No Security Stickers! (1 Viewer)

This is probably old hat to many of you who have bought discs other than for the USA. I just bought my first international discs (Pitch Black, The Thing, and Close Encounters) from Amazon.UK. I quickly noticed that none of the three had any security sticker on any of the edges. They were enclosed only by the cellophane wrapping.

So does this mean that overseas customers are more honest than US customers? Or perhaps it means that US merchants tend to be paranoid about security?

Definitely. In eight years of collecting DVDs here in the UK, I have never purchased a single disc with any kind of edge security sticker. There has been an occasional METO security tag inside the box, but that's all. The boxes usually are incased in virtually impenetrable shrink-wrap which has to be slit with a knife, but that's another story. Only US discs come with shrink wrap, edge stickers and METO tags.

The weird thing is these security measures are for shops, and yet stuff that comes via e-retailers is always trussed up just the same.

Defintiely #2 for North America. I HATE security tags with a passion.

I'm probably grossly over-simplifying things, but it would seem to me that security stickers cost studios money that might be saved if they didn't use them for merchants that didn't require them (e.g. e-tailers). But perhaps the e-tailers want them too to avoid internal theft?

That would require a separate process on the production line to produce one set with and one without. Then you'd have to be sure they went to the right merchants. Perhaps it would cost more than just having one packaging system for all.

I'm afraid it doesn't.

Some retailers over here use a procedure where they remove the discs from the cases and keep them in a nice wrapping behind the counter. Then, when you purchase the disc, it is inserted into the (empty) case you're buying.

And you know what? Some people steal empty CD or DVD cases from those shops: to put their illegal copy in.


Cees

Man. If it ain't nailed down...

Do these retailers make sure to mention in their print ads that they're selling used copies? Or do they just not do print ads over there?

I think in Cees' example the discs are still new...just not in the case out on the sales floor.

Sorry, but once someone's mishandling the disc outside of the factory, it's no longer new. (Especially if the store is one of those that lets employees take such discs home for a time, but even without that it's still misrepresentation.)

That's presuming that working retail in Europe carries the same stigma it does for some individuals in North America. i used to frequent a tiny CD store that engaged in this practice, and their methods of handling were exemplary. Besides, if you knew how discs were mishandled in manufacturing, packaging and shipping, I doubt you'd have the same misgivings.

It's this myth of "mishandling" that is responsible for the packaging fetish that exists in North America.

You're deluded if you think that store employees mishandling dics is a "myth." I'm sure that some retail employees are more careful about handling them than others, and it's possible that Europe as a whole is better about it than the US. But I've bought a number of video games and DVDs that were held behind the counter separate from their case, and more often than not, I've found myself cringing at the way the employee was handling the disc. I've learned my lesson and typically avoid stores that engage in this practice (there's a particular video game chain popular in the US that is especially infamous for it).

There's nothing wrong with selling discs this way as long as the customer knows what he's getting. But, having been handled by the store's employee, the discs are no longer new, and it's wrong to advertise them as such.

Normally, they're not removed from the case by the retailer, but delivered to them in a separate factory-sealed envelope. The better retailer and employees show you that the envelope is still sealed before they open it and add the CD/DVD to the case you bought.


Cees

For what it's worth, my cousin, who used to be a district manager for a major video rental chain and worked in loss prevention at the time the security edge stickers became popular, told me that they had a very noticeable effect on theft rates.

That's interesting, and something I've never seen here in the US.

However, I think I would still be apprehensive about purchasing discs handled this way.

Remember the old "alpha" DVD cases? They were very poorly designed, and inserting a disc into the case by merely pressing down on it put a lot of stress on the disc. I've seen a number of used DVDs that had small cracks in the hub.

What about those Digipack cases that seem to have a death grip on the disc, from which it's seemingly impossible to liberate the disc without a ridiculous degree of flexing?

Thankfully, cases have largely improved since then and the most egregious offenders seem to have been phased out.

Nevertheless, no matter how carefully a store's employees believe they are about handling a disc, there's no guarantee that they'll be as careful with it as I am. If I wanted to purchase a used DVD, there are plenty of shops that sell used DVDs at an appreciable discount from their new counterparts. If I'm expected to pay a premium for anew disc, then I should receive a new disc. And a disc that has been handled by an employee and removed from or inserted into its case is not new.

What Aaron said.

I managed a Blockbuster in the Boston area when I was going to school, and if it weren't for the theft prevention stickers, we wouldn't have any product in the store, sad as that might be. Would-be-thieves have gotten the whole "slicing the side of the packaging with a razor while no one notices" trick down pretty good. There's no security system of any kind that can totally eliminate theft, but those things do help cut down on it. They buy you time, as an employee, to keep an eye on things. To steal a disc from a case that's just shrinkwrapped, takes no time... throw on a security sticker or two, and it takes enough time that people won't bother as much, or will only do it if they're positive they're not being watched. And then add those plastic locking tabs to the side of the case, and there just isn't enough time for anyone to get in and steal the disc without being noticed.

I really wish all of this stuff wasn't necessary. But I can say from firsthand experience that it absolutely helps with theft prevention in stores.

This approach makes sense, althought the Walmarts and Best Buys of the world wouldn't be able to tolerate it, as it actually involves properly training staff.

Not just staff, but it would also require arranging for a place for the discs to be kept, getting customers to be willing to wait around to get their discs, etc. etc. etc. There's also the question of how returns would work.

It already happens with videogames in Walmart and Best Buy, @ least here in Canada. They're kept in a locked cabinet that the clerk has to unlock, obtain the item, then take it to the till. As far as returns go, retailers probably see no reason to deviate from their current modus operandi i.e. unless it's defective, it's yours. EB Games and GameSpot also operate this way.

In the US, as long as it hasn't been opened stores will almost always accept a return. But what's "opened" when it leaves the story without shrinkwrap?