Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: How to Shop Target
Target is a nice place to shop. The stores are bright, clean and you rarely have to wait very long in line. Most of their employees seem eager to help.
They even have scanners set up so you can actually search not only the store inventory but where it in the store and if they have more in the stockroom.
Just go up to one and punch in the DPCI number. Target does not use the UPC bar code numbers (kind of defeating the UNIVERSAL part of Universal Product Code).
Then ENTER and you will get this. In this case, it does not look good as it shows no Aisle info (normally something like A29) and NONE in the stockroom.
However, NOT all is lost. Feel free to ask the store clerk who is holding a scanning gun. Not only does their gun show more info but they can actually look up the inventory of the stores in the area.
HOWEVER, keep this mind. Unlike a UPC which is assigned to every product, Target likes to lump items together … this might not mean as much if they are out of Lavender Tide but if you’re looking for a Hauler, MOOD SPRINGS is the EXACT SAME DPCI number as TRUNK FRESH and the same as MACK. Or as online Target CARS shoppers are finding out …
So, with a new release, it’s generally okay since everything is what you want (like the Christmas singles) but with re-releases or ongoing series, it’s not a huge help as the 20 they have in stock might be Radiator Springs McQueen.
However, Target does want to help. You can actually type in the DPCI at Target.com and when it brings up the search, you can select FIND IT AT STORE and it will give you inventory levels like the scanners above without leaving your house.
Or their new iPhone APP which will do pretty much the same thing … (covered in this post).
As you can see, it’s supposed to be in Aisle 38 and they are out. But I can tap on FIND IT AT ANOTHER STORE …
The next step is to call to each store and ask for DPCI ____________. Your service will vary. Some who answer will tell you not much more than what you already know but others will do a backroom search which has more updated INVENTORY INFO than on the wall scanner which is linked to the web/iPhone. AND if if it’s in a nearby offsite storage location – they can offer to pull it for you. If you don’t like the answer, wait for another shift and call back. Target for the most part will go and get it to sell it to you.
And you have one last resort that they recommend …
“You can also contact Target Guest Relations at 1-800-440-0680 (select Option #5 for store merchandise) and we’ll be happy to look up this inventory at your local Target store.”
So, remember, escalate in this order 🙂
Wall Scanner-iPhone-Web Look Up
Clerk with Scanning Gun
Customer Service Desk
1-800 Number
But be polite.
Good luck.
And if you enjoy exploding red dot animation – here’s one of Target’s spread across America from the 1960’s …
You can find it HERE.
| « Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: Lenticular 1.0, Lenticular 2.0 & Final Lap Checklist | Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: Sir Richard Clayton Kensington, I Presume » |
9 December 2009
37 Comments
Target.com has No Stall hauler right now ready to order.
Target Stores here up north are THE WORST to shop.
The stores have signs posted “do NOT ask employees to search stockroom for particular product”.
The few stores that have working scanners rarely have any extra stock available in back.
Target is the only store that I have witnessed employees actually going out of there way to NOT sell products (esp. any sort of collectibles) to customers!?!
What’s up Doc? I see you everywhere on every page! Going for some kind of a record here! Oh ya, by the way, “Merry Christmas”! 🙂
Had the same experience in my local Target. Used the scanners and found haulers in the stockroom. Talked to a nice “new” employee who punched the DCPI on her handheld. Yep 38 haulers in the stockroom. Im looking for Sidewall Shine, I said. She said hold on I”ll check. Thats when the Grinch came out and said “Target policy we won’t open boxes in the stockroom.” AGHHHHHHHHH I hate Target, but I need CARS.
I know I did the math: 6 haulers per case, 6 cases total 36. Where did the 2 extra come from.
yea too bad i had to hide the haulers on the shlef for them to bring out more and they brought out 6 in there hand not in the box with contents that i know are not in any case which means either they are taking the new ones like sidewal or just not bringing it out to me
Anyone else ever experience this?
EVERY scanner in the store has all of the numbered buttons pushed so far in that the unit is rendered inoperable for manual entry, only able to scan a bar code?
We had that experience last weekend. No doubt that someone intentionally jammed the buttons in on all of those scanners. 🙁
The Target in Tinley Park, Illinois has 3 or 4 scanners with missing buttons altogether OR the entire keypad is pushed back into the frame so far that you can’t use them without a nailset and a good hammer.
(MET: There’s one scanner near toys where the 8 does not work – makes punching in CARS toys kind of difficult).
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I even tried a pen, but pushing the numbered button would cause the WRONG number to display!
Man, you’re really putting the miles on to find the new stuff!!! 😉
Someday I plan on taking a year off to visit every Target in the nation!
That church bus is still for sale down the road! Can I tag along? We can pick up others along the way. 😉
Is it painted like the Partridge Family bus?
I figured that we’d paint it to match the Sidewall Shine Hauler! 🙂
Better yet, Vinyl Toupee!!!
