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[SquiddyCracker]

Corporations cannot be scammed.
And even if they can, you have a moral obligation to try to make as much money as possible out of them - because in 50 years time they'll be fucking you over when the Congress is replaced by a Corporate congress.

They sure as fuck won't give a shit about you saving 200 dollars when they got their own standing armies.

 

[cRIPticon]

Just as this is a poor counter argument. Is it really a scam? They did not violate any policy. This is more like a clever flexing of the rules. That being said, I would not do this, but that doesn't mean it's obviously ethical or unethical. It's a gray area. Yes, it's super shady, but it is legal both by the law and the policies of the respective companies.

The question is: is it a citizen's legal or moral duty not to exploit vulnerabilities in the policy of a corporation? An argument can be made both ways.

There you go.

If you enter the transaction disingenuously, then you are behaving unethically. Does not matter the size of the company.

Corporations cannot be scammed.
And even if they can, you have a moral obligation to try to make as much money as possible out of them - because in 50 years time they'll be fucking you over when the Congress is replaced by a Corporate congress.

They sure as fuck won't give a shit about you saving 200 dollars when they got their own standing armies.

Not sure if it is a moral obligation, but you do have an obligation to not let companies take advantage of you. However, you stretch your own morals when you purposefully deceive in a transaction.

 

[Ultimodragon64]

FYI I just tried to do this. The manager has discretion on price matches for products over $50. He couldn't authorize it, said it was worth a shot though, and we both laughed about it. Not a huge deal.

 

[SuperDowns]

Good ol entrepreneurial american spirit. Clean holiday fun and deal making. Bless.

I do not feel sorry for corporations. You should not either.

 

[nomorenick]

Wait, so there are people in this thread seriously defending Wal-Mart? Who cares? I used to buy mp3 players back in the day, use them for 30 days and return them to buy another one when I felt like it. It's not scamming, it's taking advantage of a policy. At the expense of who? Absolutely no one

 

[Usobuko]

Been a while since I see this kind of good old scam using similar misleading names.

 

[IndieJones]

Corporations cannot be scammed.
And even if they can, you have a moral obligation to try to make as much money as possible out of them - because in 50 years time they'll be fucking you over when the Congress is replaced by a Corporate congress.

They sure as fuck won't give a shit about you saving 200 dollars when they got their own standing armies.

Do you have like a podcast or something? I'd love to just fill my workday with this white noise.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Low-level employees are the ones who eat it on stuff like this; cut hours, forced overtime, etc.

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Lie
Cheat
Steal
Kill
Win

Spoiler

Everybody doin' it

Amazing! This run the jewelses, murder mayhem melodic music

Lol. Yea... Totally the same.

Reference went over your head a little huh

 

[DoktorEvil]

Corporations cannot be scammed.
And even if they can, you have a moral obligation to try to make as much money as possible out of them - because in 50 years time they'll be fucking you over when the Congress is replaced by a Corporate congress.

They sure as fuck won't give a shit about you saving 200 dollars when they got their own standing armies.

The 9/11 Crackpot Theories thread is over on OT.

Walmart Inc =/= Blackwater/Academi

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Wait, so there are people in this thread seriously defending Wal-Mart? Who cares? I used to buy mp3 players back in the day, use them for 30 days and return them to buy another one when I felt like it. It's not scamming, it's taking advantage of a policy. At the expense of who? Absolutely no one

Jesus. If you even read this page and the last one, you'd see this is not the case. We don't give a shit about Wal-Mart. People do, however, care about the poor shmoes that Wal-Mart employs and underpays. This is about them.

Way to not read anything.

 

[nomorenick]

Low-level employees are the ones who eat it on stuff like this; cut hours, forced overtime, etc.

You do know this isn't true. Right? I worked at a grocery store. If a customer exploits a sale or whatever, the worse that can happen is for management to take the sale off. They won't be like "let's fuck over the employees because of something out of their control". Maybe in an insane asylum, but not in any chain store.

 

[nomorenick]

Jesus. If you even read this page and the last one, you'd see this is not the case. We don't give a shit about Wal-Mart. People do, however, care about the poor shmoes that Wal-Mart employs and underpays. This is about them.

Way to not read anything.

