Toys R Us tricks?
 

So both of the TRU's in Albuquerque had only three Marvel Universe figures left on the pegs, and both said they had no idea when they'd get more.

Then they had a sale, where it was buy two, get one free. So I bought all 6 left, thinking I could easily swap whichever ones out I wanted once they got filled in again. I also hoped that since I bought out their stock, they'd honor the sale and give me a raincheck, like tons of other stores do.

So of course, they don't do rainchecks, and one TRU said they'd honor the sale if I exchanged them later, and the other didn't have anyone available to say (I honestly figured it was a lock after one said so).

When I saw the latest wave come in, of course neither store would honor the sale. The best they'd do would be to return all the figures I had previously bought and sell me new ones at the current price. I was pretty pissed, but happy to have found a Cable and X23 at the time.

I later thought about it, and I wonder, does anyone know if buying out the remaining stock forces the store to reorder/replenish? If you could float the cash for a week or two, it might be a way to flood the store for a bit. Of course, then you're stuck with all the ones you bought and returned plus all the new ones they get in that you don't want...

Any experience with these tricky tricks?

I know for a fact, buying the stock at my Wal-Mart means getting more stock. Next time, get it in writing, whoever said so, ect. Demand it, make a scene, do whatever. I hate when big companies shit on people, holy shit my blood is boiling...

Walmart...

I'm always careful to read the return policies before I pull this stuff, but I was sad that Toys R Us was so... relentless.

C'est la vie, no?

not in here, they are stocking out for the season

All stores from mom and pops convenience to giant epics Walmart have inventory logs of products they sell, distributor lists and profit margins. Anytime an item sells it shows up sold in inventory logs and the more an item sells the more stock gets added to the next delivery truck because what no business wants is empty shelves, they want product to fill it, and if the product is selling well they'll continue to buy more, and eventually stock up. so it pays to buy toys even if you don't want to lol.

I bought a ghost rider and a punisher today to clean out what was left at Wal-Mart when I found the new wave hoping they would restock so I can find Magneto and Absorbing Man

What do you do with the stuff you don't want? Try to sell it? Return it after a bit?

Well I keep some for trade fodder. But I mainly just return for them. Wal-Mart and target don't need receipts but they gave you store credit. Which I am ok with because I am going to spend it there one way or the other.

As my Viking friend has mentioned, Walmart is the worst. As long as you have a receipt you will get your way with them, but don't try to return a toy that costs over $69 retail without a receipt because they will most likely treat you like shit and you'll leave without your money back. K-mart is by far the worst when doing a return, but in certain situations they are acceptable sources of decent figures and shouldn't be completely disregarded (yet). The key here people is to keep your receipts, and don't take shit from the faculty in any retail store. They are there to serve you and they openly post signs everywhere saying how important "customer satisfaction" is, so use that shit to your advantage if you're being treated poorly or are in a tight situation. I've had so many bad experiences in retail stores that I literally don't care anymore about the way the store itself is effected, and I know the employees are treated like shit so I expect more from them than the usual brown nosing antics that many of them display.

Well I work at Walmart (not for much longer) and they've treated me and everyone else like garbage so I have a personal grudge against them lol.

This makes me want to play Sabotage by the Beastie Boys, fuck the system ! should steal like a mother or cause random acts of destruction. I've always wanted to bodycheck a display wall hard enough to make a domino effect thus distroying an entire store with 1 hit lol, but I'm afraid I'd kill somebody in the process or have to pay for it lol.

Untie your shoe, trip, say "oops, my bad".

I have a buddy who buys out all the peg warmers. Then drives to another TRU in the next city and dumps them there for refund. He will then go back and check it out until they re stock. It works for him i guess but then again he's wasting a lot of money on gas.

Wait wait wait, hold up y'all have toy r us's that restock? I need to move. My TRU has had the same four figures peg warming the last four months with nothing new at all, it's modern thor, iron spider man and 2 wreckers and that is all

So far i havent run into any probs @ walmart. I always keep my receipt tho. Go in and see something new, run home grab a few i was holding BAM new wave for 6 spidey figs. Cant beat that lol

The big difference between Walmart and Toys r us is the Walmart inventory runs "just in time", so their restock inventory is directly effected by current purchases.

