Toy swapping in stores..Let this be a lesson
 

Thats what this guy gets

DA: Motive in Silicon Valley Lego barcode scheme may be compulsion or 'beating the system' - San Jose Mercury News

Good for him, Lego's are waaaaaaay too F'n expensive.

Too bad he got caught.

The only man who ever purchased Legos at a reasonable and fair price. Hes an innovator

Ha ha ya...I always wonder when people stashed stuff for others and the security camera's see it obviously, what do they do? Do they just get someone to go and put it back properly or leave it.

The lesson here is

DO IT IN MODERATION LOL

This guy went nuts haha!

Lego's are way overpriced! Maybe he's the A Hole who stole all of my 80's and 90's Lego buckets out of my garage lol haha.

haha they prob don't care. I used to do that alot back in my younger days when I was broke. I've been caught before hiding a figure so I could rush home and borrow some money from my Parents (mind you this was back in my teenage days) and an employee said it's the same as stealing haha! I told her ''I only live 10 miles away, I'm buying it, just have to get cash'' and she wouldn't let me hide it or hold it for me. How the hell is it stealing lol, I'm buying it. It's shady but it's not stealing wtf lol. I ended up telling her ''I do have enough'' and carried it around the store until she left me alone and then I hid it and ran out and got some money.

Thank god I don't have to do that anymore considering I have a job now and credit cards lol.

Back in 99 a buddy swiped a price gun form TRU. We went to 5 TRU's in one day. One of us would go in and write down the skn# off the price tag. Go out to the car, print out a bunch, the other would stick em on their arm and walk in and tag over the old prices. We did the same as him and left others with the new discounted 1.99 or 2.99 price tags hangnig on the pegs. TRU back then had the price match guarantee. Dunno if they still do. But we were in one and every 9.99 fig rang up as 1.99 and the manager just happened to be standing their and looked at us and said "someone has a price gun". We were like, "I dunno man, there's a bunch more back there with the same prices" lol.

A cashier at one store said " Sleepy Hollow figs for $1.99? I better go grab some before they fix the price!" lmao


As far as stashing goes. Every time I go to TRU I see a MU fig or something else placed way away from the rest. I always put them back on the pegs lol. Dude I used to hang out with back in the day would ruin the packages of w/e figures he bought so other MOC collectors didn't get good cards/packs. People still practice that today because every time I'm out I see ML figs with huge bends or tears in the cards.

not my problem i dont this kinda thing just buy me toys and keep em i cant be bothered with repackaging toys anyway so whoever buys these toys 1st Why ? and please do resaerch before buying a toy or anything it helps i read / watch reviews of afigure before even buying it.

See there's a difference between flat-out stealing from a company and following their pre-set rules.

Obviously swapping UPCs or price tags is illegal, even if they're generated by the store.

But returning full-price items to a store that has clearanced them, only to come back later and re-buy them at the clearanced price is well within the defined rules established by the company. If it weren't, you wouldn't be allowed to get all your money back at any store, they'd just give you their current price back for the item.

Plus, the people who pull these elaborate price heists are the extreme minority. It probably purely depends on how much they're gaining by what they're doing and how much time it takes the stores to investigate before the company decides to pursue prosecution...

First things first, the puns in this article are out of control! Reign it in, SJ Mercury.

Back to topic, stealing is wrong. We've all done it (I believe) but that behavior is best left back in our youth. I don't know why this guy did it though. It sounds like he's loaded. I think he had the idea that Legos are way overpriced (he's right!) and he wanted them cheaper. Maybe he was like Robin Hood, leaving his homemade tags on Lego sets for others, but I think he knew he was getting away with it and it escalated. I don't think his motivation was purely profit.

That is an extremely douchey thing your friend did. Having said that, I think a lot of toy collectors back in the day were douchey themselves. Some I'm sure, still are.

Dang those guys that do that!
Actually the guy didn't swap the toys out with a different one, he's just swapping out price labels on them...

I think LEGO is a world recognized brand.These days though it is costly, the kind of imagination and visual thinking this toy creates in minds of children is unmatched.The most creative toy ever invented for kids.

