Where did the Advent calendars go?

[meyerc13]

Best you can do is turn them in to customer service so they don't get shelved again for an unsuspecting parent.

Good luck with that. The place I've seen this type of theft the most often is Wal Mart, and I've tried turning the sets into Customer Service only to have them show up on the shelves again the next day. The worst example was non-LEGO, a GI Joe set with a clear plastic front had the action figures swapped out with figures that clearly weren't GI Joe figures and clearly didn't fit into the plastic bubble meant to hold them in place in the package. It amazed me that customer service took that set in return, amazed me more that it ended up on the shelves, and left me speechless that they put it back on the shelf after I specifically educated several employees on what had happened.

[JGW3000]

This isn't a forum for social welfare issues, but employees at Walmart, etc... are struggling to get by in life as it is, they do just what they are told and that is it, even if they see something wrong, they don't want to get the blame - low pay, low expectations. I see this all over, Home Depot, Target, etc... I always carefully inspect everything I buy that comes in sealed packages, and never buy used off of the internet unless the contents are clearly displayed. The cost of this loss, to the store at least, is part of their overhead, and is just another cost of doing business - cheaper to please the customer than to solve the problem. LEGO needs to improve the sealing of their packages to help minimize this.

[Brandon Miller]

Little update on my situation. The Bricklink seller was super to deal with and sent some stuff to make up for the missing mini figures. I got on Lego online just to see if they would replace all of the minifigures and accessories, and it took a few days, but they are replacing all of the missing pieces.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

I wonder if we'll start seeing returns kick in. I just found five Friends calendars at half price. They're still hot on eBay, but not as hot as a few days ago.

[meyerc13]

As my five year old daughter said to the Barnes and Noble employee last night, "Why are you still selling advent calendars? Don't you know that today is December 10th?" The B&N employee was so amazed that my daughter figured that out on her own that I heard her telling the next customer about what my daughter said and how smart she is for a five year old.

I sometimes wonder if retailers understand the concept of advent calendars. They really should start putting clearance prices on these right after black friday to move the additional stock, but all too often they try to sell them at full price through Christmas, which makes no sense.

It seems that the 'resellers' (I refrain from using the words I'd rather use to desribe them), figured this concept out and are now returning their unsold stock - thus messing us all up next year when retailers skew their orders based on the large number of returns. This helps the 'reseller's' business model but certainly doesn't help the retailers or consumers.

Just a reminder, if you buy an advent calendar now, pop the seals and make sure that all the figures are there. Unfortunately all too often those who can rationalize cornering the market by buying up all available stock to make a profit, can also rationalize taking the minifigs out before returning the sets... after all, it's the retailers fault for not checking the item before taking the return.

[kibosh]

I have to say, this year's Star Wars advent calendar is a major disappointment. WAY too much prequel stuff. Really glad I got it for $18...