That's what I'm talking about though. They are not the ones who get punished. Businesses don't work like that. Walmart isn't going to cut hours because someone scammed them. They have "X" amount of hours to give per week. Usually "X" amount is needed to keep the store running smoothly. Nothing really changes that.

 

[DoktorEvil]

You do know this isn't true. Right? I worked at a grocery store. If a customer exploits a sale or whatever, the worse that can happen is for management to take the sale off. They won't be like "let's fuck over the employees because of something out of their control". Maybe in an insane asylum, but not in any chain store.

Oh so please tell us more about your experiences working for Walmart.

I'm plenty sure they are equitable.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

You do know this isn't true. Right? I worked at a grocery store. If a customer exploits a sale or whatever, the worse that can happen is for management to take the sale off. They won't be like "let's fuck over the employees because of something out of their control". Maybe in an insane asylum, but not in any chain store.

Your grocery store is not Wal-Mart

 

[Mesoian]

So, what is this shit?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BGA9WK2/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Do they just cancel your order or something?

Yup. To be fair, in the thread that go locked this morning, that was the outcome we all expected.

Your grocery store is not Wal-Mart

Unless your grocery store IS walmart, which is a very real possibility in the midwest.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

That's what I'm talking about though. They are not the ones who get punished. Businesses don't work like that. Walmart isn't going to cut hours because someone scammed them. They have "X" amount of hours to give per week. Usually "X" amount is needed to keep the store running smoothly. Nothing really changes that.

We've had at least two people earlier in the thread testify as ex-employees that accidents, scams, etc cut into their holiday bonus, while they worked there. So unless Wal-Mart suddenly became more benevolent to their employees *cough*unlikely*cough*, hi-jinks like these cost regular employees some money.

Once again, no one here, in this entire thread has defended Wal-Mart as a corporation. It's known that they are shitty, especially to their employees.

 

[OG Loc]

You do know this isn't true. Right? I worked at a grocery store. If a customer exploits a sale or whatever, the worse that can happen is for management to take the sale off. They won't be like "let's fuck over the employees because of something out of their control". Maybe in an insane asylum, but not in any chain store.

At Wal-Mart/Sam's Club the employees bonus or profit sharing ("SamShare check") is dependent on the individual performance of the store/club. Returns, damages, etc all have a direct effect on said bonus.

So if a store got hit hard by people taking advantage of this then the employees of that store would more than likely be fucked over. Not lose their entire bonus fucked over but less of a bonus fucked over.

 

[Zaku]

That's what I'm talking about though. They are not the ones who get punished. Businesses don't work like that. Walmart isn't going to cut hours because someone scammed them. They have "X" amount of hours to give per week. Usually "X" amount is needed to keep the store running smoothly. Nothing really changes that.

Except we had someone in here claiming to be a Walmart employee who specifically stated that this sort of thing impacts bonuses.

 

[duxstar]

I just realized I went to Walmart and they wouldn't give me the last of us (ps4) for $30 when it was in their website, but now they're price matching fake Amazon accounts =/

 

[BlastProcessing]

Wait, so there are people in this thread seriously defending Wal-Mart? Who cares? I used to buy mp3 players back in the day, use them for 30 days and return them to buy another one when I felt like it. It's not scamming, it's taking advantage of a policy. At the expense of who? Absolutely no one

I'm certainly not into defending Wal-Mart. They are certainly run by an elite group of wealthy jerks who have constructed a system where most of the profit goes their way but none of the shit lands on them. Which is par for the course in Corporate America.

But I do disagree when you say that your actions where at the expense of no one. You took those actions because they were favorable to you. You took value out of an MP3 player and then returned it. That missing value absolutely does affect Wal-Mart's bottom line. It may be a small effect but it's there.

So how does Wal-Mart square that circle? Does the missing value get passed to Shareholders? Unlikely. We have already established that the company is run in such a way that shit doesn't stick to the people actually running the show. So that leaves lower level employees and customers.

Taking advantage of Wal-Mart isn't more justifiable because they are jerks. The fact that they are jerks actually means that they will just shit on someone else on your behalf. You aren't taking it to the man, you are just becoming a link in their chain.

 

[nomorenick]

Except we had someone in here claiming to be a Walmart employee who specifically stated that this sort of thing impacts bonuses.

