Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: TRU Buy 5 Promo Non-Answer Answer
Through me you pass into the city of woe:
Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me among the people lost for aye.
Justice the founder of my fabric mov’d:
To rear me was the task of power divine,
Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.
Before me things create were none, save things
Eternal, and eternal I endure.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
So, what is going on?
Can a picture speak a thousand words?
WE are left to wander the desert … is it on or off? No one is quite sure. It’s definitely not starting 3/1 but beyond that, no one seems to know.
Buy 5, do not collect Gask-its is the current modus operandi …
There is a glitch in the cog … Welcome to the machine …
It is the winter of our discontent…
… from Hell’s heart, I stab at thee! For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee!
So, you woke up ready to buy Mattel Pixar CARS and instead you get Dante’s Divine Comedy and Melville’s Moby Dick (er, not Star Trek by the way 🙂 ) … it’s just like being back in high school … so it’s not a total loss …
So, no promo as of now … will be be back? Not sure. REPLY HAZY. Try again … When will we know?
Don’t know.
Who’s fault is it? Who is to blame for this travesty of a mockery of a sham?
Don’t know exactly.
In other words – situation normal.
Thank you for shopping with us, we know you have plenty of shopping choices, thank you for choosing us and have a great fabulous fantastic day!
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metroxing
3 March 2009
Advertising, collecting, diecast, Film, Marketing, Mattel Disney Pixar CARS, Retail, Toys, TV
57 Comments
Now, I know I will not be popular for saying this, but I am glad the TRU promo was cancelled, postponed or put on hold…WHY should we have to buy 5 cars to get a little plastic case? Just release the damn Gask-its on a launcher or as a single and save us all $25…after all the pegs wood not need cleaning up if the case assortment was simply better suited to the NEW cars!! Frick mattel, get you head in the game!!
Rite On PapaPirate!
I went to TRU yesterday. No sign of the promo, and the employees knew nothing about it.
On the upside, they were fully stocked. Nothing brand new, but a lot of haulers, playsets, etc. Good place if someone is looking to fill in some gaps.
What walmart is that??
Don’t worry collectormom, your T5AD friends gotcha covered.
You guys are the BEST!! 🙂
Well I for one do not like this one bit and for selfish reasons; we’re supposed to be moving to Germany in June so we’re probably going to miss the KM Cars Day AND this promo. Darn you Matty and your big stupid head!
(MET: Of course, matty will ship to you in Germany … of course, right now, that’s hypothetical unless you want you want plastic guy in furry shorts …).
APO/FPO is a tricky thing sometimes; retailers don’t want to ship to them because even though you live in another country the APO/FPO is an American address so it doesn’t fit in the address fields correctly (for say an online order). The postage rates are the same as if you were sending it stateside but it’s hard to get some retailers to understand that. A lot of service members are down on Target for that reason saying they don’t support the military because they won’t ship to APO/FPO.
We will make sure you get your fix…I promise!!
That’s weird about Target. You would think no one would be saying “no” to money in this economy.
Or maybe TRU gave up Cars promos for Lent?
hahahaha! I like that! So we must all fast for 40 days?
Oh crap, I gave up Gigantica dolls!! 🙂
Maybe it’s ‘cuz TRU just paid 5+ million for the http://www.Toys.com domain, they have no $$ left to pay for promo flyers and those plastic pocket thingies and also zip ties.
Mmm mmm mmm, GREAT point!!
I think you mean etoys.com, but yeah 🙂
eToys.com by the way: http://www.takefiveaday.com/2009/02/15/etoyscom-now-part-of-toysrus/
Oops yes sorry, etoys, the 5 million bit got my head spinning.
Oops again, it IS toys.com. They bought eToys.com at the last auction and now have bought Toys.com as well, for 5.1 million.
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/02/27/toys-r-us-buys-toyscom-domain-name-for-51m/
this seems like a waste of money??? but they must have a plan.. or planogram for all these domain names…
Yup definitely would hinder their ability to continue on with these promos
i have to say one thing, there is no short supply of cars. Everyone needs to understand that. I am going to defend mattel, they are doing there part, please understand that this is on the retailers. I have absolutely NO problem getting product, so why would retail stores that spend a ton more $$$$ than i do.
