Reduced Price Game Guides: Thread Seven

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Pokemon Rangers is penny too.
Crackdown (5 copies left)
Sonic & Secret Rings (4-6 copies left)
Double Agen (3-4 copies left)
RBS: Vegas (2-3 copies left)
Rogue Galaxy (2 copies left)

Checkout local BB (Independence, MO) tons of penny guides left.
 
[quote name='Masterkyo']Pokemon Rangers is penny too.

Checkout local BB (Independence, MO) tons of penny guides left.[/quote]

That's an old drop, unless you're talking about the non-Nintendo guide (Prima?).
 
Only one I was looking for is Crackdown....

Found and bought for a penny:

Rainbow 6: Vegas
Yoshi's Island
Dead Rising
Bully

Willing to trade these....have many more for trade if anyone is willing to part with Crackdown...
 
I checked another store and found nothing. I decided to stash a couple of potentials. As soon as I did I heard a page over the PA system and it sounded like they were calling someone to the security point. I decided that was probably a good time for me to leave. You'll never take me alive, Best Buy!!!:twisted:
 
Well, I went to four - count'em - four different Bestbuys today and not a single thing at any of them. So frusterating. The comments seem to bear this out, but it seems to me that the days of the penny guide are pretty much over unless we can ever be notified before the day of.
 
[quote name='neocisco']I checked another store and found nothing. I decided to stash a couple of potentials. As soon as I did I heard a page over the PA system and it sounded like they were calling someone to the security point. I decided that was probably a good time for me to leave. You'll never take me alive, Best Buy!!!:twisted:[/quote]I'd come bail you out from jail, neocisco. :rofl:
 
Why is stashing or hiding considered OK on these forums? Why do people giggle at it and passively approve? It's wrong, it screws up store inventories, it creates more work for employees having to look for hidden merchandise and restock it, and its a fraudulent means of artificially lowering retailer prices. What you're doing is preventing a sale to another customer who may want to purchase the item, and taking money away from the retailer.

And I know all the "veterans" are ready to pounce now with "we've been here forever" "we know what we're doing" and "shut up noob"...but ask yourselves this: Why doesnt every single consumer adopt these tactics? Why can't I go around and hide every single item I want to buy? We can all drive around rearranging retailer inventory, putting hand soap in automotive, diapers behind the Star Wars figures, on and on until chaos ensues and the retailers all go under. But that would be ridiculous, of course. So why do certain people feel they have special privileges to do this?
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow']Why is stashing or hiding considered OK on these forums? Why do people giggle at it and passively approve? It's wrong, it screws up store inventories, it creates more work for employees having to look for hidden merchandise and restock it, and its a fraudulent means of artificially lowering retailer prices. What you're doing is preventing a sale to another customer who may want to purchase the item, and taking money away from the retailer.

And I know all the "veterans" are ready to pounce now with "we've been here forever" "we know what we're doing" and "shut up noob"...but ask yourselves this: Why doesnt every single consumer adopt these tactics? Why can't I go around and hide every single item I want to buy? We can all drive around rearranging retailer inventory, putting hand soap in automotive, diapers behind the Star Wars figures, on and on until chaos ensues and the retailers all go under. But that would be ridiculous, of course. So why do certain people feel they have special privileges to do this?[/QUOTE]

Because we're Devil Customers. That's just how we roll.
 
Because we typically only do it when we know a guide is going to drop.

The guides are going to be destroyed so who cares if its hidden, its not like they were planning to sell it.
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow'][rant]Blarg.[/rant][/quote] [quote name='ozzymandd']Because we're Devil Customers. That's just how we roll.[/quote] I see it as saving the guides from the clutches of death. I give them hope in a world that all too often ends in the dumpster of despair. I will not stand idly by while innocent guides perish! I will not and cannot!

I am a freedom fighter. That's just how I roll.
 
[quote name='Brian9824']Because we typically only do it when we know a guide is going to drop.