I can reasonably see bonuses being affected, sure. Nobody, however is going to lose their job or lose hours over this. Which is what people in this thread were implying.

 

[Jeffolation]

Do amazon still have any of those 90 dollar ps4s left in stock?

 

[Kimosabae]

How does scoring yourself a cheap console serve the greater good? What is it's Utilitarian purpose?


So how could you possibly know that deceiving Wal-Mart into giving you an $80 PS4 serves the greater good?

You're right that it works better on a macro level but under the assumption that the clerk's ignorance goes unpunished: how is happiness in the population not increased through the sale of a prized commodity to a buyer that derives joy from it?

I mean that would make sense if you were applying the thought system correctly. The approval/rejection of the policy is handled at a local level. There's not some head honcho in Wal-Mart HQ validating these price-claims, it's Associate/Manager Joe Average at the individual retail locations, ringing it up. The situation is handled completely at the local level, and is up to local jurisdiction.

There may not be anyone on the local level to address the transaction immediately, but there is still a higher power meting out punishment if it effects the clerk's happiness level via lack of bonuses or what-have-you.

Stop trying to act like this is anything grander than that.

What? If you don't like the idea of applying a critical hatchet to things don't quote my posts please.

 

[Subtervotion]

This is why we can't have nice things. I mean don't get me wrong, I love getting great deals. But wow, this is insane. Maybe they will institute a percentage based rule. Something like no less than 20%-25% off the current price.

 

[KiDdYoNe]

Oh wow.

 

[Fisty]

Except we had someone in here claiming to be a Walmart employee who specifically stated that this sort of thing impacts bonuses.

So who should we blame? The hundreds of consumers that would take advantage of any situation like this, or the mega corp fucking over employees?

 

[Shig]

You do know this isn't true. Right? I worked at a grocery store. If a customer exploits a sale or whatever, the worse that can happen is for management to take the sale off. They won't be like "let's fuck over the employees because of something out of their control". Maybe in an insane asylum, but not in any chain store.

No one's saying it's an immediate effect, but to deny any trickle-down effect over time is absurd. If store profit is trending down, no, the immediate store management doesn't break out the hacksaws and cut the hours on schedules that are already made and posted. Store management doesn't want to make any cuts. But if their bosses at corporate start to get a whiff of a bad trend, they'll demand stricter hour allocation for the next schedule the store makes. They'll whittle down the quarterly bonus to a nub or eliminate it altogether, they'll place a stricter limit on the raises they're allowed to give in the coming year. These are very common and very real effects when profits are suffering, and doing things like selling items with very little profit margin to begin with at a $310 reduction is a really good way to destroy profits quick.

 

[pompidu]

I just realized I went to Walmart and they wouldn't give me the last of us (ps4) for $30 when it was in their website, but now they're price matching fake Amazon accounts =/

Walmart online video games are actually run by a different company. They are completely seperate entities and dont adhere to walmart policy. Tried to have them price match games from their website all the time, failed everytime. This is why.

 

[ZeroGravity]

At Wal-Mart/Sam's Club the employees bonus or profit sharing ("SamShare check") is dependent on the individual performance of the store/club. Returns, damages, etc all have a direct effect on said bonus.

So if a store got hit hard by people taking advantage of this then the employees of that store would more than likely be fucked over. Not lose their entire bonus fucked over but less of a bonus fucked over.

I'm sure selling a handful of video game consoles at a reduced price is going to result in any significant loss of revenue for any single Walmart store. Not saying that justifies it, but this small incident isn't going to have any serious repercussions.

 

[Lone_Prodigy]

Two wrongs don't make a right.

But hey, if you can sleep soundly at night knowing you stuck it to the corporation to get a $90 PS4, go right ahead.

 

[Zaku]

So who should we blame? The hundreds of consumers that would take advantage of any situation like this, or the mega corp fucking over employees?

The hundreds of customers who knowingly took advantage.

Just because hundreds of people took advantage of a situation doesn't make the situation any less shitty on their part, especially given that this is a falsified price. At best it's morally and ethically reprehensible, and at worst it's outright fraudulent.

Just because Walmart's policy is beneficial to the customer doesn't mean we should blame them when people use fraudulent listings to get a lower price than they could ever get normally.

