That Darn Warehouse!

My cold is clearing up, the weather is finally turning lovely outside, some long-term projects I’ve been working on are progressing nicely, everything is going according to budget, then WHAM:

Surprise Boxes? With actual good stuff in them, not just discontinued items and overruns? Why do you do this to me, guys?

As to whether this means that the warehouse is cleaned out for realsies, and that this finally means the end of the NPOD, or any other surprises elsewhere?

The answer would be no.

Every time there are new models released, there will be Samples.

Every time there is a Web Special, there are going to be unsold/undistributed pieces from those runs – “desirable” or not, it doesn’t matter.

Every time there is a special promotion – random glossies, gifts with purchase, and all that jazz – there will be leftovers.

BreyerFest Special Runs? Leftovers.

Short run Regular Run models, concepts and promotions that go unexecuted/underexecuted? Leftovers.

Club models? Unclaimed leftovers.

Contests? Yep, leftovers there, too.

Anyone who has worked in a warehouse in any capacity – and especially those of us who do inventories of such places – also knows how easy it is for things to hide in even the tidiest of them. Just like your purse, the glove box in your car, and the junk drawer.

(Let me tell you about the magical roll of quarters that lives in my messenger bag. Every time I clean out my bag, it’s in there, but every time I actually look for it or need it, it’s not!)

So surprises like this will continue to happen, and pretty good stuff will turn up in the NPOD from time to time, too.

I suppose I could charge one, but I’d really rather not.

I’ve never had an issue selling the duplicates from previous “Surprise” Grab Bags – especially since I look at it from this perspective: you’re getting everything in the box at basically half-off, so selling the items within for anything above half the MSRP is coming out ahead.

But I already have enough to sell as it is, and flea market season hasn’t even really gotten into full swing yet. (This week, maybe? Fingers crossed!)

Plus, I did really well with the last big promotion – the Free Rare Glossy for Christmas one (ah, Wixom!) – and I’d really rather ride that high for a little while longer.

If something really good I’ve been wanting anyway shows up in one of the boxes, I might go for it, but otherwise I think I’ll be saving that roll of quarters for the flea market.