Moral dilemma
Feb. 1st, 2005 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nockergeekOkay, there's a company that uses volunteers to help promote its products -- run promotional events, get new people interested, give away special promotional items that aren't available anywhere else. Let's call it Company A.
Now, I'm one of these volunteers. There's also another person who is a volunteer, and has been for a few years. He's the one who suggested that I be a volunteer. Let's call him B.
There have been rumors for a while now that B has been pocketing some of these promotional materials and selling them on eBay. While this seems like a minor deal, the fact is that Company A has a very strict policy regarding its promo materials, and selling them before a promotion is over, especially when the volunteer force is doing the selling, is strictly forbidden. It's not unusual for volunteers to be removed from service, and the stores they serve to be denied any future materials or specials. However, no one's reported any evidence that B has been selling the materials, either directly, or through the store he has a relationship with (which we'll refer to as Store Z).
Today, I came across 3 auctions on eBay from Store Z, all selling promotional materials that ONLY B could be distributing in this area. He's received special dispensation to run events where these materials are given away to qualifying participants. Now, whether he's selling them through Store Z, or whether he gave them to Store Z just to sell, I'm not sure. The fact is, though, that these materials aren't supposed to be sold by the people running the event, especially when the event isn't over yet. If the event were over and he had leftovers, I'd have no problem. More power to him in that case. However, he's got events on February 19th and February 20th. By selling these, he's basically denying 3 possible chances for people to earn these, and instead he's using them to line either his pockets or the pockets of Store Z.
I could easily report him to Company A. I've got screenshots and links to the auctions. I've already sent him an email asking if he's selling them, although he hasn't responded yet. I don't want to be a snitch, but at the same time, that's not why he was given the materials. Company A placed a good chunk of trust in him to run these events -- very few people get entrusted with these materials -- and I personally feel that he's abusing that trust for personal gain. At the same time, though, I don't want to see Store Z get screwed out of their relationship with Company A, because I'm betting that they don't know about what would happen if B was caught.
I'm waiting for his response before I go forward... but what do you think I should do? If you know who I'm talking about, I'd appreciate it if you didn't use names here, as I don't want to damn anyone publically until I've got more details... but if you have any additional insights, please share them.
EDIT: Well, got a response from B. He says that they're his personal copies of the items which he received for running the event (which is legit; volunteers who run an event get one copy of everything distributed), and that he double-checked with someone at Company A to make sure that it was okay. I have no evidence to the contrary, so I'll take him at his word. I'd already reported it to Company A with the disclaimer that I didn't know all the details, wasn't sure on the details of their promo policy, was trying to contact B, and didn't want anyone to get into trouble, and have since sent them a follow-up saying that everything looks kosher from this end.
Now, I'm one of these volunteers. There's also another person who is a volunteer, and has been for a few years. He's the one who suggested that I be a volunteer. Let's call him B.
There have been rumors for a while now that B has been pocketing some of these promotional materials and selling them on eBay. While this seems like a minor deal, the fact is that Company A has a very strict policy regarding its promo materials, and selling them before a promotion is over, especially when the volunteer force is doing the selling, is strictly forbidden. It's not unusual for volunteers to be removed from service, and the stores they serve to be denied any future materials or specials. However, no one's reported any evidence that B has been selling the materials, either directly, or through the store he has a relationship with (which we'll refer to as Store Z).
Today, I came across 3 auctions on eBay from Store Z, all selling promotional materials that ONLY B could be distributing in this area. He's received special dispensation to run events where these materials are given away to qualifying participants. Now, whether he's selling them through Store Z, or whether he gave them to Store Z just to sell, I'm not sure. The fact is, though, that these materials aren't supposed to be sold by the people running the event, especially when the event isn't over yet. If the event were over and he had leftovers, I'd have no problem. More power to him in that case. However, he's got events on February 19th and February 20th. By selling these, he's basically denying 3 possible chances for people to earn these, and instead he's using them to line either his pockets or the pockets of Store Z.
I could easily report him to Company A. I've got screenshots and links to the auctions. I've already sent him an email asking if he's selling them, although he hasn't responded yet. I don't want to be a snitch, but at the same time, that's not why he was given the materials. Company A placed a good chunk of trust in him to run these events -- very few people get entrusted with these materials -- and I personally feel that he's abusing that trust for personal gain. At the same time, though, I don't want to see Store Z get screwed out of their relationship with Company A, because I'm betting that they don't know about what would happen if B was caught.
I'm waiting for his response before I go forward... but what do you think I should do? If you know who I'm talking about, I'd appreciate it if you didn't use names here, as I don't want to damn anyone publically until I've got more details... but if you have any additional insights, please share them.
EDIT: Well, got a response from B. He says that they're his personal copies of the items which he received for running the event (which is legit; volunteers who run an event get one copy of everything distributed), and that he double-checked with someone at Company A to make sure that it was okay. I have no evidence to the contrary, so I'll take him at his word. I'd already reported it to Company A with the disclaimer that I didn't know all the details, wasn't sure on the details of their promo policy, was trying to contact B, and didn't want anyone to get into trouble, and have since sent them a follow-up saying that everything looks kosher from this end.
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no subject
on 2005-02-01 09:17 pm (UTC)Once upon a time, both stores jkzy and jkzj were buying the same product from Company G. Well, one time jkzy put out the product for sale to the consumer community at large prior to the release date of the product. Well, store jkzj found out and called Company G. I noticed when the next batch of product Company G put out, store jkzj had, but jkzy, was sadly lacking. (And to this day I don't think jkzy has every carried any of Company G's products ever again.)
no subject
on 2005-02-01 09:57 pm (UTC)