hiding treasures, goods do you usually do it?

Mishimaryu

Mishimaryu

Banned
I was reading the Target thread some people trying to hide clearance games for a price drop later. If so what are the successes of it and where do you hide them?

Also not sure if this is confirmed I asked an employee in person if they adjust clearance goods they said its cool as long as it's 14 days is this true?
 
[quote name='Mishimaryu']I was reading the Target thread some people trying to hide clearance games for a price drop later. If so what are the successes of it and where do you hide them?

Also not sure if this is confirmed I asked an employee in person if they adjust clearance goods they said its cool as long as it's 14 days is this true?[/quote]

I read that also, I went to my local K-Mart to hide stuff today, and....all the stuff I was planning to hide sold...4 copys of FFXII in about 3 days.... I think the trick is to hide them as soon as they comeout of the case and into the bargain racks.
 
Aside from around Christmas and a little after that, our local Kmarts don't bring out most games from the case, so you have to hope that no one else is hitting your Kmart before stuff drops to the price you want it for.

I was lucky in times past, but now it seems like someone must be cleaning out the stores here, which is why I wish I was still going to Syracuse area for the auto auction every so often, since I usually found some old stuff in the case at the Kmarts up that way.
 
its true.. my kmart seems to have all the 360 clearance games "hid" inside their cabinet and the stupid workers hate when i ask them to open them up and scan the prices for me..
 
The best is, when you do get them to open the case, they quote the price from the price sticker for you, then act like they're being asked to lug a 150 lb item over to the register when you ask them to SCAN it to price check it.

Of course, FINDING someone to even try to open the case is another story altogether, but I think we all know about that already too.

Speaking of treasures, I wonder what the lowest price the old gen Target games which just went on clearance on the 3rd will go to before they're salvaged. They were all marked $13.98 at my store, with only one copy of each in many cases. I'll have to scan one of the ones with multiple copies next time I go in to see if they've dropped.

$5 is my 'target' price for them.
 
That's why I've liked that they have so many clearance games out on the open shelves anymore at Target, though they're also a juicy target for shoplifters and can easily be picked up by normal shoppers then. And unfortunately, normal shoppers think $30 is a 'good deal', while most of us are waiting for games to hit $15 or UNDER each.
 
just dont get caught.. its practically stealing. ive never done this before and sometimes i wish i did cause i could have save alot of money on certain games.
 
how is it stealing?.. its not getting removed from the store?.. if they catch you all they could say is "give that to me so I can put it back where it properly goes."..

while i've never hid anything.. i seem to have better luck at the portable games at my kmart then i do others.. yeah normal people think "30.00" is a good deal but i've seen some games slip through the cracks.
 
I saw that topic and thought this was about hollowing out books and burying things in the yard, secret passageways, invisible ink maps, and stuff.

Lame.
 
[quote name='phear3d']just dont get caught.. its practically stealing. ive never done this before and sometimes i wish i did cause i could have save alot of money on certain games.[/quote]

so...when I pick up the alternative to something I want at a store and then happen upon the item I really wanted on an end cap and put the alternative randomly on a close by shelf, that's stealing?

I've stolen a LOT of shit but have nothing to show for it....
 
I don't hide stuff, the stores are so organized anyway so they would find the games.

You guys think you have a bad K-Mart? My K-Mart recently moved the entire game display (glass cases and all) behind the register. Here's the problem with that, besides not being able to see what they have, all the games are mixed up so if you ask if they have a certain game, they look at the front titles and that's it. They don't want to be bothered searching through all the games since it's all mixed up on the chance they have the 1 game you want.
 
[quote name='urzishra14']how is it stealing?.. its not getting removed from the store?.. if they catch you all they could say is "give that to me so I can put it back where it properly goes."..
[/quote]

[quote name='Malik112099']so...when I pick up the alternative to something I want at a store and then happen upon the item I really wanted on an end cap and put the alternative randomly on a close by shelf, that's stealing?

I've stolen a LOT of shit but have nothing to show for it....[/quote]
if youre hiding it for the purpose of letting it sit for it to go down further, then yes it would be considered stealing. youre cheating the system, how is that not stealing? i worked retail for 4 years and our loss prevention dept. lets us know the signs of people that are stealing, this is one of them. if you own a store and people started doing this at your store, wouldn't you be pissed off?

it also screws up their inventory. say they have 20 crackdown for 360 and the inventory shows that they only have 19, then that counts as a LOSS. whats that saying, "dont do the crime if you cant do the time".

this thread should be closed.
 
