Author Topic: The Street Date Debate  (Read 27697 times)

Offline McMetal

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The Street Date Debate
« on: June 29, 2010, 10:38 PM »
I was talking to a friend of mine who works at TRU at lunchtime and he said they actually got cases of the new vintage stuff on the truck today. He checked it out but they could not put them out until August 6th like the box indicates. Looks like they mean business with this street date stuff.

Still, at least it's shipping to the brick and mortars...I wonder when Target and K-Mart are due for theirs?
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Offline David

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #1 on: July 2, 2010, 07:12 PM »
I had no luck when I went in to TRU last night and tried to get these. They said they had them, but wouldn't let me buy them because of the street date.  :(
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Offline Daigo-Bah

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #2 on: July 3, 2010, 05:44 PM »
Guys- do not take an employee's comment as final; go in with the six digit code, ask them to look it up (they have them in their stockrooms, promise), and when they say the figures can't be sold until August, tell them TRU got a memo allowing them to sell.  They can ring the figures up to check for sure.  Don't leave the store without trying!

Edit: code for TRU's computers: 435881
« Last Edit: July 3, 2010, 05:45 PM by Daigo-Bah »
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Offline Pete_Fett

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #3 on: July 3, 2010, 06:22 PM »
Well - this morning at one store I was told by the guy who "manages" the action figure section at a TRU that he was scolded that product made it to the floor on Thursday.

He told me that he had locked down all other Clone Wars, Legends and Vintage product in a holding area for August 6th and he absolutely refused to sell them to me since they already could be sanctioned for selling me on Thursday the stuff early.

At this point, I almost want to call up to Pawtucket, RI and force the issue and see if I can get Toys R Us sanctioned. They are selling the product online, the product has shown up in stores around the country and yet some stores are still adhering to a date printed on a sticker that's slapped on the side of the box.

It would be great if Hasbro just came out and openly said "hey everyone ignore the street date" and then that way we could print out that notice from their website and take it with us to a store.
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Offline McMetal

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #4 on: July 3, 2010, 07:42 PM »
RIGHT ON, PETE!

You took the words right out of my mouth. This "street date" nonsense wasn't TRU's idea to begin with, and they certainly don't stand to profit from waiting to unload this stuff until Target and Walmart are both in the game to compete.

The only reason they would hold back is some kind of threat from Hasbro, which could easily be cleared up with mass email or 30 second press release.

Having a street date that is only applied selectively only antagonizes the fanbase. It's time to "release the hounds".  :)
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Offline Jesse James

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #5 on: July 3, 2010, 08:02 PM »
The selective releasing of stuff isn't Hasbro's fault however.  That's TRU's and their employees.  Hasbro probably has a release date on this stuff as someone mentioned previously, so that the retailers have a fair "launch" day between them all, which Hasbro has to work with all of them on some level.

Perhaps TRU got the first allotment from overseas, and Hasbro wasn't able to get the rest at the exact same time to Target/Wal-Mart, and so not to annoy their partners there they're setting this date so it's "fair", rather than playing favorites with who they distribute to first. 

That's a balancing act rarely seen by the collectors, but it's one going on all the time between Hasbro and the retailers as well.
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Offline Pete_Fett

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #6 on: July 3, 2010, 09:48 PM »
Perhaps TRU got the first allotment from overseas, and Hasbro wasn't able to get the rest at the exact same time to Target/Wal-Mart, and so not to annoy their partners there they're setting this date so it's "fair", rather than playing favorites with who they distribute to first. 

That's a balancing act rarely seen by the collectors, but it's one going on all the time between Hasbro and the retailers as well.

And I totally understand that.

However, if Toys R Us really cared about it - why is the product being shipped out of the distribution hubs to the stores? Why does ToysRUs.com have the items for sale?

The fact is that Toys R Us WANTS to sell the product and they should be able to.

