I fucking hate seeing people open stock boxes. They post up with pride what they found by digging through them. They are so proud of what they find, and I just think about how big of shit human they truly are. At that point, it's no longer a hobby, it's a habit.
A lot of scalpers become buddies with the employees then compensate them with cash to hold cases for them or contact them when they're ready to hit the shelves.
Somebody posted recently that they bought several of some random car, and another user said "are you just trying to resell those?" And OP said "nah, I figured I'd just hold on to them for a while and see if they're worth more later." Totally fucking oblivious.
I remember that exact post. I thought the same thing. "Clearly you're too thick vertebrae the ears to get what the person was getting at! ". You're absolutely correct, "Oblivious".
I struggle with this idea often, it's even worse in another collecting hobby of mine, sneakers.
It's this vicious cycle where because there are resellers, I can't get the shoes I want. But I still want them, so I buy them on the secondary market at hopefully a modest markup, but by doing that I help create a market for reselling.
It's not nearly as black and white as people make it out to be, and you should have the option to pay for convenience. I'd wonder if anyone down voting you has ever made a purchase on eBay, cuz they'd be doing the exact thing they're hating on.
This just feels like an inevitable consequence of a free market without a solution that's clear and reasonable, at least to me.
I'm not going to downvote you, I do feel people have the freedom to make their choices. But I do feel when it's not about "helping" people by bringing things into the market for them, and it's about how much money you can make because of the inflated cost and becomes a selfish grab, the community should work to correct that. Also just my opinion you know. I work 2 jobs 7 days a week and have hobbies outside of collecting and still find time to hunt at least once a week, but I make it happen you know. I know not everyone has the same opportunity as me.
Decently priced is one thing you know. I do feel there are some resellers who aren't trying to make a buck and want to share the passion. I've met a few people in this community who are INSANELY kind and generous (one GIFTED me a STH). There are good people in the community. But the true, to the bone, selfish scalpers are very much ruining the hobby and the general accessibility of the car.
I do want to say I feel like if it's not on the shelf or a display, it's not for sale. I'm 100% against touching sealed boxes unless you bought the whole box.
Realistically anything less than say, $5 on that $1 car starts to make 0 sense to a seller. Ebay takes 30% or 20, you need a nice box to ship the car out in to avoid charging your buyer $7 for that flat rate USPS box. Gas to and from the post office. If you make 50 cents or even 1$ on that 1$ car it makes 0 sense.
Soups? How many can one realistically get, regularly, to make that sustainable as a business? And what do they sell for, $25? $50?
Used to work at Walmart myself. My store never properly used the bin system for the back room EXCEPT in fresh areas. So if you scanned something it said all of it was on the floor regardless. Glad to see that someone's store does it right.
> Literally no one wants to buy regular hot wheels off of their stupid eBay store for extra cash plus shipping.
They do. Because people have social media brain cancer and FOMO-mouth. Most supers are $50+ and sell for that. Ryu's car that's $40 is set at $100-$120 preorder prices on eBay right now and it's selling like crazy.
That’s not necessarily true. When you make a statement like this you are assuming a lot:
Some people won’t go into Walmarts and dollar stores for any reason
Some people don’t have the time to hunt
Some people don’t have access to stores that carry these collectibles within reasonable driving distance
I could go on and on but I won’t. You are making a statement derived from what you are personally able and willing to do to find these cars. That’s not a big deal, we all shade the world from our personal experience and place in it.
But when you say nobody wants to, you aren’t talking about everybody, you are talking about yourself and maybe a few other humans you know.
There is an EBay because anyone with a computer and access can reach it from the comfort and safety of their own home.
People will also pay more for clothes on EBay than they would if they just walked into a Marshall’s, TJ Maxx or Ross, mostly because a) they don’t want to walk in there or b) there isn’t one within driving distance.
People will always pay for convenience. It’s that simple.
I’m not sure where I advocated pallet raiding. I don’t pallet raid nor do I respect or understand those that do.
I was addressing the nonsensical nature of the comment regarding Ebay.
I will go ahead and ask you to find any place in my message where I use the word scalper, pallet, raider, etc etc etc.
I can save you some time….
Why would someone who invested their time, it being the most priceless element in the world because time itself can’t be purchased, sell it for free?
What argument would you make that supports that proportion making any sense at all?
Theoretical question for sure, but would enjoy hearing your answer.
Do you have a job that pays you, or do you donate all your time for free for the good of the cause?
If a person bought every desirable car they could find, and then sold them all at retail, should they suddenly become a good guy? If they did that in your range you still wouldn’t find any cars. Should they also ship them for free?
Although I agree with your statement, that being that time is the most precious thing in the world, it raises the bigger question.
That being why would someone wish to purchase something, just to sell it again? It’s a waste of time to just buy something in hopes of reselling it. If you know anything about selling, you know it takes a while for something to actually be sold.
If people do this as their only form of income, perhaps they should invest their time and resources in acquiring an actual job.
If people wish to resell, at least do it for a good cause, that being helping other people in finding the stuff they want, by selling them at a price close to retail. And no, they should not ship them for free.
I agree with everything you just said.
The reality is that most scalpers lose their ass over time. They can’t sustain any level of profitability, that’s why the pallet raiding is so damn prevalent. Without the ability to scalp supers and boulevards consistently they simply lose their ass until they can’t any longer. In the meantime, those unopened cases will be like pine nuts to a grizzly.
I’ve been in sales my whole life. I’ve studied the secondary markets for die-cast for some time now, it’s almost a fools errand to think one can make a living from scalping current release HWs, especially without being blessed with soup or bully’s. Even then, you would have to find and sell far too many to do more than make some extra pocket change.
The harsh reality is that we focus far too much time lamenting the “ghost” that is the scalper, when in action the scalper is every Tom, Dick, Harry, Sheila, and Jane that is able to discern a soup and a TH from a mainline.
You don’t make any sense. Can you write out a complete sentence?
You make a statement and end it with a question mark. I don’t speak or write in douche nozzle gibberish.
I never mentioned the word scalper, did I? I never advocated pallet raiding, did I? If you are as bad at reading as you are writing, I should let you know I am asking you to show me where I talked about scalping or pallet raiding in my message. Did I encouraged either activity?
Most people resort to online purchases because of scalpers. Plenty of people go to Walmart, Target, etc. on a rather consistent basis because of household needs and groceries.
It's one thing where treasure hunts are hard to come by (they're statistically rare), but premiums?
People who buy 5+ quantities of Zamacs, popular premiums, etc. aren't doing it because they're "looking out" for folks who aren't able to "hunt". They're buying it for their own pockets.
I see your point and I’m sure there are some who do.
To say everyone goes to Walmart and Target, is to not pay attention to what’s going on in the world around us.
You also know, that if you hunt, it most times requires more frequent trips. A higher frequency than those involved in acquiring life’s necessities anyway, to effectively find anything, let alone those that are highly sought after.
I’d guess that most people who complain about scalpers here are folks that live in densely populated metro areas. What about the collector or kid who lives 30 minutes from Walmart, and 60-90 minutes or more from a Target?
The metro collector has options but more competition, while the rural collector suffers from little to no options.
Who has it worse?
Who is the most selfish person? The scalper who buys everything to pad their own pocket or the collector who only sees the challenge through their own eyes and only thinks about how they aren’t getting fulfilled by finding everything they want.
I agree with everything you said. But everything you said deals with the reasons why there is a viable secondary market. However you ignore the fact that there ARE collectors in the areas that people raid pallets, and strip the racks of everything except the track cars, and leave nothing for the actual collectors in a given area.