[quote name='phear3d']just dont get caught.. its practically stealing. ive never done this before and sometimes i wish i did cause i could have save alot of money on certain games.[/quote]

pratically stealing whats wrong with you, theres absolutley no law against moving merchandise in a store.
 
[quote name='miktau']pratically stealing whats wrong with you, theres absolutley no law against moving merchandise in a store.[/quote]
moving it for the purpose of letting go down further? yeah i think that would raise some eyebrows.

heres a scenario: say youre at best buy, and you see GAME X at retail. go tell the LP that youre going to be hiding it inside one of the dyers they sell so when it goes on sale, youre guaranteed one. see how they react to it.
 
[quote name='YoshiFan1']I don't hide stuff, the stores are so organized anyway so they would find the games.

You guys think you have a bad K-Mart? My K-Mart recently moved the entire game display (glass cases and all) behind the register. Here's the problem with that, besides not being able to see what they have, all the games are mixed up so if you ask if they have a certain game, they look at the front titles and that's it. They don't want to be bothered searching through all the games since it's all mixed up on the chance they have the 1 game you want.[/QUOTE]

which means that you should ask for the manager and you want to clean house everything they have in there.. if ts like that then you should probably be able to spot many good titles in there on the cheap.
 
I tell the electronics guy to hide shit for me all the time, phear3d.

I guess his manager must think hes stealing and that whole store is full of crooked people. :( Guess I should stop going there. :(
 
:lol: it's not stealing.


if youre hiding it for the purpose of letting it sit for it to go down further, then yes it would be considered stealing. youre cheating the system, how is that not stealing?
Click to expand...

Because stealing means taking the item and walking out of the store with it without paying for it :dunce:

i worked retail for 4 years and our loss prevention dept. lets us know the signs of people that are stealing, this is one of them. if you own a store and people started doing this at your store, wouldn't you be pissed off?
Click to expand...

wat? I think you misunderstood something...

it also screws up their inventory. say they have 20 crackdown for 360 and the inventory shows that they only have 19, then that counts as a LOSS. whats that saying
Click to expand...

tough shit, nobody needs to be familiar with or sympathetic to the way a store does its inventory.
 
I work in assets protection at target and believe me we've got much more important things to worry about than people hiding stuff. Sure its an annoyance but compared to the other stuff we deal with its not even a blip on the radar. Don't be so melodramatic phear3d.
 
[quote name='phear3d']it also screws up their inventory.[/quote]

stores like walmart have an automatic inventory system which keeps track of whats on hand and orders it when it needs it automatically based on how many are selling/sold


so if I have a friend over and he/she is looking through my video game collection and then puts one back out of place and I can't immediately find it, they stole it, right?
 
fuck, you people will say absolutely anything to justify your unethical behavior. just because you're not running out the door with security on your tail doesn't mean it's not stealing.

because you hid that game, the store COULD have sold it for $50. once you find out that the price has dropped to $10, then you go and buy it. the store has lost $40.

also, it DOES screw up their inventory even if it's automatic. you think they scan games as people are stealing them out the door? come on, use your head. if the store's system says they should have 20 copies but they can only FIND 19, they assume that last one has been stolen.
 
In all honesty, he has a point. This does hurt business. Whether you care or not, that's your business, but this thread really is full of justifications for unethical behavior. What's really annoying is that it's all right to justify hiding games, so that others can't buy them, but people will get blasted on these forums for flipping things for profit on eBay or something.
 
[quote name='Malik112099']



so if I have a friend over and he/she is looking through my video game collection and then puts one back out of place and I can't immediately find it, they stole it, right?[/QUOTE]

if you were planning on selling that game for $100 and once you finally find it, the game is worth only $10, you'd have actually lost money. it might not be STEALING, so what? it's a lose of another type.

so if i pretend to accidentally step on one of your games and break it, that's not stealing either right? since i only broke it and destroyed its value? i'm not stealing anything.

stop trying to skirt yourselves on a technicality. the "tough shit i don't care about their store" responses don't justify it either. just because it's not stealing doesn't mean it's not wrong
 
[quote name='iamthekiller']also, it DOES screw up their inventory even if it's automatic. you think they scan games as people are stealing them out the door? come on, use your head. if the store's system says they should have 20 copies but they can only FIND 19, they assume that last one has been stolen.[/quote]


it DOESNT screw up their system...no one goes around and counts the product every night...most stores on an annual (or whatever) basis have a company come in and count their stock and then once the full stock count is done they reset the computers to reflect that actual stock count.
 
