DEATH TO TOY FADS

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

my grandkids said they don't want to go on living if they can't get their zhu-zhu pets so what am I supposed to do, Toy Guy? Huh?"

Sounds like a solution to me rather than a problem.

Remember kids! Rippy the Razor says "It's down the road, not across the street!"

[jackfaire]

I admit though, I managed to get ahold of a Wii myself that holiday and flipped it for $535.

Uhm where? Around here just buying one from a store cost around 600.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Uhm where? Around here just buying one from a store cost around 600.

I was lucky enough to buy one at retail across at the Wal-Mart near where I worked. Of course Wally world was doing any bundle packs or similar nonsense.

[jackfaire]

Cool. I don't make a lot of money so I am still discovering games for the game cube that others played long ago.

[BethB]

Noooooo!!! Not the Wii fiasco of 2007!!

I worked Wal-Mart electronics that Christmas! Everytime someone asked when the next shipment and wanted specifics like how many, what time, ect., I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs "I don't know. They get here before I do!!!!"

And when parents asked "well what do I do now? I promised them one." Uhhh...how is that MY problem. I didn't promise your brat a Wii. My brats already had Wiis(two total. 3 if you count my brother's) and they were purchased in the summer...when demand as a tad lower. It may be heartless on my part but I really didn't care if their little precious did or didn't get one. I care only about my little preciouses(if that's even a word)

[EricKei]

I have seen some of the toy fad craziness first hand back in 2007 when the Wii first came out and was impossible to find. Our first shipment sold out on launch and we didn't know when we'd get more, we just knew it would be between monday and thursday. Unbelievably the same 15 or 20 people showed up on EVERY one of those days hoping to score a Wii. In the end, we only got 7 in.
...
I should note the Wii in question was NOT purchased where I worked, since we are forbidden from reselling items we buy with our discount.

When I was a GS, we only got discounts on games, not hardware o_O

Our Wii situation was similar -- When Preorders were taken in June, they had promised us 120 units. When the first shipment arrived in December, we got sixteen. Corporate made us make big Wii displays and everything, nonetheless. It took until the following MARCH just to get the prepaid orders filled.

Noooooo!!! Not the Wii fiasco of 2007!!

Heh.

[Mike Taylor]

You'd think that being in the middle of an economic recession would make consumers act a bit more sensibly, but I suppose people will find any reason to be an idiot at Christmas.

[Daskinor]

I picked up a cupple of thoes zhu-zhu things for one reason, and one reason allone.

I thought my ferrets would get a kick out of them.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

GRRRRAAAAGGGGHHHHH!

Let's just say a particular co-worker of mine is very lucky there are laws against murder.

As it turns out, we had one Zhu-Zhu pet on the shelf today. It got knocked to the back of a top shelf in backstock, so nobody knew we had it until it was stumbled upon yesterday. It was relocated, it came up in autopull, it was put on the shelf, and bought within minutes of opening by a woman who was lucky enough to find it.

Later, as I was filling toys off last night's truck, another woman came up to me and asked if we had any Zhu-Zhu pets. I told her no.

"Really? I was told they were coming in on your truck today."

"Who told you that?"

"I don't know the guy's name. He had short hair, and glasses and a big forehead."

Guess who this guy with short hair, glasses and a big forehead is? The same guy I mentioned in this thread. And here he is, telling people we are going to be getting in the most desirable toy this holiday season without bothering to check the manifest to make sure. And even then I would not be making any promises unless the toys came in and I could see them on the pallet.

This lady was not the only person he told this to. I dealt with three other people who were promised Zhu-Zhu pets by this fuckwad. One of them was just about ready to cry when I told her we didn't have Zhu-Zhu pets. Another got real snippy with me and said she wouldn't shop with us if we were going to lie to her about the availability of products.

Make. It. Stop.

[ditchdj]

What's irritating the most about this is that in the next year or two you'll see massive shipments of Zhu Zhu pets and they'll just sit on the shelves because by them nobody will want them. Same with every other stupid toy fad in the past.

[simplyanother]

Remember the Shirt Tails stuffed animals? My mom had my aunt in another state find one and ship it to her for Christmas...

I had a Shirt Tales lunch box in Kindergarten, also, sheets. heh

The Zhu Zhu pets are ridiculous, when we first started seeing them advertised my kids asked for them, but thankfully have moved on to other crap. But I don't do toy fads. If it's something that I have to fight over to get it to them before Christmas, they either don't get it, or they get to wait until after Christmas to get it.

I don't go out shopping on the weekend of Black Friday, even before I worked retail.

(I got a cabbage patch doll in 1983/84, I still have that doll. heh)

People were calling the CRAFT STORE to see if we had any Wii's in stock year before last. I nearly started telling them "sure", and telling them "yeah we'll hold a few" but, I realized that'd be mean, and get me fired, or hurt.

heh.

[jjllbb]

What's irritating the most about this is that in the next year or two you'll see massive shipments of Zhu Zhu pets and they'll just sit on the shelves because by them nobody will want them. Same with every other stupid toy fad in the past.

So true. We've got so many kinds of tickle me elmos. No one wants those things anymore. *le sigh*

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I actually got my years mixed up, the holiday craziness I experienced firsthand was during the launch year 2006, when supplied were REALLY tight, not 2007.

[Caffienated_Caramel]

Hmm

I remember Beanie Babies, Tamogotchi's, giga pets, Tickle me Hellmo's, Wii,

I remember the news talking about the hellmo's being the hot toy and being scarce.

I remember looking for the tamagotchi's and they were always sold out. I got three for my 11th birthday, I gave one to my sister since she loved them too. I don't know what I did with the second one.

But beanies...oh boy I remember when my mom fended off a few ladies for the Princess Diana bear beanie. She had three, one her, sister and I. I even remember being driven almost all over phoenix for tini beanies at McD's...

For the Wii/Wii fit, I remember Andrew talked about being in line and an employee gave out cards to the first twenty or so people to get one. And he was one of them.

[Broomjockey]

Uhm where? Around here just buying one from a store cost around 600.

You're being ripped off then, assuming you're in the US.

http://www.amazon.com/Wii-Nintendo/d...8681985&sr=8-1

$200 new from amazon now, $279 back then. And console manufacturers tend to get pissy if the prices are jacked up much beyond MSRP. Putting a Wii to the price of a PS3 is nearly criminal.