NIC at Target have changed

[GrammyB]

We adopted a Guinea Pig yesterday, so we got a box of Organize It cubes at Target to make a nice cage with cubes & coroplast. Well they changed them, 15 (I think) of the panels are 3 in. squares & only 8 are the 1 1/2in. like before.    If you look close in the picture, only the panels where you would set things have the smaller grid, the back & sides are the larger grids.

I took them back today & found only 3 boxes of the 1 1/2 in. grids. Could this be the way these shelves are now? I doubt they will carry two kinds. I an not happy about this!    The lady I talked to didn’t know anything about it, I’m calling tomarow to try & get some answers.

Has anyone else noticed this change?

 

[rabbitsmba]

Uh-oh, this could be devastating to the world of bunny condo making! Seriously! Is it a specific Target brand? We don’t have Target in Canada so I get the Rubbermaid ones at Walmart…..

[Sarita]

That’s odd – are the shelves a different configuration? I would imagine that could be the only reason they would change up the squares if they changed the design. They may not be aware of all the rabbit and guinea pig owners using them to make condo’s for their pets :~0

[kralspace]

We should all contact the company and ask. I guess then they would repackage them as Pet Condo Grids and double the price. I better get down and buy some of the old ones before they’re gone.

Have you seen the person on ebay who puts together condo kits and sells them? They include the grids and cloroplast you need for the size you buy. I bet the shipping will kill you.

[Beka27]

if someone can find the contact info, i will def. give them a holler. someone else posted about this (forgive me, i don’t remember who) just the other day and we had no clue what they were talking about… grrr… this makes me so mad.

[COOKIE'N FLUFF MOMMA]

i just recently built a a condo with the NIC cubes at target. Mine were 14×14  and the grids were 1 1\2′.  Boy am i glad i bought them when i did thats awful that they would change those. Wonder what the point of that was?

[Beka27]

maybe everyone should go and buy a spare just in case box of the old ones…

[Princess*Smudge]

Not that this solves the problem but Home Depot sells “NIC”cubes. I have never heard of the brand that they are, it might be the “house brand” or something but I know they are still the same and relatively inexpensive (I think a little more than ones from Wal-mart or Target but we don’t have Target here). Anyways they are still the exact same and according to my friend who works there they are still the same ones as when I bought them for Smudge’s condo. Also for those Canadians out there, Canadian Tire does sell a “Debbie Travis” brand of NIC cubes, they are more expensive by a couple dollars but are the same as well.

[Beka27]

yes, we might just have to start figuring out additional sources…

[TARM]

Surely the company knows rabbit owners use these to make cages. I don’t see how they COULDN’T know. I wonder why they don’t change the packaging and sell them in pet stores. Bumping the price up wouldn’t be cool (unless they included the zip ties) but it would be nice if they actually catered to the large number of people who use their product for that purpose.

[Beka27]

what if they “disapprove” of them being used for that purpose? this is their way of alienating us, but i’m thinking we’re most of the market. does anyone really purchase them intending to use them for… gasp… shelves?

they could lower their price if they took out the stupid connectors…

 

okay i admit, i did use a few leftover ones for my music collection…

[TARM]

I don’t see why they would disapprove…a sale is a sale.  What do they care what we do with them once we get them home?

And I actually bought them for my daughters’ rooms to be shelves.  They’re also great shoe racks for boots and rollerblades that don’t fit on a traditional shoe rack.  I’ve also used them to organize my pet stuff. 

 

[Binkles]

D: Oh crap! I’d better hurry and get down there! I’m probably making a NIC condo for Little-Bit, but now my plan is in peril! Alas!

*Writes down* Okay…so they SHOULD be 1 1/2″ squares instead of 3″…geez! That’s a BIG change! It sure does kind of sound like a retalliation on pet owners!

[Beka27]

grammyb… do you still have the box? does it say on the side or back that there are two different sizes? does the “bad” box look different than the “good” box?

[MooBunnay]

uh oh….

I have three giant NIC condos so hopefully I have enough to tide me over for awhile… if they didn’t know that people use these for pet condos that would be pretty funny. THey’d change to this new configuration and then be like, hey, what happened to all our sales?

[MarkBun]

The reason that they are doing it is to make more money. It may sound silly to us but they are reducing the amount of wire they use by about 50%. That means material costs are halved while still selling at the same price. More than likely someone at their marketing department noted that only the bottoms and tops needed tight grid work to keep things from falling through. I don’t think they know that their product is being used as do it yourself caging.

