News Heads Up! New Pack "Weighing" Method Spotted

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Number51x

Blasting off at the speed of light!
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Well, new to me at least. I caught some piece of garbage "weighing" single packs at Target. Seemed to be using some sort of electronic caliper or something. It had a yellow pistol grip and a blue tip that seemed to be the business end of the device. Couldn't tell if he was just touching it to the packs or if it pinched the pack somehow.

I asked him "What are doing??" and he's all "looking at cards." So I said "Bull crap, you're weighing packs!" then he go all nervous and scurried away. I followed him to make sure he was leaving. I told someone at Target (couldn't find security) but they didn't react fast enough to bust the guy. I'm not sure how seriously they take that, but if they don't I'd say just skip the single packs for a while until this "new" method is dealt with.
 

The Binder Guy

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Well, new to me at least. I caught some piece of garbage "weighing" single packs at Target. Seemed to be using some sort of electronic caliper or something. It had a yellow pistol grip and a blue tip that seemed to be the business end of the device. Couldn't tell if he was just touching it to the packs or if it pinched the pack somehow.

I asked him "What are doing??" and he's all "looking at cards." So I said "Bull crap, you're weighing packs!" then he go all nervous and scurried away. I followed him to make sure he was leaving. I told someone at Target (couldn't find security) but they didn't react fast enough to bust the guy. I'm not sure how seriously they take that, but if they don't I'd say just skip the single packs for a while until this "new" method is dealt with.
Yecch... Just another reason to avoid single boosters again.

But as far as store's dealing with scalers it's the same as it was when people used actual scales: It all depends on how each Target's management division handles it. Some will care and tell 'em to shove off whilst others will turn a blind eye to it so long as they don't damage the product and that they buy 'em.

That said, it seems a bit obtrusive to take something like that into a Target or Walmart just to scale packs. It looks like it'd barely fit into someone pocket.

As as far as fixing it is concerned, I have a feeling it might be a bit more difficult to deal with than it was last time. With this new method it seems they're using it to check if a card has certain metals in them, most likely ones used to achieve the holo effect.
 

Number51x

Blasting off at the speed of light!
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What I'm thinking the method might be is that packs with more than one foil card have just enough metal to set it off while green code packs don't. The thing doesn't seem to have any kind of read-out. It's basically a sort of stud finder but for metal. The guy was wearing baggy shorts that had large enough pockets that it fit most of the way.

Only one thing for it; HOLO CODE CARDS!
 

crystal_pidgeot

Bird Trainer *Vaporeon on PokeGym*
Member
I don't really care if someone weighs packs. Nothing wrong with improving ones odds of getting something since weighing packs aren't a guaranteed to get cards. I can understand why its looked down on but no one is doing anything wrong here. No one is actually stealing product and are paying actual MSRP for it and to be honest, I actually felt you were in the wrong for approaching and reporting the person for something that isn't illegal and then you did something completely unsafe and followed the person.

All you can really do is see it and move on.
 

Otaku

The wise fool?
Member
With the meager amount of information I have on the matter, I've got to agree with crystal_pidgeot on this. I mean, ever ask yourself why the powers-that-be don't just sell singles directly? When a game gives you a booster pack for $X.XX but, because of the efforts of the company and community, that pack is going to contain at least $X.XX worth of trade fodder/cards worth playing... or at least when it doesn't it is seen as a rare "dud", we're doing TCG's right.

There were plenty of times before I switched to the PTCGO where I got disgusted with sets and/or ran low on funds and thus didn't buy a lot of boosters, but beyond the craziness of the "fad phase," I think the last time I was truly confident buying booster packs was Skyridge. I hate saying that, because I don't want it to be mistaken as praise for WotC overall handling of the game; IIRC that was a set where you were guaranteed a Rare, with the Reverse Holo being its own "slot" in the booster contents and anything beyond a Rare replacing a Common. I could easily be remembering it wrong. While it may also have been a result of specific players/collectors in our area, it seemed like even the worst pack at least technically had cards worth its MSRP.

