Target toy reset

[Eternia]

I know a lot of you are having luck with employees pulling from the back. Today I had the unfortunate experience of having every employee tell me 'no'. Apparently they can get sued for pulling things from the back early. So I don't know how so many of you are so lucky!
I also learned that while the reset date is the 29th, the reset workers never work on sunday and it won't be done. 
I asked if I could have the items set aside for me for that date. no.
I asked if I could have the items pulled for me on that date if they weren't put out. no.
After debating with them that if the item has a date on it, I should be able to get the item on that date, from the floor or backroom. They radio'ed I guess the store manager who finally said it was ok to do it that way. But I'm betting they will still give me issues on sunday. So mad right now!

[Yurusumaji]

That sucks. I keep checking my stores, but our product isn't out yet either. Haven't asked any employees about holds/early pulls.

I hope all goes smoothly on the 29th and they don't give you any guff about getting your items!

[STLGusty]

Eek!  You poor thing.  At least you have the guts to ask... I don't talk to them for fear of the dreaded "no" lol.

[Rion]

The whole getting sued thing is a load of hooey.

They just say that so they can avoid going out of their way to grab something from the back.

[Rhini]

The whole getting sued thing is a load of hooey.

They just say that so they can avoid going out of their way to grab something from the back.

That's actually not true, I've had friends who got in major trouble for accidentally giving something to a customer before it's release date. The company sued Target, and the employee was punished and in some cases they get fired. Most companies don't care, but if it's a long awaited mystery exclusive or something and it gets leaked, they get angry.

With Hasbro I don't think it's a huge deal and several people have found stuff on the shelves already. Hasbro doesn't generally make a stink like say Mattel does.

Eek!  You poor thing.  At least you have the guts to ask... I don't talk to them for fear of the dreaded "no" lol.

They're already at the point with me where it's like you again! We already said no!

[rainbowstars]

You could always call the day of and try again.  I know I wanted them to hold some stuff at target for me once and they said they don't do that, but one day when I wanted a DVD, I called to see if it was there and there was, it was the last one, and the woman I spoke to was kind and said she's hold it for me as long as I was coming right away.  It's worth a try. 

[Eternia]

I told them I had been doing this for years and they were shocked "you've had product pulled from the back before it was on the shelves?! IMPOSSIBLE!" for realz though, I can remember collecting G3s and running to target with the DCPI numbers and having boatloads of ponies pulled for me. I also had the canterlot items pulled early for me (different target though)
As I was leaving I heard some of the employees gossiping about me....they abruptly stopped talking as I walked by. go ahead fools. go ahead, I ain't got no shame.

[Rhini]

Pffttt! Don't let them tell you that! I just had them pull 3 things this week alone give me a break lol. There's 3 kinds of merch in back as I understand it.

1) Hard release date. It cannot be sold earlier, this date and forward only. Unfortunately most of the crystal empire is hard release, set to go out on july 29th. Anythnig put out earlier was a mistake on the sotre's part.
2) Soft release. You should probably put it out around x date, but it doesn't really matter. These they should let you have.
3) No release date. Just take it! We don't care!


Haters will be hatin! Don't pay them no mind! 

[ShortyBoo]

I always have the best luck asking guys (female employees will never help me with getting something from the back, they'll just say they're not allowed) and it helps to do it early, like I normally go on a Sunday morning, just after they open. At that time they're not busy and the employees tend to be all out stocking or straightening shelves. I also never ask anyone in the toy section. Like when I got the plushies and the mini character 3-packs, I asked a guy in the back to school section.

