Meaning of Target stickers on packages

[ISO8T0]

Ymmv. not sure why these are marked repacked. All sealed up.

[Alpinemaps]

What's with the "Repackage" note note on them?

[ISO8T0]

4 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

What's with the "Repackage" note note on them?

I have no idea. Never seen that one before. These were on an end cap down near the "Automotive" aisle. There were Chima sets with the same label on them.

They had also put a blank red & white label over the UPC barcode. very strange.

[Achilles]

18 minutes ago, pstebbing said:

I have no idea. Never seen that one before. These were on an end cap down near the "Automotive" aisle. There were Chima sets with the same label on them.

They had also put a blank red & white label over the UPC barcode. very strange.

The short answer is it has to do with their inventory system. Because these items are already removed from their in store inventory, if you scanned the original barcode it would say item not found. The repackage/online item red tags are a way to circumvent this when they find older items in back/elsewhere. A couple years ago, I happened to stumble on about 10 Monster Fighters Mad Scientist sets this way. For example, if you do a ******** search for the Cube DCPI you'll notice that it doesn't show up as existing in the system. 

[MinifigW]

10 hours ago, pstebbing said:

I have no idea. Never seen that one before. These were on an end cap down near the "Automotive" aisle. There were Chima sets with the same label on them.

They had also put a blank red & white label over the UPC barcode. very strange.

I have an explanation for this.

From my experiences talking with Target managers and observing their practices, I have noticed several things:

Target stores only get instructions to markdown items from corporate, or from the local distribution center. (such as the $26.98 Ghosts that popped up in SoCal last year)

Target doesn't allow individual managers to make first markdowns on items in their store, but they do have the power to take further markdowns on already reduced items. (Ex: manager taking additional markdown on x-men sets a month or two ago)

This gives managers very limited power to clear items in their inventory that have not been reduced already without the go-ahead from corporate, leaving two options for them:

1. "AS-IS" stickers: When an item no longer shows up in Targets system, the manager has the power to make any markdown on the specific item. This is why when we find a three year old set in the clearance isle for 1/10th of the price, it has an AS-IS sticker with its own barcode.

2. "Repackage" stickers: A manager can take a one time markdown on a item if it has been physically damaged in any way, hence the regular barcode being covered up, as it will still scan the regular price. Only the barcode on the sticker actually has the discounted price. What I believe happened here is that the manager was tired of seeing those items taking up his shelf-space, so he marked them down in one of the only ways allowed to him (even if it wasn't damaged)

A example of this is when I found a T-rocket TMNT set a month or two ago, the manager wasnt able to mark it down in the system, but he printed out either AS-IS or repackage stickers to mark it down for me. If forget exactly which one, but it had its own barcode.

 

Hope this helps, just what I have experienced in the microcosm that is SoCal clearance. YMMV