I keep seeing posts and threads about the new ROTF toys, and most of them sound something like this: "I found the first 6 waves of new ROTF toys today, and for some reason the register wouldn't let me ring them up, and the mean manager took them away from me....blah,blah,blah" Am I crazy or don't MOST of us know the damn things aren't supposed to be out untill 5/30????? I don't see where people are shocked that they can't buy them today, since it is well known, (and on the side of the cases themselves) the toys are not to be sold untill 5/30. Stupid store employees aside, there is a reason the things don't scan...cause Walmart knows some of their employees are stupid, and some are fans trying to get a jump on the new stuff. So even though the stuff is out on the shelves, pegs, etc...YOU AREN'T GONNA BE ABLE TO BUY IT UNTILL 5/30!!!! Seeing new stuff out earlier than promised is a nice surprise, but don't act so surprised when the store won't sell it to you when you already knew it shouldn't even be out anyway..... Just my spare change on the matter......
And yet Fred Meyer and certain Walmarts sold them no problem. It's not the street date, it's what retailers follow the street date. A Walmart in Texas may sell them to you know problem but another in Alabama may strictly follow the street date. Though I agree that all these "I found ROTF Wave 1/Deluxes/Scouts/Voyagers/Leaders and bought them/couldn't buy them" threads are getting annoying.
Whining is not my intention, even though it sounds like it. Just tired of all the complaining about not being able to buy stuff you shouldn't be able to buy anyway....
But that's the point, we should be able to buy them. It isn't our fault that the stocking employee can't read.
I think I remarked in the "is it ok if I commit fraud to get something two weeks early?" thread that I find it amazing how many people are shocked when something they know is not for sale until the 30th turns out not to be for sale. Personally, I'm wondering if a lot of Hot Wheels collectors have taken up TF collecting as a secondary hobby and brought their insidious ways with them.
Street dates on toys get broken so often these day I guess I could see how a person might think that the street date had been broken if they see the toys on the shelves. I mean do you really want to drive all the way home to see if there is news about the street date being broke or would you just try to buy the thing? On the other hand yes it is really funny the way people act like it's the end of the world. There should be plenty of product to go around this time for the people that want the movie figures so you'd think people could just wait a little while longer.
I don't think it's a problem with "stupid employees", I don't think it's the fact that they "can't read". I'm really tired of hearing people bash the stockers like they're the dumbest people in the world. They're just doing their jobs. For all we know they were told to put the items on the shelves. As far as that goes the store might have removed the street date tags or have told their employees to ignore them. Fact of the matter is, they're out there and if you can't buy them, oh well! You know why you can't don't be stupid and blame someone else.
"I found the first 6 waves of new ROTF toys today, and for some reason they were incredibly lame and overpriced. I took them to the till to ask them to burn them, but the manager took them off me."
chances are you're more likely to be able to buy them now from smaller stores. If its in their store room and not on the shelves its costing them money, smaller stores just can't afford to do that.
The cases don't have stickers on them. They're stamped in ink. No way of removing that. If the cases are unpacked and on the shelves, they should be available for purchase. Not everyone who will be buying these figures knows of a street date, and I'm sure they'd be mighty disappointed that they can't buy something that's clearly on the peg/shelf and looks to be for sale. If the cases are on pallets, unopened, don't bother. The stamp on the side of the case is what should be observed and followed. In fact, I saw an entire pallet of the figures this morning, but they were still in sealed cases, hence, not for sale.
It's not Hasbro's fault either. Just because something is sitting on a store shelf does not mean you have the right to buy it. Alcohol is on grocery store shelves yet people under 21 can't buy it. Alcohol is on grocery store shelves on Sundays and even people over 21 can't buy it then.
I have mentioned before on these boards I work for a toy store. > moving on> Ironicly I noticed on the mountain of ROTF cases coming off the palets this morning (deluxes and leaders! Yes!) that the orange may/30th is actually a sticker and is day glow orange so its much harder to miss. Could this just be because the box was printed without a release date? Or was it a active measure to aide stockers that missed it the first time? I've been nudgeing my coworkers to watch out for this date on the "Transformers mov2" toys. No one is going to get the chance to cheat us out of inventory. Or get us fined by hasbro regional representatives. They can pull your entire stock if they catch you breaking the date.
Ok, so I went to the Wallymart in Palatka yesterday, and they finally restocked........with the first wave of movie figures! So what did I do? I found an employee and explained the situation to her. Her response? " I don't know why these are out, it says right on the box not to stock untill 5/30" I just explained to her that with the toys on the pegs they were in for loads of angry people when they try to purchase those TF's. And yes, I took one to a price scanner to see what it would say...."Please see Associate for Assistance" So the young lady put all the movies toys (thankfully just the deluxes were out) in a cart and went to the stockroom to find a manager. IMHO this is what should be happening when these things are found, not trying to find ways around the system in place to catch employee mistakes...
Precisely how I was able to buy the Preview Wave on Monday. As for not being allowed to buy the other Wave One toys, I wouldn't be surprised if this happens in larger stores. I work in the book trade and we have embargoed titles all the time. They sit there with labels on telling us not the stock them until specific dates. Unless it is clearly marked and we have instructions from Head Office to obey the embargo, it will be stocked immediately. According to Grimwing: So it is easy to understand why they are being stocked immediately. Some things slip through the cracks... It is the way of things.
So don't put them out in the first place. That way, random parents won't be cluttering up the checkout aisles with crying children because someone didn't do their job properly.