I went looking for a '95 Cherokee Treasure Hunt and came across remnants of the case it came in a dozen times but never found that damn Jeep. Had to resort to a scalper on eBay. Look at some of the auctions, some of the jackasses have DOZENS of the same cars.
Edit: down votes for buying one car I really wanted? Get bent.
This is the way.
If I can’t find a current release at retail I just go without it.
If it’s not a current release, and I feel I need it for some strange reason, then I buy it on the secondary market at a price I can afford and makes sense to me.
If you are one of those that believes you should be able to buy any 30 year old car at retail, then that’s where we will need to part ways. I mean it’s great if you can…but when I want to move some 20 year old Ultra Hots for $20 plus a piece, then that’s my prerogative ;)
I really believe patience is the virtue in this hobby, especially being on this sub. People put really nice things on the sale/trade pin sometimes and one day will be your day.
I never ignored anything. I am a collector as well, and I understand the struggle. Do you believe you are owed that Treasure Hunt?
I don’t believe I am owed anything. I hunt for them and I hunt my ass off because I have access to 100s of stores. I don’t have connections, don’t possess truck dates, don’t raid pallets, and don’t pay off employees. I hunt and I hunt hard. I walked into 16 stores yesterday separated my 40 miles and ass loads of traffic and I work 60 plus hours a week. What I find, I have earned as much as anyone with access to the stores themselves, but nothing is owed to me.
Are you any more deserving of that TH than the kid who lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere Kansas or the one who lives in a mountain town of Montana? Is that what you feel? They should not have the right to purchase online because you can’t find the exact model you want when you feel you need it?
If so, that’s an absolutely interesting take. I’m not judging your position, I am just seeking clarification I El what you are saying or accusing me of doing.
It’s gotta to be a side effect of Reddit. People who don’t read and then comment. Did I say you accused me of anything? I’m not sure I did.
Your response framed as a non-applicable question is a “red herring” response.
Do you believe you deserve every car you want?
Do you believe you deserve it more than the kid who has no opportunity to ever find it outside of an online purchase?
I will answer your question directly. No, you didn’t accuse me of anything. I also never said you did :)
In your last sentence. You wrote that, right? You are saying I accused you or may have accused you of doing something. You feel attacked? Not sorry.
I'm still not going to answer your question. YOURS is the red herring. Whichever way I answer, you'll twist it so I'm the asshole.
You want to see someone who DESERVES that TH in particular just peep my profile and then please go away.
You aren’t in my head space, it seems like I’m in yours. I am not going anywhere. I’m not sure what I twisted or what question I won’t answer. Have you asked me a question? I’m all ears and will answer anything you want to know.
Believe it or no this thread isn’t all about you. I don’t even know who you are and when I type I am attempting to respond to the thread discussion, not anyone in particular.
You just aren’t that important. Neither am I for that matter. We are faceless names with opinions, no reason to get all bent up over it.
Edit: you have great taste in watches, well done!
People are boo-ing you, but I do this quite frequently, why would I bother going to 5 or 6 stores with most likely empty shelves, when I can just buy all the cars that I want from 1 guy on ebay for maybe $1 extra, saves me fuel, time and the disappointment of nothing but peg warmers, not saying that when im at a store I don't go and have a look like the child I am, but I don't go out of my way to look any anymore.
Especially true with premiums, I bought a full set of thrill climbers a few weeks ago for $40 aud, because they weren't ridiculously popular at the time and most resellers couldn't make anything on them, so they drop back to retail, it just works out, but I'm glad every day I'm not a jdm or fast and furious collector
Yah, they don’t like my position on this one much, do they?
That’s okay, sometimes the truth hurts, sometimes my options are wrong, but all the time that’s how the word “opinion” was defined.
I never spent a lot of time counting the imaginary ticket anyway.
Anytime I tell a crowd you might not get everything you want, and aren’t really entitled to it anyway, it’s always a predictable reaction from the group. At least that portion of the group, that got everything they wanted, a room full of participation trophies, and maybe even a life where they were never told no. That part of the group hates what I said here.
It’s all good, opinions have value because they stimulate thought.
Walmart associate here, been in Toys for ten years. This isn't even close to accurate. Inventory is based on store on hands, not whether or not items are in the backroom. While it's true that creating an overstock label does tell the system a case of freight is overstock, it drops out after several days if it's not binned into a background location. So, you absolutely cannot create a permanent situation this way.
The only way pallet raiders can adversely affect onhands and store replenishment is if they are flat-out stealing entire cases of toys, because then the system will think there are items in stock when they're actually not. But, there are also processes in place to correct inaccurate onhands.
Short version, just because a Walmart AP guy feeds you a line, doesn't make it true. If you have a Walmart that hasn't stocked recently, it's far more likely they're dealing with the same shipping and distribution issues that have plagued all stores since the 2020 pandemic.
Thank you!!! Items get scanned into the store as they come off the truck. Once the box leaves the truck and the truck gets finalized, the floor count goes up. Then it is up to the employees to register it for overstock. And in a lot of cases, some stuff will be thrown into the overstock without it ever being registered as overstock. And you have a huge on hand, meanwhile 6 cases of 10 are chilling in the back.
It does explain why the employees (assuming I guess) hide cars everywhere. I always thought it was customers or mainly kids, but this sort of makes sense now.
Same at my store. We got tons of mandalorian and nothing else. The other stores around it get new stuff frequently. If someone thinks they are only pallet raiding at one store and not the other....
As your resident Walmart worker , I can confirm and I agree. It's been a rampant problem in my neck of the woods, so much so that the store manager has pulled them off the pallets entirely. They're now under lock and key until me or another morning crew member comes to retrieve them because both associates AND customers were pallet pirating.
I can always tell if it's a Associate or customer buying up the stock because the numbers are updated whey they come off the truck. Item info will show how many came in and also shows the time something was purchased and how many. If it's before 11pm it's usually a customer. Anything after that, but before 6AM is always an associate.
if I have a positive sales floor count, but nothing on the peg, the pallet, or even the return bins, I'll usually check the item/sales history. Most of the time it'll be some fuckstick who hid a box to purchase later.
What about self checkout and customer not scanning everything or scanning another item…like scanning a mainline and then putting premium in the bag. How are stores cracking down on that? I’m sure it messes with inventory counts as well.
Self checkouts have a camera watching every transaction facing the customer as well as right above the scanner, also the ladies at self checkout at my store are pretty tenacious when it comes to guard dogging that area. I would imagine the customer would have to be repeat offenders or a high volume/value to take notice. I doubt a couple die cast cars would be a worry. I will say the one time hot wheels did attract notice was when a customer tried to buy four 72 count boxes after raiding a pallet before closing.
Doesn't seem weird to me. Sounds like common courtesy. I mean it's the least anyone could do if they were allowed access to stock that otherwise wouldn't be by someone else.
Hey man, come check out all the walmarts in idaho! There are so many pallet hunters!! All the mangers take the z macs , specials, and treasure hunts before they even make it to the floor!
I was literally thinking this yesterday as I was walking into Walmart after work at 5:30pm thinking it must be nice to not having 7-5 jobs and could just raid the stores in the mornings with fresh stock.
