From the BEGINNING of distribution of the Haulers, there has been changes all along the way. You can click through to read each post along the way or the summary here.

OCTOBER 2008

CASE A of the Haulers was going to be a FIRST TO SHIP to Walmart ONLY.

November 2008

In November, this is the key post on the schedule of the Haulers when Mattel announced that every CASE after CASE A would be DIRECT IMPORT only. And at this point, CASE A was still a WM exclusive.

HERE IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE POST THAT CANNOT BE MORE CLEAR …

“There is however one company willing to pay the air freight to get them here so they should be here in early January so if you can’t or prefer not to wait to see if WM, Target or TRU gets CASE B, C or D … there is a nice option and a nice January present for us all.”

Was I vague in that long run on sentence?

Is it still January 2009?

How much clearer could I be? There is ONE place to buy in January so I let you know that is an option and as I get no direct info from WM, Target or TRU headquarters so after January, I cannot say beyond that month.

However, later in this SAME post, I even elaborate …

“So, yes, the other retailers are presumably going to order CASE B, CASE C & CASE D but ONLY after it arrives in Mattel’s warehouses by ship from Hong Kong (estimated arrival – late January or early February – then it gets on a truck to their distribution center so probably mid to late February or even March before on the store shelves … IF they place an order). The other reason we are unlikely to see the big three retailers order hauler’s until mid to late February is major retailers are loathe to receive any toys after Christmas until AFTER they have taken inventory in mid to late January so even if it’s sitting in a Mattel warehouse in late January, it’ll be a few more weeks before the big three retailers want toy re-stock (of course, a generalization to some degree – they are just not expected to re-stock or stock for an auxiliary line such as haulers).

Also since the cost of air freight has dropped, other re-sellers might decide to go ahead and order directly, I’ll add any additional retailers when that info is available.”

Again, I even told you pretty spot on when you might see them on retailer shelves – 4 MONTHS ago! Maybe you missed the post but it’s been up for 4 months (post 11/2/2008) and linked from other Hauler posts …

There is nothing in that post that uses the word exclusive and in at least TWO places, I tell you when it might hit retail … and “might” because as you should know by know, unless it’s on the retailer shelf, what does it mean, right? I think there have been 6 ROR singles cases released, in my area, I think I have seen remnants of CASE A.

December 2008

Presuming that WM changed their mind, the Haulers CASE A became available for EVERYONE to order. Did Mattel actually tell anyone? No. They just showed up on the warehouse available to ship list. That might seem odd to you but that’s the way they do things. So even more CHANGES.

January 2009

CTC did get their AIR FREIGHT Haulers in as promised. CASE A did start showing up on the shelves and the Team Haulers at Target …

February 2009

As WM is likely to do, they probably threw their weight around and said we want our Wally hauler to ship with a new Hauler … so there is the surprise case. And as noted in the ORIGINAL HAULER SHIPPING post from 4 months ago, retailers waited until Mattel delivered CASE B to their warehouses before placing orders … because WM, Target & TRU CAN do that IF they want to. If they don’t want to pre-pay and pay for freight, THEY DON’T HAVE TO … but others like CTC, Entertainment Earth and other resellers, they have no recourse.

I sell no CARS and my only goal is to make sure you can buy as many CARS as easily as possible. I try and assemble as much info as I can and layer it with my experience in marketing retail, distribution, licensing and voodoo. You may disagree with me but don’t skip reading parts of a post and think information has not been presented – and if you have a problem, take it up with me – you have my email and I usually answer within a couple hours.

So, my advice – first chill, then make sure you have read every post 🙂 … then start calling me names 🙂

Oh yeah, buy the book also 🙂