[DDDYKI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain mal

Here's the thing... is an employee buying product for themselves 'wrong'? I would argue that it's not. Sure, it pisses us off... but in my past experience, that is one of the benefits of working retail. I can remember getting computer games, music, or DVDs before they hit the floor. Heck, I used to work on a truck dock - and I would 'accidentally' open Hasbro boxes back in the day as they were on the way to stores. This is how I used to know when and where product was going to hit. (I never stole anything - but I did see most of the 90's waves before they were in stores) (Biggest temptation I had was probably GNR's Use Your Illusion albums - that I saw a week before they were released... man, I wanted to swipe those so bad)

If you happen to work retail, setting product aside is one of the benefits. The store still gets their money - so they don't care. Only way to solve it is to produce enough product to fill demand. Hard to put blame on some lowly Target employee when its not really their fault at all...

Yes, it can be wrong, at least when it comes to street dates or embargo items. Talking big stores, corporate arranges with a distributor or manufacturer to carry certain items on their terms. If Disney doesn't want copies of their newest home video release to hit shelves before a certain date, all corporate stores are expected to abide. Agreements are signed and failing to honor the terms can make for trouble. I remember working for Walgreens 20 years ago and the home video releases would come in boxes with large print that explains when the contents can be sold. Where I work, I deal with launch planning all the time. Companies take it very seriously, so we have to take it seriously. (Way too seriously, sometimes.) We honor the agreements, with the expectation that we'll continue to get the manufacturer's hottest products in the future. The last thing we want to do is burn relationships and potentially lose their business, which means losing customer business.

Technically, whether you're an employee or not, the store is selling you that item. You're on the hook and so is corporate.

[kilowatt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SwordMonkey

Went to three targets today. As I walked into the aisle at the last one the employee was opening a box, my heart did a little skip as I saw the blue boxes come out. Full case of fireflies, which I didn’t really need unfortunately. No vipers. I grabbed a couple for friends that needed and left 4 on the pegs.

Popfindr and Target app stock is completely inaccurate for these. Have to get lucky checking now.

Yeah Popfindr is inaccurate for the Firefly, I scored one today but I was tipped off by a friend. Do you think it is the same for the Viper?

[Mr Jackpots]

I have no issue with an employee buying one for themselves. Gotta take what perks a job can give you. However if they're buying out most/all of the stock of an item that's where I start to take issue. If it were a higher profile/priced item like a PS5 it would probably be in the news.

[DJK1980]

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain mal

Here's the thing... is an employee buying product for themselves 'wrong'? I would argue that it's not. Sure, it pisses us off... but in my past experience, that is one of the benefits of working retail. I can remember getting computer games, music, or DVDs before they hit the floor. Heck, I used to work on a truck dock - and I would 'accidentally' open Hasbro boxes back in the day as they were on the way to stores. This is how I used to know when and where product was going to hit. (I never stole anything - but I did see most of the 90's waves before they were in stores) (Biggest temptation I had was probably GNR's Use Your Illusion albums - that I saw a week before they were released... man, I wanted to swipe those so bad)

If you happen to work retail, setting product aside is one of the benefits. The store still gets their money - so they don't care. Only way to solve it is to produce enough product to fill demand. Hard to put blame on some lowly Target employee when its not really their fault at all...

Over the past few weeks I’ve had a few conversations with various target store managers, as well as two separate calls with target corporate customer service, all about the difficulties of finding these figures. Here’s what I learned in regards to Target’s official employee policy:

Employees are absolutely allowed to purchase products, but 2 rules must be followed when purchasing rare collectible items (which these Joe exclusives ARE considered).

First rule, the customer gets first priority, and employees are prohibited from purchasing a collectible within the first 15 minutes of it being available. I assume this 15 minute window is defined by the first 15 minutes that the store is open on the day that they have the item in stock, but I’m not 100% sure if this is the proper translation. I was told that Target is very strict with enforcing this rule, but we all know how “strict” certain stores are with this as clearly inventory is disappearing before stores even open. But clearly, the rule was put in place to give customers a fighting chance to obtain collectibles, but employees can gain the system by “deflecting” inquiries for 15 minutes with all kinds of excuses, then scoop up the figures for themselves.

