lovetoshopCA

Yup. Though my stores always seem to mark them Tuesdays. I have been watching some of those things too. The boys need stuff to occupy them this summer, and I like to stock up.

They marked them down to 30% off here last week, and every store within 15 miles of me (about 10 stores) is sold out. I needed to find 3 today because a couple of tenants have had their furnaces break down completely and need to be replaced. I managed to find 1 at one of the stores, but the rest are all gone. :no:

Never claimed there was anything wrong with the question. That is precisely why I asked her. I was trying to figure out if she came from a cold climate outside the US. In point of fact, she does, Russia. However, aside from flannel sheets, I have never seen Target clearance bedding by weather/season. They pretty much do it twice a year unless something simply isn't selling well. They don't particularly carry a variety based on thickness, etc. It is more based on color and the like. And we were actually talking about kids bedding, primarily. Target really doesn't do much more than color/design on these. Particularly the licensed stuff.

These vary a lot with your area. Places like CA, TX & FL have them year round and don't always clearance the same models. But seems like they usually do a group of them with the patio furniture in July.

Yes, that's what I'm saying. Why is it you think that comforters can only be used in winter? People use them all the time, or at least leave them on the bed during the day and then may only use a sheet or light blanket at night in the summer. I am sure there are still some people who have summer and winter bedding that they change out, but most people I know leave the same ones on year round and simply add or remove blankets underneath it. They separated the girls & boys bedding on opposite aisles in most of our stores, so if you are looking in the same aisle as the boys stuff, that may be why you aren't seeing it. They cleared out the Speed Racer, Spiderman & Hulk stuff because they'll be making room for whatever new licensed bedding is expected to be popular with whatever new movies are coming out.

You're talking about comforters? They sell them year round. There isn't any reason for them to clear them out.

Yeah, if they didn't do the one you wanted this time around, it probably won't be till August that they do them again. They cleared out the stuff that wasn't being carried forward (not selling well, moving on to more popular characters, etc.) already.

Yeah, they look really cool. My kids are too young and we live in too busy an area to trust them on it. And I, sadly, am over the weight limit....

According to Target.com the number is 082-07-0395. This is full price at most stores I have been to. Some stores seemed to clearance it in January, too. So this is really a case of YMMV. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41UjY6y-FqL._AA260_.jpg LOL! If you mean me, believe me, I have done my time in retail hell. I've also done my time as a waitress and now own 2 businesses, so I know about customer service.

Radio Flyer 1st Scooter is full price here also. For anyone in the San Gabriel Valley area looking for one of those electric Razor Scooters that was minty green and for older kids , there is one at 75% off at the Duarte, CA store. It is on a back endcap in sporting goods near the bikes. A great deal at $57.XX for someone who needs it. I simply disagree with you. There are any number of reasons that a store or store manager may choose to do something. However, as a customer, and a business person, I think the arguments for selling it at the lower price rather than making a customer mad are stronger. But there is little doubt that YMMV on the whole thing. What ticks me off is the fact that it IS so arbitrary, and that if the store did a better job keeping on top of things, the problem wouldn't happen in the first place. But, the very fact that local managers have so much autonomy in this regard means that it is silly to upset a customer, particularly a regular customer who spends hundreds or thousands of dollars a month there (that'd be me since I spend a lot of business dollars there). The particular store I had a problem with has an unpleasant manager, which has led to an unpleasant vibe in the entire store. It is sad that upper management is unaware of it, but if you ask customers who shop at several of the local Targets in the area, you will often hear from them that this is the case. So, complaining to the folks at the 800 number is the only way to pass that info up.

You say that as if their inventory wasn't already horribly screwed up! Which it is, or we wouldn't have so much trouble finding those items that are supposed to be in inventory when we call and ask. You are also assuming they salvage it at full retail. If they purchased the item in the same calendar year as it is going for donation, they can't take a tax write-off. If they are getting a credit for it, the manufacturer is simply going to rely on the numbers they provide, and it will not show up when the sell it 999999999 as they almost always do for INF items (which also means it has no impact whatever on their inventory system). Same is true if they wrote it off as "loss." If they are salvaging it to a salvage company, they are getting pennies on the dollar anyway, and unless it is a higher value item (like electronics), they are going to get the same sort of price as they would simply selling it 75%-90% off to the consumer. And they build goodwill with the consumer to boot. So, I stand by the point that it is silly not to sell it to the consumer. Oh, and my point when I called the 800 number was that the manager was nasty, but more importantly, that they need to get their act together and get merchandise off the sales floor if they don't want to sell it. All they do is build ill will with customers by behaving the way she did.

That is funny, as they quite often have brand new items to come up INF. The policy is that someone on Price Change is supposed to first try to determine if it is a system error, an online return, or salvage before they actually make a final decision what to do with it. You all may recall that they had the Butterfly Treehouse toys mis-priced when they came out. They were selling for $3.94 rather than the $14.99 they should have been. Well, after they straightened that out, the manufacturer changed the packaging and the UPC, so the new ones came up INF. I went to buy them and the store was trying to find the price. I was in a hurry, so I had to leave before they could settle on anything. I came back and found a couple in a go-back cart, so I took them to Garden to check out with some plants I was buying, and he just asked me the price and sold to me. I came back a day or two later and they had the red & white striped tags that they use for online returns, and had them for $2.94! I have kept an eye on the product when I shop around, and I saw the old and new packaging on the shelf for full price at a store just yesterday. That kind of thing is probably why there is no hard and fast policy regarding INF items. If it is truly supposed to be salvage they aren't supposed to sell it to you. But a lot of stores will. It is always worth asking, IMHO...

