kits can be phased out of new production cycles or scaled back for a period so that excess stock is minimal. The launch of a new kit shouldn't come as a suprise to the factories. 

[Halandaar]

14 minutes ago, TheMawr said:

 

Generally wether you recycle something or not it gets gathered in dumpster bins first, so the fact that people saw sprues in dumpster doesnt say alot. I even know of some companies that dont divide (recyclable materials) on the spot, as its more cost and time efficient to have a seperate crew do that on a secondary location. ( in fact, I think this might be common practise for store chains etc. )

 

In my experience in UK retail chains, we always had separate waste and recyclables bins, and that applied to every store in every chain in every council jurisdiction. 

 

In any case I didn't think the plastic GW kits are made from is something that can be recycled by your generic boxes/cans/bottles type of recycling centre anyway, if it was going to be recycled it would be done by GW on site at the factory, so no need to have it outside in your commercial waste dumpsters if you're intending to recycle.

 

 

[Scribe]

4 hours ago, Inquisitor Eisenhorn said:

Can this plastic be rendered and reused?  That would surprise me!  This comment reminded me, I always notice that my older sprues tend to be a lot lighter grey than my newer ones.  I can never tell if that’s because the plastic fades with age or if the composition of their plastic has been updated.  Does anyone know what the deal is?  Is it fading with age?  

 

Not sure, it was more a 'I hope that stock would be repurposed and not thrown out to further pollute our water with microplastic'. :p

[Sky Potato]

There’s generally stuff at Warhammer World that is long since unavailable online or in store - I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if the kit that was recalled was just getting sold off in Nottingham.
 

Especially as production on the older kits would have been naturally winding down in the year and a bit before being discontinued.

[Emperor Ming]

Ebay

 

The graveyard of old miniatures

[Grotsmasha]

Brent from Goobertown on youtube did a factory walkthrough of a GW competitor (I don't recall at this moment EDIT: Archon Studios) where they explain they can recycle their sprues by shredding them and mixing them into the new pellets at a certain percentage.

 

 

[Blindhamster]

I believe recycled sprues are used primarily for bases at GW, pretty sure that used to be the case anyway.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

Stored until they decide to do a ‘limited run’ 3-5 years later

[LameBeard]

In my experience the discontinued kits go up in value, they don’t need to be sold off cheaply. If they sit on a shelf at retail price someone buys them and then resells. I mean there was no need to recall the Blood Angels tactical squad - unless you really are short of shelf space.

[Halandaar]

8 hours ago, LameBeard said:

In my experience the discontinued kits go up in value, they don’t need to be sold off cheaply. If they sit on a shelf at retail price someone buys them and then resells. I mean there was no need to recall the Blood Angels tactical squad - unless you really are short of shelf space.

 

Really depends on the kit - I can't see those knackered old 3rd Edition Berserkers holding their value once the new kit comes out, but stuff like Tomb Kings sets are like gold dust now.

[lhg033]

yeah.. I'm not sure that the old Zerkers will keep their value for a future made to order run. Now,... if they did the 2nd edition monopose set I've genuinely be tempted for nostalgia.

 

I'm pretty sure a few of the 3rd party stores I've used in the past used to have offers to buy back or give discounts for old models or sprues, including empty ones, based on weight - this is several years ago. I always assumed this was some sort of recycling scheme they had.

 

[Domhnall]

From what I remember with plastic recycling in general (This post is not GW specific), is that the plastic "breaks apart" at the molecular level when it gets recycled*. So recycling a type of plastic back into the same type of plastic is difficult, if not impossible depending on the plastic. As an example, as others have mentioned, this is why old sprues get recycled into bases, because the bases are of less quality than the sprue plastic.

Eventually, after so many cycles the plastic can't be recycled any further (with current technology/cost) gets burned off or to landfill. 

 

* - It's also important to remember that plastic is a mush of different materials mixed together, and seperating them to be recycled properly is effectly impossible. Much like you can't seperate a cake back into flour/butter/eggs etc once it's a cake.

[Xenith]

Shredded for bases, or maybe stored then used at events like the scrap daemon?

 

They wouldn't hang onto them for ages - space is money. 

[Lexington]

On 11/25/2022 at 11:35 AM, Inquisitor Eisenhorn said:

This comment reminded me, I always notice that my older sprues tend to be a lot lighter grey than my newer ones.  I can never tell if that’s because the plastic fades with age or if the composition of their plastic has been updated.  Does anyone know what the deal is?  Is it fading with age?  

I’m fairly sure GW’s plastics changed composition at some point in the early/mid aughts - older sprues were notably brittle in comparison to the new ones, and there’s also a color difference. I assume they changed dyes when they changed materials.

[LameBeard]

7 hours ago, lhg033 said:

yeah.. I'm not sure that the old Zerkers will keep their value for a future made to order run. Now,... if they did the 2nd edition monopose set I've genuinely be tempted for nostalgia.

 

I'm pretty sure a few of the 3rd party stores I've used in the past used to have offers to buy back or give discounts for old models or sprues, including empty ones, based on weight - this is several years ago. I always assumed this was some sort of recycling scheme they had.

 

Maybe - or maybe the plastic ‘zerkers hit the nostalgia button for some people? You just gotta work out what demographic bought them as their first kit and if they are enjoying their hobby rebirth yet?