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[US] Walmart - 4204 City Mine $39.97

13

Comments

  • dragonhawkdragonhawk USMember Posts: 633
    ^^Yeah I did not have any luck at TRU either. The Targets and Walmarts around me are out of The Mine.

    ^I do not think the number is that high. It is a sizeable sets, I am sure it is not available in every Walmart. Either way, I agree with the good will part.
  • scotty12scotty12 United States, IowaMember Posts: 721
    Forgot to mention earlier when I posted...the 1 Walmart had the Mine, Vampire Castle and Creator SeaSide House on the end caps...obviously the Mines sold...but they had the Vampire Castle & SeaSide House "red tagged" in the Lego isle...still regular price ($99 & $49)...yes I scanned, but it means once it's gone, it's gone. Hopefully someday they'll be discounted.
  • AmberylAmberyl Member Posts: 193
    And there's a good chance that anyone who did snag the set bought other stuff from Walmart that they wouldn't have, anyway. Grab a soda and a candy bar at the checkout, or whatever.
  • jocappyjocappy Member Posts: 207
    Fred Meyer stores are flooded with these sets. I got 1 from WM so didn't ask them to match.
  • ZemataZemata Member Posts: 4
    TRU matched mine when I brought the ad to their store. Excellent deal I couldn't pass. Thanks for posting!
  • Russell844Russell844 California, USAMember Posts: 1,991
    Man, I just want to find one in my area. No luck at all so far.
  • gmpirategmpirate Member Posts: 1,654
    ^ post your area and maybe someone can help :)
  • Russell844Russell844 California, USAMember Posts: 1,991
    San Jose, CA. According to their website, all the Walmarts in my area are sold out. I would have to go to Salinas. I am going to try pricematching at Target/TRU tonight and hope for the best.
  • turtle1173turtle1173 Member Posts: 230
    Was glad to pick one up at my Walmart this morning. Looks like a fun set.

    Has anyone modded the set to accommodate a regular train track? I would think that would be a cool thing to have the mine on a side line of the track.
  • JenniJenni JapanMember Posts: 1,390
    @russell844 I found one today at one of the stores the website said was sold out. I don't trust it.
  • Little3piggiesLittle3piggies Member Posts: 40
    Scotty, those red tags could also just be a lazy employee running out of shelf tags and not wanting to bother getting more yellow! :-)
  • murroughmurrough Member Posts: 59
    @russell844 I was able to pick up a couple at two different Walmarts that both said they were sold out online, I am with Jenni you cannot trust the webpage.
  • Russell844Russell844 California, USAMember Posts: 1,991
    Yesterday I did physically drive to four stores to find nothing. I just called another that said "limited stock" but they don't have any either.
  • jadeirenejadeirene US, CaliforniaMember Posts: 475
    @Russell844 - I have one for you if you're still looking. I haven't found any at Walmart or Target, but I was able to get TRU to price match two of them.
  • andystarandystar Member Posts: 275
    For those who haven't found one, some fellow brickset members are offering them to others at cost in the following thread:

    bricksetforum.com/discussion/7249/wanted-lego-city-the-mine-4204#latest
  • JenniJenni JapanMember Posts: 1,390
    @russell844 well that completely sucks. I'm sorry. I don't think I'd bother either but didn't want the completely inaccurate website to make you miss out. Good luck price matching and if you don't find one and can't get one from someone else let me know, I've been to 6 walmarts so far but there may be one left at another.
  • BrickarmorBrickarmor USAMember Posts: 1,257
    ^Yes I was thinking that since this snafu or whatever it is has everyone feeling so gregarious, there should be yet another thread for people who have one (or two, or...) for sale at cost plus ship. It really gets lost between this thread (the "Found") and the other ("Wanted") as to who has what for whom and how much and who's still looking. Call it the "Available" thread: so and so posts what they have, folks send PM without additional forum messages, so and so posts when sold, nice and tidy. But yes, it may be redundant: people looking could post in the "Wanted" thread if they are still or no longer looking.
  • cwhlscwhls Member Posts: 11
    Happy to see so many were able to get a set! Sounds like there will be many happy kids and adults this Christmas (or sooner!)!
  • Russell844Russell844 California, USAMember Posts: 1,991
    @jadeirene I appreciate it and I will take you up on that! Thanks! Maybe we can work your two Marvel polybags into the deal. :)
  • gmpirategmpirate Member Posts: 1,654
    Just an FYI that TRU has a corporate memo out to all the stores that they will not be honoring the ad on account of misprint.
  • BrickDancerBrickDancer Dunes of TatooineMember Posts: 3,639
    ^Brickset Effect?
  • BrickarmorBrickarmor USAMember Posts: 1,257
    ^^Good thing I went yesterday!
  • jadedancjadedanc USAMember Posts: 1,303
    So do we know for certain that it was a misprint with Wm or is this TRU's excuse to not match?
  • ColoradoBricksColoradoBricks Denver, CO, USAMember Posts: 1,669
    At my local walmart (and probably all of them), they have a board with the flyer and any corrections to it. The mine set is not in the list of corrections and they have restocked at least once.
  • DavidBrickleyDavidBrickley Richmond, VAMember Posts: 345
    may not be the brickset effect, could easily be the SlickDeals effect.

    I was able to pick one up yesterday, and another this morning at the same store. I figured I'd give someone else a chance to get the other one...24 hours later, no one grabbed it.
  • DeckerDecker Member Posts: 65
    I have hit up 7 Walmarts in the past 2 days and have come up empty handed. None of the stores in my area even have a shelf location for the set. Bummer. I had no intention of clearing them out or anything crazy like that.... I just wanted to pick up 1 for my City display.
  • cbaker1974cbaker1974 Member Posts: 150
    So...this is a bit of a conspiracy theory, but wonder if Walmart might be doing this to call out TRU and Target's hand on price-matching, since both of them announced new price matching initiatives in the recent months.

    TRU announces a price match policy, and on the first real major opportunity for customers they get turned away - leaves a bad experience for the customer and they are less likely to try the "hassle" of more price matching.

    It could be some one-upmanship by Walmart, or just wild thinking :)
  • ludzikludzik US (SoCal)Member Posts: 430
    Watch out for the dark choppers.... they're watching your every move...
  • dragonhawkdragonhawk USMember Posts: 633
    @Decker you could actually check availability at Walmart.com before going to physical stores. At least you can cross the ones with "Not available in stock" from your visit list
  • BrickDancerBrickDancer Dunes of TatooineMember Posts: 3,639
    edited October 2012
    cbaker1974 said:

    So...this is a bit of a conspiracy theory, but wonder if Walmart might be doing this to call out TRU and Target's hand on price-matching, since both of them announced new price matching initiatives in the recent months.

    TRU announces a price match policy, and on the first real major opportunity for customers they get turned away - leaves a bad experience for the customer and they are less likely to try the "hassle" of more price matching.

    It could be some one-upmanship by Walmart, or just wild thinking :)

    If this is true (big conspiratorial IF), I would like to shake the hand of Walmart's Marketing Director. That would be one swift and ingenious move to make an example of a competitor's big strategic decision on Day 1. Makes Target and TRU think twice, while burning a few early adopters of the policy to spread the word. Touche Mr. Wally, touche...
  • nkx1nkx1 Member Posts: 719
    edited October 2012
    ^Interesting; I agree, a great strategy IF that was the intended plan. Although, I think I would have attempted the move on a more common set, or perhaps a more common product altogether.

    I have to say, if I was turned down at TRU because they claim it was a Walmart price mistake, I would probably be less inclined to shop at TRU- there has been no real evidence I've seen that would substantiate there being a price mistake on the set.
  • gmpirategmpirate Member Posts: 1,654
    I only hit the TRU because it was next to Target, otherwise I would normally not bother with them. So now I am just more resolved not to mess with TRU. If I get lucky online with their BOGO's great, but other that that forget it.

