Kids are great for that, they love scouring the toy section LOL. She knows I like TFs so if she sees one I don't have she points it out to me.

 

Just have to wait another 8 months for my first to come along, looking forward to it as both a collector and a dad  

 

Years ago, I would hide figures for a completely different reason. I would tuck shelf-warmers away in various places, thinking a manager would eventually notice the empty pegs and order new stock. I figured it was ethical, since apparently nobody wanted those figures anyway.

Then I worked retail for a while and realized this does not work. At all.

These days, I just buy online. In my area, it’s rare to see anything at brick-and-mortar that is not already available on Hasbro Pulse/Amazon/BBTS.

 

I know how street dates work. Ive never heard of such a thing in walmart, mainly just target

 

The bigger problem with the current "street date" issue is that the toys don't actually have street dates. The only time toys do is when a whole line does, like for the launch of a new movie. Target shouldn't have them in their system that way, but its one or two of 100,000 items they stock so their HQ people won't catch it and the employees don't know how to get it fixed.

Back when GI Joe PoC was out, there was a whole wave that wasn't ringing up at all so the cashiers would key them in as "generic item" and the inventory would still think they had 12 or whatever in stock. I really wanted to army build that particular wave so I told the toy manager, the store manager, called the 800 #, everything and they never could fix it. They all saw the problem but didn't know who to tell. So its really just a flub and unless one of us gets a job at Target's HQ in Minneapolis, nothings going to fix it.

 

I used to work at KB Toys before they went belly-up. I did most of the unloading of trucks, putting price labels on everything that came in, and stocking the shelves. Whenever I came across something I wanted, I would still put it out as normal. If it was still there when my shift was over, I'd buy it then. Did I miss out on a few things that got purchased before I got to it, sure, but that was a part of the "thrill of the hunt". I used to believe everyone had a right to a fair chance to get the toy they wanted.

A few years ago I saw how unethical a collector can be. Was in the toy aisle at Walmart looking at the action figures. I noticed another guy, we'll call him Dick, down a ways looking at the Hot Wheels section. Dick combed through it picking out certain ones. Before he left, any doubles of the ones he was going to get, he started bending the backer cards so they wouldn't be mint anymore. As I walked by Dick, I told him that's a really shitty thing to do, what if someone else wants a mint specimen. He gave me the finger and told me to mind my own business. The funny part is he learned how karma can get even with jackasses like him. He was eventually caught and brought up on charges of destruction of store property.
Moral of the story; don't be a dick.

 

You two made this sound like it was some epic, Goonies style treasure hunt.  

I could not agree more.

 

I cant even fathom the level of boot licking and authority worship it takes to contort any sense of ethics to conclude that placing a retail item in a less obvious place so that you can either comeback for it later ( for me after checking with wife, kids or other area collectors) is some how 'wrong"
I doubt any one who does, shares enough of a conscious space with me that even attempting to explain sycophancy on that level would help me understand. Fear and anxiety to not meet all and any expectations and desires of ANY authority figure real or perceived and a level of fear and subservience I cant comprehend would be the only possible explanation. Like, what does or could it even hurt? delay the 'man" getting the absolute maximum immediate financial return as fast as possible? It is going to get bought, the workers will be fleeced, the consumer will be fleeced and the investor class will exploit and victimize everyone on the whole chain up till that point for as much as possible, trust me it may just delay their nut for 24 to 72 hours that I hid a character until … yes, I got paid … or checked with the rest of the family that I could actually make the purchase without involving them in the victimization and exploitation shitchain I described above unless it is going to minimize its impact on them. Other words can we afford to squeeze in me getting luxury trinkets this week.

I almost always make it back and pick it up that was the intent of hiding it, to be fair I don't put enough thought into hiding stuff for it to even be 40% effective as many times as not I come back and its gone.

The only other situation I will hide in is when I know you guys ( collector community, cool nerds online who teach me things and I am grateful to) want something, its hard to find, scalpers and online retailer vultures are scooping and reselling them, and I will PM the people I know want them and let them know where it is. That situation is pretty rare, Maybe two or three times since I've been on this site?

This is a Super weird post as in my area it was always the Springers gobbled up and the Star Screams left. The Target where I eventually got my Springer, (which BTW I hid him behind the board games until My family were taken care of to the point I could get a 30 dollar toy for myself extra) had 5 Star Screams so I assume 5 cases had had the springers picked out and Star Screams left, almost certainly by ebayers and comic shop owners who knew Springer was the "new one" we all wanted and Star Scream had been out, and they had assuredly gotten first pick and filled their need, from THAT shipping of him.

I have said before on here what a ruthless terrible cutthroat waste land my area is, easily the worst in the country as it isn't THAT small an area and I almost always find things dead last of anyone on here. I think its a density of ebayer types, mid size town with a small town distribution system mindsetand a heavy sci fi/ tech community perfect horrible storm.

Aside: I typically only get away from work and small kid raising and taking care of home and domestic responsibilities about once a week for the joint food, household needs, all inclusive shopping trip. If I don't find it at retail then I probably have to miss it or get taken for a few extra bucks purchase price plus shipping from an online source. Hence the retail distribution rants I go on.