So... cry me a river about people scaling. I won't go so far as to say people ought to scale, or that you have to like those people. I will say that, unless store policy is being violated, you ought to hate the game and not the player. Either be mad the store isn't "protecting" its boosters or - as I think you ought to be - take issue with the people willing to pay so much for pretty cardboard. The company wouldn't take this "lottery" style approach if people didn't embrace it, ya know? This reminds me way too much of the toy aficionados who get so mad at people who buy to resell yet are willing to buy from those same people. Not the same thing, but there seems to be this similar entitlement mentality. Do you want packs with unaltered odds? Find a store that will give you what you want! :)

Target, however, is a discount retailer just like Wal-Mart. They have a different way of going about it, but the hard differences between them are minute. For the record, neither of those chains sell cards directly, even though it seems like it. Instead, and they do this for various other products, another vendor pays them to have its products on the shelves, and the store handles the actual transactions, but ultimately you're buying from the vendor, not the chain store. @Number51x there is a chance you would have been the one to get in trouble if that particular target didn't mind scalers! I suspect that the person in question would merely have been asked to stop. Oh, and I encourage scalers to also buy their own booster. Fortunately, not all the good cards in Pokémon are Holo-Rares; strip out the packs that weigh just a bit more, then sell the rest as "scaled" packs for well under the MSRP but high enough to recoup your losses. If you find the right customers, it becomes a win-win scenario.
 

The Binder Guy

Aspiring Trainer
Member
With the meager amount of information I have on the matter, I've got to agree with crystal_pidgeot on this. I mean, ever ask yourself why the powers-that-be don't just sell singles directly? When a game gives you a booster pack for $X.XX but, because of the efforts of the company and community, that pack is going to contain at least $X.XX worth of trade fodder/cards worth playing... or at least when it doesn't it is seen as a rare "dud", we're doing TCG's right.

There were plenty of times before I switched to the PTCGO where I got disgusted with sets and/or ran low on funds and thus didn't buy a lot of boosters, but beyond the craziness of the "fad phase," I think the last time I was truly confident buying booster packs was Skyridge. I hate saying that, because I don't want it to be mistaken as praise for WotC overall handling of the game; IIRC that was a set where you were guaranteed a Rare, with the Reverse Holo being its own "slot" in the booster contents and anything beyond a Rare replacing a Common. I could easily be remembering it wrong. While it may also have been a result of specific players/collectors in our area, it seemed like even the worst pack at least technically had cards worth its MSRP.

So... cry me a river about people scaling. I won't go so far as to say people ought to scale, or that you have to like those people. I will say that, unless store policy is being violated, you ought to hate the game and not the player. Either be mad the store isn't "protecting" its boosters or - as I think you ought to be - take issue with the people willing to pay so much for pretty cardboard. The company wouldn't take this "lottery" style approach if people didn't embrace it, ya know? This reminds me way too much of the toy aficionados who get so mad at people who buy to resell yet are willing to buy from those same people. Not the same thing, but there seems to be this similar entitlement mentality. Do you want packs with unaltered odds? Find a store that will give you what you want! :)

Target, however, is a discount retailer just like Wal-Mart. They have a different way of going about it, but the hard differences between them are minute. For the record, neither of those chains sell cards directly, even though it seems like it. Instead, and they do this for various other products, another vendor pays them to have its products on the shelves, and the store handles the actual transactions, but ultimately you're buying from the vendor, not the chain store. @Number51x there is a chance you would have been the one to get in trouble if that particular target didn't mind scalers! I suspect that the person in question would merely have been asked to stop. Oh, and I encourage scalers to also buy their own booster. Fortunately, not all the good cards in Pokémon are Holo-Rares; strip out the packs that weigh just a bit more, then sell the rest as "scaled" packs for well under the MSRP but high enough to recoup your losses. If you find the right customers, it becomes a win-win scenario.
You took the words right out of my mouth, although I wouldn't say that Target's price for single-pack blisters could be considered a discount.

That said, this is certainly a more expensive means of "scaling" booster packs compared to past methods. Older methods simply used a digital scale that could've easily been purchased for 15 bucks or less, this method costs 2-3 times that.
 

