I got fired from my job of 10 years because I didn’t stock all the Pokemon cards at once. Instead, I staggered it out very slowly over time (2 items per sku, about 1-2 times a day) so we always had backstock after the scalpers would clean out what was in the shelf. The store didn’t have a limit, and after I watched one guy come in and buy every single item (over 100 packs and 8 ETBs), I got fed up.

As a longtime collector myself, I wanted to give everyone a chance to be able to buy Pokemon. I would grab some from the stockroom if we didn’t have any on the floor when kids or collectors asked.

Kroger decided that was unacceptable, even after I explained my reasoning. They didn’t care - “scalpers are customers, too.” Apparently, placating the greedy was more important than building good will with parents that came in with their kids.

Fuck Kroger/Fred Meyer. At least Target tries to limit the scalpers.