The guides are going to be destroyed so who cares if its hidden, its not like they were planning to sell it.[/quote]
No, they don't have a plan of selling it, but I do love the ways of the penny guide, and I talked to my manager once saying the same line of "why, they're just ending up as garbage anyway" And he told me that yes, but the publisher still credits us back with money for how many we can prove we disposed of. Even if we are only credited back 2 cents for every guide we trash, its better than the one cent we get if you go out there and buy it off the shelf. So I came back with a "well, can't we say we're tossing it and just give the guides away?" And he responded with a "Do you want us to both lose our jobs". Penny guides are good for us, and I'm all for it, but every time penny guides are sold, someone out there is getting yelled at.
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow']Why is stashing or hiding considered OK on these forums? [/quote]

But...we've been here forever!... we know what we're doing. ;)

Every single customer doesn't adopt these because we're Cheap Ass Gamers, we believe paying retail is wrong, with few exceptions. We definitely intend to buy these stashed guides, but it's a matter of time in watching the execution of our strategy unfold. Otherwise, many of us have caught wind of the guides we intend to claim be thrown into a dumpster.

Plus some employees undoubtedly enjoy playing cat and mouse. What employee wouldn't be pleasantly surprised in opening a new oven for the lost appliance shopper at Best Buy and discovering three video game guides inside?
 
[quote name='vahn401']No, they don't have a plan of selling it, but I do love the ways of the penny guide, and I talked to my manager once saying the same line of "why, they're just ending up as garbage anyway" And he told me that yes, but the publisher still credits us back with money for how many we can prove we disposed of. Even if we are only credited back 2 cents for every guide we trash, its better than the one cent we get if you go out there and buy it off the shelf. So I came back with a "well, can't we say we're tossing it and just give the guides away?" And he responded with a "Do you want us to both lose our jobs". Penny guides are good for us, and I'm all for it, but every time penny guides are sold, someone out there is getting yelled at.[/quote]

If they were actually being sent back to the publisher instead of being tossed in the garbage i wouldnt get as mad at stores as I do. Most penny guide veterans don't have a problem with not being sold a penny guide for a legitimate reason.

It's the stores that just throw em outback or try to sell em at full price that get me.
 
[quote name='vahn401']Penny guides are good for us, and I'm all for it, but every time penny guides are sold, someone out there is getting yelled at.[/quote]

We only hope it's not you who's feeling the wrath of BB Corporate!:D
 
[quote name='shieryda']We only hope it's not you who's feeling the wrath of BB Corporate!:D[/quote]

No, I'm not feeling any wrath, and I'd like to keep it that way :) So one of the things I don't do is take guides from my store, because if I were to get caught doing that, I would probably lose my job. So I have to hit all the other stores in the area, and act incognito to get my guides. Sometimes this really helps me, but other times I'm to late and can never find some of the guides. I'm actually going to be heading out today to a place I usually do lucky with and try finding my mini haul of guides. Wish me luck.
 
[quote name='vahn401']No, I'm not feeling any wrath, and I'd like to keep it that way :) So one of the things I don't do is take guides from my store, because if I were to get caught doing that, I would probably lose my job. So I have to hit all the other stores in the area, and act incognito to get my guides. Sometimes this really helps me, but other times I'm to late and can never find some of the guides. I'm actually going to be heading out today to a place I usually do lucky with and try finding my mini haul of guides. Wish me luck.[/quote]

Good Luck Brother Vahn!!!!!! BTW, i zeroed out at ALL BB in my area, maybe it is the end of penny guides!!!!
 
OK, with the penny guides that are going to be destroyed, there's not much of a loss involved. But I have read a number of times people bragging about stashing games. Waiting something out for a price drop is one thing; I totally agree with the basic cheap ass philosophy. I just personally draw the line at hiding. And I wont bring it up again, promise.
 
[quote name='Caliburn']
Plus some employees undoubtedly enjoy playing cat and mouse. What employee wouldn't be pleasantly surprised in opening a new oven for the lost appliance shopper at Best Buy and discovering three video game guides inside?[/quote]

:lol: !

Too bad they dont carry certain plumbing fixtures...
 
Blah, that pokedex was pennied? Weak, there was one at my BB and I didn't know.

Zero chance it'll be there next Wednesday, but I'll be there anyway to get Mario Party so I may as well check. I'll also probably clean out the Pokemon Ranger and Yoshi's Island guides and get a few Splinter Cell if they're there.
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow']Why is stashing or hiding considered OK on these forums? Why do people giggle at it and passively approve? It's wrong, it screws up store inventories....[/quote]

Hiding in plain sight day before known penny drop = debatably OK
Hiding behind a shelf just b/c you think the guide may eventually drop two months from now(looking at you IATCG ;)) = probably wrong.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']I'd come bail you out from jail, neocisco. :rofl:[/quote]

I'll give you the # of a local bail bondsman.:lol:

[quote name='Pookymeister']Hiding in plain sight day before known penny drop = debatably OK
Hiding behind a shelf just b/c you think the guide may eventually drop two months from now(looking at you IATCG ;)) = probably wrong.[/quote]

Don't forget in appliances. That's the .01 guide thread equivalent of glitter and magazine racks.
 
the winston salem bestbuy still has about 6 splinter cell double ageants left as of 2pm, look around the computer games whole stack is there, on a side note have 2 guides for ghost recon jungle for 4.99 really surprise are not a penny
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow']Why is stashing or hiding considered OK on these forums? Why do people giggle at it and passively approve? It's wrong, it screws up store inventories, it creates more work for employees having to look for hidden merchandise and restock it, and its a fraudulent means of artificially lowering retailer prices. What you're doing is preventing a sale to another customer who may want to purchase the item, and taking money away from the retailer.

And I know all the "veterans" are ready to pounce now with "we've been here forever" "we know what we're doing" and "shut up noob"...but ask yourselves this: Why doesnt every single consumer adopt these tactics? Why can't I go around and hide every single item I want to buy? We can all drive around rearranging retailer inventory, putting hand soap in automotive, diapers behind the Star Wars figures, on and on until chaos ensues and the retailers all go under. But that would be ridiculous, of course. So why do certain people feel they have special privileges to do this?[/quote]

Actually I don't tend to hide games, though if I knew certain games were gonna be on the clearance list A LONG TIME before they were clearanced, I would've probably stashed them behind other games from the same system. While it may screw up their inventory, I would NOT be hiding them in appliances or as I did try with another copy of Oblivion's guide BEHIND a shelf, so I wouldn't feel so bad about it.

Ahhhhh hell, who am I kidding, I don't really care if their inventory is screwed up. But, actually, the only retailers I'd ever want to go out of biz are(in this order) Wal*Mart, Gamestop and Circuit City. But, the chances of ANY of those companies going under is as likely as the gaming devil conglomerate succubus known as Electronic Arts going under.

Oh and Pooky :roll: and :booty: and I hope you enjoy the guides we traded recently. :p
 
[quote name='donut']May I trouble someone for the BB SKU number for the Pokedex Limited guide?
Thank you in advance![/quote]

978076155377952499 ISBN 0-7615-5377-0
 
[quote name='IbiteHRD']978076155377952499 ISBN 0-7615-5377-0[/quote]
Thanks but I was hoping for the BB SKU number.
Will be on the price sticker....

The numbers given above are not searchable....
 
After reading all the posts about BB with the penny guides it makes me wonder why one of the BB I go to does it this way. The one BB in my area actually puts them on a table with a BB price label by it with a price of one penny. So if this is a company wide rule that all guides that are a penny need to be pulled and trashed why would they do it this way here.

I picked up the following guides

Madden nfl 07
Rainbow Six Vegas
Def Jam Icon
Sonic the secret rings
Splinter Cell DA

And to be fair I picked up a frontlane game Hard Rock Casino PSP for 9.99.

When I checked out the cashier even turned to another cashier and said look at all he got for $10.71 with tax.
 
^^^Different store managers with different district managers that have different views of the rules and how strict they should be with company policy. At least that's my take on it...
 
[quote name='donut']Thanks but I was hoping for the BB SKU number.
Will be on the price sticker....

The numbers given above are not searchable....[/quote]

sorry, mine did not have a sticker
 
[quote name='mgmp']After reading all the posts about BB with the penny guides it makes me wonder why one of the BB I go to does it this way. The one BB in my area actually puts them on a table with a BB price label by it with a price of one penny. So if this is a company wide rule that all guides that are a penny need to be pulled and trashed why would they do it this way here.

I picked up the following guides

Madden nfl 07
Rainbow Six Vegas
Def Jam Icon
Sonic the secret rings
Splinter Cell DA

And to be fair I picked up a frontlane game Hard Rock Casino PSP for 9.99.

When I checked out the cashier even turned to another cashier and said look at all he got for $10.71 with tax.[/quote]I am pretty sure they do it that way to make us jealous. I know I am :p
 
[quote name='mgmp']After reading all the posts about BB with the penny guides it makes me wonder why one of the BB I go to does it this way. The one BB in my area actually puts them on a table with a BB price label by it with a price of one penny. So if this is a company wide rule that all guides that are a penny need to be pulled and trashed why would they do it this way here.

