How could you put a living creature on clearance?

[greenfamilyfarms]

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I've kinda noticed that myself. But, I guess business is business. In my mind it is one thing to put a non-living thing on sale, such as a bag of corn or a bird feeder. But a living, breathing creature is another.

As a side note, our TSC in the surrounding counties do not have a required number of chicks to buy. Since they are on clearance, I think it would encourage even more impulse buying.

 

[Backyard Farm]

It perhaps is sad.. but given their options I think it is good idea to clearance them. Get them out of there and into a place where there are hopefully food, a clean pen and have adequate water.
... if they are unable to find homes, they might just "dispose" of them

... maybe someone in that area could put the fact they are "clearance" on a local poultry chat group. ... or even on craigslist. Help those babies get a home!

 

[LovinMyPeeps]

I have NO issue with how our local feed stores sell chicks, they basically facilitate the hatcheries. You decide how many and of what type, they order them and get them in and deliver them to you. The TSC impulse chick purchasing is cruel. I recently brought home more from TSC which I had no intention of doing, because they had pasty and when I explained to the staff that they had to clean or clip them they just stared at me like I was nuts. TSC IS a business and yes their goal is to sell supplies but NO live animal should be an impulse buy. The waterers are always filled with pine, the shavings dirty, c'mon... really? I feel so bad that I want to buy all of them, but I only have limited space. I truly believe that they need to ban the practice and stick to pre-orders. Then people are actively thinking about and preparing for the real world of animal husbandry.

 

[JenEric Farms]

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Well said and I agree completely!!!

 

[Olive Hill]

Let me ask this, do you all believe that the more you pay for a creature the more valuable that creature's life? Or is a life not a life regardless of the initial price tag applied? If you were given a free chick and had another chick that you paid $50.00 for that both fell ill would you not work just as hard to save the free chick?

If you don't think the price paid for a creature is an indication of the value of the life that creature possesses what matter is it how much TSC asks for their chicks? What matter is it if they are on sale or not? Their lives are of the same value they always were, no?

Above and beyond that, did you all get your chicks for free? If not, you too, once put a price on a life. And even if free, is that not a price applied to the life of that chick too? Do you not own it no matter the amount of cash that was traded for that life initially?

 

[DuckLady]

I have a friend who buys the meat birds on clearance. The store fed them for her for a week or two and all she has to do is finish them She got them cheap and saved a bunch on her feed bill.

 

[JenEric Farms]

I am more concerned with the quality of care, not the price...having them in a store for .50 is just asking for someone that may have no experience with chickens to try them out on a whim.

I prefer that a customer comes in and places an order that they thought about ahead of time rather than the "grab a chick for .50" tactic. It's not the cost, it's the people that do not know how to care for them but buy them because they are so readily available and are so cheap. TSC just propagates the whole thing.

 

[LovinMyPeeps]

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I can see where this would be a perk for meat birds, but layers are generally a longer term investment. A worker at TSC told me the other day that a woman spontaneously bought 6 bantams while she was in the store with her 2 very young childrens. She called 2 days later screaming at the clerk because they were "defective and all died" now you tell me... does that sound like someone that was equipped to take care of 6 new chicks? Did she adequately supervise her children? Or did she sit them in front of the chicks like a DVD and leave them to their own volition? I don't know... it all just bothers me. I don't like the way it's handled, and to a lot of the workers at TSC the chicks are just one more issue to deal with at their minimum wage jobs. Not really fair to the clerks either IMHO.

 

[Gonzo]

They did that at Rural King too. We thought it was pretty darn sad! So sad, we tried to buy a barred rock chick from the clearance bin.... Even though they were clearanced, you still had to buy a min. of 25!

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Quote:
Exactly.

And the issue about the value of the life, that's way off topic. The issue was whether it was right for them to order so many, then have to put a living creature on clearance. The actual price is not the issue, but the practice of marking them down.