For at least the last month the Target inventory checker has been running extremely slow, taking 1 to 1 1/2 minutes to load results and more often than not timing out.
Pretty sure it's Target's fault. Popfindr and Brickseek just read from a web-based service that Target provides to the public for querying their inventory system, and Target's inventory system and management of inventory as a whole has been getting steadily worse for two years now.
Worse than the slowness is that Target's own web site uses the same data we see through Popfindr, and they're both more often wrong than right about what's actually in stores now. They have had separate external and internal inventory systems for at least a decade now. That's why they have both DPCI and TCIN product codes--the DPCI is the number in their internal inventory system, and the TCIN (Target dot Com Item Number) is the number from their external system. Before around two years ago these two systems were mostly in sync and only varied a little, but now they're usually not in sync at all. Whatever you see via Popfindr or Target.com as being in any specific store is most likely not an accurate reflection of what is actually in that store. It was up until around 2022, but not anymore.
That doesn't mean it's ALWAYS wrong, but it is often wrong--particularly around item release dates. Unless the item arrived really early to most stores any counts you see on a release day are usually items en route to the store that haven't arrived yet, but Target's web site (and Popfindr which uses the same data as Target's web site does) presents them as if they're in the store. Pretty frustrating.
Thanks for the reply. Food for thought.
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