I[/quote]

Actually it's more a publisher's rule than anything. A lot of theories have floated as to their reason for wanting their guides destroyed rather than clearanced. The most logical one I can assume is they just dont want their product devalued to the point where people expect to buy it at a low cost and hold out for the clearance. I dont agree witht the philosophy, but I reckon they know their business.

Then again, it seems like a way of getting out of doing actual marketing research to learn how many guides people are likely to buy before publishing. Cranking them out based on wild ass guesses, then tossing whatever you don't sell is kind of a wasteful way of going about it.

I kind of worry Double Jump is going the way of Versus Books: they make really nice guides but just dont market them well. And they're getting Prima to distribute their latest guides. And people are getting used to buying Double Jump guides for $5-$10...uh oh. Enjoy them while they last...
 
If I were a guide distributer, I would sell guides for a limited time (as it is now), then have them sent back to me, and only available online at crazy-ass prices. That would make many people buy guides on release date, or within the few months they are out, instead of the way it is now: hardly any sell, and then they get destroyed. Maybe distros already do what I suggested but just have so many they don't need to ship back the extras... hmm. Actually, that does make more sense.
 
Plus you're talking about a lot of labor to repack the guides, ship them back, re-inventory them, and sell them individually at reduced rates. Probably a break-even proposition at best.
 
I'm pretty sure most BB's don't sticker .01 on guides (not all! some do...) because it would interfere with their profit and the value of in-store inventory. They'd rather have them destroyed.

That's also the reason why these guides are not inversely priced - @ $9,999 dollars. That would also screw with inventory values. .01 is fine as long as they're not sold. Odd amounts like .01 might cause some head-scratching when corporate's accountants figure out each store's P&L monthly/quarterly - though I'm positive they know the root of such .01 sales by now.
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow']
I kind of worry Double Jump is going the way of Versus Books: they make really nice guides but just dont market them well. And they're getting Prima to distribute their latest guides. And people are getting used to buying Double Jump guides for $5-$10...uh oh. Enjoy them while they last...[/QUOTE]

DoubleJump doesn't need to market their books to anyone - the people who are interested in NIS and Atlus games know who DoubleJump are, know they make quality books, and almost everyone I know who buys an NIS / Atlus game always grabs the attached DoubleJump book. The games they make guides for aren't made for Joe Q Average anyways, for the most part.

DoubleJump also publishes and prints a magazine, which seems to be doing ok for them, as well as other side projects like online guides for NIS.

They aren't going anywhere, any time soon.

Double Jump is also very picky about what guides they do, so they aren't like Prima that make a guide for every game under the sun - the guides they do make generally sell pretty damn well, and they seem to have a close relationship with Atlus and NIS.

I'm pretty sure the only reason Prima distributed Rogue Galaxy is because Prima had gotten the rights to do it, but let DoubleJump author the book. IIRC, DoubleJump is making and publishing the Persona 3 guide coming out soon, because they are going back to the digest size which is their trademark, and Prima doesn't make guides like that (as evidenced by the RG guide). Prima and DJ have a good relationship, when I read DJ's magazine Prima often got a section in there about game strategy.

The only problem I have with guides is that they are too damn expensive... you think when the internet got really huge, and everyone is exchanging their own free guides and tips, print guides would become cheaper to combat that, but instead they got MORE expensive. I'm all for Best Buy dropping guides down to $9.99... used their coupon to get Rogue Galaxy for $5 today. Would have paid full price probably if it didn't drop.
 
[quote name='donut']Thanks but I was hoping for the BB SKU number.
Will be on the price sticker....

The numbers given above are not searchable....[/quote]
Found a few Pokedexs today.
BB SKU is 7963778
I called a store 30 minutes away and took a chance. Nice gal answered in Media and told me at first, no such guide in the inventory. I asked if perhaps they had been pulled for reduction...waited about 5 minutes on hold...she found them in the back staged to "go back to the warehouse...or something..." she then put them up in customer service with my name on them...picked them up with a $10.99 complete book one Avatar...:bouncy:
 
[quote name='sixersballernum3']I've seen a few older guides with a $0.01 sticker on them. But any newer drops are all full price marked.[/QUOTE]

I think when this happens, it is usually a new media employee who thinks it is just a standard price drop and goes ahead and slaps them all with stickers.

It very randomly happens around here, usually around Christmas with the seasonal help.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']I think when this happens, it is usually a new media employee who thinks it is just a standard price drop and goes ahead and slaps them all with stickers.

It very randomly happens around here, usually around Christmas with the seasonal help.[/quote]The more of those we have in service, the better. :D
 
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