As Nick has mentioned,I supplement my income doing vendor work at big box stores...one of my gigs is stocking cards...usually the biggest hassle is little kids destroying the Pokemon and Magic displays...
But as you will see (and I don't know what's with these Series 2,it was never as bad as you will now see) the BIG kids took the biscuit this week!!
Day 1 - medium-sized store, one aisle of cards
Most of the stores I visited this week had a sign in the card section saying they reserve the right to limit the amount of cards you could purchase...so as I'm opening the boxes, a "bro" (i'll describe him,because they ALL look the same...backwards cap,t-shirt advertising beer or a resort,cargo shorts, flip-flops or sandals,wraparound sunglasses) saunters up...
"Do you know about baseball cards?" he asks (haha,I say "yeah, I know a little...")...of course he's looking for Series 2...so he starts crowding and peeking while I'm going through everything, finally I hear him mutter "come on"...so I say "first, back up...second,STAY backed up..."
He took ALL the Series 2,threw it in a cart,and basically ran to checkout...no one said anything...so much for the sign!
So far,not too bad...
Day 2 - giant store with card sections upstairs and downstairs
FOUR bros lying in wait as I pull up the cart..."what's these?" "do you have those!?" "dude,I was here first!" etc...
I guess there's a new basketball set out,too...i happened to open that first,and the feeding frenzy was on...grabbing,arguing...by the time I got to the Series 2,they were full-on nuts...to top it off,this location had no sign...
I finally had to (again) say STEP BACK!...then I just opened all the boxes,left them on the floor,and said "have at it,boys"...got so bad the security guy had to come over and break it up,haha!
Funny coda - I had left a big box of Series 2 in the storeroom so I could get Nick a couple packs! The guy you see in the picture at the top of the post is one of the ones who came BACK...I just waited until he left,and put the rest out!
Day 3 - tiny store, 1 shelf of cards
I thought "well, no problem here"...right? WRONG! As I'm finishing up,yet another bro is there in a flash and proceeds to start loading up ALL the new stuff in a cart...
The employee in charge (super nice guy,but not exactly a bruiser-looking dude) comes over,points to the sign and says "we have a limit,sir"...guy goes NUTS!..."are these for sale or WHAT!?...get outta my way, (insert homophobic slur here)!!"...
Well,that tore that...i stood next to my pal,staring daggers at brohinski,and asked him "how many can he have"...employee says "let him have half"...he folded and put half back...
I told the guy I was going to be there a little while,so he huffed and puffed but left the store...the employee said "I really appreciate that" so that made the 3-day ordeal worthwhile!
And just to end on a high note,I'm so pleased Nick has this card community of good folks who do nice things for each other...the REAL card enthusiasts! Thank you all...
22 comments:
These card flippers you've encountered really give the hobby a bad name. And the nerve of these bros to throw a hissy fit that they can't clean out the whole stock annoys the hell out me. Good on you for backing up the cashier and enforcing the purchase limit. You know as well as anyone that some of us just want to rip open a couple blasters, profits be damned.
Amazing to me that they would put that much work/$ into hoarding a retail product. If I was in this for the money, I would put my focus on hobby boxes/packs. I've never been one to chase the "hits" but there was a hobby shop literally a block away from my house so it was more convenient to purchase there than at Target/Wal-Mart. I always pulled better hits despite not looking for them in the first place. That Gherig is amazing. The 2020 Turkey Red inserts is a subset that I'll definitely be collecting at some point. This whole economic shake-up over the past 4 months has me holding my $ a bit closer these days. Hopefully, we see some stability soon...and less annoying "broski's" in the card isle.
Damn, imagine being such a prick about retail baseball cards that you let out a homophobic slur. Nick's dad is the MVP.
At one point about a year ago, one of the vendors I ran into struck up a conversation with me about needing to hire someone for the area. I briefly considered it. After hearing your account, I’m glad I decided against it. I may have been slightly less professional in my interactions with those bro(s).
Thank you for sharing this. It's one thing to get all worked up over some product, but Topps Series 2? At this point I'm just glad I was able to find a second blaster of Big League.
Sheesh. Every time I head to my Target to pick up groceries, I take a look in the card aisle to see what I might be able to rip but often find it wiped clean. I always imagined a total bro stalking the stocker, and your stories definitely bring to life exactly what I had in mind.
I feel sorry for their mothers.
I would expect it to be easier to enforce the limit at check-out, instead of having somebody go over to the card section constantly to baby sit. But I don't live in a big card collecting region, so I'm just guessing.
I guess I won't be working on the Series 2 Turkey Red set after all. I'm super disappointed with all of this madness. I already had to stop buying basketball long ago, and now this.
Nick already makes his dad sound awesome and now we get to see that yes he is indeed.
some people are just pricks.
This type of behavior explains why I can never find retail in my area.
Thanks for the inside look at what it's like in the card and best of luck in the future dealing with the bros.
Also, Turkey Red, with those backgrounds, might be the pretty cards this year. The Gehrig is proof!
Wow. These people are just waiting around? No wonder I never see product at my local Target. They're like vultures.
This may be the only time in history where an Andrew McCutchen card brings out the worst in people. You shouldn't have to deal with crap like that.
It's these guys buying up all the retail that drive Topps's revenue, which is why we get the card selection and set selection that we do.
Never enjoy hearing those stories. I just want a chance at picking up cards. That's all I ask. Tough when you continually find nothing.
New plan for this week..gonna put out half the stock out,do all my other stuff (in addition to greeting cards,jewelry,sunglasses,watches and...women's undergarments! Haha!..im also yogurt guy this week!) then put out the rest,hopefully spread it out a bit...
I've been watching a lot of the YouTube channels from "collectors". It's obvious they are all flippers because it's all about the hits and if it's a homemade repack God forbid should there be a soft corner on a card. Everything should be Gem Mint and they should be able to resell the cards for ten times what they paid for them...if they can't all you hear is whining that the value isn't there.
I was watching one channel and the guy was upset that somebody had cleaned out all of the cards at the retail store he went to (probably to resell). I actually felt bad for the guy...until I realized he was upset because that's what he was going to do. Jerks.
I gave up months ago on retail. Now I buy some of the Topps Project 2020 cards, make trades (including one with Nick), and buy old singles at the local shop. The local shop does not carry new cards. The owner takes in collections and sells the cards.
The Target I work at has signs up. The problem is the cashiers won't know about the limits because the card aisle is on the the General Merchandise area of the store and in the mornings any cashiers they have will be on the Grocery side of the store (only one set of doors is open because virus). The other Target near me has the card aisle on the other side of the self-checkout area (so the employees won't see the sign) and they don't use the lanes closest to the cards either. Same deal for the closest Walmarts to me, and Meijer keeps their cards at the back of the store with the toys.
Thanks for the depressing description, Daddy Dimeboxes!
These guys are the worst. It makes me so self-conscious as an adult male collector. I'm always afraid I'll look like one of these jabronis. I just want to pick up a blaster and a pack or two, not clear the place out.
Well, I look forward to buying these in five years after the newness has wore off for pennies on the dollar
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