It is the same people who decided to put the word ‘Repeat’ at the end of the shampoo’s directions.

[Beka27]

you’re probably right Markus. so do you think if they got a mass emailing from angry customers they’d figure out their mistake?

[Binkles]

Well you guys were sure right! I went to Target today to see if I couldn’t snipe some of the right kind for Little-Bit before they were all gone and they were all out of the white ones. (Which I wanted..) So I got the last three black ones instead! Whew!

So just a question -is there any difference (other than colour..) between the white ones and the black ones? (Speaking specifically about Oraginize-It cubes.) I’m mainly worried about whether or not they’re coated with something that could make Bit sick if she chews on them. 

[ADEE]

yes, i did!!!

 

oh boy did it make me mad when i got that box home and opened it up only to find about half the box had HUGE square openings!! In fact I even tried making a gate with them and Shiloh would just slip right through the bars! I would take it back and try getting a box towards the back of the stack. I would talk to management if they give you a hard time.

[TARM]

I just walked the entire home depot and there wasn’t a NIC to be found.  I did find something to block my doorway that the ferrets can’t climb so at least my trip wasn’t a total bust.

[Battie]

That’s what I ended up when I built my condo. I couldn’t tell/didn’t read carefully enough that some were three inches wide.

Quincy’s been in it for a few days now (I know, I know, I still owe pictures). He’s all grown up and so can’t get through, but I don’t like that he can stick his whole head out. Still, I’ve been watching carefully and he hasn’t been able to hurt himself…

[Beka27]

interestingly enough, Target does not have the Organize It cubes on their website, only the Windsor/Windmer(?) set of 4 cubes (which all appear to be 1.5 inches).

so. i sent a little email to Target hoping to get more info about who manufactures them, and hopefully an email to contact. if i get a response, i’ll post here, but then people will have to email me directly for the contact info. i’m not posting it publicly. i don’t even *need* more grids, this whole thing just rubs me the wrong way.

[BinkyBunny]

Wow, this is not good news! I think the “Organize It” Cubes are actually a target brand so most likely it’s Target who would instruct the manufacturer on the design, however it probably wouldn’t be long before others would follow suit.

I too will be contacting Target to let them know what part of the market they are missing with this. But then I also wouldn’t be surprised if they ran with it and made smaller grids exclusively as pet product and then charged an arm and a leg for it.

Well, we’ll see.

I’ll call the corp office and see if I can get a clear pathway to the right person. This way, I think we have our contact bases covered.

I’ve also updated the Cool Habitats section to put a word of caution up about the NEW “Organize It” Cubes. 

[Scarlet_Rose]

Yeppers, I discovered this last weekend. I think that Osprey also mentioned it in his video on constructing a NIC condo. I wonder if the kind Walmart sells are still the same. I mentioned this in a discussion on how to make a NIC condo.

[GrammyB]

Went to Costco today & they have the NIC type of shelving, didn’t note the name. $20 for 30 panels, 20-1 1/2 & 10 are a hard wire mesh. The mesh panels could still be used for cages, they would be good around the hay racks, but they are all gray : p

We’ve been getting them from Target off & on since Jan. & they have always been $13, even when they weren’t in add. This time they were $17, that makes the Costco price a little cheaper.

I agree w/Markus, they are cutting costs, but just wait till they hear from the rabbit & cavy community. They need a wake up call! If they didn’t know about us, they will now!

No Beka, I don’t have the boxes, I took them back. I didn’t note what the box said, I was so upset, I just looked at the picture. I thought that it was a manufacturing mistake. I don’t have a single NIC shelf, but we’ve made about ten other useful things. hehe

Sarita, as far as I can remember they look the same, only the side were the pic & color are is diff.

I would stock up, but they didn’t have any white, we got blue.

ADEE, were you able to take yours back? BTW I love your sig pic.

Battie, take it apart & take it back, your bun should not be able to get its head through the grids! That could be dangerous! If you can’t find anything else try off setting another layer of panels to make the holes smaller.

Thanks BB, I will be waiting for you to give us the contact person.

[ADEE]

No, we wont be able to take it back… Only half the box had the weird sizes and Target is TERRIBLE about returns! I will check and see if I can find the receipt and I will try and take it back. Would be worth it to get the most out of the grids, God knows I havnt used them for anything else!

