Most of the Commander packs at my local Target were stolen. They opened the bottom, took out the deck (leaving the over-sized cards) and resealed the bottom with some kind of glue.
I'm confident this is actually the work of an employee, probably someone who work after-hour to restock the shelves. The deck is enclosed in the plastic packaging. To remove it you need to:
1. Open the bottom.
2. Remove the whole plastic casing.
3. Take the deck.
4. Put back the casing.
5. Glue the bottom.
For starter, this is not an impulse theft. To glue it back, it has to be planned. Second, this takes time and cannot be done subrepticiously. The chance of being caught if done by a customer is way to high, especially if multiple boxes were stolen. It's definitely an inside job.
The reason as to why I am convinced it was an adolescent is because as we all know kids are more likely to do impulsive and vile acts such as this one. An adult in their right state of mind is well aware of the consequences and penalties of thievery and would probably just buy the packs instead of resorting to such desperate measures. Also most kids who are not well behaved probably don't receive any money from their parents to pay for their participation in Magic which is why they would most likely resort to stealing.
pretty big assumptions there. as someone thats worked loss prevention in retail. theft isn't specific to any age, race, or sex. the only thing you can really stipulate from theft, without catching the person in the act, is that people steal. if it isn't nailed down, someone will try to steal it.
I'm confident this is actually the work of an employee, probably someone who work after-hour to restock the shelves . . . It's definitely an inside job.
I tend to agree. I am not sure if it would be an employee of the Target or an employee of WoTC (or whoever they contract to stock Target with their product). I have asked in the past when certain items would be released, so I know the employees of Target do not generally deal with the card-game area of the store. There is a third party that stocks the MTG product.
If the contracted party was stealing, then I imagine it would occur before the product hit the shelves since they do not get much time with the product from that point except for restocking, etc.
I remember the weight of the product fluctuating over a couple of weeks where I was trying to decide whether to buy Heavenly Inferno or not. I would assume the after-hour employees of Target were likely the responsible party. It's all speculation, however.
A broke (I assume jobless and living at mom's house) 21 year old who likes to steal is still a kid.
Legally, they are a major. Barring any kind of mental disability, they would be charged as an adult if brought to court. They may act like a kid, but the law doesn't care about that
The local WalMart gets every single current set booster of MTG stolen at least once every 2 weeks. 6 pegs of empty whatever. It's to the point that they're either 100% full or 100% empty.
I'm confident this is actually the work of an employee, probably someone who work after-hour to restock the shelves. The deck is enclosed in the plastic packaging. To remove it you need to:
1. Open the bottom.
2. Remove the whole plastic casing.
3. Take the deck.
4. Put back the casing.
5. Glue the bottom.
For starter, this is not an impulse theft. To glue it back, it has to be planned. Second, this takes time and cannot be done subrepticiously. The chance of being caught if done by a customer is way to high, especially if multiple boxes were stolen. It's definitely an inside job.
So the other day I was out at the Barnes&Noble catching up on some of my favorite novels when I decided to head over to the trading card section. I was browsing the boxes of intro packs and as I went over to pick up one for closer examination I had realized that the box has been opened from underneath. Some greedy and selfish child had opened up the box in the middle of the store probably just to grab the one booster that comes along with the package. I did not witness it but I am pretty sure that is exactly what happened.
And you know what the worst part is? I went to pick up another box from the stack of intro boxes and the SAME ripped opening appeared on that box as well. I then checked the rest of the boxes to discover that every single box had been forcibly ripped open at the bottom with all the booster packs being taken.
Now what does that say about the Magic Community as a whole. These greedy children are so desperate and far going that they would be willing to vandalize a piece of merchandise right in the store and then proceed to steal some items. Afterwords they leave the box nicely on the shelf hiding the fact that it has been ripped open underneath. What kind of shameless individual would do that? I for one am appalled.
Assuming it was a child brings nothing to the table; it just shows what kind of person you are.
