Thread: When taking pictures of halloween merchandise...does an employee stop you?

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If an employee catches you taking pictures of their halloween merchandise...what do you tell them?

there are " no pictures" signs posted everywhere in the stores. I just make a mental note.

I got stopped in iParty lol. I just apologised and told the lady to calm down. She quite excited over the whole thing lol

@MissMandy: LOL! did you still save your pictures that you took?

I was only able to snap one pic before the lady came barrel a$$'in towards me lol.

MissMandy: aww I hate when that happens -___- lol

There's a reason for them stopping obvious picture taking. I used to work retail, and the reasoning from the home office was that it was a really quick way for the competition to shop your stock, pricing and any interesting sales or specials. This was before the advent of digital cameras/camera phones, so it was much worse then, since someone in your store taking multiple pics almost always meant a competing store "spy."

Nowadays, it is more likely a customer taking a pic for reference, checking a price online or other perfectly innocent reasons, but the "no picture taking" still harks back to blind terror of the competition undercutting your prices... and the stores in general that have these policies still in place tend to freak out - even if it's not possible or even practical to forbid it any more due to the sheer number of tiny cameras and online pricing capabilites... a competitor can go look at your website now, so there's no point in wasting time going from store to store. BUT it's been really slow for some to make the adjustment.

I always ask before I take out my camera. I go up to a manager or sales associate in the section I want to take pics of, and tell them I'd like to take a few pictures so I can show some friends and decide what we want - for a shopping reference. I have never been told no using this method. It's because you're basically asking their permission (which a competitor would never do) and doing it all out in the open. Even in places that have a "no picture taking" posted, it's kind of the manager's call, and in general they don't mind as long as you ask - I've taken pics in Spirit, Party City, Halloween Express... depending on how chatty the managers are, in the past I've told them that I'm taking pics for Halloween Forum so I can post some of the cool props, I've even gotten handed a bunch of coupons.

In the event that was told "no," I'd respect that. It's not worth getting mad or upset about it - they are just trying to do their job and they have to deal with tons of rude people all shift (and working in someplace like Spirit or other places that have Halloween/seasonal stuff) have to clean up TONS of stuff that get played with and dumped all over the store... it's a never-ending mess.

You just have to be sneaky and take photos when no one is around And don't use flash... I had a friend who was dress shopping she would hold the camera inside her coat so if you weren't right infront of her you would never know LOL. Or you could be mature, and do what Frankie's Girl suggests ^_^
I would tell them I was going to post their photos on HF --maybe they would be more lenient?? Doubtful, but ya never know!

I actually did ask an associate before taking any pix. She told me it was ok....then the other lady came around the corner lol. Although my intentions were innocent (just wanted to post em on here for ya'll ) I respect their policies. She just coulda been a bit nicer about it and not treat me like a criminal lol

Wow. I've never had instances when store employees have asked me not to take pictures. I've never even seen "No Photos" signs. I used to use my camera on my phone all the time (before it broke) for remembering things I would see in stores for Christmas gift ideas. It was invaluable, really, because I couldn't always write every little detail down. Never had a problem.