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Pack searcher at Target....

Okay, these guys have some bigger balls than I thought. I went to Target tonight to pick up a couple of items. Stopped by the card section. There were 2 managers standing there talking while this guy is searching packs. So, instead of getting mad like I usually do, I just play dumb about what he's doing. I ask him politely what he's doing and he explains the whole process of pack searching to me right infront of the 2 managers. At this point I was thinking this is crazy. Then I asked him the age old question about the kids and the dissappointment they would have not finding anything. He was like "F" the kids. If they were smart they would be doing this too.
So then, I turned a looked at one of the managers and asked him if he was hearing this. He said, "Yeah. This happens all the time. No big deal." The guy smiled and walked away to make his purchase. I stuck around and was still casually talking to the managers about other stuff and then the one interupts and says, "Yeah, the cards. We've got people on staff that will hide them all over the store. They do it a lot, but we really don't say anything. It's not like you can fire someone over that."

So, I'm really just beside myself. I mean, I never buy retail other than blasters. But, this was like being in the twilight zone.

Comments

  • Ya I regret buying from retail because I have never got a card worth more than a buck or two. There are also a lot of people who shoplift in my area because in Texas you cannot get arrested and taken to jail for shoplifting anymore, you just get a ticket so people are doing it more often. I am not sure if this is the same in other states
  • nflhofnflhof Posts: 189 ✭✭
    I only buy Blasters at Target unless a new retail box is there and it is unopened. Just a fact of life with retail packs at Target. I did a buy a unopened box of 2008 Topps Football and wished I didn't. There was nothing at all in the box. I wasted $53.00 on that box and wished I would have spent the dough on set needs on ebay.
  • MphilkingMphilking Posts: 1,570 ✭✭✭
    People have told me they have seen guys with scales in the store weighing all the packs.
  • I think its like going to the store to buy fruits, you test them out first image

    HK
  • I saw a dude at Target last week with a tiny gadget searching a box of Allen & Ginter, couldn't tell whether it was a scale or measuring device, or both...

    ... When he grabbed the 2nd box, I asked him, "Hey, can I get a few of those packs before you search the box?" He handed the box to me and walked away, quickly.

    Yeah, best to stick to Blasters or the blister packs at retail. Loose packs in a box is just throwing away money.
    Nolan Ryan & Edgar Martinez are my favorite players...
    image
    mosaic's Nolan Ryan Basic Topps registry set
    mosaic's Big 3 Nolan Ryan Run Showcase
  • Target has no incentive to do anything they do not own the cards there. They only have to pay the company that sells them when the packs are scanned at the checkout. They also charge this company every month for the space they are using in their store. Wal-Mart is the same way.
  • storm888storm888 Posts: 11,701 ✭✭✭
    "I never buy retail other than blasters."

    ///////////////////////////

    Ditto.
    Folks Who Bite Get Bitten. Folks Who Don't Bite Get Eaten.
  • MphilkingMphilking Posts: 1,570 ✭✭✭
    Target has no incentive to do anything they do not own the cards there. They only have to pay the company that sells them when the packs are scanned at the checkout. They also charge this company every month for the space they are using in their store. Wal-Mart is the same way.


    That explains it! I did not know that!
  • BoopottsBoopotts Posts: 6,784 ✭✭
    I've seen a few threads start about pack searching, and I'd like to add a couple of thoughts (warning: I started drinking at about 5 this evening EST).


    Point 1) Yes, these guys are sleazy. I don't think anyone would dispute that.

    Point 2) You guys really need to start giving the average nine year old a little more credit. Odds are that a typical fourth grader, if he's into cards and has heard of 'pack searching' (which he probably has if he has an internet connection) is not only fully aware of the fact that these packs are searched, but would gladly search them himself-- and, in fact, has probably done so- when/if he has 30 minutes to kill at Target while his mom is searching for deals on flushable wipes.

    A vast majority of this board like to stereotype the typical American 'kid' as this dew-eyed babe in the woods who has no idea what kind of sinister motives lie in the hearts of adults. Nothing could be farther from the truth. When I was a kid we had to constantly lock our bikes up-- not because another kid would steal them, but because adults looking to feed their narcotic habits would boost them off the rack at the local Venture and sell them for parts at one of the bike shops in Maplewood. We were constantly dealing with a-hole grownups, and kids today-- who have all probably fended off countless sexual overtures on the internet, and otherwise been exposed to the seedy underbelly that is adult life- I am sure are far more savvy to the risks associated with buying loose packs at Target then any of us would like to give them credit for.