Did not even think of that. That makes a good amount of sense. I would imagine a group is involved, then. I'd be wary of about 8 returns of the same product . . .
The game being expensive is never an excuse to steal unless someone has a gun to your head and tells you that they will shoot you unless you keep buying Magic the Gathering packs.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PureMTGO MTGOTraders - Coupon mtgsallypaypal for 8% off orders paid for with paypal. MTGO Hotlist! - Pays more than bots for singles. CapeFearGames - Coupon mtgsally for 5% off entire order. Orders ship same day if order placed before 3pm EST M-F. Do not stack with other coupons please.
Paying extra 20% on paper cards for MTGOTraders credits.
When I was in middle school (About 8 years ago now) I used to steal cards from Wal-mart all the time. To the point where I had over $10k in Yugioh cards before I was caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
I do not do it anymore since I'm older and realize how much trouble I can get into doing it now. The reason I bring this up and even admit this is that if stores gave a damn and had better surveillance/moved TCG products to less isolated parts of the store then I would have been caught A LOT sooner. The same people that steal from one store do it at multiple stores and do it to a near compulsive level. It's not cool and they can screw their entire life up.
If an adult is doing it then I honestly don't know what to say to that. Get a job or deal like the rest of us, dude.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
By: ol MISAKA lo
Cockatrice: Infallible
Mhjames: mtgsalvation: I DON'T SEE HOW THIS CARD IS GOOD. I KNOW PATRICK CHAPIN USED IT AND WENT 8-0, BUT THAT WAS A SMALL TOURNAMENT. THE CARD IS TOO SLOW. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THE OPPONENT HAS A SPELL IN THE GRAVEYARD
Woah, wait a minute, people are stealing things? From stores you say?
Dude, I had my house broken into while at work, everything I'd ever bought for my wife was stolen. My grandmother was scammed out of 5,000 bucks. My wife is also required to put anti theft devices on $5 bracelets. My store has to put literally thousands of ink cartridges into magnetic boxes at work every week. The restraunt I like to go to at lunch had its air conditioner destroyed for copper pipes that were stolen. My friend had an iphone stolen from her while she was using it on the middle of college campus in broad daylight. Two days later two students were jumped by 9 15-16 year olds and their phones stolen. And a week later a student was robbed at gunpoint by a guy on a motorcycle a block away from my university.
And people are stealing magic cards from stores? Why are you so appalled at the actions of a single individual? What world do you live in? Do you not realize that they put antitheft sensors on the outer packaging at retailers because they are high risk items? This has no bearing on the magic community whatsoever. Anyone who finds a busted mtg booster doesn't say "it's another one of those bastard magic players", they say it's another bastard thief."
My point is, do you live in a suburban utopia? Because your post just comes off as though you're just incredulous that people would steal magic cards. Dude, people steal anything that's not nailed down.
While your post is very saddening and unfortunate it does not change the fact that stealing is still stealing. Whether it be trading cards or cellphones it is still the same vile act. Now the situations you have described seem very serious but luckily for me I have never been in a position to witness or hear about such violent and desperate thieves. You may say that I live in a suburban utopia but the fact of the matter is that something that is being stolen is a serious manner and should be addressed and not overlooked. Bystanders who overlook such situations are contributing more to the problem if anything and if I were to have caught the culprit in the act I would certainly not let them get away with it.
When I was in middle school (About 8 years ago now) I used to steal cards from Wal-mart all the time. To the point where I had over $10k in Yugioh cards before I was caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
I do not do it anymore since I'm older and realize how much trouble I can get into doing it now. The reason I bring this up and even admit this is that if stores gave a damn and had better surveillance/moved TCG products to less isolated parts of the store then I would have been caught A LOT sooner. The same people that steal from one store do it at multiple stores and do it to a near compulsive level. It's not cool and they can screw their entire life up.
If an adult is doing it then I honestly don't know what to say to that. Get a job or deal like the rest of us, dude.