    I mentioned it earlier in the thread that's its a great move by Walmart if they did it on purpose. I doubt it, but funny none the less.

  • gmpirategmpirate Member Posts: 1,654
    Decker said:

    I have hit up 7 Walmarts in the past 2 days and have come up empty handed. None of the stores in my area even have a shelf location for the set. Bummer. I had no intention of clearing them out or anything crazy like that.... I just wanted to pick up 1 for my City display.

    No Targets in your area at all?

    FYI on Target. If you plan to go to more than one, get extra flyers as Target "sometimes" limits purchases and confiscates flyers. Its completely random and up to the whim on the person there at the time. And there is a sign on the wall stating they may limit purchases in general.
  • scotty12scotty12 United States, IowaMember Posts: 721
    dragonhawk said:

    @Decker you could actually check availability at Walmart.com before going to physical stores. At least you can cross the ones with "Not available in stock" from your visit list

    I tried that Sunday night when I heard about the deal. I franticly searched the WM website for "availability" at over 10 stores within an hour and all said "out of stock." So when I got up Monday morning and went to my local WM....there was 1 sitting on the shelve. The website might help...sometimes...but it's an inexact science.
  • AmberylAmberyl Member Posts: 193
    Walmart's app indicates when the info was last updated. At least for my local stores, it seems that stores sync their inventory info once per week.
  • chuckpchuckp NYMember Posts: 684
    Has anyone had any recent success finding these? I didn't see the post until now and I checked about 20+ Walmarts online and they are all OOS. Any chance that Walmart is now pulling these until after the 27th?
  • nkx1nkx1 Member Posts: 719
    ^Wow, I didn't know that. If most stores are like your local stores, the stock info is relatively useless for any remotely popular item.
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas TexasMember Posts: 8,409
    nkx1 said:

    ^Wow, I didn't know that. If most stores are like your local stores, the stock info is relatively useless for any remotely popular item.

    Walmart has not yet figured out this whole "online thing".

    Until they do, they are no threat to Amazon. The idea of realtime stock should be obvious, but it seems they haven't done this yet. Walmart has "warehouses" next to almost everyone in the USA, you'd think they could use that to great effect to crush Amazon.

    Not yet... :)
  • HothgarHothgar Member Posts: 25
    Chuckp, if you are in the DFW metro area, the stock is right
  • nkx1nkx1 Member Posts: 719
    edited October 2012
    LegoFanTexas said:

    Walmart has not yet figured out this whole "online thing".

    Until they do, they are no threat to Amazon. The idea of realtime stock should be obvious, but it seems they haven't done this yet. Walmart has "warehouses" next to almost everyone in the USA, you'd think they could use that to great effect to crush Amazon.

    Not yet... :)

    It doesn't seem like it would cost much to reprogram the existing inventory system to update instantly, or even hourly. I wonder if this works to their advantage, since people like me would check the website for stock (such as the City Mine) and then drive to the store for the item. If the item isn't there, maybe their hope is that I'll buy something else (which is never the case, at least with me).

    Let's hope they don't figure out the "online thing" and crush the competition too soon, since we all know less competition = higher prices.
  • dragonhawkdragonhawk USMember Posts: 633
    ^^ It differs from store to store. A couple of stores near me are pretty accurate when the others rarely update the online availability.

    With the number of stores and items they sell, it is most likely cost prohibitive to manage and keep track their stock in real time. Imagine the amount of data that needs to go back and forwards between the stores and the main distribution servers to do the tracking alone. The system upgrades at each store needs to be accounted too. It can be done, but I bet the cost / benefit analysis puts this near the bottom of their list of improvements.

