A trio of UPS employees have been arrested for stealing more than $19,000 worth of one of this year’s hot holiday items, the PlayStation 3. The men all worked night shifts at UPS, where they stuck new mailing labels on at least 20 of the PS3 systems and 24 wireless video game controllers, shipping them to their day jobs at Andrews Sport Company Inc. in Jefferson, La., The Times-Picayune reports. The three, who were caught by a UPS security officer, have all been fired from Andrews’ store.
The launch of the new PlayStation has been far from a peaceful one. In Putnam, Conn., a man waiting in line for the gaming console at Wal-Mart was gunned down by robbers, and in North Carolina, a student who allegedly stole the unit from another teen was shot down by authorities.
Here’s what the gaming-enthusiasts are saying:
“These guys are criminal geniuses! Instead of shipping the units to a P.O. Box or even their own homes, where they would only be fired from UPS, they have them shipped to their day job address so they can get fired from there, too! — Thrillhaus, kotaku.com
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“I guess Nintendo hit the sweet spot. Get just enough [units] out there that people gnash their teeth and tear their hair out because they can’t get one, but not so few that they’ll actually steal them or kill people for them.” — raindog, gaygamer.net
“Wow, I can’t believe how stupid these guys were. I work for UPS as a transfer point (where it goes from the semis to the brown vans), and I would think that this is very hard to pull off. They’d have about a minute or so to figure out what the package was and smear a new label on it. They got caught probably when the people who were supposed to receive the PS3s started calling UPS, who started investigating, and lo and behold these guys who had access had several deliveries to the same place, with the shipments originating probably from some local location.” — demonsun, engadget.com
“So $19,000 in PS3s is about 2-3 consoles? :)” — Bob, joystiq.com
“That’s why UPS stands for Unreliable Parcel Service.” — PhotoBoy, kotaku.com
Talk: Did you get all your holiday shipments from UPS? COMMENT
On SPIN.com:
Crowds Camping for PS3
On the Web:
us.playstation.com