Please tell me that this is a fabrication of some sort because I cannot believe that you had stolen over $10,000 worth of Yugioh cards. I cannot imagine what could have inspired you to stoop so low to the depths of robbery and desperation. You have no right to unfairly gain cards from Walmart by stealing them. There are honest people out there like me who pay hard earned cash to obtain our booster packs and rares. Having people such as yourself come across these items freely is downright blasphemy.
While your post is very saddening and unfortunate it does not change the fact that stealing is still stealing. Whether it be trading cards or cellphones it is still the same vile act. Now the situations you have described seem very serious but luckily for me I have never been in a position to witness or hear about such violent and desperate thieves. You may say that I live in a suburban utopia but the fact of the matter is that something that is being stolen is a serious manner and should be addressed and not overlooked. Bystanders who overlook such situations are contributing more to the problem if anything and if I were to have caught the culprit in the act I would certainly not let them get away with it.
Please tell me that this is a fabrication of some sort because I cannot believe that you had stolen over $10,000 worth of Yugioh cards. I cannot imagine what could have inspired you to stoop so low to the depths of robbery and desperation. You have no right to unfairly gain cards from Walmart by stealing them. There are honest people out there like me who pay hard earned cash to obtain our booster packs and rares. Having people such as yourself come across these items freely is downright blasphemy.
Good thieves are difficult to catch and prosecute. retail thieves as a general rule, are much more discrete and may also operate in teams. It's not something that's easy to catch. If you can see them, they can see you, and won't be stealing anything until you go away. Laws and policies also make it difficult to care or stop. If I attempt to stop a thief, even if successful, I will be fired by my company. Plus, I don't get paid enough to stop a thief who may or may not be carrying a gun/knife, or whatever. God forbid a physical confrontation take place and end up being sued for assault or use of unreasonable force or whatever.
And for reference, I don't live in a bad neighborhood. I actually live in suburbia a few miles outside of little rock, driving into it for school. Crime and theft still occurs, though less violent than little rock itself.
Anyways, I think the real heart of the matter is that you should not care about how this makes the magic community look, because it has zero bearing on outside opinions of it. If anything, it makes the magic community resemble every other community in the world. Thieves exist within it, plain and simple and always will. You can don your batman cape and go out and maybe even catch one or two. But there's a hundred more where that came from. If you want to care about thieves, go for it. Just don't care about how thieves make the magic community look because we're no different than anyone else.
Well, except maybe juggalos. They don't have the greatest reputation.
Oh, and as to the guy claiming to have stolen 10k of yugioh cards? Totally reasonable. Wal mart actually let's you keep stealing if they know you are until you hit an amount where they can prosecute you on a felony level. And while 10k seems a little bit generous, that's probably not msrp of the boosters, but rather the cards within them at peak values, and yugioh seems to have a really erratic market. So....while perhaps a bit optomistic, probably possible. Especially if wal mart just keeps letting you do it so they can pop you real good for a felony.
Please tell me that this is a fabrication of some sort because I cannot believe that you had stolen over $10,000 worth of Yugioh cards. I cannot imagine what could have inspired you to stoop so low to the depths of robbery and desperation. You have no right to unfairly gain cards from Walmart by stealing them. There are honest people out there like me who pay hard earned cash to obtain our booster packs and rares. Having people such as yourself come across these items freely is downright blasphemy.
Anyone who knows how much Yugioh cards are worth in comparison to Magic cards knows this is not a fabrication. The average Standard Yugioh deck is $2k, I stole hundreds of boxes worth of product in a two year span hitting multiple stores.
I was fourteen years old, dude. I'm not ashamed because I was a selfish brat with virtually no parental guidance at that age. It was not desperation; to a fourteen year old doing something youre not supposed to do and getting away with it is fun. Regardless, it's behind me.
I'm not bragging at all; it's just THAT easy and kids do this crap every day and get away with it every. single. day. You felt the need to come on here and complain about a few open boosters you found at Barnes and Noble while you've more than likely been in the presence of theft hundreds of times in your life. Right under your nose and even at your LGS. This is a fact of life and people do not simply just stop if they're getting everything for free.