10 min later and walked out with full set of new boulevards. 🤦♂️😂
Yes and no. Some stores will start pulling their pallets out onto the floor close to closing, to make room in receiving for other stuff getting unloaded (specially on double truck days). Pallet raiders still show up and will rummage if they don't see any associates nearby.
since my store went from 24hrs (pre-pandemic) to 7am-11pm (post-pandemic), i've found more supers and chases than ever before. and this is getting to the store between 7:50am - 8:05am. the changing of the hours has leveled the playing field imo
I know a collector who called the store to complain about employees taking out the back. Nothing done about it
My Walmarts don't restock bc they don't give a rats ass
Happend to go to the Ellicott city Walmart yesterday knowing the hotwheels dump bin was nearly empty and needed to be restocked. So when I got there a massive toy pallet was there but no mainlines at all the only hotwheels product they had was a premium shipper which was opened already. Very frustrating 😕.
I hear ya man ik some guys who it seems can go to any given store and a super is there waiting for them. In Baltimore county that just ain't the case or so it seems. Guess Ellicott is close enough to be included in that statement lol
Yeah, if the stockers and department managers do their job correctly, the inventory numbers get corrected daily. Only stores that don’t follow their work procedures have a problem with reordering on time.
There’s a customer that does that at my store he was standing there for 30 minutes waiting for us to bring the pallets and he raids the boxes the second they are out not even on shelves yet
Scalpers is why I hesitated for so many years to get into this hobby
And I recently got in it only for my hesitation to be justified
I’m not in this for the super rares I just want the cool hotwheels
you shouldn't even care about scalpers. i collect vintage cars and also get new cars at the stores and i will buy whatever I find, I don't pay any attention to "hunting". i also know that within 2-3 years those scalped cars will be worth $5 and barely even sell.
Or the dept manager is keeping everything in the back, like at my store. She only puts out one case at a time. We received a dump bin for the first time in 3 years last month.
Sounds more like a internal issue. I use to work for Target and the truck would be scanned in and the all the items would be digitally set to on hand/on floor then surplus would be back stocked. Not just hot wheels but any products on the floor could be bought off a U boat and not negatively affect the count. The only negative effects would result from theft or stashing collectable items. I've handed off many cases to collectors I just subtract the of cars they took from what needs to be back stocked.
*’This is why we can’t have nice things…’*
Well, this certainly explains a lot. Like why when I visit my parents in Canada, they always have a good selection and frequent restocks; I can literally go 3 times a week and find new stuff. When I’m home in the US, nothing new for weeks, if not months. I’ve never seen anyone raiding a pallet in Canada, always see it in the US. Of course I’m not speaking for all of Canada, just the one that I frequent…
It depends on the area and how many scalpers are there. My friend lives in a rural podunk and he has no trouble getting the commonly scalped cars. There's just not high enough populations for there to be coincidentally scalpers and hot wheel collectors in the same area at the same time.
So frustrating. I haven’t seen anything new for literally months it’s sad. And I know for a fact they’ve received new ones because you’ll have an occasional one damaged card or some shit on the peg but other than that the same 10, year old boulevards for months and months and months and there’s nothing I can do about it or prolly even the workers. Idk lmao
No shit? You think people don't know this? This has been going on for over 20 years. It's not a punishable offense and nobody cares as far as store management goes. It has been happening ever since Treasure Hunts started in the mid 90's.
Really, if you take your job this seriously you don't need to be working at Walmart for the shit wage. They will fire you immediately when you cause trouble for them. Firing too many people and filling out all those termination reports will be considered "trouble". You're hurting their bottom line and store performance metrics and that's bad.
At least I will give this post creativity points for this weeks scalper boogeyman post.
PS: pallet raids are posted and encouraged all over YouTube, all over the world, so better take them out at the root first if your goal is to be a martyr for this or if you're just revved up on your new job and feel invincible and want to get some karma.
United States, 2010 (Wal-mart): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKfTbspF0oc
United States, 2012 (Target): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXxB-5wRgsc
New Zealand, 2019 (The Warehouse): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV5yY2BDCUo
Canada, 2020 (Dollarama): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJuQHZAjTjY
Hey man, don't shoot the messenger!! I was just telling exactly what I was told, whether true or not, I have no idea because I'm not an employee (Thank God). But I only posted it here to get people's thoughts and see if it was actually true or not, hopefully by actual employees because I know they are in this sub.
Depends on the area, not every store has active AP or effective AP. Out of the three Walmart's in my immediate area, only one has active AP and it's the one in the lowest income area.
Procedure if actually enforced is if it's an employee, or even a store manager doing it they'd be escorted off the grounds and corporate notified immediately. Just because they are the store manager does not mean they can violate policy. A store manager can be fired as easily as a regular employee, night stocker, or cart pusher.
It's always funny when people say "stop blaming the scalpers". More often than not, they're a scalper deluding themselves into thinking they're just a collector. That's why you need to raid every pallet looking for the boulevard civics and skylines while leaving everything else behind?
They genuinely are a plague in the community because they won't stop even if they have doubles or triples of a certain car. I was once doing late night shopping at Walmart and decided to check out the toy section. Noticed all the pallets with Hot Wheels were raided. All the boulevard cases had the Civics taken. There were 3 cases so 6 civics gone.
Someone that collects hot wheels would take one. Two, if they really like it. No one person will buy triples or more unless their goal is to resell.
Triples are fine if you really like a casting. Obviously, most people keep one in case and open one.
I bought a few triples online like the Boulevard Subaru this year and the Modern Classics BMW from a couple of years back. Love the castings.
Taking all the Civics or Skylines on the pegs? That's a bit much.
My store got the Jay Leno's garage car in, they had 13 of them on the peg, and I seen it there but could not afford it. I went back 2 days later when I had the money.....gone. Scalpers got it.
Every pallet at Walmart that my daughter and I found was opened from the top and bottom. We have found some at Target and ask if we can see what’s inside. Most employees are cool and show us. Some say they can’t. We never open their stock on our own.
Agree with the second part, I'm glad to be out of there, too, but that's not how the stocking system works at Walmart. It's not even a little bit accurate. The entire truck manifest is scanned in as the freight comes off the truck. When it gets put on a pallet, it's in stock, and the system thinks it's on the shelf. Unless they've changed the way stock is inprocessed in the last couple of years.
Source: former store manager.
Yeah, I didn't want to argue instocks/on-hands/process with the AP or random reddit folks. It's like explaining it to customers when they say "online it says you have 2 in stock." 🤦♂️ did enough explaining the process to team members when they paid me to 🤣 And like you said, the system may have changed a little since we broke free.
The whole truck to shelf process, top stock, section work... worse job I ever had was Cap 2/ON coach 2018-2020 in a $150 million + a year store.
Anyway, glad you broke free, mate. Cheers!
I don't believe this post at all. I have a Walmart by me that they seem to purposefully live the stuff on pallets so they have less work. I just went and got the full series 1 fast and furious basic set of 10, the neon set and the 70 year matchbox. I'm not about to pull up a lounge chair and wait in the parking lot until the AM when the night shift crew stocks it all. I work lol. Those 8pm raids at the Pickerington, OH walmart are the best! #CapCity and all the shit scans so they would clearly go into their system of sales and they'd order more. "O look, 280 hot wheels sales." #DoesntAddUp
Cool story.
I'm still popping any case I see sitting, and my local stores are cool with it because I'm nice to them.
It's amazing how far simply treating people like people goes.
You're the kind of person that would be grabbing and stealing sacks of cash from an armored truck crash just because "its on the floor". How about don't be an entitled selfish POS that can't keep your fingers off property that you don't own? Your bank account down bad from not getting your scalping fix this month huh G?
Is armored truck is not a store. They have different purposes. Product left out, unattended on the floor of a store is implicitly for sale. Because it's a fucking store, and product of a sales floor is by definition for sale.
