The Robettes had no issues finding Orbit Balls [Archive]

Uberbots

07-01-2009, 02:45

artdutra04

07-01-2009, 02:54

Good job... we have 25 balls of each kind on order at the moment. Currently im unaware why the ordering people decided to do 25 of each kind. Maybe i heard them incorrectly?

well, we are getting 25 of something anyway.... Where did you order them? :confused:

There's nothing on the Logoloc website yet, Walmart has discontinued them, and unless you have a federal business tax ID number and wish to buy a minimum lot of 1200 directly from Blip for March delivery, there's nowhere else yet to buy them.

Akash Rastogi

07-01-2009, 02:55

Uberbots

07-01-2009, 03:00

... Where did you order them? :confused:

Honestly i have no idea. I remember seeing a subteam scouring the deepest pits of the internet for these things, and then announcing at the end of they day that they has 25 on order that should arrive in 5ish days.

Ill see if i can get a hold of one of them and let you know how they did it... my guess is they rode the edge of the sellout from blip toys or whatever the manufacturer is called.

OScubed

07-01-2009, 08:46

... Where did you order them? :confused:

There's nothing on the Logoloc website yet, Walmart has discontinued them, and unless you have a federal business tax ID number and wish to buy a minimum lot of 1200 directly from Blip for March delivery, there's nowhere else yet to buy them.

FYI - I have all that and cash to put up front (as long as I made it back in sales, which I'm pretty sure would be no problem). They still can't deliver anything before mid-March. They are made in China, have no local stock, and the factory has tooled down since the balls are discontinued at the one place they sold here. Due to the Chinese New Year they wouldn't tool up again until February - and nothing would ship back to the US until Mid-March - too late for just about everything.

Brandon Holley

07-01-2009, 08:51

... Where did you order them? :confused:

There's nothing on the Logoloc website yet, Walmart has discontinued them, and unless you have a federal business tax ID number and wish to buy a minimum lot of 1200 directly from Blip for March delivery, there's nowhere else yet to buy them.

You have to get an assistant manager at walmart and have the UPC with you. They can then go into their system, find where the balls are and have them sent to their store... The northeast is more or less wiped out from what I have seen, but it may get you at least a few to kick around.

smurfgirl

07-01-2009, 09:15

Honestly i have no idea. I remember seeing a subteam scouring the deepest pits of the internet for these things, and then announcing at the end of they day that they has 25 on order that should arrive in 5ish days.

Ill see if i can get a hold of one of them and let you know how they did it... my guess is they rode the edge of the sellout from blip toys or whatever the manufacturer is called.

Yeah but this supposedly couldn't happen... it said in Bill's Blog that Blip can't sell to individual teams, and that they're not on Walmart's website. I was pretty curious when Sirui told me you had 25 coming, not 25 on-hand. There must be black market orbit balls floating around...

Unholypulpit

07-01-2009, 09:23

Yeah, my team, 135, has bought out most of the Wal-marts in our area. I would say we have any where between 25 to 40 OBs. Always looking for more!

smurfgirl

07-01-2009, 09:43

I totally just figured out where the UberBots bought all their orbit balls from, they're from GUS! (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=71244) Their team members have all been forced into slave labor, but the team is making a handsome some, and will soon begin work on developing a chassis for next year's water game. (You know, this year we finally got the ice game Libby and Michelle called, so the next logical step is a water game next year.) :p

Siri

07-01-2009, 10:43

Try sharing with teams in your area and possibly in the state.

Bring over teams to practice with you and help them out. You wouldn't believe how frustrating it is for a lot of teams right now who can't find anything.

Good luck.1640 is organizing a southeastern PA/DE/NJ, etc field-sharing initiative. It's starting off well; I'd highly suggest other teams try the same. If you're in the area, feel free to contact me directly.

Timmyho

07-01-2009, 11:42

The northeast is more or less wiped out from what I have seen, but it may get you at least a few to kick around.

You can say that again. My team (Western NY) has 2, and we cant find any more.

colin340

07-01-2009, 12:03

You can say that again. My team (Western NY) has 2, and we cant find any more.

ok go to a walmart and talk to the manager ask them to use they scanner to do a 150mile search for them

My team did this and then drove all over the place to find them we hit Syracuse, Newark, Fulton and Owesgo we found about 26.
We saw on the scanner that the New Hartford, NY wallmart that had 17 balls(BUT THE SCANNER IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT), but we did't go there so they might still be there?

also we noticed that if you call them most of the time they lie or don't know what there looking for (even after tell them way is looks like, cost, smells like and the packing it comes in)

btw look in the ball rack some times they are there

kurttruk820

07-01-2009, 12:52

Try sharing with teams in your area and possibly in the state.

Bring over teams to practice with you and help them out. You wouldn't believe how frustrating it is for a lot of teams right now who can't find anything.

Good luck.

That was our plan. We'll probably keep ~10 for practice and have made the remainder first available to the two teams we mentor, then will share the rest with other teams in the Twin Cities area.

Rachel2177

07-01-2009, 13:51

Also, as of two days ago, there are 4 orbit balls in St. Cloud, Minnesota and 3 in Rapid City, South Dakota; hopefully this is useful to some teams

EricH

07-01-2009, 15:18

Also, as of two days ago, there are 4 orbit balls in St. Cloud, Minnesota and 3 in Rapid City, South Dakota; hopefully this is useful to some teams
It's a race, then. I hear the SoCal crew wants some.;) (I spent part of yesterday in three Walmarts. Didn't quite finish the third one, though.)

neoshaakti

07-01-2009, 15:29

Yea it is a race haha I told my dad that while we were driving around Central Jersey for some
no luck :(

maybe Gus should start selling them eh?