Welcome to reality.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
By: ol MISAKA lo
Cockatrice: Infallible
Mhjames: mtgsalvation: I DON'T SEE HOW THIS CARD IS GOOD. I KNOW PATRICK CHAPIN USED IT AND WENT 8-0, BUT THAT WAS A SMALL TOURNAMENT. THE CARD IS TOO SLOW. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THE OPPONENT HAS A SPELL IN THE GRAVEYARD
Retail theft is so huge, big box stores dedicate millions of dollars DAILY to loss prevention. It's not just magic cards.
Personal anecdote time -
A close friend of mine works as a warehouse supervisor for an electronics retail store (ie: Best Buy, Future Shop, etc). One of his daily duties is to look in the fridges, freezers, microwaves and washing machine/driers for opened product and record the losses. He never divulged full details, but I had him ballpark what the daily loss to the store was. He estimated somewhere betwen 400-1000 dollars, depending on the day of the week and time of year. Most of the stuff stolen was either small, pocketable stuff (flash drives, earphones), or tv's that the employees were powerless to physically stop the thief from walking out the door with it in his arms. That dude got caught by the cops that afternoon, as the store immediately contacted the local detachment with his description and liscence plate #...but still.
Theft is a regular occurance. It sucks, people suck. But it is not indicative of the Magic community at all.
Anyone who knows how much Yugioh cards are worth in comparison to Magic cards knows this is not a fabrication. The average Standard Yugioh deck is $2k, I stole hundreds of boxes worth of product in a two year span hitting multiple stores.
I was fourteen years old, dude. I'm not ashamed because I was a selfish brat with virtually no parental guidance at that age. It was not desperation; to a fourteen year old doing something youre not supposed to do and getting away with it is fun. Regardless, it's behind me.
I'm not bragging at all; it's just THAT easy and kids do this crap every day and get away with it every. single. day. You felt the need to come on here and complain about a few open boosters you found at Barnes and Noble while you've more than likely been in the presence of theft hundreds of times in your life. Right under your nose and even at your LGS. This is a fact of life and people do not simply just stop if they're getting everything for free.
Welcome to reality.
I am not sure if this is a brag or something but...
I played Yu Gi Oh back in 08, the most expensive Yu Gi Oh deck ever was Tele-DaD, and the most expensive card in that deck is called dark armed dragon(it costs around $800 if I can remember, perfect cycle costs $700, X-sabers costs $500)maybe one of the top tier 1 decks right now is very expensive because of tour guide of the underworld but there is no way a Yu Gi Oh standard deck can cost around 2k.
"A rich man thinks all other people are rich, and an intelligent man thinks all other people are similarly gifted. Both are always terribly shocked when they discover the truth of the world. You, my dear brother, are a pious man." - Strahd von Zarovich
I am not sure if this is a brag or something but...
I played Yu Gi Oh back in 08, the most expensive Yu Gi Oh deck ever was Tele-DaD, and the most expensive card in that deck is called dark armed dragon(it costs around $800 if I can remember, perfect cycle costs $700, X-sabers costs $500)maybe one of the top tier 1 decks right now is very expensive because of tour guide of the underworld but there is no way a Yu Gi Oh standard deck can cost around 2k.
The theft was during tele-dad era.
Tele-Dad was a $2k deck, though. I'm not entirely up to date with Yugioh at the moment but the last I checked a set of TGU's before the reprint, Rabbits, Maxx C's, Zenmaines & Evolzar Dollka was over $1500.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
By: ol MISAKA lo
Cockatrice: Infallible
Mhjames: mtgsalvation: I DON'T SEE HOW THIS CARD IS GOOD. I KNOW PATRICK CHAPIN USED IT AND WENT 8-0, BUT THAT WAS A SMALL TOURNAMENT. THE CARD IS TOO SLOW. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THE OPPONENT HAS A SPELL IN THE GRAVEYARD
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Yeah really ive seen armed robberies and such, wheres the outrage about those over someone stole a few 4$ boosters without ever being seen.
