Great Britain & Northern Ireland Finds (Part 1)

[cac1959]

Great finds, pirelliboy... 4 more Cars I need (5 if you count Edwin Kranks on the 2013 cardback)

[VANDANCE]

I missed out on the fresh cases in Sainsbury's. The red tub was empty last Thursday so I checked with Customer Services for news of a delivery. They advised there were none expected or in stock. I didn't believe them so I passed by again after work on Friday and fainted with disbelief! Almost the entire case had been sold! Just Edwin and Francesco left. Felt gutted as I had been checking this store every day for a week looking for the new mix. But kahma comes around and today I got to look through 2 cases in Morrisons. They were older cases but aboslute beauties, so I brought home these little guys. Pleased to have a uni-Kabuto and race offical who I missed last time round. Good news, Rip will be up for trade later


Carsfinds3.6.13.jpg

[yuffie]

great catch from morrisons - i still can't believe i managed to find an almost complete case there including rip - only missing kabuto

was it a bristol sainsbury's that stitched you up?

[MrBrownstone]

Kimura Kaizo, Funny Car Mater and The Queen are Ł4.50 in Fenwicks...

Shame I already have them all...

[VANDANCE]

great catch from morrisons - i still can't believe i managed to find an almost complete case there including rip - only missing kabuto

was it a bristol sainsbury's that stitched you up?

Naa, It was Sainsbury's in Weston with the duff info. It's a smallish store but the timing couldn't have been worse for me. It was half term last week so they were put out Thursday after 5.30 and in less than 24 hours nearly all of the cars had gone!

[Junior]

I asked at Sainsburys in Prestwick today and they said they were not expecting any new cars stock in but said they don't get any say on what stuff comes in everything is controlled and sent by London. surely this cant be right?

[niftynigel]

Junior -

I think they are having you on. They just want to be seen to passing the buck, just in case the customer asks awkward questions that need an answer. In the old days before 'customer service departments' it was called good 'customer service'! It's what we Brits expected and were famous for! Now, the younger generations ... serving customers - that's the last thing in their minds! Thankfully, they are not all the same, but that's the direction we are heading!

Sure, with modern day stock control, some bean counters at HQ will be keeping tabs on what happens nationally, but the local store manager will know better than anyone what's best for the local market.

[jonj]

Junior -

I think they are having you on. They just want to be seen to passing the buck, just in case the customer asks awkward questions that need an answer. In the old days before 'customer service departments' it was called good 'customer service'! It's what we Brits expected and were famous for! Now, the younger generations ... serving customers - that's the last thing in their minds! Thankfully, they are not all the same, but that's the direction we are heading!

Sure, with modern day stock control, some bean counters at HQ will be keeping tabs on what happens nationally, but the local store manager will know better than anyone what's best for the local market.

Nigel what junior received sounds like good customer service as the information he received was pretty much spot on,

[jonj]

I asked at Sainsburys in Prestwick today and they said they were not expecting any new cars stock in but said they don't get any say on what stuff comes in everything is controlled and sent by London. surely this cant be right?

This info is correct junior, all toys and general merchandise products come from the central distribution centre, not quite London though, any product in a v10 sub cat which all toys are, no orders are able to be placed on these products and are sent in centrally regardless if they are good sellers or new lines

[Junior]

Fair dues, it just seems odd that they cannot even check if they will or wont be getting any in. The staff were friendly enough when I asked them but it just seemed like it was an easy answer.

[niftynigel]

jonj -

Although the staff in this instance were telling the truth, it's all too often just an easy answer to fobb the customer off and say it's nothing to do with them. As far as the modern way and youngsters being lazy and unhelpful. I stand by that.

As far as Sainsburys are concerned, I think that they may well have underestimated the demand for Cars this time around. As soon as this case have come in, they have pretty much sold out and many shops haven't even got stock. If Sainsburys have negotiated an exclusive deal for this case, even a short term one, you'd think that they'd have enough stock to send to all stores that need stock? This is where they should allow the local store managers some discretion on what they think will sell.

Have Sainsburys completely run out of stock of this case?

For the sake of those who haven't been able to get the cars they need from this case, Sainsburys get more stock quickly or the wait isn't too long.

[jonj]

Nigel,

In terms of running out of stock I would not know the answer, if the depot has stock it is picked regardless if its the newest or the oldest case out,

No ordering is possible believe me I have tried, I have even been in contact with the buyers to try and get some sent to my store,

Within stores there are thousands of lines that are in high demand every day, that are not always possible to have in stock,

Junior,

To answer your question, its not possible to see in advance if the cases are coming in due to being a v10, before the change you could see all advance orders upto 2 weeks but this is now not available, believe me I check every store to see who has received cases every shift and hardly any stores are getting them as they are carrying old stock, sothe system will not order new cases for them,

[madbob]

Its probably picked by a robot in the warehouse! And I dont think robots can read case numbers.

[niftynigel]

jonj -

Thanks for the clarification.

It does appear a bit bizarre (to me) that there are stores where Cars have sold out as soon as they hit the shelves, but stocks have not been replenished. If a product (any product) is a good seller, I think it makes sense to keep stock levels up. Sure, the buyers may only have bought, say 500 cases and that's clearly not enough to be distributed to all stores that needed stock.

In my area (of work and local leisure), there are eight Sainsburys that have a toy section and stock Cars. Seven of them are Superstores and one Local. Of these, five did get the latest (997V) case but sadly, the two nearest to me didn't. Cars have been out of stock for weeks. I think I was very lucky to be able to get all five Cars in the 997V case due to the close proximity of the stores to my work and leisure routine last week. Many others weren't so lucky; you have my utmost sympathy. As there are supposedly 2,000 of an average case, then hopefully Sainsburys will get some more or another retailer will get this case so all the seasoned collectors will manage to get the Cars they want, without being fleeced on eBay!

[Enzo]

New case in Tesco but sadly another old stock 997U. Asked on the off chance they might have the new W case stashed out back but no dice. No orders or stock elsewhere except the 10 June date was flagged up again. So looks like patience required.