The only other wrinkle to all of this that there was supposedly a memo sent out to the Toys R Us stores that it was okay to sell the product. Is this just a rumor or has someone actually SEEN this memo? Is the memo available electronically so we can print it and bring it with us?
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Offline shmashwitdaclub

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #7 on: July 3, 2010, 10:47 PM »
The manager of the TRU pulled up his email right in front of me and, while I didn't see it with my own eyes what was written, after reading what was on the screen he said - "yup, we can sell them now".

Offline Ben

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #8 on: July 4, 2010, 03:22 AM »
The idea of a street date is ridiculous to begin with. TRU bought that stuff from Hasbro; it's theirs to do with as they wish. That said, I wish my local TRU had received more than one case of Vintage this week. It's Target and WM that are missing out waiting until August. You know if TRU has them, then those others do.
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Offline CloneF13Y35

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #9 on: July 4, 2010, 05:08 PM »
I used to work at a TRU back in the mid late 80s; video games and hot toys would have Hold the Date stickers on them and the Mgrs were very adament about not selling anything prior to that date so that when the sale ads hit, we'd have the merchandise on hand to sell. So I can understand the retail side of it as well as the consumer side as I want to buy stuff.
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Offline McMetal

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #10 on: July 4, 2010, 10:51 PM »
The manager of the TRU pulled up his email right in front of me and, while I didn't see it with my own eyes what was written, after reading what was on the screen he said - "yup, we can sell them now".

Yeah, is there any way we can get more details about this alleged email? (I only say alleged because I've yet to see it reported officially online, not that I am skeptical of the possibility) Was it sent out to all store managers? Was it from Hasbro directly or from TRU management?

I'm ready to roll up to my nearest TRU tomorrow and lay this out for them, but if this is just some made-up internet folklore I am going to feel like a total arse. (moreso than usual)
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Offline Pete_Fett

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #11 on: July 5, 2010, 01:42 AM »
The manager of the TRU pulled up his email right in front of me and, while I didn't see it with my own eyes what was written, after reading what was on the screen he said - "yup, we can sell them now".

Yeah, is there any way we can get more details about this alleged email? (I only say alleged because I've yet to see it reported officially online, not that I am skeptical of the possibility) Was it sent out to all store managers? Was it from Hasbro directly or from TRU management?

I'm ready to roll up to my nearest TRU tomorrow and lay this out for them, but if this is just some made-up internet folklore I am going to feel like a total arse. (moreso than usual)

Precisely. That e-mail could merely have been between that store's manager and the district manager for that region. The district manager could have looked and saw that the same items were being sold online and he is assuming that it's okay to sell the stuff early. I'm not doubting that the incident took place, but I am doubting that a chain-wide memo was sent around saying it was "okay to sell the product".

The biggest problem is that it all depends on who you speak to. One manager will take the stuff being available for purchase online as a sign that it's okay, another employee will give some b.s. excuse that it was purposely put online "early" to gauge interest in the product (seriously - I was told that on Saturday morning) and another employee will tell you that ToysRUs.com and Toys R Us stores aren't even the same company - like they're living in some sort of timewarp back from when Amazon was running online fulfillment for the Toys R Us brand.

« Last Edit: July 5, 2010, 01:43 AM by Pete_Fett »
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Offline shmashwitdaclub

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #12 on: July 5, 2010, 07:47 AM »
@ McMetal and Pete

Here is what I experienced - maybe it will help you out.

I called in the store giving them the numbers so they can look them up - girl on the other end said there were 24 on the floor.  Went to the store, there weren't.  Girl Looked on the online website, while she was doing this I explained the supposed email that people were talking about.  she then went in the computer and pulled up what appeared to be an update plannogram and after looking it over called someone in the back to grab me some.  