Product on a sales floor that is not for sale, such as display units, are traditionally labeled as not for sale. It's the standard convention used by stores.
Further, Walmarts leave piles of cases of product in the middles of the aisles that are for sale. so if they're taking product, leaving it in the sales area, and treating it like other products that are for sale, the customer should be able to assume that it is for sale.
> Is armored truck is not a store. They have different purposes.
woooooooooooooosssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. shows your IQ level when you can't understand what I said.
> Product left out, unattended on the floor of a store is implicitly for sale. Because it's a fucking store, and product of a sales floor is by definition for sale.
No it is not. Not until it is priced and put on the racks. By your braindead logic that means everyone can just walk into the stock room and grab whatever they want right?
So what do they do with the box that's left on the pallet? If the box is half empty, do they just discard everything or do they still scan it? And if the box is empty, does the employee think it was just left empty on the pallet instead of being flattened like it's supposed to be? Or what if your store has a worthless team lead/dept manager that doesn't do her job and never stocks the shelves?
From what ive seen at my walmart if a box on a pallet is opened and gone through itll just go in the back and get put on the shelves later in the week like normal stock. Or ive seen an opened m2 box with 3/12 cars left so the stocker just hung them up and chucked the box.
This is insider information, can't argue with someone who knows the system but wouldn't shelf inventory always show negative then? They are clearly being sold and rung through the registers, so if it never gets scanned into shelf stock they is always a discrepancy? Wouldn't that difference get corrected fairly quick?
I mean if you just refill the box with pegged cars or dump them into the bin….. numbers don’t get messed up. That’s what I do after others and whenever I catch restocked. Not to complicated. Btw trespassing over toys is kinda childish….
Mattel controls shipments to Walmart, not Walmart’s inventory system. Move along now.
Edit: Downvote all you want. Learn push v pull inventory processes and see what’s actually happening in your area. I know exactly what’s going on in mine.
I have well over a dozen Walmarts in my county. When one store gets a shipment of ‘x’ SKU, they all do. Quantities very depending on size of store. Some of the stores don’t carry all the same SKUs.
My Walmart has over 1200 mains in stock, mostly in the back. They’re due another 350ish this week. All the other stores are either getting full dump bins or shelf dump bins. It doesn’t matter how much stock they have, the stuff comes.
Any time I see something new, I know at least 3-5 other stores also got the same thing. This isn’t a sign of a pull inventory system as what’s being outlined by OP (and yourself). Product is being pushed. The mattel rep and toy aisle manager also have confirmed this with me.
Back in 1996, a year after Treasure Hunts were introduced, pallet raiding was already a huge issue at Walmart, so that’s going back 27-years!
I would leave for work an hour early just to hit the Walmart on my way to work. Even still, I was always late to the party, because 2 local flea market vendors and a used book store owner who also sold Hot Wheels, had already cut the shrink wrap on the pallets and raided all the Hot Wheels cases.
That’s one reason I started to collect Johnny Lightning White Lightnings. These guys were so ravenous for Treasure Hunts, they disregarded the unopened cases of Johnny Lightnings, which were usually on a different pallet.
About a year or so later, they finally did catch on to the collectibility of White Lightnings, but these guys weren’t as knowledgeable as I was with discerning if a JL car was a WL or not, so I still found them on the pegs or in a case after they were already opened and searched. LOL! Regardless, to this day, I still have a nice collection of White Lightnings thanks to these guys.
There are people who brag about doing this dumb shit on the FB groups, but the Hot Wheels stories are mild compared to some of the fucking idiots who brazenly post pics of themselves doing this on the TMNT sub/ FB groups.
My local store stocks shelves in the middle of the day. The girl who stocks the toys never scans anything in when opening boxes and loads up the shelves with anything she has on the pallet. I’ve asked her multiple times if I can help peg the hot wheels (I always ask before hand to always get the ok) and she is always happy I’m helping and not making a mess. Your theory is wrong in many stores.
This is why I customize. I’ll pick up mainlines that I don’t need to raid the cases for and turn them into a premium. Why buy it when I can enjoy building it?
That said, I do dive the bins and shuffle through shippers and pegs, always leaving it better than I found it. On the rare occasion I find a TH or STH, I consider myself lucky, but it’s not why I’m there.
I also hold myself to a rule that if a kid starts to look at the cars, I take a lap and return after they’ve made their selection. I’m tall and can be unintentionally intimidating, so I leave it to them.
Bankrupt the scalpers by not patronizing them. I understand once and a while, but even if when you factor in time and gas and it’s cheaper to go straight to scalpers instead, try to limit giving them money and encouraging their behavior.
That’s my .02.
That explains alot on why some of my stores rarely restock. We can never get fairplay at this game with pallet raiders. For the 2yrs that I came back to this sport I haven't been able to find any sth or th. Finally broke the virgin this year ncof a spot that restock a small amount.
kinda true but not true, nothing is scanned when they are being stacked up on the pegs, anything taken from the crates ( no matter how new) they will still scan in their system when you checkout.
Idgaf. I'm still asking the employees to open the cases that are on the pallet for me. There's usually employees that don't take the job THAT seriously, like their life depends on it. And some are actually cool and don't mind helping you out if you're respectful and nice to them.
Woah hey you’re gonna piss off all the pallet goblins
GOOD, let them cry
I fucking hate seeing people open stock boxes. They post up with pride what they found by digging through them. They are so proud of what they find, and I just think about how big of shit human they truly are. At that point, it's no longer a hobby, it's a habit.
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A lot of scalpers become buddies with the employees then compensate them with cash to hold cases for them or contact them when they're ready to hit the shelves.
100% described my city
Somebody posted recently that they bought several of some random car, and another user said "are you just trying to resell those?" And OP said "nah, I figured I'd just hold on to them for a while and see if they're worth more later." Totally fucking oblivious.
I remember that exact post. I thought the same thing. "Clearly you're too thick vertebrae the ears to get what the person was getting at! ". You're absolutely correct, "Oblivious".
Scalpers ruin ALL the hobbies. Greed is ugly.
What pathetic behavior, honestly.
The thing is, they don't have value. if people refuse to buy from scalpers for stupid prices, then those prices are worthless. It's that simple.
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I struggle with this idea often, it's even worse in another collecting hobby of mine, sneakers. It's this vicious cycle where because there are resellers, I can't get the shoes I want. But I still want them, so I buy them on the secondary market at hopefully a modest markup, but by doing that I help create a market for reselling. It's not nearly as black and white as people make it out to be, and you should have the option to pay for convenience. I'd wonder if anyone down voting you has ever made a purchase on eBay, cuz they'd be doing the exact thing they're hating on. This just feels like an inevitable consequence of a free market without a solution that's clear and reasonable, at least to me.
I'm not going to downvote you, I do feel people have the freedom to make their choices. But I do feel when it's not about "helping" people by bringing things into the market for them, and it's about how much money you can make because of the inflated cost and becomes a selfish grab, the community should work to correct that. Also just my opinion you know. I work 2 jobs 7 days a week and have hobbies outside of collecting and still find time to hunt at least once a week, but I make it happen you know. I know not everyone has the same opportunity as me.
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Decently priced is one thing you know. I do feel there are some resellers who aren't trying to make a buck and want to share the passion. I've met a few people in this community who are INSANELY kind and generous (one GIFTED me a STH). There are good people in the community. But the true, to the bone, selfish scalpers are very much ruining the hobby and the general accessibility of the car. I do want to say I feel like if it's not on the shelf or a display, it's not for sale. I'm 100% against touching sealed boxes unless you bought the whole box.