Second rule, employees MUST be either on break or off the clock in order to make any purchase. This explains why inventory goes missing for hours, then turns to zero without customers buying anything. Employees simply stash the items until their break, then legitimately make the purchase. This one was obvious I think, and supported by the story about the guy waiting for 8 hours before seeing the employee buy the whole case.

So I haven’t put any of this knowledge to use, but PERHAPS if you’re in a situation where you showed up to the store right at opening and you’re getting stonewalled, maybe you throw out that corporate policy and scare an employee into giving in? Worth a shot!

[Edhaskel]

^^^ This would make sense. Got to Target at opening,‘no one else there. Popfindr said 6. Asked the employee and he told me they had 6 but sold them all already. Left, and watched popfindr slowly go from 6 to 5 to 4, etc throughout the day....

[PopToyPhotos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edhaskel

^^^ This would make sense. Got to Target at opening,‘no one else there. Popfindr said 6. Asked the employee and he told me they had 6 but sold them all already. Left, and watched popfindr slowly go from 6 to 5 to 4, etc throughout the day....

This just pisses me off. I worked retail as a kid. And I get all the points everyone has already made, but this is still shitty.

[big ape]

Please, if anyone runs across a couple of Firefly and can pick them up, I will gladly pay extra. Not eBay money, but extra and would definitely return the favor if there’s something you’re looking for down the road. I’d rather do business with a fellow Joe collector than scalper turds on eBay or Mercari. Thank you.

[MGurlea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wehrmanm

"Agreed. Speaking of time being valuable, what's the cliffs notes on that 26:00 IG video? I'm not watching all of that for a single anecdote."

This comment illustrates one of the problems of this message board that I have even been PMed about. Most people on here can only read a few sentences or one short paragraph and any longer than that they can't handle it. The other collector sites I go to people have lengthy conversations for days about things. Not here though. You get sh_t for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by matthewrex

"Yeah, I don't think the anecdote achieved what they intended it to...."

Ya because everyone seems to have focused in on ONE thing in the story, that is almost an irrelevant detail to the story, and hopped on the self righteous and moral preening band wagon. What would everything think of this story if the guy had only been there 5 minutes and THE STORE manager was caught hiding these and then walking out with the entire case? Would that change the story for you? Because those are really the relevant details and point of the story. I watched the video twice and I am still not very clear on the details of the timeline. Was he there that long because an employee was looking for them the entire time and told him to wait? They said some kid did search the ENTIRE back of the store for these. They were showing a case in stock.

Yes, as I have already stated, 8 hours is literally crazy. I would not have done that. Upon self reflection though I am not sure how long I would wait if confronted with similar circumstances. I would be interested to find out from others here how long would you stay in a store waiting if confronted with similar circumstances: Confirmed case in stock and employee currently searching for them and he has to search the entire back of the store. Or confirmed case in stock and getting the run around from employees. What do you guys do? How long do you stay? I bet no one will be honest with their answers. I bet I wont get anyone to even read this far down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain mal

"Here's the thing... is an employee buying product for themselves 'wrong'? I would argue that it's not...Hard to put blame on some lowly Target employee when its not really their fault at all..."

No here's the thing, you need to look up theft statutes and follow the details of this story. This "lowly" Target employee that you seem to think is "soooo oppressed and a victim" and can "barely get by on what he is paid" in this story was THE STORE manager. THE BOSS of the entire store. Google how much a STORE manager makes. According to Indeed they make AN AVERAGE of $116,000. This guy was the opposite of what you say.

I would also argue that the details in this case the manager could be charged with theft. Theft is not only permanently taking something but also temporarily taking it too. His hiding the case while others are looking for it trying to make the sale is temporarily depriving the store of product and money. An employee apparently looked through the entire back of the store so they had to be somewhere where he wasn't allowed to look. I am just speculating but what happens if Target security would have joined in the hunt and found these say in the guy's office? It should not be acceptable anywhere for him to be able to say, well I was just setting these aside for myself and was going to pay for these later. Not when in certain states people get charged with shoplifting when they go to a store and eat something while walking around or place something in their pocket while walking around with plans of paying for it once they get to the checkout.

Even if no one wants to prosecute, it is still totally unethical, probably against policy (see below), and just plain f_cked up that this guy knew there was a customer there wanting just some of these, employees searching for them, he hides them so said employees currently searching can't find them, and tries to sneak away with the entire case. Then when caught tries to still work out some cash DEAL in the parking lot. I am betting he was going to ask more than retail for the figures too if given the chance.

