[Ducks_Fan]

For years I have gone to Walmart to buy tins of Upper Deck Series 1 and 2 hockey cards! While the odds are that you'll likely only get a couple young guns cards and maybe a jersey card, I like going through packs to see what I get.

In years past I have pulled some very good Young Guns Cards
Nugent-Hopkins
Eberle
MacKinnon
Gaudreau
And countless others. I'm not always looking for the top end cards but I like the YGs regardless of who they are.

Tonight I went into the local Walmart to grab a tin of 2014-15 Series 1. I had already hit the Gaudreau but I was hoping for an Ekblad or one of the other nice rookies from this year!

I bought my tin and went back home; thankfully only a few minute drive away! The general excitement that I usually have quickly turned to shock and anger!! After removing the oversized card I find all the packs have been opened and discarded. All the was there were base cards, not even in a pack!! I have heard of people doctoring these tins and taking all the good cards and putting them back on shelves. I instantly got back in my car and drove to Walmart to speak to customer service! The assistant manager tried to give me a little bit of a hard time, but I told him I've bought these cards many times here before and I've never seen these! I told him I would just exchange it for another tin and Id be on my way no problems. Well I get back to my car and decide I don't wanna make this trip again, let's check the tin before I leave... And of course to my surprise, all the packs have been opened again and only the base cards and oversized card is in the tin - again not even the wrappers. I storm back into the store and get a new person at customer service! I tell her I've just been in and came across the same problem again! I tell her I'll just exchange it for another one. She tells me to grab another one and open it back at customer service - not a problem at all! But now I've wasted about an hour so I decide im grabbing every single tin that's left (4). I also accidently grab a 2013-14 Series 2 tin. Both have Blackhawks players on them (Kane 13-14, and Toews 14-15) so you can easily see how one would be confused!

I open all 3 of the 14-15 series 1 tins and every one is the same! Been rifled through and resealed but all lose cards no wrappers! At least the 13-14 series 2 had not been opened - and it was $5 cheaper! I took that and the lady gave me a giftcard for the difference in price!

I am completely in shock that someone would do this! I've heard of people resealing packs but why would you reseal a tin and leave lose cards in it? Has anyone else had a similar problem? Do you think this could be the work of an employee?

If there's any silver lining, I have recently decided that I wanted to collect the Young Guns and Ice rookie cards of the Ducks players from this years playoff run and I managed to hit a Rakell so that made my break at least a little enjoyable!

[rayeates]

It is simple... if there is possible money to be made, there will be thieves within. I fully understand your frustration and anger, and agree with you that it is appalling. The only thing that we can do is keep reporting these instances, such as you did, and be diligent with our purchases. There are many people out there that are not collectors that buy/steal cards to solely make money. Unfortunately these people have little to no concern for the true collectors, or the children that want to start.

Sadly it is not up to you to report this theft to the police, as it is Walmart's property that was stolen. Hopefully they see it upon themselves to search their tapes and find the culprit, and press charges. Just keep doing things the way you have been, and being the better person in the situation. It is never a good thing to let the single negative experiences to outweigh the many positive that you have experienced. That way you refrain from letting the thieves win. Best wishes!

Randi

[hckydv7]

I never have run into resealed packs before in my area but have a question. Do the bad guys usually take the product home open the packs, reseal them and then return them to the store for a refund? If so why don't stores stop taking returns on cards. That would take away the crooks incentive to do it.

[Ducks_Fan]

I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I am glad that they did take mine back. I was furious! It really brings up 2 possible questions

A) Was this a walmart employee trying to pull a fast one and got caught? Maybe they thought someone would buy these for their kid and no one would be the wiser? I'm sure their are parents out there who don't collect cards, and when they buy their kids this tin, the kid is happy just to get cards - not knowing they could have had some nice rookies

or

B) Is this an Upper Deck issue? The tins still had their Upper Deck factory seal wrapper on them. Is an employee going through the tins and then sealing them after? It's absolutely ridiculous to go through all the packs and take all the rookies and insert cards.

The moral of the story is, maybe it is time to take my business elsewhere. There is a local card shop that is about the same distance from my home as Walmart. The prices may be a little different but I know what I am buying hasn't been rifled through.

[jaykayzee]

I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I am glad that they did take mine back. I was furious! It really brings up 2 possible questions

A) Was this a walmart employee trying to pull a fast one and got caught?


The moral of the story is, maybe it is time to take my business elsewhere. There is a local card shop that is about the same distance from my home as Walmart. The prices may be a little different but I know what I am buying hasn't been rifled through.

My two cents:

- I don't think it would be an employee. I'm not saying they're all nice people, but they are lucky to find time to eat lunch at a WalMart, let alone mess with product. WalMart also, in my experiences with them, has a core belief that anything wrong in the stores is likely due to emplyees before blaming the customers. That being so, they watch the employees and their habits in the store just as much, if not more, than they do the customers. Believe me, I've had friends and family both work for them, and I could tell stories for days..

- As for buying from a shop because they don't "rifle" though the packs, I've only ever found ONE card shop I trust doesn't rifle through packs, and ALOT that do. I wouldn't depend on a card store being that much more innocent than anywhere else.

If you have a good established relationship with that store, and trust them, that's a rare and great thing. However, I can tell you about a shop I used to do business with, until the day he considered me "cool enough" to start searching boxes right in front of me.

[jonathani]

The words "Wal-Mart" and "rant" often fit together quite well.

[bguzowski16]

Crazy story!!!

[alstott9adams]

That whats killings this hobby

[twoshupirates]

Problems at Walmart?..shocking! Try this... young son believes in Santa and gets an awesome Lego set from him for Christmas. He loves (LOVES!) Legos and is so excited that Santa remembered. He starts to build the set but finds the bag with all the mini figures is missing from the box. Mom and I make up a story about elves making a mistake but he's crushed. A few days later we resolve the issue at the store where we purchased the Legos - yes, it's Walmart - by getting a replacement set of the missing figures from the fourth (FOURTH!) box we opened at the store. Evidently store employees were cutting the boxes open along the seam, taking the mini figures to sell on ebay, regluing the boxes and putting them on the shelves. For that and many other reasons I HATE WALMART.

[ntgsportscards]

Had a similar issue with an OPC blaster box a few years ago (seriously, OPC lol) Got home and all the packs were open and inserts & stars removed. I took it back and they had no idea what to do, but eventually exchanged it. In recent years, they've cut their hockey card section to almost nothing. It's not even worth checking out anymore, which sucks, esp since Target's gone.

I assume the pack searchers and theft had something to do with it sadly. Constantly found open boxes and loose cards all over the place.