[Eternia]

The first person I asked was male. He was not very nice.
I know all about street dates- I'm a book store manager and books have set hard release dates. However, our product is never kept in the back long. We receive it at the store the day before, and set it out immediately the next day (the street date)
They just said the 29th is the 'set date' so no idea if it's actually a street date, or just a "hey put this stuff out when you re-do the toys on this day" also, where I work at least, if for whatever reason the product hasn't been put on the floor on the release date and a customer asks for it, I will go and pull it! Not wait for it all to be put out.
I really don't understand why they would give me an issue about having it pulled the 29th if that's the set date. :/

[ShortyBoo]

Most of the guys at the Target near me are really nice. I've never had one say no when I asked about getting an item from the back. I usually just go up to them and say something like "hi, I'm looking for a particular item I couldn't find on the shelf, but I have the DCPI number for it, so could you help me find it?" Then I hand them a piece of paper with the DCPI numbers for the items I'm looking for, they look them up, say they're in the back (I always check online first so I've never had a case where it wasn't in the back) then they usually just say they'll be right back and a few minutes later will come out with what I asked for.

I always write out the DCPI numbers for the items on a piece of paper, but also a pretty decent description of what the item is, how many I want, and if it's an assortment like with the plush or with the mini figure sets, I'll write specifically what I want. So like with the mini figure sets, I wrote the names on the three sets and for the plushies, I wrote I wanted 2 pink, 1 purple and 1 blue. That way they can take the paper in the back with them and it makes things easier. So maybe that's why I get help.

[Rhini]

I personally always make them bring me the case so I can hand pick my items, but it is a good idea to have a piece of paper for them to take, otherwise they have to print one out and it's kind of a bother.

[Shenanigans]

I didn't know we could ask them to pull stuff, awesome Not so awesome in your case though! Seems they're a bit rude about it, gossiping about you. I would be too afraid to ask though for fear they'd look at me stupidly and say so

[Aurora]

Hi! I'm a Target employee, and I'm not a meanie!

A few years ago we had a big ballyhoo with the Hot Wheels guys- one of them whined that another one was getting there first, asking people to pull from the back, etc. I guess the "first come, first served" policy was too complicated for them, so they whined and our manager told us "no more pulling from the back." So it's possible they've had bad experiences with customers asking for things to be pulled, like we did.

We've given up on that policy, because it's usually me who is working near toys and I like collectors! I love to chat with them, and they usually listen to me when I chat briefly about my obsession. So I'll go the extra mile for them, because they are nice and they spend money. It's hard to fight that!

The boxes of things that are hard street dated usually have a big orange block on the box that says "DO NOT PUT ON FLOOR BEFORE" or something like that. I haven't gotten to see any of the new pony boxes yet (not for lack of trying, mind you!) but I'm pretty sure they don't have those.

Another reason they might be saying no is that the ponies are palletized- our store does this for new sets. Somewhere in the high up rafters of the back room of the Target, there is a pallet full of the toys that currently are not located on the sales floor. They are not "located," so the magic zappy gun won't be able to find them, but the gun WILL say they are in the store. So they might not be being mean or lazy, it just might honestly be a gigantic pain in the rear end to do what you ask, because they have to pull down the whole pallet, look through it to see what is on there, put the pallet back up, pull down the next one... and this whole time they're being scolded because they have a huge list of tasks they are supposed to be doing, perhaps something like setting an aisle of toys, or setting infants, which needs to be done before toys can be set.

Or they're just meanies. But the cute little Target in Owatonna MN has one fantastic employee who is always willing to help out a collector- even if it is just to tell you that the pallets are in the ceiling and you can give us a call every morning next week to find out if the ponies are set yet.

Our store is actually flexing lots of those things out- the ponies with wedding stuff got put on the shelves today, and I've given the Toy Flexing Girl lessons on what to look for and to find me the second she sees them! Especially that pesky castle! I'm so freakin' excited for a real playset!

[BigBrotherPony]

That sounds very off about the whole legal issue on standard my little ponies.

I work for another toy company and I know there are specific embargo dates on products that are licensed movie items, so that the products do not 'spoil' the surprises of the movie, to early before the movie itself is released. But on standard non-licensed toy items this seems like a load of hooey!


Just sayin:)