Toy Runs affected by Gas Prices?

[TheBlackDog65]

Yep, Jeff, I have to agree with you. I quit actively hunting LOTR about 2 years ago and found I saved more time and gas by not hunting and having them ship either from EE or BBTS.
I am thinking about doing the same with SW now. Buy the case online and then sell any extra's I may not want for a later customizing.

[Pete_Fett]

It wasn't something I really used to consider, but nowadays, it's becoming more of a thought in my mind.  Why should I bother wasting gas/time to find figures for $6.50 (with tax) at Target, when I can order a case of 12 for $7.50 each (with shipping) from EE.

Sure, it's $12 over retail, but that's only like 4-5 gallons of gas or about 80-100 miles of toy shopping (which is probably about my average in a week).

The only wrinkle to on-line ordering though is you still have to go to the stores to hunt the damn exclusives (exclusives = the bitching target of the day I guess  ).

You know - for a majority of the Saga line, I got my stuff directly from EE. It worked out well enough, especially in non-movie years when the stuff wasn't hitting the pegs as much as it should.

I will probably be going back to EE for my figures when the Saga 2 line comes out.

The one thing that stopped me from buying from EE was the fact that I knew in a movie year (and with the OTC) that the product would be readily available PLUS I would be regularly hitting stores looking for the vehicles and exclusives. (I never buy the vehicles from EE, the mark-up on those is just too much)

With the high number of exclusives in the last five months, I'm mostly hitting stores with the goal of finding exclusives and picking up the mass-market/open-stock items along the way.

Like right now the only open-stock item I need is the Jedi vs. Separatists Battle Pack - everything else I need is an exclusive - Wave 3 Target Cups, Target TIE Fighter, Hoth Assault Battle Pack, and TRU Millenium Falcon.

And again, even in the fall, the number of exclusives will greatly out-weigh the open-stock items:
Open-stock:
Figures #57-68
Rebels vs. Empire Battle Pack
Gray Repaint of Clones Evo set

Exclusive:
Target Night-ops Clone
Target Lava Reflection Anakin & Obi-Wan
Target Plo Koon Jedi Starfighter
Target Clones on Coruscant Battle Pack
SWS Remote Control R2-D2
SWS Wedge Antilles
SWS Stealth Ops Clonetrooper
TRU Holo Emperor
EE Astromech pack 1 & 2
Diamond Bounty Hunter 7 pack
KB-Toys Silver Vader 9 pack
anything else?

(I've already ordered the online shope stuff, but it will actually ship in the months of September - December)

So my point is that in the end, when all is send and done, between now and Saga 2, most of my SW money will be spent on exclusives which is just insane. Eventually I will reach a breaking point and at that point, I don't know what I will do cause for me collecting SW goes hand-in-hand with having a complete 3.75" collection. In my f**ked up mind, you can' t have one w/o the other.

[Jediknight760071]

It has affected me, i only stop when i am going in that direction already. Damn SUVs!

You know, they say by 2008 the SUV will be more fuel efficient.

[CHEWIE]

Supposedly gas prices are gonna hit $3.00 a gallon in St. Louis tomorrow.

They've already hit $2.75 today.

 

[Kill_Solo]

Yep, gas prices have definitely affected my toy runs. I only make specific "toy runs" to the Target and Walmart that are about 5 minutes away. And the only time I visit any other stores are when I am already out somewhere and I happen to drive past a place that I can go hunt. Stupid gas prices.

[MetalJedi]

Last night gas was at 2.81. While I only went to 3 stores and my doctors appointment it felt like the gas was just slipping out of my car and I have a "fuel economy" type car. So if it does reach 3.00 or more my runs are going to be real limited. Hopefully this means limited for the money grubbing scalps in my area as well.

[proudfather2]

It already has effected me. I live in a remotely small town that has a K Mart and a Wal*Mart but both stores stock new items few and far between. The Wal*Mart literally restocks three or four times a year (on the off year five or six times) while the K Mart does only two or three times. Unfortunately the rest of the stores in the bigger towns/cities are at least thirty minutes away from me and for me to make a sweep of all stores takes the better part of five hours. Gas here in Mid-Michigan was at $2.65 for a few weeks then yesterday morning (Tuesday) most chains made the jump to $2.99.

Now I know a lot of things factor into the price of gasoline (Holiday weekend, the war, Katrina, etc), but a thirty four cent jump over nite for all of central lower Michigan is just ****** up! Fortunately I pay attention  and new it was coming and was able to fill both vehicles before the rise. It also helps that my wife and I work locally so the work-driving time is at a minimum.  Sadly, I think the days of random, long-haul, toy runs are over for me.

[Jediknight760071]

Nevermind what I said before. Today I spent $30 at the gas station and decided not to make toy runs as frequent, as this tank only lasted me half a week, while it would usually be around 3 weeks.

[TheBlackDog65]

I have to agree now. I know it is Labor Day weekend and the speculation of the impact of Katrina, but gas is now at $2.80 and rising. The news ran a local report tonight that here in Utah we should see gas at $3.00 before long. I have to say now that I am not hunting until the final 12 come out, and then it will be only smart hunting. I will hunt on Friday night when I usually find new stuff at a local Walmart. In addition, I will only hunt 2 Walmarts and have to wait until I find them at one of the two stores. If I miss some, oh well, I've missed figures before. 
I continue to wonder how much longer we can go before retailers raise the price of the figures at Wally, Target etc to compensate for the higher costs to get the product to market. I really think that is coming and will impact collecting for some also. Imagine going back to an average retail price of $6.99 a figure. Would you still buy it combined with the price of gas?