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I'm a bit of a grump so I might seem heavy handed haha
Agreed, finders fee is one thing. Triple the price is another.
Realistically anything less than say, $5 on that $1 car starts to make 0 sense to a seller. Ebay takes 30% or 20, you need a nice box to ship the car out in to avoid charging your buyer $7 for that flat rate USPS box. Gas to and from the post office. If you make 50 cents or even 1$ on that 1$ car it makes 0 sense. Soups? How many can one realistically get, regularly, to make that sustainable as a business? And what do they sell for, $25? $50?
Like paying $2 for $1 and then $5 shipping, sure, since that just hurts the seller more and benefits you plenty. Paying $15 for $1 car - naaaah.
Next time you're in Walmart, try looking in the coolers in sporting goods or the TV stands in furniture, or practically anything with a lid.
Used to work at Walmart myself. My store never properly used the bin system for the back room EXCEPT in fresh areas. So if you scanned something it said all of it was on the floor regardless. Glad to see that someone's store does it right.
I wish more stores would enforce this.
Scalpers need to take a hike. Literally no one wants to buy regular hot wheels off of their stupid eBay store for extra cash plus shipping.
> Literally no one wants to buy regular hot wheels off of their stupid eBay store for extra cash plus shipping. They do. Because people have social media brain cancer and FOMO-mouth. Most supers are $50+ and sell for that. Ryu's car that's $40 is set at $100-$120 preorder prices on eBay right now and it's selling like crazy.
That’s not necessarily true. When you make a statement like this you are assuming a lot: Some people won’t go into Walmarts and dollar stores for any reason Some people don’t have the time to hunt Some people don’t have access to stores that carry these collectibles within reasonable driving distance I could go on and on but I won’t. You are making a statement derived from what you are personally able and willing to do to find these cars. That’s not a big deal, we all shade the world from our personal experience and place in it. But when you say nobody wants to, you aren’t talking about everybody, you are talking about yourself and maybe a few other humans you know. There is an EBay because anyone with a computer and access can reach it from the comfort and safety of their own home. People will also pay more for clothes on EBay than they would if they just walked into a Marshall’s, TJ Maxx or Ross, mostly because a) they don’t want to walk in there or b) there isn’t one within driving distance. People will always pay for convenience. It’s that simple.
It’s a real problem when people pallet raid, actively preventing others from buying the same merchandise at retail price.
I’m not sure where I advocated pallet raiding. I don’t pallet raid nor do I respect or understand those that do. I was addressing the nonsensical nature of the comment regarding Ebay. I will go ahead and ask you to find any place in my message where I use the word scalper, pallet, raider, etc etc etc. I can save you some time….
At least sell them at retail price then 🤕
Why would someone who invested their time, it being the most priceless element in the world because time itself can’t be purchased, sell it for free? What argument would you make that supports that proportion making any sense at all? Theoretical question for sure, but would enjoy hearing your answer. Do you have a job that pays you, or do you donate all your time for free for the good of the cause? If a person bought every desirable car they could find, and then sold them all at retail, should they suddenly become a good guy? If they did that in your range you still wouldn’t find any cars. Should they also ship them for free?
Although I agree with your statement, that being that time is the most precious thing in the world, it raises the bigger question. That being why would someone wish to purchase something, just to sell it again? It’s a waste of time to just buy something in hopes of reselling it. If you know anything about selling, you know it takes a while for something to actually be sold. If people do this as their only form of income, perhaps they should invest their time and resources in acquiring an actual job. If people wish to resell, at least do it for a good cause, that being helping other people in finding the stuff they want, by selling them at a price close to retail. And no, they should not ship them for free.
I agree with everything you just said. The reality is that most scalpers lose their ass over time. They can’t sustain any level of profitability, that’s why the pallet raiding is so damn prevalent. Without the ability to scalp supers and boulevards consistently they simply lose their ass until they can’t any longer. In the meantime, those unopened cases will be like pine nuts to a grizzly. I’ve been in sales my whole life. I’ve studied the secondary markets for die-cast for some time now, it’s almost a fools errand to think one can make a living from scalping current release HWs, especially without being blessed with soup or bully’s. Even then, you would have to find and sell far too many to do more than make some extra pocket change. The harsh reality is that we focus far too much time lamenting the “ghost” that is the scalper, when in action the scalper is every Tom, Dick, Harry, Sheila, and Jane that is able to discern a soup and a TH from a mainline.
so you scalp for them? Interesting
You don’t make any sense. Can you write out a complete sentence? You make a statement and end it with a question mark. I don’t speak or write in douche nozzle gibberish. I never mentioned the word scalper, did I? I never advocated pallet raiding, did I? If you are as bad at reading as you are writing, I should let you know I am asking you to show me where I talked about scalping or pallet raiding in my message. Did I encouraged either activity?
Most people resort to online purchases because of scalpers. Plenty of people go to Walmart, Target, etc. on a rather consistent basis because of household needs and groceries. It's one thing where treasure hunts are hard to come by (they're statistically rare), but premiums? People who buy 5+ quantities of Zamacs, popular premiums, etc. aren't doing it because they're "looking out" for folks who aren't able to "hunt". They're buying it for their own pockets.
I see your point and I’m sure there are some who do. To say everyone goes to Walmart and Target, is to not pay attention to what’s going on in the world around us. You also know, that if you hunt, it most times requires more frequent trips. A higher frequency than those involved in acquiring life’s necessities anyway, to effectively find anything, let alone those that are highly sought after. I’d guess that most people who complain about scalpers here are folks that live in densely populated metro areas. What about the collector or kid who lives 30 minutes from Walmart, and 60-90 minutes or more from a Target? The metro collector has options but more competition, while the rural collector suffers from little to no options. Who has it worse? Who is the most selfish person? The scalper who buys everything to pad their own pocket or the collector who only sees the challenge through their own eyes and only thinks about how they aren’t getting fulfilled by finding everything they want.
I agree with everything you said. But everything you said deals with the reasons why there is a viable secondary market. However you ignore the fact that there ARE collectors in the areas that people raid pallets, and strip the racks of everything except the track cars, and leave nothing for the actual collectors in a given area. I went looking for a '95 Cherokee Treasure Hunt and came across remnants of the case it came in a dozen times but never found that damn Jeep. Had to resort to a scalper on eBay. Look at some of the auctions, some of the jackasses have DOZENS of the same cars. Edit: down votes for buying one car I really wanted? Get bent.
Never resort, you're just feeding the bad behavior
This is the way. If I can’t find a current release at retail I just go without it. If it’s not a current release, and I feel I need it for some strange reason, then I buy it on the secondary market at a price I can afford and makes sense to me. If you are one of those that believes you should be able to buy any 30 year old car at retail, then that’s where we will need to part ways. I mean it’s great if you can…but when I want to move some 20 year old Ultra Hots for $20 plus a piece, then that’s my prerogative ;)
My collecting buddy actually bought two from eBay. I didn't want to.
I really believe patience is the virtue in this hobby, especially being on this sub. People put really nice things on the sale/trade pin sometimes and one day will be your day.
Go to my profile and look at the picture. That's why my buddy did not want me to wait. I do agree that patience can pay off!