Number51x

Blasting off at the speed of light!
Member
This amoral attitude is astounding. It's obviously wrong. Everything else is just rationalizing the behaviour. Searching packs may be great for there searcher, but is complete crap for everyone else who doesn't cheat and gets poor pulls because of it. If he didn't think what he was doing was wrong, then why act the way he did? Target should care as I'm not particularly inclined to buy where I think the stock is searched. It's crap and you know it.
 

crystal_pidgeot

Bird Trainer *Vaporeon on PokeGym*
Member
This amoral attitude is astounding. It's obviously wrong. Everything else is just rationalizing the behaviour. Searching packs may be great for there searcher, but is complete crap for everyone else who doesn't cheat and gets poor pulls because of it. If he didn't think what he was doing was wrong, then why act the way he did? Target should care as I'm not particularly inclined to buy where I think the stock is searched. It's crap and you know it.

Your only approach to this is as a player of the game. Outside of that, what wrong is being done here? The same thing can be said about buying a pack of sealed meat because it feels heavier or buying the more desirable bread package because its shape if better held. None of those actions are in fact immoral. Some people like to feel like they have some kind of self-control and scale them. This is no different than picking a pack from a box you want because it "feel" right.

You can't suggest we lack morals because we agree no actual crime was committed here. Yes we agree that its a pretty lame thing to do but at the end of the day, what or who was wronged here? I ask that because where do we draw the line?
 

Number51x

Blasting off at the speed of light!
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Would you let you child spend their allowance at a place you suspect has searched packs? No, I don't think you would. Meat is a terrible analogy. It's not like it's wrapped in black plastic and you have guess at the quality buy external measument. Come on dude...
 

Lorde

♕ The Queen ♕
Member
This is why I have never bought singles. I've never trusted that the few packs remaining on the shelves of any large retailer are the packs someone weighed, decided they weren't heavy enough, and left them there. It's frustrating but there are enough TCG products these days that it's really not a big deal.

And even though I don't weigh packs (since I just don't buy singles), I understand why people do it. They're trying to beat the odds. Pokémon is an expensive game, and if people are trying to minimize how much money they burn through packs then who are you to judge them for it? Deal with it, it's not hurting anyone, nor is it illegal. If you don't want to deal with dead packs then don't buy singles. Easy.
This amoral attitude is astounding. It's obviously wrong. Everything else is just rationalizing the behaviour. Searching packs may be great for there searcher, but is complete crap for everyone else who doesn't cheat and gets poor pulls because of it. If he didn't think what he was doing was wrong, then why act the way he did? Target should care as I'm not particularly inclined to buy where I think the stock is searched. It's crap and you know it.
I actually have to condemn the way you handled that situation. The individual was doing nothing illegal. The only reason he would have acted scared was because you were an aggressor, in a store that only cares what they're doing so long as they actually buy the packs. If it's against store policy that's one thing, and even then what you should have done was asked someone who worked there to handle the situation from there. Then following him like that... really?
 

Number51x

Blasting off at the speed of light!
Member
Picking a pack from a booster because it feels right is not the same as empirical knowing with high certainty that a pack is, in fact, right. Unless you've got the Pokemon pack weighing mutant X gene, that feeling is meaningless and utterly harmless.
 

CrownAxe

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Your only approach to this is as a player of the game. Outside of that, what wrong is being done here? The same thing can be said about buying a pack of sealed meat because it feels heavier or buying the more desirable bread package because its shape if better held. None of those actions are in fact immoral. Some people like to feel like they have some kind of self-control and scale them. This is no different than picking a pack from a box you want because it "feel" right.

You can't suggest we lack morals because we agree no actual crime was committed here. Yes we agree that its a pretty lame thing to do but at the end of the day, what or who was wronged here? I ask that because where do we draw the line?
Who is wronged here? Everyone who wants to buy a booster pack that comes after someone scales them. This isn't comparable to food because unlike bread and meat YOU CAN"T TELL THE PRODUCT YOU'RE ABOUT TO BUY IS POOR QUALITY BEFORE YOU BUY IT WITHOUT ALSO SCALING PACKS YOURSELF(also meat is priced by weight so that doesn't do anything). We make those choices about food because we are accessing the quality of the products we consume before we buy it. You can't do this for booster packs unless you're also scaling them. Also unlike food, SCALERS DON"T LEAVE ANYTHING BEHIND. They take all the rare and valuable packs and leave nothing but garbage packs behind.