  • gmpirategmpirate Member Posts: 1,654
    I don't think Walmart could ever be as accurate as a business such as Amazon. Amazon has a controlled environment while Walmarts have thousands of random people sifting through their inventory every day. Theft, damage, picking errors and lost items are a constant factor. Their software is real time but because of all these variables to factor in the results will be inaccurate. In my experience, the results on the websites of these retail chains are mostly accurate. It's just very frustrating when they are not and that's what we will hear about here.

    Also consider hot products that people (like us ) are scurrying to get. If a store lists something as "available" sometimes you just miss them. This past week alone, I had a couple different associates tell me someone had called ahead to have them hold an item for them. Therefore it still lists as available but hasn't actually sold yet. Always ask if the shelf is empty.
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas TexasMember Posts: 8,409
    ^ That is all true...

    But what I'm more thinking of is instead of "site-to-store" pickup, more have the entire inventory of every store online, you can do all your shopping online, order the stuff, someone goes and picks everything and the order is waiting for you at customer service when you arrive.

    Or for a small fee, they can deliver it all to you.

    It has been tried before by third party companies, but it really has to be done by the retailer itself to work, there is no margin for a third party company, but Walmart is big enough they could do it if they wanted.

    A large percentage of the population does not want to walk around a Walmart, but many of them would shop online and have items at customer service waiting or delivered to home for a modest fee.

    Amazon is cheap, but some items are simply cheaper at Walmart. If you need plastic clothes hangers for example, that is a Walmart item. There are many other such items.

    As Amazon builds out warehouses, they are going to end up offering 1 day delivery to most of America. That is a threat to Walmart.
  • AmberylAmberyl Member Posts: 193
    Every item that is delivered to a Walmart and sold at the cash register should be tracked, which should allow real-time inventory. There are losses from breakage and theft, as well as items being shifted around and not on the shelf, but at the very least the inventory *should* be accurate save for those small number of exceptions.

    There are retailers, like 7-11, who do keep a real-time inventory of items. This is what allows them to do just-in-time stocking.
  • BanditBandit Member Posts: 890
    ^ As it's been said, they *do* do this. When I buy clearance sets at the walmarts around here, and get the last one on the shelf, the online inventory always updates to 'out of stock' within a short period of time.
  • wagnerml2wagnerml2 Belleville, IllinoisMember Posts: 1,376
    I am in the St. Louis area and most of the WM stores either sold out or pulled their stock. I found 2 stores with them in stock, but they are insisting on 89.99 and will not honor the flier price. Anyone in STL or anywhere else had similar experiences?
  • AmberylAmberyl Member Posts: 193
    Interesting, @Bandit. Not universal to all Walmarts, then.
  • mathewmathew Member Posts: 2,098
    ^^ I found two at the Walmart off of Jungerman road in St. Charles. That was Sunday morning. Rang up at $39.
  • gmpirategmpirate Member Posts: 1,654
    Walmart Site-to-Store:

    I would say this. You can't be all things to all people. Maybe Amazon is the direction of things (I certainly buy much more online now) and Walmart will "have" to reinvent themselves. But every business has a culture where they are used to doing things a certain way, within a certain time frame. So to one day say "hey, were going to take online orders and immediately fill them" is a big change. Everything they do now is on a set schedule.

    I think we see it all the time where businesses try to do too much where once they were really efficient at a "few" things and now they are mediocre at "many" things. How many times have you walked into a restaurant and looked at a 20 page menu. There's no way "everything" will be good and more times than not, "all" of it will be very mediocre.

    Also, we still have the problem of someone ordering online and staff goes to fill the order and can't find it. And who wants to order online and get the message "we will confirm inventory in 30 minutes"?? We want to order and forget, right? So, you say online purchases only apply to inventory in the back? Can't pull it to front unless its checked off inventory? I can think of a lot of ways this will still get messed up with people not following what they should be doing.
  • psychopuppetpsychopuppet Member Posts: 71
    Just picked one up today for the $39.97. Had to run a little out of my way, but Target was out of stock and TRU of course would not PM. Tempted to take the reciept back to TRU since the woman kept saying after I left Walmart would not honor it.
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