I'm confident this is actually the work of an employee, probably someone who work after-hour to restock the shelves. The deck is enclosed in the plastic packaging. To remove it you need to:
1. Open the bottom.
2. Remove the whole plastic casing.
3. Take the deck.
4. Put back the casing.
5. Glue the bottom.
For starter, this is not an impulse theft. To glue it back, it has to be planned. Second, this takes time and cannot be done subrepticiously. The chance of being caught if done by a customer is way to high, especially if multiple boxes were stolen. It's definitely an inside job.
pretty big assumptions there. as someone thats worked loss prevention in retail. theft isn't specific to any age, race, or sex. the only thing you can really stipulate from theft, without catching the person in the act, is that people steal. if it isn't nailed down, someone will try to steal it.
I tend to agree. I am not sure if it would be an employee of the Target or an employee of WoTC (or whoever they contract to stock Target with their product). I have asked in the past when certain items would be released, so I know the employees of Target do not generally deal with the card-game area of the store. There is a third party that stocks the MTG product.
If the contracted party was stealing, then I imagine it would occur before the product hit the shelves since they do not get much time with the product from that point except for restocking, etc.
I remember the weight of the product fluctuating over a couple of weeks where I was trying to decide whether to buy Heavenly Inferno or not. I would assume the after-hour employees of Target were likely the responsible party. It's all speculation, however.
A broke (I assume jobless and living at mom's house) 21 year old who likes to steal is still a kid.
Legally, they are a major. Barring any kind of mental disability, they would be charged as an adult if brought to court. They may act like a kid, but the law doesn't care about that
Bet your wrong. They're "unopened" returns.
Assuming it was a child brings nothing to the table; it just shows what kind of person you are.
Did not even think of that. That makes a good amount of sense. I would imagine a group is involved, then. I'd be wary of about 8 returns of the same product . . .
MTGOTraders - Coupon mtgsallypaypal for 8% off orders paid for with paypal.
MTGO Hotlist! - Pays more than bots for singles.
CapeFearGames - Coupon mtgsally for 5% off entire order. Orders ship same day if order placed before 3pm EST M-F. Do not stack with other coupons please.
Paying extra 20% on paper cards for MTGOTraders credits.
I do not do it anymore since I'm older and realize how much trouble I can get into doing it now. The reason I bring this up and even admit this is that if stores gave a damn and had better surveillance/moved TCG products to less isolated parts of the store then I would have been caught A LOT sooner. The same people that steal from one store do it at multiple stores and do it to a near compulsive level. It's not cool and they can screw their entire life up.
If an adult is doing it then I honestly don't know what to say to that. Get a job or deal like the rest of us, dude.
By: ol MISAKA lo
Cockatrice: Infallible
While your post is very saddening and unfortunate it does not change the fact that stealing is still stealing. Whether it be trading cards or cellphones it is still the same vile act. Now the situations you have described seem very serious but luckily for me I have never been in a position to witness or hear about such violent and desperate thieves. You may say that I live in a suburban utopia but the fact of the matter is that something that is being stolen is a serious manner and should be addressed and not overlooked. Bystanders who overlook such situations are contributing more to the problem if anything and if I were to have caught the culprit in the act I would certainly not let them get away with it.
Please tell me that this is a fabrication of some sort because I cannot believe that you had stolen over $10,000 worth of Yugioh cards. I cannot imagine what could have inspired you to stoop so low to the depths of robbery and desperation. You have no right to unfairly gain cards from Walmart by stealing them. There are honest people out there like me who pay hard earned cash to obtain our booster packs and rares. Having people such as yourself come across these items freely is downright blasphemy.
