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Macy's New York City flagship store accused of racially profiling Asian customers

K

KSweeley

Member
According to a lawsuit filed this month by former employees of the Macy's flagship NYC store, the store racially profiled Asian customers visting the store: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...e73e4b0186c2205dc2a?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

Sales associates at Macy’s flagship store in New York City’s Herald Square were told to “look out for” or “not sell to” customers of Asian descent, four former employees alleged in a lawsuit filed earlier this month.

The directives were based on a stereotype that opportunistic foreign customers would buy products to resell in Asia, according to a press release from Wigdor LLP, the firm that filed the suit on behalf of the former associates.

The plaintiffs, most of whom identify as Asian-American, alleged that managers told sales associates they should refrain from selling more than one unit of the same product to Asian customers, among other discriminatory instructions. Official store policy allows shoppers to purchase up to six units of a single product.

Employees working in the loss prevention department would allegedly make Asian shoppers uncomfortable by staring them down until their transactions were completed.

The plaintiffs say they were fired after they filed grievances with Macy’s union and brought up the matter to their managers. Wigdor LLP called their terminations “a blatant act of retaliation against those employees who dared to speak up against such unlawful racial profiling.”
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K

Kayhan

Member
The directives were based on a stereotype that opportunistic foreign customers would buy products to resell in Asia
Click to expand...

huh?

As long as they paid full price at Macy's why would you even care if they resold it in Asia?
 
D

Desi

Member
rtcn63 said:
No one in Asia wanna buy Macy's shit
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Not Macy branded but more likely pieces from others collections in the zone areas like LV, Polo,Etc.

I also remember another name for customers that bought something just to copy the pattern. Something about "Canal Street" bootleg shops,can't remember the nickname though.
 
K

kirblar

Member
...

....

I worked at Best Buy at one point. If we had a foreign customer who wanted to buy a lot of one item to take back home? You know what the answer was? (barring something very high-demand, like a Nintendo Switch today) HOW MANY DO YOU WANT?

So stupid. Just someone finding an excuse to be an asshole.
 
S

sangreal

Member
At least they aren't throwing them in their basement jail. I guess that's still reserved for black customers

Also who gives a shit if they resell their stuff in Asia. What's it to you?
 
B

Busaiku

Member
How would that business model even work.
Wouldn't similar items be significantly cheaper in Asia? And then the cost of transportation and everything, how would they profit?
 
M

massoluk

Banned
That's dumb
1. Money is money, you shouldn't give a shit if it's for resale half the world away.
2. Macy ain't the target, we go to like Woodbury outlet or Century 21 for this sort of shits.
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
Lol what.... No one is going to the Macy's flagship store in New York to resell their cheap shit in any Asian country. The plane ticket alone is going to be worth more than 6 of anything they sell.
 
M

Maridia

Member
According to the article linked in the OP, there's a documented trend of this happening (even a name for it- daigou!), but I can't figure out why it would be in Macy's interest to stop it. Almost has to be a business partnership with a Chinese distributor in jeopardy... or something. I dunno.
 
Sunster

Sunster

Member
Hierophant said:
Let's assume I'm a foreigner who has no idea what Macys is (which I am), explain to me what Macys is.
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do you know what a department store is? assuming you don't, they are large, usually very nice looking stores that sell a variety of goods but mostly clothes, makeup, perfume, purses, jewelry etc. kitchenware, bedding, and other home items can also be bought. Macy's is I think the largest in the US in terms of number of stores.
 
R

radios shipping overview

Member
Hierophant said:
Let's assume I'm a foreigner who has no idea what Macys is (which I am), explain to me what Macys is.
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The NY location sells a lot of high-end designer goods. The bottom floor especially has a lot of expensive handbags, watches, etc. It's more upscale than the suburban mall locations others in this thread are talking about.

Also, scalpers buying goods in NY for resale in China is a thing (though it's said to be less profitable now for Apple goods): http://time.com/3423883/iphone-6-china/ Not that this excuses anything Macy's might have done.
 
andythinkpad

andythinkpad

Member
Maridia said:
According to the article linked in the OP, there's a documented trend of this happening (even a name for it- daigou!), but I can't figure out why it would be in Macy's interest to stop it. Almost has to be a business partnership with a Chinese distributor in jeopardy... or something. I dunno.
Click to expand...

Daigou is 代购， as in shopping for clients. This at least clear things a little bit.

Does it?
 
R

radios shipping overview

Member
andythinkpad said:
Yeah this makes no sense to me. The Asians are the only one eating up the LV shit.

Do they want money or not?
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https://www.businessoffashion.com/a...-china-put-an-end-to-the-illicit-daigou-trade

Meanwhile, some luxury brands have started watching their customers more closely. “We’ve placed strict retail restrictions for the amount of products that people can buy,” Jean-Jacques Guiony, chief financial officer at LVMH, said at an investor conference call in 2015. “When you see someone in a store, you don’t know whether they are buying handbags for themselves or to sell them onto the market in China. We are trying to make sure we are not competing with our own products in the China market, but our actions are not entirely bullet-proof.”

“Many of the purported Chinese ‘consumers’ at major Western retail locations are in fact re-sellers,” agrees Brian Buchwald, co-founder and chief executive of consumer intelligence firm, Bomoda.
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O

Ogodei

Member
Wasn't Macy's also knocked recently for their policy of basically kidnapping PoC customers and forcing them to sign away rights based on suspicion of shoplifting?
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
Kayhan said:
huh?

As long as they paid full price at Macy's why would you even care if they resold it in Asia?
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's weird to me. A sale made in a Macy's store in New York is not cannibalizing sales Macy's would make in Tokyo or Beijing as they don't operate there anyway.
If I were a salesperson making commission on selling bullshit I'd sell as much of it as possible without worrying what the buyer would do with it. It's not like they're buying fertilizer to make bombs. If they resell handbags or overpriced jeans the world will keep on spinning.

If Louis Vuitton has a problem with it I'm not sure why Macy's should bend over backwards and go so far as discriminating against customers to satisfy LV.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
This story makes no sense. Profiling customers who buy too much stuff? What does Macy’s sell that would make this rational? Half price yeezys? iPhone xs?

I don’t buy it.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
CrocMother said:
Service industry racial profiles like a mother fucker, from the cheapest places to the fanciest ones.
Click to expand...

I doubt anyone would question that and the racial profiling from a couple of years ago sounded and was true. This one may be true but it sounds insane.
 
S

snap

Banned
Stinkles said:
This story makes no sense. Profiling customers who buy too much stuff? What does Macy’s sell that would make this rational? Half price yeezys? iPhone xs?

I don’t buy it.
Click to expand...

luxury clothes and brand name stuff is a big deal in certain overseas countries

i had family from india who came over and bought a bunch of brand name shirts, perfumes, bags, etc., just to resell or gift when they went back home.
 
S

Slayven

Member
Stinkles said:
This story makes no sense. Profiling customers who buy too much stuff? What does Macy’s sell that would make this rational? Half price yeezys? iPhone xs?

I don’t buy it.
Click to expand...

Hint: They just like being racist.

Macy's is in no position to turn away business
 
O

Orthogonal

Member
Their logic doesnt even make sense. So what if they resell it. Macy's still got paid for the original sale. They actually lose sales this way.
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
I mean, I've seen that in a lot of places, especially Vegas outlets. Chinese dudes with like 10 Michael Kors purses in each arm lol.

But who the fuck cares? Once they buy the thing it's their business to do what they want. Welcome to capitalism.
 
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