I received my long-awaited (one year+) "Route of the Reindeer" operating caboose tonight & I discovered that the main seam on the box was never glued! I recall this being reported by some buyers of the recently-released Defender set. Is this an epidemic? For what I pay for this Chinese-made ----, I would expect Lionel to spend the extra half cent it likely costs to GLUE a box. Anyone else with similar finds on recent Flyer product?
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Ben I actually link the lower Flyer rolling stock prices directly with the newly-arrived S gauge competition from MTH. Any intentional decision by Lionel to use cheaper card stock or to stop gluing boxes is just going to tiff-off customers..... & in no way account for the $5-6+ drop in rolling MSRP. Actually, I noticed the really HUGH drop in box durability in 2001 when Lionel moved production to China.... boxes became half as thin & you had to worry about tearing box flaps off just opening it up.
This is a very desirable condition that will add immensely to the collect-ability of the piece. You can likely retire from the proceeds you can expect from sale of same.
(Don't you wish! 
)
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