Our kmart REMOVED ALL THE PRICE SCANNERS FROM THE STORE, now I have to make a habit of asking an employee to go to a register just to price check items so when I get to the front lines that have 20 people in each line I don't get stuck waiting in that...

I am going to purposely bring a whole cart of clearance tagged merchandise up to a register one day and make the clerk check all of it (of course I wouldn't do this unless I really intended on buying some of the stuff), then I will take my time deciding whether or not I want each item... to prove how stupid a move removing the price scanners was from the store. Of course this is how I normally shop in kmart but apparently price scanners for the customers are now evil so the employees will have to do more work,and I am willing to stand in front of a scanner and scan all my own merchandise, but they don't allow that anymore.

I think I will start shopping at target more now, as much as I hate all retail stores, at least target and walmart have price scanners, a reasonable amount of cashiers (not 2 on a sunday at peak time), and a reasonable inventory system so that cashiers don't have to call a manager for a 20 cent price change.

If you hide an item more than once or twice in a store, they probably have you logged as a suspicious shopper, and that could be bad.
 
[quote name='Malik112099']it DOESNT screw up their system...no one goes around and counts the product every night...most stores on an annual (or whatever) basis have a company come in and count their stock and then once the full stock count is done they reset the computers to reflect that actual stock count.[/quote]


And the amount missing is counted as shrinkage. IE: lost or stolen merchandise. Some retail chains ban individuals from their stores if they are found hiding items. It is not against the law, but a store can refuse service.
 
wait...since some stores put their glass cases of games behind the register and the games are poorly organized so you can't see the game you are looking for or search for it, are they now stealing from themselves!??!
 
[quote name='Malik112099']wait...since some stores put their glass cases of games behind the register and the games are poorly organized so you can't see the game you are looking for or search for it, are they now stealing from themselves!??![/quote]

You're trying to make a straw man argument here. You're distorting what others are saying. What a business may or may not to do that hurts their own business is their own fault. It does not justify what others may do to hurt their business.

The reality is, hiding games from other customers, waiting for a price drop, hurts their business. It doesn't matter if they might do this to themselves with a poorly organized display or case.
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']The reality is, hiding games from other customers, waiting for a price drop, hurts their business. It doesn't matter if they might do this to themselves with a poorly organized display or case.[/quote]

I agree with that 100%. My arguement is that it is NOT stealing in any way shape or form (but it is kinda messed up to do it). If the store is that worried about the sale of merchandise before a price drop then they should hire more people to properly face the store and put items back when they are found out of place. I know for a fact that some stores have people walk around with a bsket and grab whatever is out of place while facing and then return said items to their proper places.
 
I don't think this needs to turn into a semantical debate. Those are useless. It isn't stealing. It's dishonest, though, and that's enough to discourage it.
 
[quote name='phear3d']moving it for the purpose of letting go down further? yeah i think that would raise some eyebrows.

heres a scenario: say youre at best buy, and you see GAME X at retail. go tell the LP that youre going to be hiding it inside one of the dyers they sell so when it goes on sale, youre guaranteed one. see how they react to it.[/quote]

My store's employees hide the items themselves, I saw one of them scaning all the games on clearance and then putting some of them in a box, im sure that it's the box that is under the counter...why would it be there unless he is waiting on them to drop further? He already told me that he knows that the lady that marks clearance only marks them so far down, and he can get lower prices with the hand scanner.
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']I don't think this needs to turn into a semantical debate. Those are useless. It isn't stealing. It's dishonest, though, and that's enough to discourage it.[/QUOTE]


This isn't a debate over semantics. Those usually involve ambiguous words. Stealing has a pretty clear definition.

but thanks for reiterating what I said.
 
[quote name='Malik112099']
so if I have a friend over and he/she is looking through my video game collection and then puts one back out of place and I can't immediately find it, they stole it, right?[/quote]
if its mistakenly out of place, then its just a typical lazy customer who doesn't want to put it back. you keep saying the same thing. its out of place but its not on purpose, that wouldnt be stealing, is that what you wanted me to tell you? should i spell it?