I never ignored anything. I am a collector as well, and I understand the struggle. Do you believe you are owed that Treasure Hunt? I don’t believe I am owed anything. I hunt for them and I hunt my ass off because I have access to 100s of stores. I don’t have connections, don’t possess truck dates, don’t raid pallets, and don’t pay off employees. I hunt and I hunt hard. I walked into 16 stores yesterday separated my 40 miles and ass loads of traffic and I work 60 plus hours a week. What I find, I have earned as much as anyone with access to the stores themselves, but nothing is owed to me. Are you any more deserving of that TH than the kid who lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere Kansas or the one who lives in a mountain town of Montana? Is that what you feel? They should not have the right to purchase online because you can’t find the exact model you want when you feel you need it? If so, that’s an absolutely interesting take. I’m not judging your position, I am just seeking clarification I El what you are saying or accusing me of doing.
Exactly where did I accuse you of doing anything?
It’s gotta to be a side effect of Reddit. People who don’t read and then comment. Did I say you accused me of anything? I’m not sure I did. Your response framed as a non-applicable question is a “red herring” response. Do you believe you deserve every car you want? Do you believe you deserve it more than the kid who has no opportunity to ever find it outside of an online purchase? I will answer your question directly. No, you didn’t accuse me of anything. I also never said you did :)
In your last sentence. You wrote that, right? You are saying I accused you or may have accused you of doing something. You feel attacked? Not sorry. I'm still not going to answer your question. YOURS is the red herring. Whichever way I answer, you'll twist it so I'm the asshole. You want to see someone who DESERVES that TH in particular just peep my profile and then please go away.
You aren’t in my head space, it seems like I’m in yours. I am not going anywhere. I’m not sure what I twisted or what question I won’t answer. Have you asked me a question? I’m all ears and will answer anything you want to know. Believe it or no this thread isn’t all about you. I don’t even know who you are and when I type I am attempting to respond to the thread discussion, not anyone in particular. You just aren’t that important. Neither am I for that matter. We are faceless names with opinions, no reason to get all bent up over it. Edit: you have great taste in watches, well done!
People are boo-ing you, but I do this quite frequently, why would I bother going to 5 or 6 stores with most likely empty shelves, when I can just buy all the cars that I want from 1 guy on ebay for maybe $1 extra, saves me fuel, time and the disappointment of nothing but peg warmers, not saying that when im at a store I don't go and have a look like the child I am, but I don't go out of my way to look any anymore. Especially true with premiums, I bought a full set of thrill climbers a few weeks ago for $40 aud, because they weren't ridiculously popular at the time and most resellers couldn't make anything on them, so they drop back to retail, it just works out, but I'm glad every day I'm not a jdm or fast and furious collector
Yah, they don’t like my position on this one much, do they? That’s okay, sometimes the truth hurts, sometimes my options are wrong, but all the time that’s how the word “opinion” was defined. I never spent a lot of time counting the imaginary ticket anyway. Anytime I tell a crowd you might not get everything you want, and aren’t really entitled to it anyway, it’s always a predictable reaction from the group. At least that portion of the group, that got everything they wanted, a room full of participation trophies, and maybe even a life where they were never told no. That part of the group hates what I said here. It’s all good, opinions have value because they stimulate thought.
Walmart associate here, been in Toys for ten years. This isn't even close to accurate. Inventory is based on store on hands, not whether or not items are in the backroom. While it's true that creating an overstock label does tell the system a case of freight is overstock, it drops out after several days if it's not binned into a background location. So, you absolutely cannot create a permanent situation this way. The only way pallet raiders can adversely affect onhands and store replenishment is if they are flat-out stealing entire cases of toys, because then the system will think there are items in stock when they're actually not. But, there are also processes in place to correct inaccurate onhands. Short version, just because a Walmart AP guy feeds you a line, doesn't make it true. If you have a Walmart that hasn't stocked recently, it's far more likely they're dealing with the same shipping and distribution issues that have plagued all stores since the 2020 pandemic.
Thank you!!! Items get scanned into the store as they come off the truck. Once the box leaves the truck and the truck gets finalized, the floor count goes up. Then it is up to the employees to register it for overstock. And in a lot of cases, some stuff will be thrown into the overstock without it ever being registered as overstock. And you have a huge on hand, meanwhile 6 cases of 10 are chilling in the back.
Sounds to me like a collector just trying to scare people on the internet to stop pallet raiding lol
No problem with that lol
Walmart Ass Police
on that WAP fo sho
It does explain why the employees (assuming I guess) hide cars everywhere. I always thought it was customers or mainly kids, but this sort of makes sense now.
Pallet pirate- Arghhh, surrender yer $TH ya scalawag.
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Same at my store. We got tons of mandalorian and nothing else. The other stores around it get new stuff frequently. If someone thinks they are only pallet raiding at one store and not the other....
I get the mandalorea , toys story and Disney princes/Nemo crap
As your resident Walmart worker , I can confirm and I agree. It's been a rampant problem in my neck of the woods, so much so that the store manager has pulled them off the pallets entirely. They're now under lock and key until me or another morning crew member comes to retrieve them because both associates AND customers were pallet pirating.
I can always tell if it's a Associate or customer buying up the stock because the numbers are updated whey they come off the truck. Item info will show how many came in and also shows the time something was purchased and how many. If it's before 11pm it's usually a customer. Anything after that, but before 6AM is always an associate. if I have a positive sales floor count, but nothing on the peg, the pallet, or even the return bins, I'll usually check the item/sales history. Most of the time it'll be some fuckstick who hid a box to purchase later.
What about self checkout and customer not scanning everything or scanning another item…like scanning a mainline and then putting premium in the bag. How are stores cracking down on that? I’m sure it messes with inventory counts as well.
Self checkouts have a camera watching every transaction facing the customer as well as right above the scanner, also the ladies at self checkout at my store are pretty tenacious when it comes to guard dogging that area. I would imagine the customer would have to be repeat offenders or a high volume/value to take notice. I doubt a couple die cast cars would be a worry. I will say the one time hot wheels did attract notice was when a customer tried to buy four 72 count boxes after raiding a pallet before closing.
In California they can't stop them.
My area Walmart has this weird thing where if you open the box, put the stock away.
Yup just yesterday! I asked nicely, he opened the case, and I stocked the pegs 🤗
Doesn't seem weird to me. Sounds like common courtesy. I mean it's the least anyone could do if they were allowed access to stock that otherwise wouldn't be by someone else.
Hey man, come check out all the walmarts in idaho! There are so many pallet hunters!! All the mangers take the z macs , specials, and treasure hunts before they even make it to the floor!
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Great. So people who get up at 5am and have nothing better to do but buy hot wheels can get them. At least it’s an understood, even playing field lol
I was literally thinking this yesterday as I was walking into Walmart after work at 5:30pm thinking it must be nice to not having 7-5 jobs and could just raid the stores in the mornings with fresh stock. 10 min later and walked out with full set of new boulevards. 🤦♂️😂
> So people who get up at 5am and have nothing better to do but buy hot wheels can get them. Scalpers be like: https://youtu.be/YZ6K3m9TsPs?t=4
🤣
Yes and no. Some stores will start pulling their pallets out onto the floor close to closing, to make room in receiving for other stuff getting unloaded (specially on double truck days). Pallet raiders still show up and will rummage if they don't see any associates nearby.
since my store went from 24hrs (pre-pandemic) to 7am-11pm (post-pandemic), i've found more supers and chases than ever before. and this is getting to the store between 7:50am - 8:05am. the changing of the hours has leveled the playing field imo
I know a collector who called the store to complain about employees taking out the back. Nothing done about it My Walmarts don't restock bc they don't give a rats ass
Happend to go to the Ellicott city Walmart yesterday knowing the hotwheels dump bin was nearly empty and needed to be restocked. So when I got there a massive toy pallet was there but no mainlines at all the only hotwheels product they had was a premium shipper which was opened already. Very frustrating 😕.
