When retail isn't for suckers II

The last time I put this title on a post, it was to let people know that as a consumer you can go to your local retail outlet and pull something grand from the card aisle.

But this time I'm coming to you from the viewpoint of the poor sap who works at the retail store.

I've worked in retail a few times in my life. I worked at a department store in the mid-80s that basically doubled as a singles club. It was one of the greatest times of my life during those two years. I worked in another department store during college. I also worked at a drug store just out of college while looking for a full-time job.

It was during that time at the drug store that I discovered cards printed on the bottom of boxes. It was an entirely new concept to me at the time. Since I was the only non-supervisor male working at the store, I got stuck with hauling the discarded boxes back to the stock room and tossing them into the trash compactor.

The store sold cards, and while I was rummaging through boxes to crush (it was a semi-enjoyable part of my job. What guy doesn't want to see stuff crushed or dropped off a five-story building?), I found this staring back at me from the bottom of a card box:

I was collecting very lightly in those days, but I knew this was something different, not your ordinary 1988 Topps cards. So I set aside the box, and later when my shift was up, took it home and cut out the cards.

It was this particular moment that started me on my second phase of card buying, from 1989-93 (I'm currently in phase 3 for those scoring at home). I was still working at the drug store the following year, and I found the cards on the bottom of the Topps box again, featuring the Tom Lasorda card at the top of this post, Keith Hernandez and a couple others I can't recall right now. Each card commemorated an achievement or milestone by the player, just like in '88. Again, I brought the box home and cut them out (not very well as you can tell by the Lasorda card).

I collected the '89 Topps set like mad, more than any other set Topps has ever issued. So it was nice to look at these variations instead of the 98th card of Moose Stubing. For me, it was a perk of working for the store. (See? I'm not a sucker wearing this goofy vest. I get cards!)

I was able to nab cards that weren't available to the average consumer. This was before the Internet came along, so you couldn't find these cards all that easily. And it made up for the annoyances of the job: stocking the tobacco aisle for so long that I nearly passed out from the smell of cherry blend pipe tobacco, waiting eons while an elderly lady counted out her pennies for the giant Symphony candy bar, sweating out another after hours cash drawer counting to see whether I was over or under again (always had an issue with that).

I'm not sure how long the box-bottom cards lasted or even when they began. I know they were around for Topps from 1988-90, at least.

What I do know is drug stores don't sell cards nearly as much as they did back then, and that's too bad. The same with grocery stores. More need to start stocking their shelves with cards.

This week, one of our sportswriters is leaving and moving out of the area. For the last few years, he has kept a set of 1994 Post cards on a shelf at his desk. I have wanted the Mike Piazza card from that set for a while. But instead of snagging it elsewhere (you can get the whole set on eBay for like a buck), I kept waiting for the opportunity to obtain the card from him. He doesn't collect cards, so it's not like I could offer him cards in return.

Well, on the occasion of my co-worker leaving, I told him that I had to get that card from him some way. And he said, "Here, you can have the whole set. I have like six of them at home."

It turns out his father used to work at a grocery store and the store sold the Post sets. Now, thanks to a grocery store selling cards and a generous soul, I have the 30-card set in all of its unlicensed glory.

It's actually missing the Darren Daulton card, but that's no matter. All I wanted was the Piazza card anyway.

Thanks, Dan. Good luck to you in your new career.