In one of the Forum threads the topic of hiding things in a store came up.  If you’ve done this before raise your hand?  Disclaimer: I’ve done it before two or three times.  Here’s the scenario: something is going on clearance in a day or two (or maybe Black Friday is in a day or two).  The price drop is significant so you know the item is going to move like hotcakes the day of the sale.  For some reason you can’t get to the store at the crack of dawn the day of the sale but you really want this item at the reduced price.  As a result, you devise a simple yet effective plan.  You go to the store a day or two before the sale and hide the item you want in the store in a place where you don’t expect anyone would look.  The day of the sale you stroll into the store, go to the hiding place, uncover the item, stroll to the cash register and receive looks of wonder from the cashier as they are wondering how you managed to find the item you are buying since it has been sold out since 5 hours ago. 

So here’s my two cents: I think the concept of hiding something to save yourself money is smart.  It shows you are thinking, it shows that you are cost conscious, and if someone else didn’t think of this idea then that is their problem.  I also think this idea is funny.  The idea of sneaking around a store to find a good hiding place is amusing.  Do people try to act nonchalant because they are worried the security cameras will see them?  Or I wonder if people go through a whole act of pretending they are interested in something, so they put down the item they are carrying and then “accidentally” that item gets hidden behind some things.  The topic of immorality is a little tricky.  I don’t think you are being immoral towards the store (because you are not stealing the product, the product was going to sell at this reduced price whether you bought it or Joe Schmo bought it), but it gets into a gray area if it is immoral towards someone else who may have come to the store at opening and didn’t get one because you hid one.  I guess the old saying ‘the early bird gets the worm’ comes to mind, that person came early on the day of the sale, but maybe that doesn’t constitute ‘early’ when the possibility of coming in a dhiding the item exists.  And also, I know this happens though a lot of people aren’t aware of it, but employees hide items in the backroom for themselves to purchase or their friends/family to purchase when things go on megaclearance.  So I think hiding things levels out the playing field a little bit for the consumer.  In summation, I think it is smart, pretty funny, and… nah, not immoral.  Keep saving those dollars!