Retail Employees

There is no cap, unless the company puts a cap on an item for everyone. The only “rule” is the item has to hit the floor, that being said it depends on what store you are at. Some stores care some don’t and just see it as a sale/ a small perk for employees who really don’t get crap. Some stores I worked at even had a period in the middle of the night where overnight employees had like fifteen minutes to pick up anything they needed. I worked for Target from 2002-2013. I have a buddy who is a manager there now who buys toys all the time and resells them on the internet. Hot wheels, marvel, pops, Wwe, sells it all.

The only time he got in any trouble at all, was this past New York comic con? He bought every single funko pop they got in. All of them, and he got a conversation summery out of it.

thanks for the well thought out response. I guess it is a perk for sure. Are they hiring?

I've worked in the past for three major American retail chains across four different stints, for a cumulative total of close to ten years. Every company has their own spin on the same general principle that states that employees are to make purchases on their own time in a fashion that an individual of sound mind and compass would consider to be "ethical". Some were more detailed than others, but squirreling product away to be purchased at a later time was almost universally frowned upon. One company went so far as to have a policy, at least as far as markdown product was concerned, that stated that employees had to allow an item that just hit the clearance roster to sit for something like 24-48 hours before they were free to purchase it.

None of that is to say that it doesn't happen. Policy adherence varies from store to store within the same organization, never mind company to company. My personal experience is that it happens less than it doesn't. I'm sure that all of us, as hobbyists, have pursued employment opportunities with organizations conducive to those hobbies, but the vast majority of retail employees I've encountered, on either side of the counter, are probably eight times out of ten present solely for the purpose of collecting a paycheck.

I feel like the law of parsimony still lends itself to the greater likelihood that any nefarious gathering of sought after product is just a matter of person A getting there before person B, the personal disconnect between collectors leading to a perception of geographical isolation, and the application of some form of injustice as a coping mechanism for not being able to attain what one is after.

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Spiracy

I worked Christmas stock for toys r us about 4 or 5 years ago.

I always schemed my way to the boys aisles and hid whatever I wanted. This was around the time e37 and e38 were hitting retail in my area, as well as the last set of mortal kombat figures (the mezco ones) and the marvel legends wave with venom and spider gwen. A lot of stuff never made it to the shelves that year, plus some smaller kids stuff for my son who was like 2 or 3 that year.

Some retail employees are scalpers

That was so classy I need to put on a second monocle.

I've worked retail for around thirteen years (including a decade of overnight stocking) and the policy was that we weren't supposed to stash things away or whatever while on the clock, so, while I was on lunch (at around 2 AM), it was fine to purchase toys that'd been stocked either by myself or another worker. At the time, the store was open 24 hours and I ran the risk of someone swooping in and picking up the good stuff, but, more often than not, toy collectors/resellers didn't come rolling in until 7, so needless to say, I've got my fair share of women's figures that were packed one per case. It wasn't against policy at that time, but I don't know how it is now that most retailers are no longer open 'round the clock.

I'm not proud, but never did I pick up anything to resell for personal gain.