darkSpyro

Sorry if the title was too vague, what I really wanted to say couldn't fit. A my "local" (nearest) Toys R Us, there are TONS of Skylanders on the ground or dropping out of packages (One whole Nightmare Express Pack, a Zoo Lou single, a Zoo Lou+S3 Spyro+Star Strike Triple Pack, a Bouncer single, a Tech Helmet single, a Magic Rocket single, just so much stuff!). After picking these up and giving them to the nearest employee, I wondered what would happen to them.

tl;dr Lots of broken package and loose figures in TRU, wondering what happens to them.

I will admit, at one of my local Walmarts I MAY have taken a loose Riptide that someone took out of the package and left on the shelf because Riptide is rare where I live. But besides that, I didn't take any other skylanders, and when I see other opened ones, I just leave them alone.

they die. horribly. like in the ts3 incinerator scene.

(seriously some dude went dumpster diving at gamestop and found a star strike left to die)

They get taped if they can. If not you damage items out and depending on distributors you either have to send it back to get credit or destroy/trash it.

Usually taped/stabled back together.

They don't win, that's for sure.

Most are either taped up or stolen by grown collector's because we'll ya that's what humanity has come to.

Quote: UncleBob

They don't win, that's for sure.

LOL. ... I was wondering when someone would comment on the poor soul who misspelled "loose".

They're either taped up or thrown in a bin and put in the backroom.

Usually taped together like others said, though it doesn't always turn out perfect. For example, my Best Buy had a Doom Stone in his bubble hastily and unevenly slapped on a torn magic element mini pack.

Quote: ZapNorris

they die. horribly. like in the ts3 incinerator scene.

(seriously some dude went dumpster diving at gamestop and found a star strike left to die)

YEP! That was me. Along with Star Strike there were two brand new unused Skylanders carry cases, two loose Infinity figures, 7 or so Assassin's Creed T-shirts and about 15 various hint guides. I kept what I wanted and got about $80 for what I could sell. Not bad at all for "trash".

I've been going back and Gamestop is really random with what they'll toss out. For example last week I pulled out a Xbox 360 with power cord (needs a little work and cleaning). Over the last two months, they tossed out 360 earphone sets, new iphone 5 cases, tons of empty video game boxes (the DS and 3DS ones has value so I always take those), numerous posters, lots of used accessories (wii stands, stearing wheels, carry cases, rubber grips, etc) and so on, but never any other Skylanders.

Oh, I did pull out SuperChargers posters and display promo boxes which went into my collection, but that's not really the same as figures. Staples does slice their trash up (which is sad because they toss out really nice stuff) but luckily Gamestop doesn't. I've seen other stores just tape up their Skylanders, but sometimes they are sent back and liquidated out as damaged goods to resellers (sometimes you'll see those on ebay in mangled packages). Stores has different policies on what they do with them but tossing them into the dumpster is the absolute worst in my opinion. Give them to some kid or something!

Stores should not be putting electronics into dumpsters. In most states, that's illegal dumping. You're supposed to recycle electronics so they don't end up in the landfill and poison the water table. *Hippie out*

Wow. Looks like some of you find treasures in waste bins (no offense), but what really surprises me is the companies that put them there.

Stores near me usually tape them up, staple them etc. Sometimes if they aren't too bad looking I'll buy them, i figure im going to open it anyways so might as well take the one no one wants.

Here in Australia they get taped up and discounted on a clearance rack with all the other returned and damaged package goods and usually discounted heavily. My local K mart usually cuts the price in half 50% every 2nd day until it sells. I got an opened pop fizz 3 pack back in the giants day for $1.50. Also got some trap masters half off last year because they were opened.