If you want more food analogies. Scaling packs is like someone going to an apple stand, buying EVERY SINGLE GOOD APPLE and only leaves rotten apples for everyone else to buy. Except you can't tell it's rotten until you buy them and take a bite out of them first
 

PokeMedic

Don't talk to me or my Pokemon ever again
Articles Staff
Member
HOLO CODE CARDS!

You're messing with forces you can't control!
So I said "Bull crap, you're weighing packs!" then he go all nervous and scurried away. I followed him

Some guy did the same kind of thing to me, only I was playing Bridgette to search my deck for 3 Basic Pokémon. It was a shiny full-art but he thought I somehow cheated because it weighted slightly more. I could tell which card it was but only because I'm a tactile savant.
 

Number51x

Blasting off at the speed of light!
Member
If these guys want to beat the odds, minimize investment, then why not just buy single cards? No, they are just trying to make a dishonest buck. I see them doing and I'll get in their face again. This is so obviously wrong, I can't even believe I'm having to defend my position. If Pokemon is so expensive that they have to cheat anyone else that shops there out of a fair chance at a good pull, then maybe they're too broke to be participating in the hobby.
 

The Binder Guy

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I see them doing and I'll get in their face again.
Okay, but you'll only have yourself to blame if you end up getting yourself hurt (or worse) for getting confrontational instead of complaining to management about it.
This is so obviously wrong, I can't even believe I'm having to defend my position.
That's because a lot of us have come to terms with it as being a part of the game (and that Pokemon isn't the only TCG where this occurs, scaling is incredibly common in YGO), scumminess aside. TPCi can try to counteract it, but in the end it's up to a store's management and it'll vary by store.
 

Lorde

♕ The Queen ♕
Member
If these guys want to beat the odds, minimize investment, then why not just buy single cards? No, they are just trying to make a dishonest buck. I see them doing and I'll get in their face again. This is so obviously wrong, I can't even believe I'm having to defend my position. If Pokemon is so expensive that they have to cheat anyone else that shops there out of a fair chance at a good pull, then maybe they're too broke to be participating in the hobby.
You're not wrong. But it's not illegal. If it's not against the rules in the establishment they're doing this, then you have no right to get in their face and force them out the store. Honestly, I would be mad at you for driving away potential business (because assuming I own the store I don't care so long as he buys the product). I'm not saying I disagree with your stance, because weighing packs should be frowned upon. But at the end of the day it's a very minor offense that doesn't warrant your aggressive response.
 

PokeMedic

Don't talk to me or my Pokemon ever again
Articles Staff
Member
I can't even believe I'm having to defend my position.

It's certainly an unfair practice, but you have to ask yourself: is this really worth getting worried about? How many people do you think pulled a Tapu Lele GX by weighting a pack at a Target or Wal-Mart? A few I'm sure, but statistically nothing significant was gained. Doing so certainly shows a lack of virtue on part of the person doing the weighing. Everyone should have a level playing field when it comes to pulling in a retail setting, and weighting really does tilt that field.

I'm sure nobody thinks you're wrong about how you feel. In fact I'm sure we all feel the same as you do. But what are we supposed to do? Ask the store to step in and kick the person out? Those things are best kept behind the counter anyway since they're begging to be stolen with how retail formats are laid out at those stores. Toys R Us had a big mark-up on their card stocks just to offset their loss from theft. I'd say thieves were a much bigger problem than scales -at least the scalers bought the packs! (hopefully).

The company probably doesn't care as long as the person buys the packs. They can't complain anyway -players spend just as much if not more money on their purchases from re-sellers. You'll pay a premium for 1 card that you could have risked the same amount of money for buying X packs for Y amount of money.

I'll get in their face again.

Understand that there's a risk to this. People get uppidy over their card games, even the people who are doing the wrong thing. Especially the people who do the wrong thing.
 

Number51x

Blasting off at the speed of light!
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My kid likes to buy packs. I'd like it very much if he didn't get blatantly ripped off.
 

PokeMedic

Don't talk to me or my Pokemon ever again
Articles Staff
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My kid likes to buy packs. I'd like it very much if he didn't get blatantly ripped off.

I can understand that you love your child. The best way to mitigate the risk of them getting jipped might be for them to spend money in a better controlled retail format. Target and Wal-Mart are just asking to be robbed and weighed with the way they have their card products set up.
 
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