    By the time you're nine or so you're much less of a kid then you are an adult. Sure, you have some work to do in the emotional maturity department, but when the question at hand is an understanding of the evil that lies in the hearts of men the average fourth or fifth grader is a great deal more worldly-wise then most adults would ever suspect. That was true when I was in elementary school ('80 to '84) and I'm almost positive it's even more true today.

    In sum-- pack searching, by adults, is sleazy. If it's done by kids it's still a little sleazy, but it's also kind of endearing; albeit it in a 'look-at-that-enterprising-boy' kind of way. But in any case, we should get beyond the notion that kids are being victimized wholesale by fat guys searching packs at the local retail outlet. Kids get victimized by alcoholic dads, and by emotionally abusive moms. They are, on the balance, prepared to withstand the petty crimes perpetrated by grown-ups, so long as we raise them right.

  • Yeah, whatever ^^^ said.


  • << <i>Yeah, whatever ^^^ said. >>



    I second that
    Collecting Interests:
    Ripken, Brooks & Frank Robinson, Old Orioles, Sweet Spot Autos, older Redskins - Riggins, Sonny, Baugh etc and anything that catches my eye. image

    My ghetto sportscard webpage...All Scans - No Lists!!! Stinky Linky
  • joestalinjoestalin Posts: 12,473 ✭✭
    Its starts with the card companies, if they thought it was a problem they would be fixing it.....they are the ones stuck with damaged packs! If you
    want to get even go into the store and bend every single pack, after a while something will be done.

    Kevin
  • storm888storm888 Posts: 11,701 ✭✭✭
    "...the average fourth or fifth grader is a great deal more worldly-wise then most adults would ever suspect. That was true when I was in elementary school ('80 to '84) and I'm almost positive it's even more true today. ..."

    ////////////////////////////////////////////////


    Before 1960, my elementary-school gang and I had already done every bad deed we could think to do.

    The kids today are just the same as they were when I was a kid. No better, no worse. They do have
    better weapons than we had, though.
    Folks Who Bite Get Bitten. Folks Who Don't Bite Get Eaten.
  • perkdogperkdog Posts: 29,349 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I thought card company's put pieces of cardboard inside these packs to combat this problem? I swear I remember that when opening packs about 5 years ago maybe?


    BTW- I agree with Boopotts!
  • Cokin75Cokin75 Posts: 243 ✭✭
    I agree with the notion about kids being "wiser" than they are given credit before. By the time I hit 12 years old, I was smart enough to have figured out the sequence for Topps rack and cello packs. I used to always 'cherry pick' boxes. I'm sure kids these days could figure out the in and outs of pack searching, the problem is that most kids can't afford the cards anymore.
  • Oh I forgot to mention this earlier. I guess the funniest part was that the pack searcher wanted to take on of the of boxes with him that the cards were in. One of the managers standing there did say he couldn't do that. He got so bent out of shape about not being able to walk away with the box too. He was saying, "It's collectable too. I need something to put them in." Then he said, "It's for a birthday present." The manager then replied, "We have plenty of birthday present wrapping materials in that aisle." What a cheap, lame, idiot. image I mean come on. I just thought it was pretty funny to say the least.

    After reading Boopotts response and thinking about all the crap I did when I was a kid, I would have to agree. I guess in all honesty, it just kinda pissed me off because it's just really wrong. Just my opinion though.
  • BuccaneerBuccaneer Posts: 1,794 ✭✭
    The solution would be not to put those stupid lottery cards in packs and thus, making all of the cards the same thickness and weight.

    Actually, I guess you can still have lottery cards as long as they are the same as the others.
  • kmnortonkmnorton Posts: 1,050 ✭✭✭
    It's funny you should write this around now, Chris. I doing my usual rounds for A&G (still to no avail) 2 days ago at Target and they had 4 packs of Americana II in the vending type boxes left. I never buy from these, but was curious if the cards were as stupid as they seem. In all the packs, the very first card had at least 3 or 4 fingernail lines through them. That being said, this was in one of them:

    image

    Don't know much about the blood sport that is UFC, but it looks like it might go for something. Hah!
    IWTDMBII
  • Nice!
  • jayhawkejayhawke Posts: 1,287 ✭✭✭
    Not much difference then when I was a kid and would go into a baseball card shop and the owner had searched the packs. Of course the owner of the shop was worse than the Trget example.
  • EstilEstil Posts: 6,864 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>
    The kids today are just the same as they were when I was a kid. No better, no worse. They do have
    better weapons than we had, though. >>