I usually just find them taped up. Walmart definitely does that and just puts them back on the shelf. Best Buy will usually mark opened items down, but with Skylanders, I usually just see them shrink wrapped with no mark down. Toys R Us usually marks opened items down, too, but for some strange reason I don't think I've ever seen opened Skylanders at Toys R Us. Maybe I just miss them. I've also never seen opened items at Target, but there is a store near me called Bargain Hunt that receives a lot of liquidated and "returned" items from stores. I've seen a lot of stuff from Target there, even Target exclusive Skylanders. Most Skylanders that store carries are missing packages. One time I found a Wildfire with the head falling off. I never got him and wanted him. I was bummed it was broken. I later went back after hearing that they would make stuff down 50% or so if the actual product was damaged, but it was already gone. So I'm assuming Target just puts opened items in a collection to be sent back and they eventually get sold off to stores like Bargain Hunt.

I had no idea GameStop just threw stuff out. I wish I had known. I know someone who is a district manager for GameStop. Maybe I should check with him about that. I'm surprised if it's anything of value that the employees don't just take them.

One time I saw a metallic shroomboom in my toysrus out in the open I was gonna take it but then I felt guilty and gave it to a store manager... Darn it guilt! Just kidding it was the right thing to do...

Quote: Nuigi12

One time I saw a metallic shroomboom in my toysrus out in the open I was gonna take it but then I felt guilty and gave it to a store manager... Darn it guilt! Just kidding it was the right thing to do...

You could' we, you know, BOUGHT it. Eh, Inguess you had your reasons, though.

I might have bought one of these, by the way, from Amazon. It was a "used" Undead Oeb trap, but it had no signs of wear and no villain trapped inside. I wonder if these are sold to etailers?

Quote: Concept

Stores should not be putting electronics into dumpsters. In most states, that's illegal dumping. You're supposed to recycle electronics so they don't end up in the landfill and poison the water table. *Hippie out*

Actually that's the law here now too. I don't know if it's state or county, but it went into effect a few months ago.

The thing is that you cannot put electronics onto the curb with the recyclables. They expect for you to haul it down to the middle of no where and drop it off. No business is going to bother with that.

Actually I don't think businesses has to recycle anything other than cardboard. I've seen plastic juice bottles (not soda/water as we have a 5 cent law) and numerous other plastics especially countless video game cases which are recyclable. They toss out tons of various papers as well as various electronics like that Xbox 360. The stores love to remodel every few years and usually the entire shelving units full of metal go right into the dumpsters. The clothing stores are just as horrible as I've seen their dumpsters entirely filled up with plastic clothes hangers after every season.

Worse than this is the Salvation Army/Goodwill dumpsters. My Goodwill actually tosses out anything old and outdated without even attempting to sell them. That includes vintage video game carts, like N64 because they are too upscale to have old video games (that was my very first dumpster dive two years ago and what got me into checking dumpsters as who wouldn't do it for video games?!). They also toss out tons of pre-owned toys because they get Target's cast offs which are new in package and the old toys look just too ratty in comparison. And the list goes on and on with Goodwill because they try to be a more upscale version of the Salvation Army and look posh instead of like the town dump...sadly they've taken up to locking their dumpster this year because they do toss away so many decent items that people were constantly swimming though it all looking for stuff...

Salvation Army does batty things as well. They have a rule against selling Halloween stuff and 4 years ago, a store donated to them 3 racks of new Halloween stuff a month before Halloween. The employees started to put the stuff out on the shelves, but the manager at that time (who was super anal about the rules) saw this and had removed them from the store because of religious reasons. Salvation army is not supposed to have that "paganistic" stuff for sale. So they tossed it all into the dumpster. Of course this year with a new manager there is an entire section of Halloween stuff. Idiots...

Probably the worse of all that really gets my goat is that my local library has taken up this very bad habit of tossing out "too old" donated paperback books to the curb. At least they recycle them, but this is around 300 books every week!!! They don't run a booksale anymore, favoring a "book nook" with a few books for sale all year round (mostly newish ones from the last 10 years), but people still donate more books than the nook could ever deal with. So I've been going every week to cherry pick the best ones from the curb and flipping them on ebay. I know that I shouldn't complain because I'm profiting off of this, but it REALLY bothers me to see books tossed out by a LIBRARY of all places! Send them off to another library for their book sale at least. Other places send their unsold books to the vet center, senior center, prison, etc, but don't toss them to the curb!

