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Post by The Doctor on Jul 23, 2020 21:24:56 GMT
While watching Hasbro Pulse live streams it seems a lot of releases are now exclusives to Walmart and Target in the US. I see lots of people in the comments getting angry about that. Can US chums shed some light on this. Are the stores badly stocked or far away from where people live? What are these 'bots' folk mention? It's hard for me to see what the problem is as the comments section scroll so fast and, er, some folk are less than polite. The gist seems to be that a toy going to Wallmart or Target means they are harder to get.
Genuinely curious. Thanks.
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jul 23, 2020 22:18:32 GMT
The bots are used by scalpers for the Target/Wal-Mart online stores, they process sales quicker than joe public can. So they get loads and then resell at inflated prices on the secondary market.
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Post by Toph on Jul 23, 2020 23:18:53 GMT
Continuing from above, the bots that the scalpers are using seem to be able to buy dozens in one shot, and kill their stock in literally seconds.
About physical locals, both companies use a computer system called Point Of Sales that monitors the stock as it's checked out, and reorders once it hits before a certain inventory number. Stores don't have much say in this.
The theory is sound, but in practice, it kills toylines. You know how waves typically work, so when one or two new figures sells out, older repacked figures clog the shelves and thus no new assortments will be ordered. This can go for months. (When Walmart loads up with four or five cases of Wave 1, it sometimes takes until wave four for anything new to get through. Except for the tail end of the line, i literally never saw anything from Rise of the TMNT outside of the first wave)
On top of this, neither company pays it's employees enough to actually care. This walmart is especially bad. Toy isles are usually in shambles, and poorly stocked.
Here's my personal experience...
Target:
· Pros- Stores are better kept. Usually better stocked
· Cons- They only build around shopping malls or really busy small cities. I only have one Target I can check even semi regularly, and it's 15 miles away. The next closes two are 20 miles away in completely different directions. It'd take me three or more hours to check all three, and rack up nearly 100 miles.
Walmart:
· Cons- Stores are much more poorly kept. Some are better than others.
· Pros- There's a ton of them. They build anywhere and everywhere, including extremely rural towns. The closest one is 3 miles, and there are 6 more within 15 miles, and they're laid out in a way that I could hit all seven, plus that one target in an hour and a half, in one giant circle.
Target is better at stocking their exclusives, but I only really have one to check, and compete with collectors and scalpers who live a lot closer to the one store easily accessible to me.
Walmart is really bad about stocking anything, but with seven to go to, the odds I may come across them is significantly higher.
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Post by Llama God on Jul 24, 2020 7:45:56 GMT
Hmmm. Looks like I need to stop complaining about distribution in the UK, also. That doesn't sound a lot better, really. If anything, maybe worse, if you know the stock's in the country but it's just not getting out because of how stock's managed...
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 24, 2020 9:10:55 GMT
I didn't even know these bots existed! Is this a new thing?
-Ralph
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Post by Benn on Jul 24, 2020 10:17:08 GMT
Crazy, man.
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Post by Shockprowl on Jul 24, 2020 12:04:39 GMT
Forgive me for being a dumbass, but just to clarify- the 'bots' are computer programmes, used by scumbags, that buy out toys when they come on-line, faster than a human can?
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Jul 24, 2020 14:56:17 GMT
[CORRECT]
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 24, 2020 15:25:52 GMT
So this is how Skynet started.
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Jul 24, 2020 16:51:40 GMT
The issue of bots with Walmart & Target is discussed on RFC this week, about 45 mins in.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jul 24, 2020 16:54:54 GMT
Link please sir!
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Post by Pinwig on Jul 24, 2020 16:56:48 GMT
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Post by Bogatan on Jul 24, 2020 17:00:17 GMT
Friends over there are also complaining about preorders from Walmart being cancelled at random.
Then theres the issue of expensive items getting squashed by security tags. I know that a problem here but Walmart (especially in sketchy areas) really dont mess around.
Oh and the thing about people returning toys but with the wrong toy in the box. Come across that a few times myself.
Target does have a great stock checker. Its insanely accurate from what Ive seen of it.
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Post by Shockprowl on Jul 24, 2020 17:29:49 GMT
These 'bot' users are absolute twats!
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 24, 2020 19:07:27 GMT
I agree. Now I understand why US fans have been so upset!
-Ralph
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Post by Shockprowl on Jul 25, 2020 7:30:00 GMT
They're obviously 'fans' themselves, with knowledge of TF collecting. They're just shitting on fellow fans!
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Post by browny87 on Jul 25, 2020 9:41:04 GMT
Friends over there are also complaining about preorders from Walmart being cancelled at random. Then theres the issue of expensive items getting squashed by security tags. I know that a problem here but Walmart (especially in sketchy areas) really dont mess around. Oh and the thing about people returning toys but with the wrong toy in the box. Come across that a few times myself. Target does have a great stock checker. Its insanely accurate from what Ive seen of it. the drawback of "spider wraps" actually if they are done properly they shouldnt crush boxes, its just poorly trained/lazy staff |
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