It's not okay to dick over Walmart just because Walmart is a "megacorp".

I'm sure selling a handful of video game consoles at a reduced price is going to result in any significant loss of revenue for any single Walmart store. Not saying that justifies it, but this small incident isn't going to have any serious repercussions.

The shitty behavior is only dicking over employees minimally, so it's okay?

Lots of stuff like this, over the course of a year, can have a huge impact on bonuses. When I was working retail, my bonuses from one year to the next shifted nearly $400.

 

[ryan299]

Walmart was quick about it. The one I went to got a memo from corporate saying it was a scam. Guy was nice about it even though I was playing dumb.
Target would of gave me the system but by the time I got there amazon had removed it from their website so I couldn't get them to price match. The employees there all wanted to go in on the deal too. I had a screenshot of the amazon listing and they we're asking their manager if the screenshot would work but it wouldn't.

 

[nomorenick]

I'm certainly not into defending Wal-Mart. They are certainly run by an elite group of wealthy jerks who have constructed a system where most of the profit goes their way but none of the shit lands on them. Which is par for the course in Corporate America.

But I do disagree when you say that your actions where at the expense of no one. You took those actions because they were favorable to you. You took value out of an MP3 player and then returned it. That missing value absolutely does affect Wal-Mart's bottom line. It may be a small effect but it's there.

So how does Wal-Mart square that circle? Does the missing value get passed to Shareholders? Unlikely. We have already established that the company is run in such a way that shit doesn't stick to the people actually running the show. So that leaves lower level employees and customers.

Taking advantage of Wal-Mart isn't more justifiable because they are jerks. The fact that they are jerks actually means that they will just shit on someone else on your behalf. You aren't taking it to the man, you are just becoming a link in their chain.

You do know they tend to repackage them and sell them at a discounted price right? They either do that or they send it back to manufacturer to get a partial or even complete refund depending on the overall condition.

This shit affects bottom line much less than you think. Especially with the amazon thing. How many price matches do you think they do a year? I'm going to guess that they probably lose millions on price matches every year. Are you telling me that every time an employee needs to do a price match, their bonus gets directly affected? Because that is exactly what it sounds like you're saying

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

This is why we can't have nice things. I mean don't get me wrong, I love getting great deals. But wow, this is insane. Maybe they will institute a percentage based rule. Something like no less than 20%-25% off the current price.

Or properly train your employee's? (and maybe pay them a fair wage while they are at it?)

 

[Tratorn]

Ah ok, PS4 was 90$ on Amazon, so that's why it's topping the charts there now. I was like "wtf?" when I saw that.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

There may not be anyone on the local level to address the transaction immediately, but there is still a higher power meting out punishment if it effects the clerk's happiness level via lack of bonuses or what-have-you.

And that completely absolves you? In what reality? Do you only deal in absolutes?

 

[nomorenick]

No one's saying it's an immediate effect, but to deny any trickle-down effect over time is absurd. If store profit is trending down, no, the immediate store management doesn't break out the hacksaws and cut the hours on schedules that are already made and posted. Store management doesn't want to make any cuts. But if their bosses at corporate start to get a whiff of a bad trend, they'll demand stricter hour allocation for the next schedule the store makes. They'll whittle down the quarterly bonus to a nub or eliminate it altogether, they'll place a stricter limit on the raises they're allowed to give in the coming year. These are very common and very real effects when profits are suffering, and doing things like selling items with very little profit margin to begin with at a $310 reduction is a really good way to destroy profits quick.

You and almost everyone else on this thread is ignoring the fact that this is a price match. Amazon is at fault, not walmart. It is their crystal clear policy that they will match the lowest price available for almost any product.

They most likely lower the price of items to absurdly low prices everyday because of price match policies. Does this mean I should feel bad? no. It is their policy. I can't see how price matching affects employees. They do it on thousands of products all the time. They anticipate losing money on price matches

 

[ryan299]

People are launching profiles on amazon trying to do it again but they're using made up names. Guess they don't understand that it needs to say amazon for the price match to work. Stores won't price match a random seller

 

[OG Loc]

I'm sure selling a handful of video game consoles at a reduced price is going to result in any significant loss of revenue for any single Walmart store. Not saying that justifies it, but this small incident isn't going to have any serious repercussions.