Thanks for the compliment on the siggy I love making them.

[BinkyBunny]

ADEE – Awe, that’s too bad that you won’t be able to take them back.

GrammyB – thanks for the info about Costco. I’ll them also as a cube resource.

Beka – that is one organized collection! WOW!

[Beka27]

i emailed Target and they said they need to UPC info from the box, so if BB cannot come up with anything, i can run there and do some NIC grid detective work and find out the info…

[Battie]

Oh dear… I pretty much used up any spare time and money I had to build the first one… I have a few smaller shelves left over from an old NIC I integrated with the first set. Maybe I can layer it.

What can happen if he pokes his head out? I haven’t seen him get into trouble yet, but I don’t want him to get hurt!

[Beka27]

i have returned open boxes of grids to Target before. when we got Max, my initial plan was to do a NIC thing, but i decided against it and we did the xpens instead. i had my receipt, left the boxes open so they could count the grids (altho they didn’t even bother) and they gave me a credit to our card.

even without a receipt, you have a legitimate complaint against their product.  if they give you a hard time, ask to speak with the manager.  maybe ask to speak with the Target decision to change the grids.  if enough people make a stink, it’s possible that they may re-evaluate the decision.

[GrammyB]

ADEE, mine were like that too, some large, some small grid. They gave me a gift card because my check wouldn’t have cleared. They had no problem with it.

Battie, Maybe it’s just me, but I wouldn’t want to leave him unsupervised. It’s the babys head through the crib bars sort of thing.

Here are some cube & coroplast kits. I like the way they have cut & bent the grids & the doors look interesting. http://happycages.com/Enclosedbunnycage.htm
Even though these are for piggies, they have coroplast trays & everything you need, but for a price. http://www.guineapigcages.com/buycc.htm

[Beka27]

those are some interesting cages in the first link. i do think some of them are too small for the price tho. the big ones are nice, i like how the door on the one completely opens up.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Ok, first -this is terrible. I really hope they respond to us…First person who gets some contact info on that company please post it!!

and seriously-seriously?? Did they REALLY think people loved having those hideous things as shlevs *head desk* common-some market research here!!

[skunklionshow]

The Organize It cubes were listed in Target’s circular this weekend!  It was exactly the same.  I know that several months ago, I purchased what I thought were the Organize it cubes so I could make a shoe rack for myself.  When I got it home I realized the panels were completely weird!  They were more like mesh than grids.  They came in varying sizes but the connectors were the same as the OI cubes.  I started to put it together and got frustrated and just put it away.  I’m wondering if that was like the ones GB ended up w/?

I too have bought these from Sam’s Club & BJ’s.  They don’t have them all the time, but they do carry them.

[skunklionshow]

Also…are you sure that you didn’t get “Yaffa Blocks”?  I know those come in varying sizes.

[Beka27]

i did see the cubes listed in the Target ad. i looked closely and the sides were the 3 inch grids… grr.

[ADEE]

beka, grrr thats so annoying! I hate that bigger spacing, how do they even think people can use them like that even for a shelf if they wanted to

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Yea I went to target and I saw what you guys mean. I bought my first NIC to make a condo for Fern! I am so exited (My mom probably thinks I am weird to be exited over NIC for Fern’s condo). I had bought the last of the”Good” NIC and there were two left and I bought them both. Plus they were on sale!!!! 5 dollars off each one! I am so exited (funny thing to be exited about) I cannot contain myself! Yay! I really wanted to buy NIC for fern but I presumed that my mom would think it was a stupid idea…. but she thought it was cute! : ) HOORAY!!!!!

[kralspace]

oh, good score, moonlight. I get paid Thursday and I’m planning on hitting all the stores I’ve seen them at, I hope to get a couple of boxes.

My bosses at work gave me Target gift certificates for last Christmas, then I ran into both of them while I had a basket full of NIC boxes! They couldln’t quite understand what I was planning to do, but they said they were glad I was so happy over the certificates.

[Beka27]

^^^LMAO!!!

i can understand the confusion there… or like me going to Home Depot and buying a 2000 pack of zipties and nothing else…

[Battie]

Hey guys!

If you visit Target again give the NICs another look. Not only are they on sale, but I found a few boxes of the old style. You can tell if you look at the diagram very, very carefully. Stock up!

Now I can fix Quincy’s cage…

[Author]

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