Store Employees Poaching Games

[bikingjahuty]

One of the biggest problems I have ran into as a collector of video games, at least for the past year or two, is store employees picking over the rare, valuable and sought after games, mostly at used media stores like GoHastings, Bookmans, Entertainmart, 2nd & Charles and places like that. One such store in my area sells all games older than PS3/360/Wii for only $3 each regardless of title. When this store first opened up I was in heaven, picking up games like Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, .Hack Quarentine, and Ogre Battle 64 for only $3 each. However, for about the past year, this same store has accumulated about six employees that are collectors, resellers or both, and literally snag any game worth over $15 for their own personal agendas before it ever has a chance to make it to the shelves. While this store is the worst, there are several other stores in my area that rarely put anything on the shelf worthwhile because of the employees having the advantage of being able to see new games come in and pick it up right away.

So my question is, what is your opinion of employees doing this, and what is your experience with dealing with this?

I personally think it is very annoying and unfair. As a retail business I believe it is their primary motive to cater to the customers before the employees in terms of the incoming merchandise. If most of the decent merchandise never makes it to the shelf because of grabby employees, it definitely dampers moral for customers to continue shopping at a specific store.

Your thoughts?

[argyle]

I'm torn on the issue.  On the one hand, I agree with you - if you never end up with good merchandise to sell to customers, that's a bad thing.  On the other hand, working retail at places like that sucks so it's a small perk in the grand scheme of things to be able to get first shot at the cool games.  So I'm undecided.

What I CAN say is 100% wrong is employees bragging to the customers about what games they grabbed.  Several years back when Gamestop was still accepting PSOne games in trade I went in a store out of town & found a mint copy of Thousand Arms.  I was pretty happy about it & brought it up to the register.  The guy ringing me up proceeds to tell me that the same guy traded in a copy of Suikoden II, but that he grabbed that one & had it behind the counter for himself.  Why tell me that?  If you're going to do stuff like that, keep it to yourself! 

[MJMaranan]

I agree with argyle's statement, it's definitely a small perk when the employees have to deal with difficult customers.  Although, part of me is torn between wanting to know what the employee scored or if the employee shouldn't say anything at all.

One time, an employee from the GameStop nearby my house told me how he scored a complete copy of Chrono Trigger for the Super Nintendo from a customer.  Lucky!

[90snostalga]

Same thing at the Good wills.  At one of my local good wills, there is a collector who gets anything good so they never have anything hit that shelf.  One night I asked about if they had any games in the back and he said no and then started talking about how he got a Pikachu N64 console in the box from a donation and bought it himself from good will for 10 bucks.  He was very blunt and told me I probably would never find anything at that store and to not waste my time because he and a friend of his were getting everything gaming. I do think that is completely wrong at the good will.

[bikingjahuty]

While I partially knew this one going on at the store I was referencing, it didn't bother as much until I unknowingly responded to one of their Craigslist ads and was being asked to pay Ebay prices for games they paid $2 for with their employee discount. I understand they make minimum wage and it's retail, but just think management needs to step in for the customer's sake and give us a fighting chance. I mean, the employees are literally dividing up the recent buybacks within minutes of them being taken in as if they feel entitles to them. Just infuriates me.

And I knew someone at a local thrift who used to do this as well. He was definitely the bragging type as well, having to tell me some of his best scores he got while working the backroom, including boxed SNES RPGs, boxed retro consoles, and $100+ games for only a couple of bucks. Haven't shopped at that thrift in years, but wonder if he still works there.

[doctorlaudanum]

Guess I'm torn, too. I definitely think it's annoying, but I don't think the employees are really doing anything wrong. They're either passionate collectors aiming to pick up some classics for cheap or minimum wage-fed retail jockeys looking to make an extra buck. Honestly, I can sympathize with both. I know I'd be doing the same thing if I were in their position.

Definitely agree with argyle, though -- bragging about it makes you look like a douche.

