I also boycott unless I actually find a figure, I refuse to buy anything if what I'm actually looking for isn't there. It's a tactic that I'm not falling prey to.

everyday

No, I'm usually not successuful. My area is forever getting new stuff.

I only go on Sat and Sun because my work schedule doesn't allow me to go in the morning and I get out late so usually it's not worth the effort at that hour. Back in 05 I used to head out to a Target or TRU after work 2-3 times per week and had limited success, certainly not enough to justify the time and gas I was wasting.

I have pretty good success on Saturday mornings, sometimes even the afternoons. As far as 07 JLU goes, Volcana, Blue Devil, Obsidian, Star Sapphire were all found in the morning. Stargirl was found at TRU around noon time and most recently, I found Grodd at around 3 pm a few weeks back.

However with Fire/Ice and Mr. Miracle, I totally missed out on them as most Targets put them out sometime this week and all I saw were remnants of that assortment at 5 different Targets today.

If you need this guy, go to your supermarket. I've seen 8 total so far at 2 different Stop and Shop food stores in my area.

I look for it (JLU) whenever I can. Almost every other day...

Not at my Stop & Shops yet. My In-laws work at 2 local Stop & Shops (Stony Point & Mt. Ivy) and they don't have it. Their stores have Huntress and various Superman & Batman figures. The other Stop & Shop still has the orange cards. And how my Father in Law explained it is once a week there's a guy who goes to the various S&S in the district and restocks the toys. And each store gets 2 or 3 figure. So when he restocks the dist center only sends however many figures have been sold and then he restocks it to the various stores. So it could be a while before they get it. And there's no guarantee what figures they'll get at what store.

My days of daily mulltiple store hitting for jlu are over. I now might hit a target once a week or so. if my wife happens to go, she tries to help though.

I didn't think you were being snarky at all. I just think Target managers in my area have been less likely to tell employees to treat collectors differently than they would treat any other customers. I mean, when you have a scanner system in the store that tells customers whether or not products are in your back room, then you go and get those products when a customer wants to buy them. You're a store, and your sole purpose in this universe is to sell the products you have, not to play the Fair Toy Distribution Police. Even in the stores with those little signs about ensuring that everyone gets an "equal chance" to purchase "collectible" items (and by "equal chance", they mean if you arrive the moment the store opens in the morning), employees in my city are more than helpful at least 95% of the time.

Scanners mean nothing here. Doesn't matter what the scanners say -- you'll be told the information isn't accurate, they can't find what you're talking about, or store policy says no going to the back for customers. I thought the scanners would herald a new era of cooperation, but that wasn't the case.

To be scrupulously fair, I quit asking several months ago after my first few attempts to leverage the scanners were rebuffed. As Lou pointed out, some employees WILL help. But I just don't bother interviewing each one to see who's cooperative. The situation in Orlando is very different from other places -- I've lived in Atlanta and South Florida, and neither place was like this. And honestly, as I said, I can't blame the Target employees.

The reason is that there are quite literally dozens of collectors/scalpers at every store every week, frequently every single day. If I worked there, I wouldn't check the back every time someone asked, either. You wouldn't have time to do anything else.

People who don't face this don't really understand the scope of the problem. Just Saturday I overheard a guy on the Target toy aisle coordinating a sweep by cell phone (this was in Casselberry, Lou, if you're reading). He had at least one associate who was combing other Targets. He was on the action figure aisle, but he may also have been hitting Hot Wheels, I don't know. He did cover several aisles. He's not the first one I've seen -- this is VERY common here, and it's been going on for years that I personally know about. I've even talked to a few.

These gentlemen may both have been collectors, I don't know, and it doesn't matter. (That degree of organization suggests scalping to me, but I could certainly be wrong.) If the product is one per store, and he or his friend get there first, I'm outta luck. So it's off to eBay.

So that's the long answer as to why employees are less helpful here. Plus I get in a little venting. But I've long ago moved through all the stages -- denial, anger, bargaining -- and gotten to acceptance. It's the way things are here, and it's not going to change.

Just a quick aside--when they scan an item and it says there are X in stock, there is no way of telling where it is. It could be on a peg in the toy aisle like it should be, or in the stockroom, but it could also be in the bin where they have returns, or in the ladies fitting room where a mom decided that she wants to spend money on some Loeffler Randal (my wife is quite the fashionista and was very excited that this designer was at Target this month) shoes rather than a JLU 3 pack. So just knowing that they have more in stock isnt enough.

I find that associates will bring up a box if they need it for restock. So I dont bother asking unless the pegs are bare. I will even offer to stock the shelves for them (minus whatever I need of course)

Oh, I know. As a visiting collector, it's a fun place, but I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to live there as a collector.


A buddy and I do the same kind of thing here sometimes, looking for JLU and G.I. Joe for me and Marvel Legends for him.

THe trick is that when Im looking for them to go in the back- The pegs always seem to be bare for me , and only once have I had a stocker say-- that peg was full five minutes ago - like someone couldnt have come buy and bought all 30 of the supermen in that time period..


And thats why I love Target-- the systems just a bit to easy to manipulate.

Of course once they clearance all that web world and Fantastic Four cars out-- it may be a little harder to carry out my plans.

Ya know, I was actually thinking about this the other day. I went to Target and there was only like 2 3-packs out on the self when I asked a Target Employee if she would check the back for me because I had scanned one of the packs and it said there was more in stock. She told me that they don’t do that anymore so that everyone has a chance to collect rare figures and that they only restock the night before. At first I thought, well that’s nice because a scalper can no longer come in and have the employees look through the back room and take all the Mr. Miracles and Fire and Ice’s. Then I thought, wait a minute! What kind of a solution is that? If Target does not have enough of a product for the demand of the people than maybe they should be ordering more of said product from Mattel and requesting better case ratios! It was Mattel who told us that WE need to make Target aware that we want more JLU figures and better case rations. Well Target seems to be well aware of the demand for rare figures and their solution is to hide the figures in the back so even less will sell! I’m starting to get furious just thinking about it. Does this make sense to anyone?

No, it doesn't make sense. In fact, it's patently stupid. If you have them, sell them. If I was a Target shareholder, I'd be infuriated to know that they play the Commie game with something when a paying customer wants to buy it. Screw fair and "equal" in a toy department. First come, first served. The policy, when actually enforced, is asinine.