[kerryandbeth]

The saddest thing is I can picture some guy over 50 thinking he deserves it.

[bamyanks]

I would say the 1st one is most likely. I have had that happen before, and if you look carefully at the cellophane/plastic wrapper around the box there is usually a tell tale sign of either tape (typically double sided), a sticker covering of the original hole, or re-shrinking wrapping (hard to tell as you have to compare it to another box from the same company).

I have never hear of Walmart or Target employees putting loose packs into empty boxes and then resealing them.

I had a problem like this oh, about 6 weeks ago. I had bought a handful of Topps packs, and in some of the packs were 2016 Topps, some 2016 Update cards. To make a long story short, I called topps to complain, and CS guy told me that usually they tell the customer to talk to the store director of the store where you bought them, as Topps give all the big chains authority to make it right with the customer. He said one store by name, Wal-Mart of course.

So my big point is: Don't call Topps, talk to the store director and see what he will do for you. Of course I AM assuming you have the receipt, the empty packs, the cards, etc. etc. etc.

[DrMitchJ]

that was a first for me. I guess I need to be more observant in the future. I was just so excited to find Bowman Platinum. I took it back to Wal Mart and they refunded my money, so all is good.

I made it a habit at Wally World to buy my cards at the customer service desk, open it in front of them prior to leaving ever since I was burned a few times. It's nice to hear they refunded you, but they could very well reseal and replace the box on the shelf and resell it to the next unsuspecting collector. I'd insist they trash the box.

---

The saddest thing is I can picture some guy over 50 thinking he deserves it.

Why some guy over 50?
Why not some young dude that thinks HE deserves it?
Or some woman?
Stupidity and greed and crime and 'feeling entitled' have no age or sex preference.

[kerryandbeth]

Why some guy over 50?
Why not some young dude that thinks HE deserves it?
Or some woman?
Stupidity and greed and crime and 'feeling entitled' have no age or sex preference.

Well, I am over 50 and I know people in my age group that think they are entitled to free stuff. My daughter works at a brand restaurant and those that walk out without paying or expect free food are the majority over 50. Also, young people just find a way to steal as they don't think about the repercussions that can happen. Finally, in my local Target and WalMart it is always the older guys "lurking" in the sports card aisles, picking up packs, comparing thickness, weight, etc.

Nothing personal to anybody in that age group...

[djohn]

Well, I am over 50 and I know people in my age group that think they are entitled to free stuff. My daughter works at a brand restaurant and those that walk out without paying or expect free food are the majority over 50. Also, young people just find a way to steal as they don't think about the repercussions that can happen. Finally, in my local Target and WalMart it is always the older guys "lurking" in the sports card aisles, picking up packs, comparing thickness, weight, etc.

Nothing personal to anybody in that age group...

What's funny is by me I see the exact opposite. The collectors over 50 are usually very nice and easy to deal with. I don't think I have ever seen someone over 50 pack searching. However the younger collectors, typically teens to 20s, are the ones I see pack searching and have bad attitudes about it. I confronted one once and they told me that it was their "right" to be able to pack search.

[rjcj2017]

It's happened to me twice, and both times I got my money back.

I hate pack searchers.

I openly bash them to their faces when I see them - like, "wow, you are a total doosh bag, does your mother charge you rent to live in her basement?" - and they do nothing about it, except some squirrely little excuse like, "we all have the same chance at it, maaaannn."

I always tell security, and security is always like, "we can't do anything unless they are opening the packs," to which I reply, "would you like me to grab a loaf of bread or a bag of chips and show you what they do to the cards?"

Anyway, I hope karma comes back to eradicate all of them.

[djohn]

I always tell security, and security is always like, "we can't do anything unless they are opening the packs," to which I reply, "would you like me to grab a loaf of bread or a bag of chips and show you what they do to the cards?"

I have used the same comparison to a loaf of bread and bag of chips before. The pack searchers I have encountered all claim that they aren't damaging the cards. But it's pretty obvious with the way they manipulate the cards with their fingernails that they aren't worrying about damaging the base cards.

[rjcj2017]

I have used the same comparison to a loaf of bread and bag of chips before. The pack searchers I have encountered all claim that they aren't damaging the cards. But it's pretty obvious with the way they manipulate the cards with their fingernails that they aren't worrying about damaging the base cards.

The funniest thing to me is, I can tell when all the loose packs have been searched.

They are usually left stacked in front of the open boxes or gravity hangers, and the idiot(s) in my area who do the pack searching always fan the cards out vertically inside the pack.

Exactly what in the hell are they trying to determine?

Especially, say, with a pack of Optic (any sport) ... there are four cards in there ... no jersey cards in the set ... what can you honestly determine by fanning them out?

Autos? Inserts? Die-Cuts?

And you know they're running their greasy, Cheeto-encrusted, overgrown, dirty fingernails along the edge of the cards in every pack.

I almost never buy loose packs any more.

Although, one time, I just needed some base cards for my Prestige basketball set, so I bought the last 13 packs of obviously searched packs and pulled this:





Like I said at the time, eat it, pack searchers!