Good thieves are difficult to catch and prosecute. retail thieves as a general rule, are much more discrete and may also operate in teams. It's not something that's easy to catch. If you can see them, they can see you, and won't be stealing anything until you go away. Laws and policies also make it difficult to care or stop. If I attempt to stop a thief, even if successful, I will be fired by my company. Plus, I don't get paid enough to stop a thief who may or may not be carrying a gun/knife, or whatever. God forbid a physical confrontation take place and end up being sued for assault or use of unreasonable force or whatever.
And for reference, I don't live in a bad neighborhood. I actually live in suburbia a few miles outside of little rock, driving into it for school. Crime and theft still occurs, though less violent than little rock itself.
Anyways, I think the real heart of the matter is that you should not care about how this makes the magic community look, because it has zero bearing on outside opinions of it. If anything, it makes the magic community resemble every other community in the world. Thieves exist within it, plain and simple and always will. You can don your batman cape and go out and maybe even catch one or two. But there's a hundred more where that came from. If you want to care about thieves, go for it. Just don't care about how thieves make the magic community look because we're no different than anyone else.
Well, except maybe juggalos. They don't have the greatest reputation.
Oh, and as to the guy claiming to have stolen 10k of yugioh cards? Totally reasonable. Wal mart actually let's you keep stealing if they know you are until you hit an amount where they can prosecute you on a felony level. And while 10k seems a little bit generous, that's probably not msrp of the boosters, but rather the cards within them at peak values, and yugioh seems to have a really erratic market. So....while perhaps a bit optomistic, probably possible. Especially if wal mart just keeps letting you do it so they can pop you real good for a felony.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Anyone who knows how much Yugioh cards are worth in comparison to Magic cards knows this is not a fabrication. The average Standard Yugioh deck is $2k, I stole hundreds of boxes worth of product in a two year span hitting multiple stores.
I was fourteen years old, dude. I'm not ashamed because I was a selfish brat with virtually no parental guidance at that age. It was not desperation; to a fourteen year old doing something youre not supposed to do and getting away with it is fun. Regardless, it's behind me.
I'm not bragging at all; it's just THAT easy and kids do this crap every day and get away with it every. single. day. You felt the need to come on here and complain about a few open boosters you found at Barnes and Noble while you've more than likely been in the presence of theft hundreds of times in your life. Right under your nose and even at your LGS. This is a fact of life and people do not simply just stop if they're getting everything for free.
Welcome to reality.
By: ol MISAKA lo
Cockatrice: Infallible
Retail theft is so huge, big box stores dedicate millions of dollars DAILY to loss prevention. It's not just magic cards.
Personal anecdote time -
A close friend of mine works as a warehouse supervisor for an electronics retail store (ie: Best Buy, Future Shop, etc). One of his daily duties is to look in the fridges, freezers, microwaves and washing machine/driers for opened product and record the losses. He never divulged full details, but I had him ballpark what the daily loss to the store was. He estimated somewhere betwen 400-1000 dollars, depending on the day of the week and time of year. Most of the stuff stolen was either small, pocketable stuff (flash drives, earphones), or tv's that the employees were powerless to physically stop the thief from walking out the door with it in his arms. That dude got caught by the cops that afternoon, as the store immediately contacted the local detachment with his description and liscence plate #...but still.
Theft is a regular occurance. It sucks, people suck. But it is not indicative of the Magic community at all.
I am not sure if this is a brag or something but...
I played Yu Gi Oh back in 08, the most expensive Yu Gi Oh deck ever was Tele-DaD, and the most expensive card in that deck is called dark armed dragon(it costs around $800 if I can remember, perfect cycle costs $700, X-sabers costs $500)maybe one of the top tier 1 decks right now is very expensive because of tour guide of the underworld but there is no way a Yu Gi Oh standard deck can cost around 2k.
EDH: Xenagos, God of Revels.
The theft was during tele-dad era.
Tele-Dad was a $2k deck, though. I'm not entirely up to date with Yugioh at the moment but the last I checked a set of TGU's before the reprint, Rabbits, Maxx C's, Zenmaines & Evolzar Dollka was over $1500.
By: ol MISAKA lo
Cockatrice: Infallible