Circuit City employee reports PS3 hoarding

Tsk tsk.

Here at the QJ offices, we have just received a letter from one of our readers who reports that some Circuit City branches have been receiving stocks of PS3s, but have also been deliberately witholding these units from the public in favor of family and friends. Talk about nepotism.

With all these reports about various retailers hoarding their supplies of such in-demand items, could this be a sign for their head offices to start keeping a closer watch on their branches? After all, with similar reports piling up, it is becoming undeniable that there is SOMETHING going on in those stores which shouldn’t.

In any case, we’ll let you, our dear readers, be the judge, so we’re also leaving you with the letter that we received which you can view in its entirety right here (we didn’t include the guy’s name since we didn’t want to get him in any trouble).

Read the letter after the jump!

Tsk tsk.

Here at the QJ offices, we have just received a letter from one of our readers who reports that some Circuit City branches have been receiving stocks of PS3s, but have also been deliberately witholding these units from the public in favor of family and friends. Talk about nepotism.

With all these reports about various retailers hoarding their supplies of such in-demand items, could this be a sign for their head offices to start keeping a closer watch on their branches? After all, with similar reports piling up, it is becoming undeniable that there is SOMETHING going on in those stores which shouldn’t.

In any case, we’ll let you, our dear readers, be the judge, so we’re also leaving you with the letter that we received which you can view in its entirety right here (we didn’t include the guy’s name since we didn’t want to get him in any trouble).

“I am a former employee of Circuit City. As you may already know, there has been an enormous demand for the Playstation 3 this holiday season. One of my better friends still works at Circuit City in Santa Monica as a warehouse worker. On Tuesday, November 28th, he told me that their store would be receiving 2 60 GB and 6 20 GB Playstation 3s. I told him that I would contact him early Wednesday morning just to make sure they actually arrived since he is one of the main people who unload the merchandise shipments when they come.

On Wednesday morning, they came in just as he said. However, as he received the merchandise in the store inventory, the Operations Manager promptly placed the merchandise into variance. Variance means when a product should be there but is currently lost or stolen. She then began calling people on a list she gathered of employees, current and former, and also friends/family who were interested in obtaining a Playstation 3. Any knowledge of the Playstation 3s being available was hidden from the immediate public. Even my warehouse friend, who’s been with the company for 5 years, was shunned away for those already on the list.

Also, another friend I have working at the La Cienega store had told me that they received 2 60 GB Playstation 3s. However, they were not available to be sold to the public as well.

Now during my times working at Circuit City, it was company policy that employees would not be allowed to purchase new release game systems especially if there’s such high public demand for them for at least a month. Their current practices now obviously contradict any such policy. I just find it ethically wrong to hide a product with such demand from the public. These people who are receiving preferential treatment should be fighting in a first come first serve basis just like everyone else.

Thank you for your time.

(Name and email address omitted — Ed.)”