It all depends on how much business the store does a year and how badly they got burned on this. One guy on Twitter had apparently purchased 14 PS4s using this uh..."tactic."

That said, I agree with you about their not being a significant loss of revenue.

However, I think there will be some repercussions at Wal-Mart over this. There's no way this doesn't go off without a manager and/or team lead being chewed out in a conference call. Some might lose their jobs depending on their previous performance or whether or not they properly went down the chain of command to have the price override. Can't imagine nothing more than that happening, though.

 

[//ARCANUM]

It's pretty sad if you think someone not wanting to commit fraud is acting high and mighty - it's a serious offense. If someone ripped you off I'm sure you'd be completely fine with it, right?

I didn't say that that is what I think. I just said that there's a lot of perfect people on this thread who like to throw their judgement at other folks.

So why did you bother to post?

This reads like a shit post.

Because my post was about pointing out the "holier than thou" posters. I mentioned that I'm not commenting on the morality or ethics of it to specifically make sure my comment was misconstrued (as it certainly was anyways).

 

[TomShoe]

I don't see why people are demonizing savvy consumers taking advantage of a loophole in the system rather than being outraged that Walmart pays their employees so little.

 

[Pomo]

Boo-hoo. Wal-Mart's policies allowed for this to happen.

 

[Shig]

I'm sure selling a handful of video game consoles at a reduced price is going to result in any significant loss of revenue for any single Walmart store. Not saying that justifies it, but this small incident isn't going to have any serious repercussions.

I'm sure you've gone into Walmart and seen missing price tags, stuff knocked over, etc, and remarked to yourself "Why doesn't anyone fix that, it would only take a minute!" The answer is that there are thousands of things that would take a minute to fix, in a constant state of being screwed with and destroyed, many that were fixed and fixed again not long ago.

Everything at Walmart is death by a thousand pin pricks, and their losses are no exception. Each individual item that gets stolen, returned, destroyed, or sold for a loss at Walmarts every day may be a drop of water, but they combine to form a vast ocean.

I don't see why people are demonizing savvy consumers taking advantage of a loophole in the system rather than being outraged that Walmart pays their employees so little.

One hand feeds the other. Customers taking advantage of Walmart constantly and without remorse only helps validate paying diminishing returns to their workforce. One bad turn deserves another.

And "savvy" is an uncomfortably aggrandizing label for this act. It's a fraudulent price, the customers taking advantage of it are aware it's a fraudulent price. "Mercenary" is about the most complimentary term you should feel okay with using without squirming in your skin a bit.

 

[RibMan]

The consumers won.

Fuck big corporations.

Few things to note (if you're being serious that is) :

1) There are two ways to impact a business. One is to not give them your money and two is to not give them your time (work for them). There is no victory in this case.

2) A quick lesson in economics. There is literally nothing wrong with a big corporation. In a capitalist economy, a corporation is rewarded when their revenue (i.e. What we give them) exceeds their expenses (i.e. What they spend to make the product). The corporations that are big are corporations that were able to have a very large net income, i.e. Their revenues far exceeded their expenses. When your revenue far exceeds your expenses, it means that your corporation is efficient. Efficiency means that your organization utilized the least amount of resources to create a product. If you understand that society and the economy rely on efficiency to work, then you will begin to understand why "F*** big corporations" is never a good idea.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

I don't see why people are demonizing savvy consumers taking advantage of a loophole in the system rather than being outraged that Walmart pays their employees so little.

I agree, They should be upset that employee's are punished for this, but they should be placing their blame on walmart, not on people who found a great deal.

 

[Kimosabae]

And that completely absolves you? In what reality? Do you only deal in absolutes?

No, do you?

Where am I deserving of blame? I'm not taking advantage of a person but a principle.

And let's be clear, I'm not defending those that take advantage of this by making fake listings, or price marching knowing the listings are fake. That's clearly dishonest.

 

[orborborb]

Shoplifters exist on a higher moral plane than people who do this

 

[TomShoe]

Shoplifters exist on a higher moral plane than people who do this

 

[nomorenick]

Shoplifters exist on a higher moral plane than people who do this

Price matching = Theft

Got it