As far as we can tell, this is a real sign someone put up:
(Click to embiggen, or read the transcript after the cut.)
Dear Management,
I have been trying to give money to your company, but the low inventory of product is making it impossible. Please fill this space with new cases rather than spreading out the few figures that are here.
Sincerely,
Your Loyal Customer
🙂
Granted, this will probably just be taken down by some indifferent wage monkey, but it's still a nice idea.
Haha, thats funny, but I don't know that it will work. If he feels that strongly about it, enough to take the time to type up the message, cut it out in the shape of a speech bubble, and punch a hole to fit on the peg, then he should go directly to the store manager, don't leave cutsey signs on the pegs.
Which also makes me think --- does anyone bother to fill out those surveys that you get on reciepts? Do you think the feedback actually matters? I'm inclined to think "no" but you never know --- I was asked couple times at TRU by some of the employees that I'm friendly with to fill them out, and even went as far as giving me their names. So I guess maybe it depends on the retailer?
Well, how about this? TRU always gives you receipts now, where if you fill out the survey, you have a chance to win X amount of credit or whatever. But it used to be that you'd get the surveys randomly, rather than every time, and when you filled it out you got a $3 credit (or something - it wasn't a huge amount, just enough to knock a little off the price of an action figure). I always filled those out, and when they asked what kinds of toys I'd like to see at their stores, I always answered NECA, SOTA, Mezco and other collector lines. And sure enough, eventually they started carrying those, so clearly other people who filled out the surveys felt the same way.
Oh, and as for talking to the manager, sometimes it's just easier to type something up and print it out. Besides, this way it draws attention to their lack of product, rather than it being a private conversation...
I'd sure as heck fill out a survey for $3.00 off my next purchase. Its like when you go to Friday's or The 99 and get a reciept for a free appetizer on your next visit!
The sign certainly makes a statement. Just like NASA holding a bake sale. I'm sure if a grocery store was constantly running out of milk or bread they'd certainly have a lot of complaints!
Well I think that was the problem: people would fill out the survey for a guaranteed payout, but then TRU had to pay out. By changing it to the way they do it now, they get more responses with less outlay on their part. And we lose out...
i'm not sure if it'll work either, but i think it was probably done for the humor more than the effectiveness.
and as far as talking to the manager, at many stores (especially target) talking to the toy dept manager about ordering toys gets you automatically branded a "collector" and looked at like you're some creepy dude or some scalper who's taking toys meant for kids and selling em for top dollar on ebay.
i'm not about to open up the whole "collector policy" debate again, but i've kinda found that the best thing for me to do is avoid talking to the store employees unless absolutely necessary, because i've definitely been labeled "COLLECTOR!" and singled at like i was the last human in a world full of pod people, when all i was tryna do was find some star wars guys.
i used to pull out the DPCI numbers at target, but it just became such an awkward situation every time...and more targets are moving away from pulling stock from the back room. hilariously, i remember some guy giving me a hard time about pulling figures from the back, saying they're not supposed to do it, and when he does bring out an SW box, it's basically been picked clean.
but i digress.
yet if you had a child in tow they would bend over backwards for you!
nothing wrong with that. store employees should be helpful and courteous and do whatever is in their power to assist a customer, whether that customer is a child or an adult. personally, i'd probably give the kid precedence since, you know, the innocence of youth and all, yadda yadda yadda, but the fact that they isolate an entire customer base and lump them all in together as "collectors" based on a few outlying scalpers is mildly annoying. i mean, if i saw like a star wars toy that i really wanted and never could find and some kid was in the aisle at the same time and wanted it, i'd probably let the kid have it and just hope to find another one or splurge on ebay as long as i could afford it...even if i never end up finding the toy again, it's just a toy and (hopefully) the kid'll enjoy it more than me and i'll feel good that i made someone's day...however, the truth is these days a lot of toys are made with adults in mind, or at least designed to appeal to a broad range of age groups. look at the pursuit of cobra GI joes with their tons of tiny and numerous detailed accessories...no way is a kid going to be appreciative of those, he'll probably lose half of them in seconds unless he's as OCD as i was as a child. or the "vintage" star wars line, which hasbro has said is geared toward adult collectors, while the clone wars figs are meant for children...or the "ADULT COLLECTOR" stamp mattel's been putting on all their stuff lately. when more and more figures are aimed at the "collector" it's pretty backwards for a store like target to institute a "collector policy" that alienates those people.
meant to reply here! ;-P
I'm not disagreeing with you here.
I guess it just feels as though its borderline discrimination --- i.e. a male in his thirties is by himself and walks into Target asking for Star Wars Toys gets shut-down but a woman with child in tow gets catered to.
Their policy, instigated by scalpter a-holes and greedy hoarders is not without merit, but they need to acknowledge that a lot of these "toys' are meant for adult collectors.
I think its a stigma --- look at how long it took for video games to become "mainstream" and considered a legitimate media in its own right, and not just a plaything for kids. For a time there was just this massive public perception to the average Dick & Jane that video games are just for kids.
I think the same applies to toys. We all know toys are not just for kids. TRU has started to acknowledge this with their collector oriented aisle --- but part of me doubts we will ever see the day a store like Target or Wal-Mart doing any such thing.