    Finally! Someone who gets it! image To hear my mom talk, she makes it sound like kids today are so awful and her generation growing up was a Mayberry utopia. Give me a break. image
    WISHLIST
    Dimes: 54S, 53P, 50P+S, 49S, 45D+S, 44S, 43D, 41S, 40D+S, 39D+S, 38D+S, 37D+S, 36S, 35D+S, all 16-34's
    Quarters: 61D, 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
    74 Topps: 37,38,46,47,48,138,151,193,210,214,223,241,256,264,268,277,289,316,435,552,570,577,592,602,610,654,655
    1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
    1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
  • Seems as if their pack searching techniques are not as reliable as they thought .

    Listening to the story I get the feeling that thr two manager guys may having been running cover for their friend the professional pack searcher
  • Back in 2002, I bought 72 packs of Leaf Certified Materials from Target. Not one game used card was pulled from them and many of the cards were damaged (bent corners, etc.). I returned them to Target and told them the packs were obviously searched in their store and people who do that also ruin the cards by mishandling the packs. I explained to them that they should not allow people to search packs and explained to them how to notice a person doing so. Quite the contrary to this post, they said they try to monitor the baseball cards and stop people from doing this but there are people over there (in the card row) all day long and they can't stop everyone. Yeah or ney, it really doesn't matter I guess because they are right - they can't stop people from doing this, short of putting everything behind a glass case or register where a dedicated store employee handles the distribution of packs to customers and didn't let them search the boxes.

    Target would not refund the money I paid for the packs because they had been opened and there was nothing they could do. Call me an a-hole or whatever, but I wasn't stopping there. I filed a complaint with my credit card company and reported that the items I purchased were damaged goods and the company would not honor a refund on them. They sided with me and refunded the money to my account and Target never filed a petition on it.

    This is no lie - I have not bought a pack of retail cards from Target/Walmart/wherever since this incident and I don't think I ever will again. Sure, I'll buy blasters or sealed boxes, but not loose packs. I also followed it up with two buyer guides on ebay about the differences between retail/hobby and pack searching. Someone give me my medal image

    Bill
    kshorton says: i gots an Empire State Building card... seeking advice.. is this better and worth more than my psa 3 franco harris 1973 topps card which i defouled by trying to make a baby with ? Please advise. the franco card is graded.. the ESB card is not yet, and I do not want to have a baby with the ESB card.
    image
  • AknotAknot Posts: 1,196 ✭✭
    Didnt realize we had so many used to be "thugs" on these boards.... Am I reading this right that most of you think its "ok" for kids to pack search just because you use to do or did worse when you were young?

    Are these the same people that complain about the state of the hobby?

    It just boggles the mind. It is wrong plain and simple. Maybe im misunderstanding most of you it is early and Ive yet to have my coffee....
    image
  • i remember searching rack packs in the grocery store for visible stars. Please don't crucify me I have delicate wrists.
  • I have a Target right up the road from me and get cards from there pretty regularly. Out of the 30+ times I've been there recently, I have only seen one person even looking at the sports cards. Apparently there's not too many collectors or something, even though it's a pretty big city. The shelves are always stocked, so it's nice for me I guess. If I ever catch a pack searcher, I'll give him a piece of my mind though.
    "I've never been able to properly explain myself in this climate" -Raul Duke

    ebay i.d. clydecoolidge - Lots of vintage stars and HOFers, raw, condition fully disclosed.
  • AknotAknot Posts: 1,196 ✭✭


    << <i>Please don't crucify me I have delicate wrists. >>



    I bet you do.
    image
  • CDsNutsCDsNuts Posts: 10,092
    This one time I walked into my local Wal Mart to get some beach towels and I decided to stop at the card aisle on my way to the register. This greasy looking guy is there thumbing through all the packs, so I squeeze in and ask him what he's doing. He says "None of your business, pal." So I grab him by the neck and say "None of my business, huh? Well now it's my business, PAL!" I lift him off the ground by his neck and carry him over to housewares where I proceeded to beat him senseless with a 24.99 wood cutting board. There he is lying on the ground semi-conscious bleeding from the forehead blubbering like a 4 year old that fell off his bike. He says "What is wrong with you? I was just searching baseball card packs." I says to him "Yeah I know what you were doing. You were ripping off little kids," and then I take a cheese grater and start running it back and forth on his face. Then I grab him by the leg and drag him to the sports equipment section. As I'm dragging him I tell him "What if my 8 year old nephew bought some packs? He would get nothing because of you jackass." So anyways, I pick up one of them teatherball ropes and start choking him with it, all the while beating at his skull with a tennis racket. The store manager walks over and asks me what I'm doing and I says "Just walk away. You don't want any of this. It's your fault this happened for allowing trash like this to search packs." So I'm a little tired from all the beating and choking, I decide to head out. On my way I picked up a blaster box of Allen & Ginter and pulled a nice Grady Sizemore jersey card.