Sorry, I know this rant isn't Skylanders related, but I get really steamed thinking about recycling and how wasteful people are. I'm the type that recycles gum wrappers but it seems all rather pointless when I see the horrible stuff that businesses are getting away with daily.

Wow,this is really wasteful,especially from the Salvation Army. If you're going to throw stuff out people DONATED to you, should've refused and let the owners throw that away themselves.

Can't say I had any experience with this since the bookstores here are all on malls so nobody's going to be looking around their dumpsters; the worst I've seen was a fire in one of the stores where they decided to sell the Skylanders with blackened packaging; a few stayed there for over 6 months until they disappeared,no idea if it was thrown out,bought or an employee gave it to a relative.

^Salvation Army THROWS THINGS AWAY?

Trust no one

Here at Target, things like that get put into salvage. Was told that salvage goes to Good Will

Quote: ace

Here at Target, things like that get put into salvage. Was told that salvage goes to Good Will

Since I have seen lots of merchandise from Target (from their One Spot merchandise to Skylander exclusives) show up at Bargain Hunt, and have never seen them at Goodwill, whoever said that to you, was wrong. They sell off the merchandise for cheap to companies like Bargain Hunt (I'm not sure if there's any other companies like that or not). I know they may be regional, so I'm not sure if they just get the merchandise from the local Targets or if Target sells their entire stock to them. Considering as much as I have seen (huge bins of the One Spot stuff), the latter seems likely.

Quote: obidawsn

Quote: ace

Here at Target, things like that get put into salvage. Was told that salvage goes to Good Will

Since I have seen lots of merchandise from Target (from their One Spot merchandise to Skylander exclusives) show up at Bargain Hunt, and have never seen them at Goodwill, whoever said that to you, was wrong. They sell off the merchandise for cheap to companies like Bargain Hunt (I'm not sure if there's any other companies like that or not). I know they may be regional, so I'm not sure if they just get the merchandise from the local Targets or if Target sells their entire stock to them. Considering as much as I have seen (huge bins of the One Spot stuff), the latter seems likely.

As I have friends who work at my closest local Target who can substantiate that a lot of opened, "defective" merchandise gets donated to various local charities, I wouldn't say ace is wrong. Yes, some stores (Target, Walmart, etc.) will sell lots/palettes of returns, "defective" stock, etc., to the highest bidder. But, in some places, they will often donate the stuff to charity and write it off on their taxes. As there aren't any "Bargain Hunt" locations in my area or anywhere I've ever been, this can't be the case in every area as it wouldn't be cost effective for my local Target to ship two opened, "defective" Skylanders, a blanket with a slight tear in it and a case of toilet paper missing a single roll halfway across the country to resell when they can just dump it at Good Will, the Salvation Army, etc., locally and write off the value of those items on their taxes.

-Doug

Quote: obidawsn

Quote: ace

Here at Target, things like that get put into salvage. Was told that salvage goes to Good Will

Since I have seen lots of merchandise from Target (from their One Spot merchandise to Skylander exclusives) show up at Bargain Hunt, and have never seen them at Goodwill, whoever said that to you, was wrong. They sell off the merchandise for cheap to companies like Bargain Hunt (I'm not sure if there's any other companies like that or not). I know they may be regional, so I'm not sure if they just get the merchandise from the local Targets or if Target sells their entire stock to them. Considering as much as I have seen (huge bins of the One Spot stuff), the latter seems likely.

Wow. Someone is informed about Goodwill merchandise. I myself found a 16gb PS Vita memory card, sealed, with a Target clearance tag at a Goodwill for $8 just a few months ago.

One time, I see a S1 Wrecking Ball with damaged package, but the figure/card/code/stickers are in perfect state. It was for sell. I buy that.