I work at Target, yet have not seen a NECA vendor in the store since before Christmas. It sucks, I feel like I care about Haulathon more than any of my bosses (most of whom had no idea this event was an actual thing), even the vast majority of the NECA vendors themselves. I'm in South FL and have tried to travel to nearby Target stores that I do not work at, and, of course, nothing has even reached the floor.
The worst part is, as an employee, I have the right to dig through NECA's boxes. I've held these Haulathon items in my own two hands (at least for Week 1, sigh- saw nothing for Week 2 as of yet, and was busy at work while they all presumably sold out within a couple of hours).
It seems that we (as in, collectors) care much, MUCH more about these events compared to anyone actually involved with the sale of them. They are never listed in the store's inventory, unless the magical NECA vendor decides to bless us with their presence...which I've almost completely lost faith in.
From what I've seen online, certain pockets of the country got lucky, and a slew of NECA products were pushed to the floor and available for purchase, even items that should not have been available until Weeks 3 or 4.
It just sucks that we care so much more about giving our money to NECA and Target more than they care about taking our money, so to speak.
Btw, I've been following this site for a few years now, but have never contributed to the conversations. I hope to update you all on the state of NECA and Target relations going forward!
...I'm still pissed I missed out on Rex-1 and and the Dirk/Mona Lisa 2-pack; they were the primary two I was hoping to snag during this year's Haulathon.
One question continues to bug me, as a longtime NECA tmnt collector- why should I care more about buying their products when they clearly don't care about satisfying demand?
Thanks, to anyone that reads this. I hope your luck during this abhorrent Haulathon has been better than mine! I will be registering on this site, which I've been following for a long time now, so that I can *hopefully* give you all some more positive updates.
"I'll so what I can - as long as I can."
Cheers,
Dmarvelous5000