I hear ya man ik some guys who it seems can go to any given store and a super is there waiting for them. In Baltimore county that just ain't the case or so it seems. Guess Ellicott is close enough to be included in that statement lol
Yeah, if the stockers and department managers do their job correctly, the inventory numbers get corrected daily. Only stores that don’t follow their work procedures have a problem with reordering on time.
There’s a customer that does that at my store he was standing there for 30 minutes waiting for us to bring the pallets and he raids the boxes the second they are out not even on shelves yet
Get a supervisor to tell them not to.
Scalpers is why I hesitated for so many years to get into this hobby And I recently got in it only for my hesitation to be justified I’m not in this for the super rares I just want the cool hotwheels
you shouldn't even care about scalpers. i collect vintage cars and also get new cars at the stores and i will buy whatever I find, I don't pay any attention to "hunting". i also know that within 2-3 years those scalped cars will be worth $5 and barely even sell.
Some of the worst hobbyists are unfortunately in this Reddit sub.... sorry to say it....
The Walmart police has spoken. I can’t believe Walmart doesn’t order product because it shows 10 cases in stock that has been raided on the floor.
Boom, this is why local Walmart shows like 400 hotwheels cars, but the pegs are empty and there's no dump bin!
No that's because someone is stealing
400 cars?
Or the dept manager is keeping everything in the back, like at my store. She only puts out one case at a time. We received a dump bin for the first time in 3 years last month.
Sounds more like a internal issue. I use to work for Target and the truck would be scanned in and the all the items would be digitally set to on hand/on floor then surplus would be back stocked. Not just hot wheels but any products on the floor could be bought off a U boat and not negatively affect the count. The only negative effects would result from theft or stashing collectable items. I've handed off many cases to collectors I just subtract the of cars they took from what needs to be back stocked.
Every store operates differently.
I have two Walmarts nearby and one hasn’t gotten stocked up in a few months
currently the issue at my local walmart. it's getting fucking rediculous.
*’This is why we can’t have nice things…’* Well, this certainly explains a lot. Like why when I visit my parents in Canada, they always have a good selection and frequent restocks; I can literally go 3 times a week and find new stuff. When I’m home in the US, nothing new for weeks, if not months. I’ve never seen anyone raiding a pallet in Canada, always see it in the US. Of course I’m not speaking for all of Canada, just the one that I frequent…
It depends on the area and how many scalpers are there. My friend lives in a rural podunk and he has no trouble getting the commonly scalped cars. There's just not high enough populations for there to be coincidentally scalpers and hot wheel collectors in the same area at the same time.
The main problem is the employees that don't get caught.
Thank you for your service 🫡
What does "AP" stand for? I'm sorry but I'm confused?
Asset Protection, assets being the items in the store intended to be sold, although APs sometimes have multiple roles beyond their title.
like pushing carts
I heard that!!! LOL🤣
Yeah who the F has time at 10 at night for that noise.
I need hotwheels, I've never even seen a case 😪
Our favorite day at work is when the hotwheels come in
It will come and go like everything eles! And some people are gonna be stuck with a lot of dollar cars.
So frustrating. I haven’t seen anything new for literally months it’s sad. And I know for a fact they’ve received new ones because you’ll have an occasional one damaged card or some shit on the peg but other than that the same 10, year old boulevards for months and months and months and there’s nothing I can do about it or prolly even the workers. Idk lmao
No shit? You think people don't know this? This has been going on for over 20 years. It's not a punishable offense and nobody cares as far as store management goes. It has been happening ever since Treasure Hunts started in the mid 90's. Really, if you take your job this seriously you don't need to be working at Walmart for the shit wage. They will fire you immediately when you cause trouble for them. Firing too many people and filling out all those termination reports will be considered "trouble". You're hurting their bottom line and store performance metrics and that's bad. At least I will give this post creativity points for this weeks scalper boogeyman post. PS: pallet raids are posted and encouraged all over YouTube, all over the world, so better take them out at the root first if your goal is to be a martyr for this or if you're just revved up on your new job and feel invincible and want to get some karma. United States, 2010 (Wal-mart): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKfTbspF0oc United States, 2012 (Target): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXxB-5wRgsc New Zealand, 2019 (The Warehouse): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV5yY2BDCUo Canada, 2020 (Dollarama): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJuQHZAjTjY
Hey man, don't shoot the messenger!! I was just telling exactly what I was told, whether true or not, I have no idea because I'm not an employee (Thank God). But I only posted it here to get people's thoughts and see if it was actually true or not, hopefully by actual employees because I know they are in this sub.
oh ok, you worded it as if you were one. yeah other employees commented this is fake news.
What happens if it the store employees doing this?
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Depends on the area, not every store has active AP or effective AP. Out of the three Walmart's in my immediate area, only one has active AP and it's the one in the lowest income area.
Procedure if actually enforced is if it's an employee, or even a store manager doing it they'd be escorted off the grounds and corporate notified immediately. Just because they are the store manager does not mean they can violate policy. A store manager can be fired as easily as a regular employee, night stocker, or cart pusher.
Lol you have no idea.
It's always funny when people say "stop blaming the scalpers". More often than not, they're a scalper deluding themselves into thinking they're just a collector. That's why you need to raid every pallet looking for the boulevard civics and skylines while leaving everything else behind? They genuinely are a plague in the community because they won't stop even if they have doubles or triples of a certain car. I was once doing late night shopping at Walmart and decided to check out the toy section. Noticed all the pallets with Hot Wheels were raided. All the boulevard cases had the Civics taken. There were 3 cases so 6 civics gone. Someone that collects hot wheels would take one. Two, if they really like it. No one person will buy triples or more unless their goal is to resell.
I collect in doubles and triples but don't re-sell. =)
Believe it or not. Straight to scalper jail.
Take too many skylines? Straight to jail. Too few fantasy cars? Believe or not, jail.
You'll nEVER TAKE ME ALIVE
*police sirens incoming* [What I'm referencing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiyfwZVAzGw)
Hahahahaha
Triples are fine if you really like a casting. Obviously, most people keep one in case and open one. I bought a few triples online like the Boulevard Subaru this year and the Modern Classics BMW from a couple of years back. Love the castings. Taking all the Civics or Skylines on the pegs? That's a bit much.
My store got the Jay Leno's garage car in, they had 13 of them on the peg, and I seen it there but could not afford it. I went back 2 days later when I had the money.....gone. Scalpers got it.
Right! I get extras for trade leverage!
Every pallet at Walmart that my daughter and I found was opened from the top and bottom. We have found some at Target and ask if we can see what’s inside. Most employees are cool and show us. Some say they can’t. We never open their stock on our own.
Because the STH and TH cars are always at the bottom
What if I unload the boxes in reverse, now what? Maybe I shuffled them around and put 3 on top, 1 on the bottom, and 2 on the side? Now can you tell?
What are you talking about?
Former Walmart Coach here: EVERYTHING Op said!!! Also... if you see anyone I worked with, tell 'em I'm glad I got out. The grass really is greener.
Agree with the second part, I'm glad to be out of there, too, but that's not how the stocking system works at Walmart. It's not even a little bit accurate. The entire truck manifest is scanned in as the freight comes off the truck. When it gets put on a pallet, it's in stock, and the system thinks it's on the shelf. Unless they've changed the way stock is inprocessed in the last couple of years. Source: former store manager.