Met, one of the scanners in Tinley Park, IL had no 7 which is twice as worse as yours with no 8. 🙂
Every time I give an employee a number, they suspiciously ask “Where did you get this number?” That’s classified. 😉
Funny! Just tell them the DPCI # is listed on target.com and showed availability at that particular store.
Then politely demand that they do their job and retrieve those damn Cars from the backroom already – rather than protect them from all of us “evil toy collectors” who actually want to buy them and take them home for our kids!! 🙂
Isn’t that the truth! I had one employee that went to the stockroom and brought out the box, but wouldn’t let me look in it and was not going to put them on the shelf, she just said tell me which one you are looking for and I will tell you if it is in here? I just said WOW! (and a few other words to myself!)
(MET: That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard. Does a giant mallet fall from the ceiling if you guess wrong? Or do you et to slap her when you say a CAR they don’t have? Weird).
Amazing how some people with little authority over anything real will grasp tightly to what little control they think they have! I guess they see the desperation in our eyes and milk every drop of power out of those obnoxious red Target shirts they can get.
I was seriously beginning to question what kind of twisted logic the toy department employees were being hypnotized with last month when the the Mater Saves Christmas sets were starting to arrive. For well over a week the set showed “available” in the scanner but was trapped in some mythical holding area and they were unable to retrieve them. It started to feel as if they were holding the Cars captive in the backroom and were more content to keep them in storage than sell them to desperate Cars-addicted consumers such as myself 😉
Just tell the employee “It’s right in front of your face on the price tag silly goose!”
That should get them running back to the stock room for you.
🙂
I would like a webcam aimed at the Disney Pixar Cars shelf! Actually, one day I saw a post here on Take5ADay and recognized that it was undeniably my Walmart. Not only that, but I saw a car on the shelf that I “needed”. By the time I got there (5 minutes away), it was gone. But yes, a webcam pointing at the Target Cars shelf would be nice.
I am also frustrated by the pegwarmers, but “tis the season” – let’s all try to buy a bunch of pegwarmers and drop them in a Toys for Tots box – kids going through hard times get toys, we clear the shelves, new product can come in – everyone wins!
That’s actually a pretty good idea…. Hopefully it can catch on.
Way ahead of you there, Batman!
Footballs, dolls, Tonkas, puzzles, a few other things, AND CARS are on their way to new homes. 🙂
Wow, the exploding red dot animation reminds me of the movie War Games at the end when WOPR/Joshua is running through all the WWIII simulations. Watch SoCal when it gets to 1984-1986. It is creepy when you watch it thinking about that.
The exploding red dots remind me of Missile Command.
Good one! 🙂
How about “THE END” screen when you finally lose!
I never lose, what are you talking about??? 😉
Yes, that’s the first thing that came to my mind too!
Has anyone ever typied in the DCPI code in the scanner and it say that they had “In Stockroom”? I have yet to.
I believe the older scanners with the vertical push buttons on the right side will only tell you the item location in the store, the price, and simply whether or not there is more in the backroom. The newer touch screen scanners tell you all that plus allow you to check the availability of nearby stores as well.
Yes, several times. Then I ask stock person to check in back. That’s how I got the Final Lap A & Christmas Pack CARS.
Too many times to count!
Target scanner are WONDERFUL … if they are the newer style. There are a few near us that have the OLDER style. They do not give you the stockroom information.
I just hope they start getting more of the newer stuff around my area. ALL of the newer things others are finding in their Targets are NOT getting here because the pegs are still sooooooo full of old stuff. I thought the Christmas push might lighten the load on the older things, and it has been …. but not quick enough for me!!
There’s always tomorrow!! 🙂
Some NJ Targets are less willing to go into the back to get product…
Apparently there were some issues with employees going into the back to get product… a few were fired from one store last week for giving out… Zhu Zhu Pets to friends from the storeroom.
I visited 3 Targets yesterday and only 1 would go into the back to check for me… the others were pleasant, but told me to check tomorrow. But alas, it is pouring rain today and I do not want to bring out the baby in this…
I did find Dexter Hoover on the shelves yesterday… no Antonio though. ANd the 1 store to check the storeroom for me??? Case A Final Lap… Oh well… search continues.
Don’t be surprised if there is a week or 2 period here where some Targets are gunshy to go into the storeroom for you. Usually when there is a mass firing at a store there is a ripple effect of fear through the other nearby stores. Will probably pass though…
I just used this strategery today to finally score Antonio Veloce. All of the employees I talked to were luckily really helpfull. My local target was out of final lap cars. But after the employee scanned the price tag, I was told a nearby target had 26 in stock. I assumed a full case. I showed up and was told they only had 2 in the stock room…Not two cases…but two cars. Weird. Anyway, the employee brought out a LMQ and an Antonio Veloce. Sweet! I found a defaced Dexter Hoover (torn card variant) at Target a few weeks ago, so now I can take a break for a couple of weeks! Oh wait… I forgot about the $50 that I owe taget in the next few weeks between RPM, No Stall, Sidewall, and Mood Springs…nevermind.
I think Target’s scanners are great. I use them all the time. Getting the DPCI #’s here on Take 5 really helps 🙂