EricH

07-01-2009, 15:41

Yea it is a race haha I told my dad that while we were driving around Central Jersey for some
no luck :(

maybe Gus should start selling them eh?The reason I said that is because Rachel and I go to the same college, which just so happens to be in Rapid City. First one to the local Walmart and all that...

Rachel2177

07-01-2009, 16:35

The reason I said that is because Rachel and I go to the same college, which just so happens to be in Rapid City. First one to the local Walmart and all that...

lol my team has enough orbit balls, the ones is rapid are all yours; there are also some in Spearfish, South Dakota. Too bad there aren't any teams in Rapid City or surrounding cities this year; there are sooo many Walmarts in the area and absolutely no teams :(

Gary B.

07-01-2009, 16:46

I found this email from the head coach on our team amusing after seeing this thread:

Hello Wonderful Parents,

Because of your efforts, we have about 75 Orbit Balls for the game, we need 136 total. I have also been in touch with teams coming to our practice day (we are up to 7 other teams joining us so far) and they have also cleaned out their Wal Marts. They will be bringing their balls to practice day. Some teams have between 10 and 20. Unfortunately Davis only has two. Seems we got to them before they did. They need 6 more to test their system so I agreed to sell the 6 of our balls as long as they promise to bring them to practice day.

Anyway, the bottom line is that we don't need to buy any more orbit balls at this time - SO, STOP !!

I think the difference will be made up by the other teams coming.

Thank You for all your effort. It is nice to know that if more balls are needed, or anything else the team needs, you will go the extra mile to make it happen.

Thank You
:)

Cooley744

07-01-2009, 17:03

lol well i thought my team did a good job w/ finding 11 balls, but you all must have had an all-day search party!

Rachel2177

07-01-2009, 17:12

lol well i thought my team did a good job w/ finding 11 balls, but you all must have had an all-day search party!

It really does turn into an all-day search party. About half of the Walmarts I called wouldn't even check! They just said it didn't sound familiar and then hung up; the other half didn't know what I was talking about either but still checked and found at least 3 on average.

Nawaid Ladak

07-01-2009, 20:04

Note, this team is in MN
anyone else know what else is in MN

does Blip toys ring a bell to anyone
I think they raided the factory,

jk: good job finding the balls, my part of town has been a death zone for FRC teams (there were six three years ago, now there are NONE), so it was no surprise that there were like twenty orbit balls sitting at my local walmart Monday morning

they were gone by Monday night....

mhaake

07-01-2009, 23:35

We thought about raiding the Blip Factory. Turns out it wasn't GP. But if teams get desperate enough, maybe we'll try . . . :eek:

Rachel2177

08-01-2009, 02:19

Note, this team is in MN
anyone else know what else is in MN

does Blip toys ring a bell to anyone
I think they raided the factory,

When we first looked at the tag on the ball and saw that Blip Toys is in Minnesota we thought that was going to be a HUGE plus for us...yea not so much; none of our balls are from Minnesota, we had to get them all out of state.
We think we are going to have to go out of state for pool noodles as well; its pretty much impossible to find them in Minnesota during the winter; thats were being a team in a southern state comes in handy

AdamHeard

08-01-2009, 02:21

When we first looked at the tag on the ball and saw that Blip Toys is in Minnesota we thought that was going to be a HUGE plus for us...yea not so much; none of our balls are from Minnesota, we had to get them all out of state.
We think we are going to have to go out of state for pool noodles as well; its pretty much impossible to find them in Minnesota during the winter; thats were being a team in a southern state comes in handy

we'll send you some pool noodles for some orbit balls ;)

Vikesrock

08-01-2009, 02:30

When we first looked at the tag on the ball and saw that Blip Toys is in Minnesota we thought that was going to be a HUGE plus for us...yea not so much; none of our balls are from Minnesota, we had to get them all out of state.
We think we are going to have to go out of state for pool noodles as well; its pretty much impossible to find them in Minnesota during the winter; thats were being a team in a southern state comes in handy

Try pool/spa stores. Many of these stores carry the pool noodles even during the winter months.

If you are still having trouble finding them, PM me and I will get the name of the store where we get ours (after we go pick ours up to make sure they have enough).

Rachel2177

08-01-2009, 02:36

Try pool/spa stores. Many of these stores carry the pool noodles even during the winter months.

If you are still having trouble finding them, PM me and I will get the name of the store where we get ours (after we go pick ours up to make sure they have enough).

Our first year we finally found a pool store that had some but it was super far away; once we made the drive there we bought a bunch and stocked up...but now we are out, so the search is on again...
it seems that noodles might be easier to find that orbit balls now a days...

Travis Hoffman

08-01-2009, 09:06

Our first year we finally found a pool store that had some but it was super far away; once we made the drive there we bought a bunch and stocked up...but now we are out, so the search is on again...
it seems that noodles might be easier to find that orbit balls now a days...

You can find anything (except orbit balls) online -

http://www.poolcenter.com/pooltoys_noodles_water_logs.htm?gclid=CIfSvJHf_pcC FQEpGgodvyWzDA