Absolute BEST quote of this article has to be: "he obviously had way more than any one human could possibly enjoy on their own in a legally acceptable way" WHAT the hell does that mean?? Since when was there a legal dictate on enjoyment??How exactly was he enjoying to a legally unacceptable level on his own?? And how much can you enjoy anything before it becomes "legally unacceptable" to enjoy?? THESE are the questions we need answering!!! Am i one MU figure away from "legally unacceptable" enjoyment of the line??

Ya one little figure is around 10 bucks...

Although it looks like he was a great seller on Ebay.
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAP...ab=AllFeedback

^^^^^
These two points are great.

It IS the same as stealing. Well, technically it's vandalism, since you're not taking the product out of the store. Think about it for two seconds. They AREN'T watching the security cameras 24-7, that's ridiculous. It's not what they're there for. They're for looking at later as evidence. And shockingly, merchandise doesn't magically appear on store shelves! I KNOW, RIGHT?!

They have to BUY IT. The store has paid for merchandise. When you hide it, you've stolen it. Because now they can't sell it. And if you never come back for it , and a lot of people DON'T, the store can never sell it because they'll never find it. So it's lost. Stolen. Stores find giant piles of crap hidden under shelves that they never knew was there. That's all money wasted.

I know in your magical fantasy land, they track every single piece of merchandise in the store from the second it gets off the truck till it goes out the door, and carefully comb the aisles to make sure there's exactly what's supposed to be there, and when it's not, they search under every shelf for it, but in the real world, that's not practical or possible.

Also, keep in mind that shrink, which includes these items, usually gets taken directly out of the manager's paycheck.

Don't stash. It's scummy and childish, and you will get kicked out of the store for it.

In CA its illegal to do alot of stuff

"All persons wishing to keep a rhinoceros as a pet must obtain a $100 license first."

"Bathhouses are against the law"

"Community leaders passed an ordinance that makes it illegal for anyone to try and stop a child from playfully jumping over puddles of water"

"Detonating a nuclear device within the city limits results in a $500 fine"

lol

Haha do you enjoy living there than:p? Just curious.

Lol. So what I need to do is start making my own barcodes?

It's weird. Like 10 yrs ago a guy got caught stealing $100's worth of Lego's from his local stores and making a killing on eBay. WTH is up with Lego's that make people crazy?

Dude, take that nonsense someplace else. He stashed it so he could come back to buy it. You're mad because you may have wanted whatever he hid. PERIOD. It isn't stealing, and we all know it. If that were the case, security would be the ones zoning an hour every night because of the 100's of shoplifters that didn't put things back where they got it. Ridiculous.

Ya not sure that I care for this comment ^^

Agreed. Stashing is not stealing, it's not vandalism. The product is still in the store, hell, it's still on the sales floor. I haven't done it in a looong time but I'm sure it's happened in stores I frequent, maybe when I'm there. As for vandalism? It's not any different than putting an item in your cart, getting to the front of the store then putting it on the closest peg because you don't want it anymore. That's what a lot of store employees are there to do, pick up after people. It might be rude behavior, but it's not against the law.

Stashing is def not stealing. You can load your pockets full at the stores. Until you attempt to leave the store, you've committed no crime. I was busted for shoplifting when I was 15. They stopped me between the doors leaving. Also, floor walkers must have a direct line of sight to see you pocket something. If the actual concealment of an item takes place out of their view and is not caught on camera, they legally cannot stop you.

My buddy works security and used to be a floor walker.

lol aside from the dumb laws and nonsense yeah its cool, the sunshine more than makes up for it i guess and just gotta put up with the minor earthquakes every few years, and the only thing that bugs me about that is how many figures are gonna fall off my shelves oh and the cost of living a 4 bedroom 3 bath house cost me $350 grand and thats considered a steal for the area :confused2 no regrets though wouldnt wanna move anywhere else.

I remember when I was about that age when a guy stopped me leaving TRU. He asked to see what was in my backpack. I went in there all the time and it was my first time seeing the guy, so he had to be new. 'Til this day I wish I would have looked him in the eye and said no (fuck you). It would have been great getting down to what his real excuse was for stopping me. I sure never stole anything...

I agree with most of the Comments,its not stealing in any shape or form nor is it a crime to hide figures in other sections.But maybe sales assistants get pissed at people because of the Chaos caused on stock take day when they go to supposed designated area for stock count only to find all the action figures missing :p