Not according to the store manager at the Eagle Rock, CA store. I got into an argument with her over an INF toy that I found a couple of weeks ago. I was furious with her nasty attitude about it. She got on her high horse when I said that I never have problems buying items like that at other stores. They generally look up the last sold price and sell it for that if it is in the system. She informed me "not at my store. not if they want to keep their job." She was a real witch about it, so I called the 800 number to complain about her. I explained that they were able to find the last sold price in the handheld, and the woman on the 800 number seemed surprised she wouldn't sell it to me. Pretty stupid, especially in this economy. All that said, it is a store by store thing.

Certainly you can have trouble with any cashier. My point is to know your store and look for the most bored looking one if you don't know the people working. In general, I know who will simply ask me the price and who will call a manager for the stores I shop regularly. When you are in a store you don't know you have to develop some sort of method for picking. You will still get it wrong sometimes, but if you are pretty good at reading people, it makes it easier to find the "right" one. I have cruised around a bit longer when I see that the short line is the one with someone who looks new on the job (temporary nametag is often a giveaway, or you see them asking other cashiers questions a lot), or someone who looks crabby. I've always had problems with the crabby, pinched face types. And, as someone pointed out, some stores will give you problems no matter who you choose as it comes down from the main manager there. It really pays to get to know your store well, and to develop a rapport with the people working there.

Absolutely! It is just smart to pick your cashier's wisely to give you a better shot at it.

They really do pull stuff from the shelf. It definitely is not automatically 75% off. Technically, what she did is absolutely correct. Their policy is that they have to check with the PDA, and if a price cannot be found, it goes to the Price Change team. We have all been spoiled by cashiers who just ask us the price. If you KNOW you have one of these items, you should always try to find the cashier who will most likely just ask you rather than try to figure it out. This is often the inexperienced or bored young men (and some women). If they are an eager beaver or an older woman, you are much less likely to get the deal. If an item is not going to be carried again, they generally salvage it, which means it is either donated to a charity or sold to a salvage company. It is often sold to Goodwill or Salvation Army at 75%-90% off for them to resell in their stores. If, however, the item is carried regularly at other stores or will be carried again in another season, they often mark it back to full price. Sometimes it goes back to full price and it isn't obvious why that would be. But it happens. For example, during the recent after Christmas toy clearance, they cleared out the Take Along Thomas toys Hector, Madge, Sir Toppham Hatt's Car and a few others. These are almost all back at full price again. They had been a Target exclusive for a 4 month period, now they are generally available to all retailers who sell those toys, so they came back at full price. Maddening, isn't it?

Sure, but it should not matter. which size were you looking at? And was it Color Wonder, or some other Crayola product. the ones on sale were about 5x7" in size not the 8x11". In any case, these are all getting pulled now. There was a markdown team member cruising the store looking for salvage stuff today at one of my regular stores.

Thanks for the tip on Big Lots. May have to trek up there. Our holiday stuff is always wiped out by 90%, so if I don't hide it, I don't get it for that. I used to have better l luck hiding stuff, but lately seems like they are either checking more or stuff is just getting moved around more...Fortunately, I am generally content to get it at 75% off. FYI, they have cute little wind-up toys in the dollar spot this time. They have historically put the same thing in the mini-seasonal for Easter, so if you are looking for them, that's where they'll be. On the other hand, they are usually $2 in mini-seasonal, and only $1 in Dollar Spot. these make great goodie bag gifts for a wide range of ages.

Right, they may well have those again this year. They are higher to start, but not bad when they get down to 75% or 90%, but you pretty much have to hide them to get them at that price, or get really lucky like I did with the Vday ones. Last year I stopped by one store after things had gone 75% off, and they were bringing out cases and cases of all the toys. it was shocking!

If you don't celebrate the holiday, why would you want Easter-themed things? Other than candy, which tastes the same no matter what it looks like or how it is packaged.

What crayola was ringing up full price? All the Color Wonder from Vday, which are the minis, not the full size, are ringing up 75% off from Burbank to La Verne in SoCal.

Yes, they always have an Easter pack of Hot Wheels. I like the VDay ones for goodie bags because they are more generic. At most the VDay ones tend to be Vday colors and might have hearts. But the Easter ones usually have bunnies & eggs on them. The Easter packs always look a bit more like the standard mulitpacks of Hot Wheels, too. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YICHKWJzL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/ac/c0/b39a225b9da078a19ad87110.L.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZYZTbnVUL._SL500_AA280_.jpg Didn't notice the MLP

You should add your location to your profile so we know where those 4-5 are.... I saw one of those yesterday, and would have loved to get it. Unfortunately, it was in the hands of one of the markdown team....She got it before anyone came in the store, because I was one of the first 3 people to walk into the store, and she was walking toward the front when I got to the toy department, which is clear in the farthest corner of the store. Bummer....

Take Along all works together and has die-cast metal trains and plastic tracks. The plastic sets are Trackmaster and completely separate. They have larger trains that are battery operated. I really was surprised to find the Hot Wheels. I have not seen any more, but just happened to see the case sitting in a cart. That really was lucky. Last year I had hidden several to get them as goodie bag gifts. This year I didn't bother because I knew I was traveling and would probably be stuck without getting anything. Yes, these are the ones that went 75%.