[quote name='RedvsBlue']I work in assets protection at target and believe me we've got much more important things to worry about than people hiding stuff. Sure its an annoyance but compared to the other stuff we deal with its not even a blip on the radar. Don't be so melodramatic phear3d.[/quote]
im sure part of targets job is to keep an eye on it. if one person does it, i guess it wouldnt count as a big loss. but if alot of people do, im pretty sure you could count it as one. but petty theft isnt as big for alot of companies. but since they can get away with it, they eventually move on to bigger and better things.

[quote name='Apossum']it has come to this:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Stealing

hiding items-- sketchy? yes. but the act has no base in the definition of the word stealing.

You can't just redefine words as you please :lol:[/quote]
are you proud of yourself by clarifying that? dishonesty of people leads to many different things. go ahead and search that one on teh internets... i assume you've never worked retail and you don't plan to? good for you.. and also i assume you hide stuff to just to save a few bucks?
 
[quote name='phear3d']if its mistakenly out of place, then its just a typical lazy customer who doesn't want to put it back. you keep saying the same thing. its out of place but its not on purpose, that wouldnt be stealing, is that what you wanted me to tell you? should i spell it?[/quote]

IMO It is dishonest to hide items, but if there are 5 copys of a certain game, hiding one or two for future clearance isn't wrong, If you were to take the last persona 3 and put it behind the excecise DVD's that would be wrong.
 
[quote name='Apossum']This isn't a debate over semantics. Those usually involve ambiguous words. Stealing has a pretty clear definition.

but thanks for reiterating what I said.[/quote]


Well, a semantical debate can be over any kind of word or phrase, clear or ambiguous. To play devil's advocate, the argument that was trying to be made is that hiding the game, in a roundabout way, is stealing, because you're basically taking money away from the store. Instead of selling it for the full price or the reduced price, you're hiding it, so you can buy it at a dramatically reduced price. (By the way, now, we're having a semantical debate about semantic debates! :) )

Again, I don't necessarily agree that it's stealing. I really don't care what we call it. In the end, it's wrong.
 
Right or wrong, I don't do it and dont give a shit if anyone else does because whenever I'm looking for something specific in a store I check EVERYWHERE and if I can't find it I have someone check the stock and if it is in stock I look till i find it
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']Well, a semantical debate can be over any kind of word or phrase, clear or ambiguous. To play devil's advocate, the argument that was trying to be made is that hiding the game, in a roundabout way, is stealing, because you're basically taking money away from the store. Instead of selling it for the full price or the reduced price, you're hiding it, so you can buy it at a dramatically reduced price. (By the way, now, we're having a semantical debate about semantic debates! :) )

Again, I don't necessarily agree that it's stealing. I really don't care what we call it. In the end, it's wrong.[/quote]
thank you.

to Sinnbox: i would be upset if that persona 3 is or was the same persona 3 i saw from the same store you hid it from. then ill come on cag like many others and complain that some fvck took the one from my store. then out comes another discussion on whether or not hiding items is considered stealing/being dishonest/or just plain wrong.

the purpose of this website is to report great finds and discuss pretty much everything else thats related to video gaming. if people do these on a daily basis or per visit to said stores, then i feel bad for them because they're being dishonest. if you cant afford it, dont buy it. but just because you do it doesn't mean you have to prove someone wrong because you got away with it. this behavior shouldn't be considered on cag.

and by all means, im not offended by this. who the fuck cares if you get arrested? not me.. all i did was base my opinion on what ive witness through the years of being in hell called retail.
 
I suspect we will start seeing "hiding things in the store is a crime" under the "shoplifting is a crime" signs. It really would be nice if these stores posted a policy like this so there would be no debate about it, if you don't want people doing it just post a sign, then if they hid something it would clearly be considered fraud and they could be prosecuted for it. Then there would be no excuse to be uninformed about it either since the policy would be in writing.
 
Theft: wrongfully taking the property of another with the intent to permanently deprive the rightful owner of the use of that property.

Arguably when you are hiding something so that it will go down in value before being bought, you are depriving the store of the item's full value. Legally, you can probably get away with it since the store doesn't "own" a sale at full price. Ethically it seems pretty clear.