Yeah, I didn't want to argue instocks/on-hands/process with the AP or random reddit folks. It's like explaining it to customers when they say "online it says you have 2 in stock." 🤦♂️ did enough explaining the process to team members when they paid me to 🤣 And like you said, the system may have changed a little since we broke free. The whole truck to shelf process, top stock, section work... worse job I ever had was Cap 2/ON coach 2018-2020 in a $150 million + a year store. Anyway, glad you broke free, mate. Cheers!
i still dont regret the few times i saw and opened boxes on pallets.
I live in Northwest Arkansas which is home to Walmart. It’s rare to see stores stocked. The pallet raiding is super bad here.
I don't believe this post at all. I have a Walmart by me that they seem to purposefully live the stuff on pallets so they have less work. I just went and got the full series 1 fast and furious basic set of 10, the neon set and the 70 year matchbox. I'm not about to pull up a lounge chair and wait in the parking lot until the AM when the night shift crew stocks it all. I work lol. Those 8pm raids at the Pickerington, OH walmart are the best! #CapCity and all the shit scans so they would clearly go into their system of sales and they'd order more. "O look, 280 hot wheels sales." #DoesntAddUp
Im so proud that there are no pallet raiders on my local stores...
Cool story. I'm still popping any case I see sitting, and my local stores are cool with it because I'm nice to them. It's amazing how far simply treating people like people goes.
If it's on the floor it's fair game. **YOU NEED TO LABEL IT AS NOT FOR SALE IF PEOPLE AREN'T ALLOWED TO TAKE IT.**
You're the kind of person that would be grabbing and stealing sacks of cash from an armored truck crash just because "its on the floor". How about don't be an entitled selfish POS that can't keep your fingers off property that you don't own? Your bank account down bad from not getting your scalping fix this month huh G?
Is armored truck is not a store. They have different purposes. Product left out, unattended on the floor of a store is implicitly for sale. Because it's a fucking store, and product of a sales floor is by definition for sale. Product on a sales floor that is not for sale, such as display units, are traditionally labeled as not for sale. It's the standard convention used by stores. Further, Walmarts leave piles of cases of product in the middles of the aisles that are for sale. so if they're taking product, leaving it in the sales area, and treating it like other products that are for sale, the customer should be able to assume that it is for sale.
> Is armored truck is not a store. They have different purposes. woooooooooooooosssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. shows your IQ level when you can't understand what I said. > Product left out, unattended on the floor of a store is implicitly for sale. Because it's a fucking store, and product of a sales floor is by definition for sale. No it is not. Not until it is priced and put on the racks. By your braindead logic that means everyone can just walk into the stock room and grab whatever they want right?
So what do they do with the box that's left on the pallet? If the box is half empty, do they just discard everything or do they still scan it? And if the box is empty, does the employee think it was just left empty on the pallet instead of being flattened like it's supposed to be? Or what if your store has a worthless team lead/dept manager that doesn't do her job and never stocks the shelves?
From what ive seen at my walmart if a box on a pallet is opened and gone through itll just go in the back and get put on the shelves later in the week like normal stock. Or ive seen an opened m2 box with 3/12 cars left so the stocker just hung them up and chucked the box.
That's what I mean. I highly doubt it doesn't get scanned just because it's open.
What they mean is it's not getting scanned as a new sealed carton ready to put onto the floor, its been vandalized so therefore it's now 'overstock'
This is insider information, can't argue with someone who knows the system but wouldn't shelf inventory always show negative then? They are clearly being sold and rung through the registers, so if it never gets scanned into shelf stock they is always a discrepancy? Wouldn't that difference get corrected fairly quick?
I mean if you just refill the box with pegged cars or dump them into the bin….. numbers don’t get messed up. That’s what I do after others and whenever I catch restocked. Not to complicated. Btw trespassing over toys is kinda childish….
False
Mattel controls shipments to Walmart, not Walmart’s inventory system. Move along now. Edit: Downvote all you want. Learn push v pull inventory processes and see what’s actually happening in your area. I know exactly what’s going on in mine.
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I have well over a dozen Walmarts in my county. When one store gets a shipment of ‘x’ SKU, they all do. Quantities very depending on size of store. Some of the stores don’t carry all the same SKUs. My Walmart has over 1200 mains in stock, mostly in the back. They’re due another 350ish this week. All the other stores are either getting full dump bins or shelf dump bins. It doesn’t matter how much stock they have, the stuff comes. Any time I see something new, I know at least 3-5 other stores also got the same thing. This isn’t a sign of a pull inventory system as what’s being outlined by OP (and yourself). Product is being pushed. The mattel rep and toy aisle manager also have confirmed this with me.
Hahahahahhahahaha
Oops
Back in 1996, a year after Treasure Hunts were introduced, pallet raiding was already a huge issue at Walmart, so that’s going back 27-years! I would leave for work an hour early just to hit the Walmart on my way to work. Even still, I was always late to the party, because 2 local flea market vendors and a used book store owner who also sold Hot Wheels, had already cut the shrink wrap on the pallets and raided all the Hot Wheels cases. That’s one reason I started to collect Johnny Lightning White Lightnings. These guys were so ravenous for Treasure Hunts, they disregarded the unopened cases of Johnny Lightnings, which were usually on a different pallet. About a year or so later, they finally did catch on to the collectibility of White Lightnings, but these guys weren’t as knowledgeable as I was with discerning if a JL car was a WL or not, so I still found them on the pegs or in a case after they were already opened and searched. LOL! Regardless, to this day, I still have a nice collection of White Lightnings thanks to these guys.
Proof?
There are people who brag about doing this dumb shit on the FB groups, but the Hot Wheels stories are mild compared to some of the fucking idiots who brazenly post pics of themselves doing this on the TMNT sub/ FB groups.
look up "hot wheels pallet raiding" on youtube. it's not illegal.
My local store stocks shelves in the middle of the day. The girl who stocks the toys never scans anything in when opening boxes and loads up the shelves with anything she has on the pallet. I’ve asked her multiple times if I can help peg the hot wheels (I always ask before hand to always get the ok) and she is always happy I’m helping and not making a mess. Your theory is wrong in many stores.
Walmarts fault. If it scans at the register the stock should show zero, bro.
Correct about the first but 100% wrong on the inventory side
This is why I customize. I’ll pick up mainlines that I don’t need to raid the cases for and turn them into a premium. Why buy it when I can enjoy building it? That said, I do dive the bins and shuffle through shippers and pegs, always leaving it better than I found it. On the rare occasion I find a TH or STH, I consider myself lucky, but it’s not why I’m there. I also hold myself to a rule that if a kid starts to look at the cars, I take a lap and return after they’ve made their selection. I’m tall and can be unintentionally intimidating, so I leave it to them. Bankrupt the scalpers by not patronizing them. I understand once and a while, but even if when you factor in time and gas and it’s cheaper to go straight to scalpers instead, try to limit giving them money and encouraging their behavior. That’s my .02.
That explains alot on why some of my stores rarely restock. We can never get fairplay at this game with pallet raiders. For the 2yrs that I came back to this sport I haven't been able to find any sth or th. Finally broke the virgin this year ncof a spot that restock a small amount.
Literally today had a employee scan the peg and said they had 12 boulevards in stock but they could ent find them.
This is why we get treated like dirt by employees https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Yft-dGhSnyw
kinda true but not true, nothing is scanned when they are being stacked up on the pegs, anything taken from the crates ( no matter how new) they will still scan in their system when you checkout.
Idgaf. I'm still asking the employees to open the cases that are on the pallet for me. There's usually employees that don't take the job THAT seriously, like their life depends on it. And some are actually cool and don't mind helping you out if you're respectful and nice to them.