Not only did I hide that Spring and come back for it ( I think it was almost two weeks later, 72 hour quote above be damned, I really wanted Springer and put thought and a hail Mary pass into that hiding spot) but I bought a Star Scream from a Store I had a Store credit ( and a sale) at and returned it to the Target I hid the Springer at to get him. When I reached behind that back top corner board game row and felt a Voyager class Siege package you may cant even imagine the toy hunting joy that came over me.

That is the ONE time I have EVER seen a Springer at retail in this wasteland area before or since. I have never seen one before or since and wouldn't have it if I hadn't hid it, played a return game AND had a kiss of luck. SO I wont be losing any sleep and will be playing with Springer over your hand wringing about ethics.

 

If I feel like something is over price, and keep in mind I will answer to my and my only sense of this. I wall straight up say that to the check out girl.

WiTF "This rung up more than I thought it should, could you please fix it for me?"

CoG " What should it be?"

WiTF " Well its a 5 by 4 inch Tape deck robot priced at 60 goddamn dollars, man I bet these guys don't pay you that half a shift, the animals...$12.99 seem about right?"

CoG: " Yeah your right they don't, it should be, here let me fix that sweetie...*tap tap tap*… you have a nice day Sir"

WiTF' " That's very cool and nice of you thank you Ma'am you have a nice day too and don't let them work you to hard"

about 95% of the time.

Don't hate me because I'm Beautiful son.

 

So I figured I should mention my most recent "hide" if you'd call it that. Mirage and Impactor. Hide them a few spaces away and said "if I can put them on layaway, it was meant to be". Come back for my fifteen, layaway guy wasn't there. Come back after lunch, still no layaway guy. After work he was there, but the register broke! At that point I accepted it and left them for another buyer. Funny enough my Triplepack with them showed up yesterday and confirmed that I really didn't need those retail two. I use the "then it was meant to be" whenever I'm veru iffy on a character, and so far it hasn't steered me wrong.

I had to Google sycophony because of you....

I'M BATMAN!!! *punches crime*

 

See? This guys trying to use lay away and eurthang and the giant capital monster cant even keep its implements functioning properly enough to help him complete the task. You do what you gotta do in this game... and what they aint none of in it, rhymes wit it. / James Brown

That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me all day.

I cast Andy Kaufman +12

But just like straight up asking to smash, there aint no shame in trying, all you can do is either succeed or leave where you started.

 

Hiding a figure behind others on the same peg or shelf is fine by my standards. It gets into scummy territory when you're hiding the toy in a different section, or under isles.

But the "self check-out game" is completely unethical; someone in the back room made a mistake/was incompetent and put that toy out before it was supposed to be there, and you're technically stealing the street-dated figure by scanning a different figure that's the same price. Not to mention you're screwing up the stock index. I would lump this in with scanning a figure that's on clearance multiple times, and walking out with several figures that are of the same class but are not on clearance.

Finally, the returns game. Unethical of the person doing it to swap figures, unethical of whoever's up at guest services to accept the return. It's unfair to the company because it represents a loss of profits, and it's unfair to the other potential collectors or kids who might have wanted to buy that toy.

 

Im not talking about returning a swapped toy, I m talking about buying a star scream ( same assortment) at a different store on sale and returning it to a store that has Springer ( more rare figure from same assortment) and telling the customer service person..." We got this and already have this character ( true) and want to exchange it for a different one"... They are %100 percent fine with this as they( and admittedly this is part of the distribution problem) see any one character as interchangeable with another and will just sale the Star Scream anyway. I just get Springer for the sale price from the other store.

 

I wish I had the opportunity to do all these things, but the stores here sell only Cyberverse..

 

So you're saying you bring toy A that was cheaper at store A and bringing it to store B and claiming you got it there and swapping it with Toy B, thus you cheated stored B with the difference of toys A and B.... Do I have that understood?

Edit: I know it sounds condescending but I legitimately am trying to understand. Brain power isn't at full at the moment

 

Sometimes I would hide a figure behind the others on its peg so a friend could find it later. I can’t see anything wrong with that.

On another note...
I don’t know if this is an ethics issue or just collecting preference, but I would never be able to fill gaps in my collection with KOs. It would bother the hell out of me, partly because KOs themselves are inherently unethical. Even for something otherwise horribly expensive, if I can’t afford the genuine article, I’d rather not have one at all. I do own a handful of KOs, but only for their uniqueness and novelty value.

You stole my joke!
“If the Scatman can do it, so can you”
 

 

I’m going to lob a grenade in here.

I don’t see it as return fraud to buy a figure on sale and then buy a figure that comes in later after the sale and return the sale price figure with the full price receipt.

IF the store tracks individual UPCs or DCPIs and you tried to push this, I would see it as return fraud.

But if the store only tracks by assortment number, I don’t think it’s return fraud because in the store’s eyes IT IS THE SAME ITEM.

You do this at your own risk because if they switch to assortment UPCs, you’re stuck with the item. In my eyes, any downside for the store is karma for a store not tracking by UPC.

But if they only ID by assortment and you don’t pull any dirty tricks like switching boxes or asking to speak with a manager to force an adjustment, IMHO it isn’t fraud because it is the same item in the eyes of the store.

 

I can understand this stance, however some of the labor practices involved with even official products makes me sometimes question the ethics of buying figures at all. That’s probably a more complex discussion regarding capitalism and labor than is appropriate for this space though.

 

Glad to hear karma got to him in the end, I’ve never heard of someone being that petty to the point it’s just childish really. That being said most people just want what’s in the package.