Toys r us on the other hand can have several "hands" touch the restock inventory request. The store manager looks it over and makes changes, then the district manager looks it over and makes changes, and the regional manager looks it over and makes changes, and then finally the Distribution center manager looks it over and makes changes depending on store "output", i.e. total sales. This system sucks for smaller stores because they give preferential treatment to larger stores or even their favorite stores. I worked at a high volume store in Ann Arbor Michigan, but the district and regional managers HATE that store so restocking anything but necessities and TRU brand crap was next to impossible.

I hope this helps to shed some light.

Even though marvel is mentioned, this is more of a general topic. Moved to Action Figures General.

The only experiance I've had lately with WM is that you can't return DVD's. I bought Starwars on Blue Ray. I thought I would still get bonus features on just the original trilogy but no you have to buy all 6 movies to get the extra content. I went to return it the verry next day and all they would do was give me a new one which they opened so I could not return it somewhere else. WTF It was the next day. Just because people can copy movies and return them doesn't mean they should no longer accept returns on them. I wanted to get the more expensive set but they would not let me. BS

Staying on thread topic, but not where we're going with this, I posted a tru trick a while back that is completely different..

Stockers and collectors have their "deals" they make or stuff they want, so they put it in the bins/shelves above the toys. Just glance through the holes from the bottom and if you see a box, lift the flap, pull it out and see what you win!

Ha! That's just more work for poor Viking!

That's actually pretty smart, considering I have to check both TRU's in town anyway. Of course, you still have to be able to float the cost until the refund goes back in your account...

Wow, knowledge sure is beautiful. I wish Walmart and Targets made more of an effort to pander to collectors, I'd never step foot in a TRU again.

That's a super tip! I thought about making 'deals' with the stocking guys, as they all pretty much know me now, but it just feels weird. I'll definitely be looking up in the overhead at the TRU's in the future!

Once a store sales out of a non clearance item they order restock.

You can return DVD's/Blu-Rays within 30 days as long as they're not opened. If you've opened the package you can only exchange for the same title. And yes, they will open the package you're swapping before you leave the customer service desk during the exchange process.

The return policy isn't exclusive to Wal-Mart. Every brick-and-mortar retail store like Wal-Mart and Best Buy has a similar policy for media exchanges.

The only exception I've run into was when I bought the first season of Hawaii Five-O a few years ago and one of the DVDs had fallen out of the case while in-store and gotten scratched, making it unplayable. When I exchanged for the last set they had in stock the same problem was discovered when it was opened at the customer service desk albeit on a different disc. As there weren't any more sets left, they credited my CC.

This isn't the first time I've run into something like this. To call it "tricky" is being polite to say the least.

The last job I had working retail, a new manager had just been hired and called a meeting. His idea of store policy was to separate the customer from his dollar as fast as possible by any means necessary. Bait-and-switch was also encouraged by the powers-that-be, so in other words have low stock of the sale item, sell it out and then say, "We're out of the sale item but we have this comparable item", which of course wasn't on sale. Needless to say, customers got pissed about it, which I don't blame them for.

Then there are practices like spiffs in some retail stores like Service Merchandise or as I discovered in the past few years, HHGregg. You're encouraged to sell certain items to consumers to get monetary bonuses on your paycheck. I caught wind of their participation in this practice when a sales clerk tried to steer my parents onto a small TV *really* hard. When I asked him if he was working for a spiff, he sheepishly said yes and his face turned pale like he had shit his pants. I told my parents we should leave and to my knowledge they never returned to an HHGregg store to buy anything.

There was a time when retail was a good job to have and a decent field to be in. Nowadays, it's just one facet of the ugliness of today's corporate America. I'm not sorry to be out of it but I am grateful for the knowledge I did get while working in it when making my decisions about what products to get as a consumer.

This is where I'm happy I have a friend who works at Toys R Us. No problems in scoring the exclusives I want and such.

Though in terms of trying to get them to restock is always problematic. I mean at the TRU that he works at, they won't restock if they've still got figures (pegwarmers). In terms of Marvel Universe it's a hit or miss. Sometimes it'll get restocked and other times one or two figures will sit on the pegs. From what I understand, whoever is doing the ordering just isn't getting enough in. Then again that particular TRU is always hit up by the collectors come opening time.