  • So one day im standing there in my local Wal Mart with my delicate wrists, searching the packs, it was Payday and i just got off my shift at the diner so I was all greasy and this short midget like ass clown comes up to me; pushes me aside and lisps move aside pretty boy those are my packs! I replied "sir your manners are atrocious, what charm school did you flunk out of?" Then he tries to lift me off the ground, but because he is so short he can only grab my kneecaps, it was rather comical. Next he pulls a $4.99 ping pong paddle off the shelf and start flogging me. I was in therapy for weeks. On the way out the door I grabbed a box of Allen and Ginter and pulled an authentic madonna pube card.


  • << <i>On the way out the door I grabbed a box of Allen and Ginter and pulled an authentic madonna pube card. >>



    I believed your story until you said this line. Madonna has no pubes, trust me on this oneimage
  • After I get done playing with my 50 pound dumbbells each day, I hang out at Walmart and Target stores intimidating packsearchers. I have single handedly secured the retail end of the hobby just for "the kiddies".

    Yours truly,

    plifter
  • I used to buy blasters until I heard about and then saw in my store a blaster that was resealed. It was poorly done. Then I thought, Hey !! you could reseal a blaster using the correct cellophane VERY easily. No more blasters for me.


    Oh and to screw with the pack searchers, I crush all the corners of all the loose packs I see in the store. image j/k
    imageimageimage
  • Hide the packs in the pillow section along with the blasters. Kids can't buy them if they're hidden but nevertheless this is ethical behavior, unlike pack searching.
  • CdsNuts,that guy was me that you cheese grated,and I would like to thank you for helping me turn my life around!image





    Lou
    Collecting Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell cards.
  • StingrayStingray Posts: 8,843 ✭✭✭
    How many of you have gone into a store and found a pack that was actually opened on one end?? I have seen this several times.
  • In my area I have gone to Target, Wall-mart, and others and found packs with the end of the pack opened. Someone actually went and had the guts to open the pack right there and look inside and than place it back in the box. Also I have seen a guy at Target standing there searching packs and I asked the guy what he was doing. He than began to explain to me how he searches all of a certain product. Needless to say I only buy boxes not packs.
  • AknotAknot Posts: 1,196 ✭✭
    Im afraid.... I truly am, of what I would do or say if I saw this happening.... I mean im not afraid to make comments to people about other things, cutting, loud music on the subway, etc.... hmmmmm

    Guess it is good I dont really collect anymore..
    image
  • WinPitcherWinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
    This one time I walked into my local Wal Mart to get some beach towels and I decided to stop at the card aisle on my way to the register. This greasy looking guy is there thumbing through all the packs, so I squeeze in and ask him what he's doing. He says "None of your business, pal." So I grab him by the neck and say "None of my business, huh? Well now it's my business, PAL!" I lift him off the ground by his neck and carry him over to housewares where I proceeded to beat him senseless with a 24.99 wood cutting board. There he is lying on the ground semi-conscious bleeding from the forehead blubbering like a 4 year old that fell off his bike. He says "What is wrong with you? I was just searching baseball card packs." I says to him "Yeah I know what you were doing. You were ripping off little kids," and then I take a cheese grater and start running it back and forth on his face. Then I grab him by the leg and drag him to the sports equipment section. As I'm dragging him I tell him "What if my 8 year old nephew bought some packs? He would get nothing because of you jackass." So anyways, I pick up one of them teatherball ropes and start choking him with it, all the while beating at his skull with a tennis racket. The store manager walks over and asks me what I'm doing and I says "Just walk away. You don't want any of this. It's your fault this happened for allowing trash like this to search packs." So I'm a little tired from all the beating and choking, I decide to head out. On my way I picked up a blaster box of Allen & Ginter and pulled a nice Grady Sizemore jersey card.







    Luckily for the manager she/he didn't say you have mental issues huh?



    Steve
    Good for you.
  • RipublicaninMassRipublicaninMass Posts: 10,051 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>Please don't crucify me I have LIMP wrists. >>



    I bet you do. >>



    quote fixed
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