Enter ******* supervisor.  He was a jerk and came up with a very curt tone and just kept saying "we can't sell them" to everything I had to say.  Eventually I accepted that he was not going to do anything about it - I glanced at his name tag so I would remember his name and was going to file a complaint about his attitude with me - after that I left the store.  When I went out to my car I thought to myself that this was BS, they said they had them on the floor specifically - I am going back in for another round.  I went back in and the supervisor was ringing people out and it was busy upfront.

Enter store manager who just clocked in for work.  I explained EVERYTHING to him, even about the supervisor.  The manager looked up the email like I told you and went to the back to get them and brought them out to me.  After I grabbed the ones I wanted I asked if I could speak with the manager aside from the supervisor, he did.  We talked.  I explained to him how I wasn't too thrilled with the supervisors lack of addressing my questions - and not be willing himself to look up the email.  The manager said nothing in regards to me about how the supervisor would not have received the email.  From a retail standpoint I know he would, the supervisor was the opening manager of the morning until the store manager got there - so it would have been the supervisors duty to assign coworkers to do things that morning - ie set planno's.  So he has to pull them up from the same system.

So I went in the next morning (saturday) and guess what?  everythin was set up per the new plannogram.
« Last Edit: July 5, 2010, 07:49 AM by shmashwitdaclub »

Offline McMetal

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #13 on: July 5, 2010, 08:04 PM »
Smash - thanks for the additional info - much appreciated.

So here's my story from earlier today:

I went into the local TRU, they had nothing new on the pegs, so I went to the Customer Service desk and basically explained the whole schpeil about the Vintage line, the supposed email authorizing them to sell these, etc. Woman at the desk seems sympathetic enough, but asks a Floor Manager to come over for help. I repeat the whole Schpeil for him, we look the items up on the computer, he finds them in stock, he even tries ringing it up by the item # on the register to see if it allows the sale to go through - it does. He can't find the email though, or any kind of memo indicating it is ok to sell these. He sort of seems on the fence at this point, but suddenly enter Stock Dude. This is a younger guy who looks like he just got out of a Limp Bizkit show, knows all about the stock room and no way he is putting these out he says. He goes on to say they are waiting for the Hasbro rep to call them back since last Thursday to let them know whether it is ok to put these out or not.

At this point, it's clear I'm not going to make any headway. So I got the name of the store manager, who was out today but back tomorrow, and I told them I would check back again Tuesday. At the very least, I figure I can ask her to call the Hasbro rep back and see what the deal is. I also know one of the employees there who is very knowledgeable about the SW stuff, so I am hoping I will see him and he can help me out somehow.

What a frigging pain in the butt! Part of me just wants to forget about it and wait til August, but the rebellious, stubborn side of me feels like pressing the issue just because the situation seems so absurd on some level.
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Offline Greg

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The Street Date Debate
« Reply #14 on: July 5, 2010, 08:50 PM »
At this point, it's clear I'm not going to make any headway. So I got the name of the store manager, who was out today but back tomorrow, and I told them I would check back again Tuesday. At the very least, I figure I can ask her to call the Hasbro rep back and see what the deal is. I also know one of the employees there who is very knowledgeable about the SW stuff, so I am hoping I will see him and he can help me out somehow.

What a frigging pain in the butt! Part of me just wants to forget about it and wait til August, but the rebellious, stubborn side of me feels like pressing the issue just because the situation seems so absurd on some level.

I know I've been giving you **** for some of your posts, but for this I think you should totally talk to the store's manager. Even if you don't get the figures, let the manager (and hopefully the rep, too) know that the street date is ridiculous. I can sort of understand a street date for the movie lines, to build hype or something like that, but not when there is no big Star Wars event happening. You, as the customer, have money and want the products. Hasbro is essentially costing TRU sales by putting these street dates on their lines. It's even worse when there is nothing currently on the shelves. So not only is Hasbro costing stores business from collectors, but also the business from casual buyers, such as kids and parents.

Anyway, keep us posted if you choose to pursue this. I'm interested to hear what the manager and/or Hasbro rep has to say.