In this story it is entirely this guy's fault. He probably makes more than $116K a year seeing that this supposedly happened on Long Island but the temptation of being able to flip these $120 items for $900 got the best of him. It is called greed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by puckzx6

"It's been nearly 30 years (yep, I'm old), but when I worked at Target our policy (not sure if it was store or corporate) was any purchase an employee made had to be off the clock and the item pulled from the floor. No stashing things to buy later. Somewhat funny, a huge part of my job was literally to walk around the store and ask customers if I could help them find anything."

Thank you for pointing this out. I hope others read your comment.

I posted a story a few pages back on this thread that several years ago a manager looking guy at a Target on his own went totally out of his way to track down a DVD for me. I did not ask him to do a thing really. I just told him what I was looking for after he approached me and asked. When he found it he told me that he was about a minute away from giving up his own search and ordering the entire store to go into the back and tear it apart. All for one DVD. I don't get why now we get turned away rudely when we simply ask about stuff? How are retail employees allowed to discourage and stop sales today? It makes no sense. I am also astounded by customers who have commented saying that they think it is not part of retail employees jobs to help customers. Yes it is. Thank you again for confirming this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Jackpots

"I have no issue with an employee buying one for themselves. Gotta take what perks a job can give you. However if they're buying out most/all of the stock of an item that's where I start to take issue. If it were a higher profile/priced item like a PS5 it would probably be in the news."

Exactly, this guy took the entire store's inventory of the item. He took the entire case.

I read in the regular news about the PS5 sales. It sounded like people were experiencing what collectors experience all the time.

This is totally hypothetical and did not happen with the guy but whose to say if someone is willing to do this with G.I. Joes that they would also do this with something more expensive like PS5s? How much were PS5s being scalped for on eBay? This is another reason why this should not get a pass.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJK1980

"Over the past few weeks I’ve had a few conversations with various target store managers, as well as two separate calls with target corporate customer service, all about the difficulties of finding these figures. Here’s what I learned in regards to Target’s official employee policy:

Employees are absolutely allowed to purchase products, but 2 rules must be followed when purchasing rare collectible items (which these Joe exclusives ARE considered).

First rule, the customer gets first priority, and employees are prohibited from purchasing a collectible within the first 15 minutes of it being available. I assume this 15 minute window is defined by the first 15 minutes that the store is open on the day that they have the item in stock, but I’m not 100% sure if this is the proper translation. I was told that Target is very strict with enforcing this rule, but we all know how “strict” certain stores are with this as clearly inventory is disappearing before stores even open. But clearly, the rule was put in place to give customers a fighting chance to obtain collectibles, but employees can gain the system by “deflecting” inquiries for 15 minutes with all kinds of excuses, then scoop up the figures for themselves.

Second rule, employees MUST be either on break or off the clock in order to make any purchase. This explains why inventory goes missing for hours, then turns to zero without customers buying anything. Employees simply stash the items until their break, then legitimately make the purchase. This one was obvious I think, and supported by the story about the guy waiting for 8 hours before seeing the employee buy the whole case.

So I haven’t put any of this knowledge to use, but PERHAPS if you’re in a situation where you showed up to the store right at opening and you’re getting stonewalled, maybe you throw out that corporate policy and scare an employee into giving in? Worth a shot!"

Thank you for finding this out and posting what you learned. Since you seem like you know what you are doing and have some rapport developed, I would be interested if you spoke to them again and asked about this crap that I read online and now have seen once firsthand, this "collector rule." Is this a real policy or are employees just making this up to, as you say, stonewall or deflect us, to get around the real rules so they can buy the stuff for themselves?

I read about it in the comments section under a YouTube review of the Viper first. A few people reported being turned away by Target employees and they claimed there was a new policy where they are to no longer help any customer looking for "collectibles." Furthermore, I saw on Friday a customer looking for MOTU being turned away and he was told there was a "collector rule" and he had to come back at 10AM. But then the next employee didn't say anything about it.

It seems to me most of our experiences, with not only Target employees but other big box stores as well, make little to no sense. Most of what they tell us is nonsensical and ridiculous especially when considering the entire goal of the store is to sell things and make money. Most of what we are told does the exact opposite of that. What does make sense is we are being told this stuff for a variety of nefarious reasons. Their reasons start to make perfect sense when you start thinking about that's what might be really going on.