[kamikazekeeg]

Yeah, really can't be anything other than torn also, as it really just comes down to two collectors trying for the same lot, they are just in the better position.  I think it's a tad scummy if they are taking it all just to then sell it, that kinda just brings it a bit into jerk territory, but I know I've thought about if I worked at a thrift shop and how great it would be to get access to stuff before it goes out lol  I really can't blame them for doing so, it just make it tough for the small time collectors like me.

[foxhack]

Hey, you know what Toys'r'Us does to employees who take advantage of their jobs in the store, or who use their employee discount to grab stuff and resell it?

THEY FIRE THEIR ASSES.

This was one of the very first things the managers drilled into the employees' heads when I started working at a local store several years ago. So if any of these people are doing this then they're breaking corporate policy and can get them fired, if not worse.

It's disgusting.

[turf]

Hey, you know what Toys'r'Us does to employees who take advantage of their jobs in the store, or who use their employee discount to grab stuff and resell it?

THEY FIRE THEIR ASSES.

This was one of the very first things the managers drilled into the employees' heads when I started working at a local store several years ago. So if any of these people are doing this then they're breaking corporate policy and can get them fired, if not worse.

It's disgusting.

That doesn't stop them. Toys R Us gets a lot of the "chase variants" of Skylanders. How many do you think actually hit the shelf? 
They may not buy them directly, but they sure do get put aside for someone they know.

[kamikazekeeg]

Hey, you know what Toys'r'Us does to employees who take advantage of their jobs in the store, or who use their employee discount to grab stuff and resell it?

THEY FIRE THEIR ASSES.

This was one of the very first things the managers drilled into the employees' heads when I started working at a local store several years ago. So if any of these people are doing this then they're breaking corporate policy and can get them fired, if not worse.

It's disgusting.

That is if these places have the same policy.  Smaller, second hand market stores, might not have the same rules.  To some that own them, employees buying them might not matter as long as the stuff is sold, though I imagine most businesses would rather discourage it, since it ends up hurting their customer base.

[badATchaos]

At least you have game stores. I have to drive three hours to get to a GameStop. If I were to hop the boarder into New Brunswick or eastern Quebec I could probably find something faster. My French is limited so it would make it hard to look around or ask about nearby establishments however.

[mark1982]

I can relate to your situation here. Similar case in my area, I had a discount area/shop for gaming, trading cards, comics, toys etc.

I knew they were hoarding all the good stuff for themselves because the employees were open about it when they talk among themselves when customers are around. So I made it a point to befriend them, heh. Started out slow at first just, "hey what's up, what's new? any new deals? etc. Told them what I was into, games and toys wise. Started getting coffee together on their breaks, then next thing you know they are texting me on whats new coming in whether i'm interested to reserve anything.

I knew I couldn't win in the first place to get all the great gems coming in because they were all collector's themselves, so I improvised a bit. In the end I made some good friends too To be honest when I first thought I should get to know these guys I wasn't expecting a gain friends just to get access to their merch, but things worked out for the best. I found out that they didn't resell any of the goods too, just game collector nuts like myself, the boss of the place told me so himself. Anything that was reserved was sold directly by the store.

So I dunno, maybe say hi to these employees 

[theflea]

I've talked about this subject before, There's a local used Video Game store that has a limit on game prices. Most any game can be is $70. They have gotten Earthbound, EVO, Harvest Moon, Secret Scout and other high value games and everyone of them was bought by an employee. Some even call their friends to come in and get it first. It's not to bad if its someone who collects, but some have bragged about selling them online. This practice just makes me not want to hunt for games at their store because I always know its been picked over.

[disgaeniac]

Human nature.

How many of us can honestly say we wouldn't do the same if in the store employees' situation?

I would consider it a perk of a low-paying job & 'fairness' wouldn't even be any kind of factor and it wouldn't hinder me at all 

Love me/Hate me...just telling the truth 

[argyle]

Human nature.

How many of us can honestly say we wouldn't do the same if in the store employees' situation?

I would consider it a perk of a low-paying job & 'fairness' wouldn't even be any kind of factor and it wouldn't hinder me at all 

Love me/Hate me...just telling the truth 

Yup - and heck, any of us who have taken advantage of connections/friends we have at game stores for our own advantage *raises hand* are basically guilty of the same thing as well.