Isabel, Zamac Cars, and You

When Hurricane Isabel came running through town, the biggest corporate casualty was Baltimore Gas and Electric. 880,000 customers lost power. That means 880,000 fridges and freezers were no longer cold. And as is natural, and all too often lately expected, BGE decided to purchase HUGE quantities of dry ice and gave it away. And this was highly covered on the news and easily seen by people who had power. I watched with great interest and formed my own opinions on it all, good and bad, and then filed it away as I do with most news. To be recalled later for conversation or argument’s sake.

That time came when I read about the Zamac cars and Toys R Us.

Those of you that know don’t know me will say: What? How can Hurricane Isabel and BGE possibly relate to Toys R Us?

First, let’s think about the particulars of the dry ice. BGE had 880,000 people that needed dry ice. They went out, filled the trucks with Ice, and set up shop for the charity. But the painful lesson that BGE learned was in choosing locations. They set up four distribution points. One North of Baltimore, one south and two to the west. I’m in the east. The closest Ice pickup point for me was 38 miles from my house. A 45 minute drive on a good day on non flooded streets with no trees down and working signals. The area hardest hit by the storm was also about 35 miles away in a different direction. My county is the second most populous in the state. 285,000 of the powerless were in my area.

A lot of people made the trek to get ice. And when they got there they found 5 hour long lines. FIVE HOURS. To see the entire line in the camera shot they had to go up in a helicopter. I never did go. Why bother, right? Fortunately for me, I have a tendency to be a bit paranoid and I have a giant freezer in the basement. I stocked up on ice bags for a week. I was fine. 

As I read about the Zamac cars being TRU exclusives I thought back to those lines. And I came to think about how there could have very easily been a profiteer at the front of the line who would have had easy pickens of people who had been in line for 5 hours trying to get something they desperately needed. 

700 bucks for a block of ice? Sure. I just want to go home. 

Don’t tell me it couldn’t happen. In fact, as they began running low on ice, I would almost guarantee that people who had ice were offering to sell to people way back in line. I know people were hoarding batteries prior to the storm. Shopping carts full and refusing to share. I have a hard time believing that all of those batteries were for themselves. 

So why not just go somewhere else for your dry ice? Local liquor store perhaps? Well, see BGE had bought EVERY BLOCK of dry ice in Maryland. 

You really can see by the event how channeling desired goods through one small outlet can make it so easy for a soulless prospector to prey upon people. It makes it so much easier to corner the market. Stores that sold dry Ice were happy, because they made a killing. But who got left out? Those of us that know that Tully’s normally has dry ice, and could walk there.  Only to find BGE had beaten them to the punch. 

We’ve cornered the market. You have to come to US. Sound familiar? 

Sending a desired series of cars through one outlet that is notorious for back room shenanigans is careless and dangerous. The market is already cornered before it opens up. You take all the work out of stopping the flow of cars. I will never, as long as I live, agree with limited edition exclusive cars in stores. Online exclusives, yeah because anyone with a computer has access. But in stores, NO WAY. If you are going to make the choice to do something different, then spread it around. It’s not much of a “hunt” when all the deer are in a pen in the middle of the woods, unable to escape. 

We need release dates. “HOF series whatever released on such and such a date”. Punish retailers who break that deal. Do you know of ANYONE who wanted Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix who didn’t get it? 2Fast 2Furious DVD? New Dave Matthews Band CD? Now what about Grumpy’s Camaro? 

So, as I think “Hey Mattel, cut us a break, EH?” I then think about all the griping about how BGE muffed up the ice thing. And I think, and it does appear I am the ONLY Marylander who thinks this, “Why is it expected that they’d even do that? Where is my responsibility to be prepared?” 

They didn’t have to do it. But they did, and when they handle it wrong they get slammed. I work in a corporate culture and realize that for every good idea there are at least 25 bad ones. K Mart collector’s days? Good. Zamac Exclusives; bad. 

It’s excellent that Mattel does the things they do, and I am glad they at least try. Sometimes things could be better, but all in all, they do great. I hope and pray that Mattel will learn from the successes of their online sales or conventions and get the stuff out there. Spread it around and make it a hunt. Not shooting fish in a barrel.  

We are so close to a fair chance for everyone. And like the ice, I can make Zamac cars in my basement.

--43Goalie

Have you missed any Your Take On.... articles? Click Here