[zachmoe]

When I left this morning to drive to the Bay Area (CA) gas was $2.79...on the way home, same gas station was $3.01.  Tonight on the news, I saw a BP Station in Atlanta that had regular unleaded at $5.97 per gallon    With prices like that, my SW runs are going to be severely impacted if gas prices exceed $3 a gallon for any length of time.  The thing that pisses me off is that all of our gas on the west coast comes from the Alaska pipeline, and not from anywhere impacted by the storm.  That is just a bunch of bull****.  Damn gas companies rising the prices just because they can rape people and for no other reason.  Though the biggest way gas price increases affect store runs is more money spent on gas = less money to spend on figures. 

 


 

[Brian]

It usually hasn't affected me too much, but I'm not someone who really drives too far off just to check the SW aisles.  I do that maybe once a week, but otherwise I just try to check while we're out picking up something else.  Gas prices hit $3.19 (for the cheapest) in town yesterday, with reports that we'll be close to $4 by the end of next week.  If that's the case, I might start to consider ordering online as well.  $2+ gas is one thing, but when its going to cost $60 or more to fill up the tank, then it might be time to make a change.

[Paul]

The price hasn't affected my runs too much, I have the advantage of a Target and 2 Wal Marts that are on my way to the office.  The fact that I can't FIND anything new or anything that I want has made me less willing to take some time for a multiple store run though.  Its one thing to pay for gas and get the reward of a hard to find or eagerly awaited figure/vehicle...it is totally disheartening to fill the tank up and drive all over creation and find nothing.

[CHEWIE]

I've heard some people saying that this is the government's fault, and blaming Mr. Bush and that the oil reserves here are being purposely being held back by the current administration... But I think it's because of policies that have been in place for the past 25+ years.

You also have to think of what it's all relative to.

50 years ago, a gallon of regular gas was about 30 cents. Now it's around $2.50. But are today's gas prices high compared to 1950?

To answer that, you have to take into account inflation that has occurred over the last 50 or so years. By calculating inflation, what cost 30 cents in 1950 costs $2.33 today.

With just a bit of analysis, that means gas prices today are only about 8% higher than they were in 1950.

I've seen a lot of folks complaining that the government do something about the prices... bad idea folks! Why do some people always want the government to run EVERYTHING?

Look back to '79 when the government did intervene. Jimmy Carter decided to control price. The result was longer gasoline lines, and many gas stations running out of gas. When this happened, Americans used about 150,000 barrels of oil per day idling their cars while waiting in line at gas stations.

Today's administration has chosen not to pursue stupid policies such as this. As a result, we haven't seen shortages... we haven't seen ridiculous lines, fights at gas stations, etc., because price has been allowed to follow the fundamental rules of demand with supply.

This could easily be changed though if it weren't for certain policies that are in place. There are very large amounts of oil below the 20 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but environmentalists have opposed drilling here for years... they think we can somehow create some magical alternative to the fuel issue... It has been proposed that this area be used for oil drilling but extremists and democrats in Congress have opposted it, even though it is less than 2,000 acres, less than one-half of 1 percent of the wildlife preserve.

These extremists have also been successfu in restricting drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and off the shore of California. Another part of our energy problem has to do with refining capacity. Again, because of environmentalists' successful efforts, it's been 30 years since we've built a new oil refinery.

As for toy runs being effected, yes it's putting a bit of a damper on it for me too... I just wish that we had more supply being refined.

 

[Dressel Rebel]

Some of you mentioned that not finding anything at retailers is more of a deterrent than the price of gas.  My Target, as well, has not had a new figure on the pegs since June.  Not a damn thing.  Either there is a load of **** sitting in the stockroom that never gets put out, or cases are leaving through the back door.

Walmart on the other hand has been great lately.  I don't know why, but in the past month I've been able to walk into my Walmart, and more often than not, find sealed cases on pallets on the sales floor.  I've basically gotten anything I wanted, it's been unusually stellar.

Yay Walmart, boo Target.

[Darth_Anton]

You also have to think of what it's all relative to.

50 years ago, a gallon of regular gas was about 30 cents. Now it's around $2.50. But are today's gas prices high compared to 1950?

To answer that, you have to take into account inflation that has occurred over the last 50 or so years. By calculating inflation, what cost 30 cents in 1950 costs $2.33 today.

With just a bit of analysis, that means gas prices today are only about 8% higher than they were in 1950.

I heard an Oil company spokes person slip durring an interview (about two years ago) and say specifically that the higher prices have nothing to do with actual rises in cost or inflation. They're just charging more to get more proffit. Much like Target is doing with their exclusives. 

I've seen a lot of folks complaining that the government do something about the prices... bad idea folks! Why do some people always want the government to run EVERYTHING?

If the corporations wouldn't rape us (i.e, pharmasutical, health ins, energy companies) we wouldn't have to ask for help.

Greed is human nature.

But that's starting to get political... 

I've been asking myself if I really need to go out, so I've been incorporating any toy runs into other erands.