Page 1 of 1

Scheme

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:57 pm
by mappatazee
Okay, there may be some knowledgeable people here:

I'm getting laid off from one of my jobs June 10th. I will still work for FedEx. This allows me to ship anything up to 150lbs for $3 in the U.S.

Say I get a job at BestBuy. I get discounts. I buy, for example, a $5000 plasma TV for my employee discount of around $3-4000, then sell it through e-Bay (with $3 shipping cost) and make profit.

Hypothetical. Can I get in trouble for this?

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:03 pm
by brinstar
i don't think this is illegal per se, but you will want to find out if best buy thinks it's okay or not-- and then in the event that it is not okay, you'll need to figure out if you can get away with it anyway

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:09 pm
by mappatazee
Yar, like I never thought it was a good idea to buy a new 60" plasma TV every month, but maybe a couple different items here and there. Now and then. Hmm.

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:50 pm
by Tikker
Pretty sure you'll find it's frowned upon if not outright against your terms of employment

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 10:45 pm
by dammuzis
last night i got a pentium 4 computer with a 19" flat panel monitor for $450
according to my boss since i was aware of the deal and work for the company offering it it was unethical for me to do this... so i offered to buy him one and he shut up

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 10:48 pm
by Diekan
Sounds like a pretty good idea actually. Does Best Buy give it's employees a hand book of some type? Might be something said about it in the section covering the discount.

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 11:24 pm
by araby
OH! I Love schemes! I bet you could get away with this.

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 7:28 am
by Ganzo
My cousin did this when he worked at Circuit City all the time

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:08 am
by labbats
I thought Fed Ex only shipped letters. I went there with some boxes for Christmas (we get 75% off Fed Ex) and with the discount was still 3x the post office price.

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:51 am
by mappatazee
I think FedEx is better priced if you have a business account with them.

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:52 am
by labbats
I get 75% off!

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 9:08 am
by The Kizzy
Again, my posts are poofing. Alot of those businesses, like Home Depot for example do not give discounts, Best Buy may not give a discount either. If they did it would probably be only 10%. So your 5,000 flat screen would still cost you $4,500.

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 9:20 am
by Azlana
then add on tax too, if you have it wherever you are. I thought about doing this, only I don't have the shipping hook up so it's not worth it, but I say do it, and to hell with asking them if it's okay.

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 9:38 am
by WoWShaman
Best buy sells at cost +5% to employee's.
and yes if your caught your fired.
Goodluck

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 10:02 am
by Diabolik
Get someone else involved to keep things complicated and harder for them to track.

Someone like... me, for instance. :)

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 10:47 am
by Spacewoman Spiff
What I don't understand is how this could be a fireable offense. I mean, you're purchasing the equipment from them. It's yours. What you do with it after it's yours is really none of their concern, right?

I'm sure there's a really good reason why they could fire him over this, I just don't know it. So please, someone enlighten me.

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 4:59 pm
by mappatazee
1. Oregon- no sales tax. 2. I'm just going on what someone told me who works there. The discount varies depending on what the markup on the item is.