The retailers are SCARED TO DEATH about the economy and are probably watching every penny. …OR, they just have a horrible distribution system. For instance, 2 Target’s near me just put out out World of Cars Movie Moments with Flik & PT Flea — I mean, how old is THAT case?!
A small retailier or e-commerce site exerts less demand on the supply than the big box stores. Having sufficient stock to run a promotion relies on the manufacturer to provide the merchandise for sale. There are always minimum order amounts for any exclusive before the manufacturer will commit to production. If it is necessary to buy five Cars to obtain a free casting, how many cases have to be forwarded to each store to make it a successful promotion. My local TRU received ONE case per week during the first promotion. Five divided into an eighteen count shipment is hardly sufficient to satisfy demand. I take it on face value that Paul Winslow called it as it went down. Insufficient supply! In the south Puget Sound area there use to be a direct seller warehouse for Mattel near Seattle. Show up with your Washington State Business License and you could buy, but, not at the favorable price given to the large retailers.
I’m sure TRU and Mattel are holding the bag on promo cars. Most mom’s and dad’s are NOT going to buy five duplicate plus $5.00 to get one Car.
Maybe this promotion will be resurrected in the summer months when toy sales dip.
I’m laying the blame for the aborted promotion at the flattened tires of Mattel! Every store I have gone to in the last month has had a lack of single Cars inventory! I commend TRU for not going forth with the promotion. The readers at this site are more knowledgeable than the average toy buyer. Remember the dismal first promotion? Remember the lack of new castings? Remember the abundance of peg warmers, i.e., Ramones and McQueens? In early December 2008 I received a letter from TRU’s Paul Winslow, Buyer-Action Figures, Die Cast Cars, and Trucks. I had written to the president of TRU complaining of the total lack of product in the South Puget Sound area, including their idea of fulfilling demand was to ‘maybe’ send one case a week out to the local store. This in part is the response:
“…Ron Boire, President of Toys “R” Us North America, passed your letter on to me. On behalf of Toys “R” Us, I apologize for the difficulty and inconvenience we caused you by not being better in-stock on Cars movie product in your area.”
“…The Cars license continues to be very popular, and we do rely on our vendor partners to stock inventory for us. There have been a couple of times this year where Mattel has not had adequate inventory to support the marketplace. Promotions are planned out months in advance, and unfortunately in this case market shortage coincided with the promotion.”
“..To answer your question on UPC codes, we setup items in our systems as much as 6 to 9 months in advance of them arriving in-store which explains why the flyer contained UPC codes of styles that are not yet available. This is not done to be misleading, but simply comprehensive and legally compliant.”
So, I commend TRU for not going forth with the promotion at this time. If there is insufficient inventory to meet demand, why shoot yourself in the foot? I’d wait until the supply line is restock, and, then I would go forth with the promotion. It is a lot easier to print new pads of flyers to post in the toy aisle, than to generate ill will from the Cars collectors for a repeat of the first promotion. I’m sure corporate heard plenty from local managers.
If I were TRU I would not repeat the fiasco of the first promotion. It is somewhat early after the Christmas sales season, and, I am assuming inventory is in short supply. I’m more than willing to wait rather than drive 250 miles looking at empty pegs.
Wasn’t the limit of 2 per household instituted with N20 (no limit on Sidewall Shine)?
Hopefuly, Mattel isn’t doing the promo right now because they are trying to get mattycollector.com squared away for Cars stuff in the near future. If I remember correctly, Mattel outsrouces the redemption processing of the promos and mattycollector.com to the same company. Did the boat with the Gas-Kits promos get intercepted by a pirates? 🙂
I really Mattel/TRU are not trying to come up with a scheme for getting rid of any leftover N20s. Isn’t this the reasoning behind the Mattel outlet stores?
I seem to recall there being a limit of 10 per household for Sidewall Shine too.
That sounds right to me.
If the source is credible, I just read that there are about 9000 N20’s sitting in a warehouse! NO!!!
No way! For real?
It is 10 per household for N20 as well…
YES the Gask-Its got captured by Pirates!!! And we sold them ALL to JOEYCARS!!!!