Saying that it is ok if there are multiple copies is silly. It may be a lesser wrong but it is still a wrong. Saying that the store should hire more people to put items back is silly, since that raises the store's costs and therefore the prices.
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']Well, a semantical debate can be over any kind of word or phrase, clear or ambiguous. To play devil's advocate, the argument that was trying to be made is that hiding the game, in a roundabout way, is stealing, because you're basically taking money away from the store. Instead of selling it for the full price or the reduced price, you're hiding it, so you can buy it at a dramatically reduced price. (By the way, now, we're having a semantical debate about semantic debates! :) )

Again, I don't necessarily agree that it's stealing. I really don't care what we call it. In the end, it's wrong.[/QUOTE]



No we're not, because I won't dignify it :)
 
[quote name='CheapBastardToo']Theft: wrongfully taking the property of another with the intent to permanently deprive the rightful owner of the use of that property.

Arguably when you are hiding something so that it will go down in value before being bought, you are depriving the store of the item's full value. Legally, you can probably get away with it since the store doesn't "own" a sale at full price. Ethically it seems pretty clear.

Saying that it is ok if there are multiple copies is silly. It may be a lesser wrong but it is still a wrong. Saying that the store should hire more people to put items back is silly, since that raises the store's costs and therefore the prices.[/quote]

I said hiding if there are multiple copys is ok because I know that at my store there can be 4 copys of a game sitting there for 6 months, and teh second it gets clearanced they dissapear. So for me hiding(I havent had teh chance since i have head of it) would be more like reserving myself a copy.
 
My take on it as long as you don't leave the store with the item it's NOT stealing or shoplifting and they can't do anything to you. If they are that concerned with the problem, lock up the games and the problem is solved.
 
It's not stealing, since the item is still in the store and, theoretically, can still be sold.

It is, however, an @$$hole thing to do. Aside from the 'stores want to sell at higher prices' thing, when a store closes at the end of the night, the employees are supposed to go over the whole thing and put back the crap left in the wrong places. And every so often, some high-up guy and loss prevention guy go through the store and check that everything's in order. it goes like this:

-LP and High-Up guy notice inventory problems
-LP and High-Up guy find merchandise in dryers or wherever you hide it
-store gets in toruble for losing money due to bad housekeeping
-employees are now required to stay later at night to check all the dryers for merchandise every day
-grumpy employees don't want to help you anymore because they're trying to keep the store clean enough to get LP off their backs

There's also the other lovely side-effects, like loss of hours due to lost sales and nasty customers who had another store check your inventory and you're supposed to have 1 copy of the game and I-know-it's-in-the-back-but-you're-too-lazy-to-get-it-now-look-again!

Basically, you really shouldn't do it. Just because it's not against the rules doesn't make it a good thing to do.
 
Every time I've tried this tactic, they find what I've stashed, so I don't try it anymore. Yet, I know of MANY people who do it frequently and while wrong, I think it's still preferable than trying to find a copy of a game after it's dropped to a cheap price and is stickered as such.

Others on here have suggested 'removing the red clearance sticker' if you want to keep a game in stock as it drops. However, that falls under the same 'fraud' umbrella as the removing of new UPC stickers from front lane games to get the cheaper price.
 
[quote name='Malik112099']wait...since some stores put their glass cases of games behind the register and the games are poorly organized so you can't see the game you are looking for or search for it, are they now stealing from themselves!??![/QUOTE]

dude...............that was fucking awesome. cheers
 
[quote name='paz9x']dude...............that was fucking awesome. cheers[/quote]

no, in that case it's the store's fault that they are losing out on sales. all the same, you can't possibly think that it's a consumer's inalienable right to be able to fuck with store inventory in order to cheat the system and get a better price.

it's sort of like...if i take a knife and cut off somebody's arm, uh, yeah that's pretty wrong and i'll go to jail. if they cut off their own arm, it's not jail-worthy (although mental institution-worthy). that doesn't justify the first crime. oh man, sorry my explanation sucked so much balls, it's late, and i'm grumpy i don't have smash yet.
 
I'm guilty of hiding one clearance game...but my Target is one of those places where everything gets lapped up in a second. It's been out of Folklore and Sigma for over two months.

And I just don't shop at Kmart...:D
 
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