I read the 9000 in a warehouse post too, but it seems ot me that many people seem to still need Sidewall and also, this time many people bought 10-100 of N20, so what does that mean?? I think it means that Mattel produced a crap load of them, if they have 9000 left, cuz I know that I bought twice as many N20 than I did Sidewall…
aaaagggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
what
Feel free to call my bluff JoeyCars, but I’m still very curious about you plan to supply the Gask-Its that you were offering to sell last week on the trading forum for $52. You said that “you know someone” that can supply them. How true is that?
Oh, did he write Gask-Its? What he meant to write was Cruisin’ McQueen. Honest mistake I’m sure…could happen to anyone…
🙂 nice one…
Again, thanks for the heads-up Samuel !!
Okay MET we all took a vote and decided that you’re the one who is going to have to break this non-news news to my kids. Here are their phone numbers:
867-5309 and 1-800-fma-ttel
(MET: Kids, there once was an ogre with a big hollow head …).
I think the people at FEMA are in charge of this promotion.
😆
Geez, I sure hope Kmart Day is still on the planogram!
Hi
Spoke to my Mattel Rep guy today came to my store to fix up the new promos.the Cars 1 isnt on the march planogram anymore.only thing coming up is the Barbie 50 year bday special and the little ppl 50 year bday special. Seems the cars 1 has been pushed back till who knows when.
R
Say it ain’t so! Planograms run the world these days – and they are so mysterious…
Maybe I will send a message on Facebook to Matty demanding answers! Think I will get anywhere?
Or we could all just get our shovels and pitchforks out!!! Who’s with me?
I am!!
OH I’LL BE ON POINT, “NO HOSTAGES” I KNOW LOTS OF ROOMS LIT WITH BRIGHT LIGHTS TO INTERROGATE MATTY – 1ST QUESTION (MEGA DRAWS CONNECT THE DOTS I MEAN FRECKLES ON MATTY’S FACE)WHERE ARE THE TRU PROMO CAR GASKITS …….
Oh and don’t forget the Hot Wheels wristwatch promotion that starts tomorrow!
Oh well, that’s why they made the MSOS… Oh wait, I don’t have the MSOS… I NEED GASK-ITS! Has anyone noticed that we seem to be in a dry spell as far as Cars hunting goes? Maybe there is some correlation… No, that would be logical; anything related to Cars & retail cannot be logical…
i have to say my son is going to be so dissappointed he’s 5 and has been counting down the days until 3/1 and has been helping me out with just about everything to earn first $5 and then another $5 so that he could get to the new car one to open, and one to save….he’s going to be so sad!
(MET: Yea, sorry to hear that).
I love the literature flashback! Thanks MET!
And yes, I agree – situation normal is an accurate depiction.
Awesome photos Met! You’ve DEFINITELY put this whole travesty into perspective!
NOW who’s going to buy all the Supercharged Ramone’s?
Sigh…
Well, that was a very eloquent non-answer. Thanks for the effort!
I cannot seem to get into the buying promos. I would rather not buy doubles and triples (economy woes) I am going to hope and pray that they will eventually release them later – or resort to e-bay 🙁
People here always have them for sale, but more importantly was that last line in the Memo…other Retailers will not have the Promo Car for 1 year…whcih means, eventually all will be released in another form….BUT I like the little building block it comes in!!
If Met’s posting about the upcoming launchers is correct, and the N2O launcher will be produced, I think the chances are good that Gask-its will be produced as a launcher too.
Thanks for the update. I’ve been to 2 TRU stores since Sunday and no one in either store knew what I was talking about. At least I won’t have to keep checking TRU for a while. The only Cars they had were a few McQueen’s and one Yellow Ramone. Glad I didn’t have to buy them.
I drove 250 miles to 2 different cities that have TRUs in order to buy Cars for the promo. No one knew anything about it. I’ll keep the 2 Impound DJ, 2 Easy Idle Pitty, and 2 Ron Hover, and the other 11 go back. Not at all what I’d hoped for that morning. At least I did find 2 Wally Haulers and 1 Octane Gain Hauler. Who knows what’s really going on with this promo…
I htink it would have been cheaper to call them rather then driving 250 miles. just a thought though 😮
Damn! I was hoping for words of comfort, not frustration. But thanks for the non-update update Met