I am obsessed with decorating my house for Halloween. Last year, in the midst of the pandemic, we had over 150 kids to come to my house, and this year, we are planning for more…

As I write this blog, it is September 2021, but I have been thinking/planning/purchasing Halloween items on-line for the last three months. (Fortunately, my wife doesn’t read this blog.)

Last year, Home Depot came out with one of the most iconic Halloween props ever - a twelve foot skeleton with these creepy eyes that seem to follow you. This animatronic became an instant classic to people like me. It sold out so quickly that a black market of sorts was created where this item, which originally sold for $195, was being resold at sites like eBay for over $1000. Then, this year, Home Depot raised the bar even further.

The companion piece to the 12’ skeleton this year is a 12’ “pumpkin inferno skeleton”. If you haven’t seen it in person at Home Depot, google those three words to get a feel for this beast. It has a pumpkin head, a glowing “inferno” chest and its body seems to be formed from twisted roots. It also has the same creepy eyes as the skeleton, and did I mention it’s TWELVE FEET TALL?

The problem is, it is $295. And, while I could find the money to buy it, I understand divorce attorneys are even more expensive nowadays, so I decided it was best to just say no.

But, fate had something different in mind for me, and eight weeks ago - when most people weren’t obsessing over Halloween - Facebook pushed an ad to me where I could buy this same prop for $100 direct from China with no shipping cost. Better yet, I could buy both the pumpkin creature AND the skeleton for $160 total (or $80 each)! Thinking outside of the box, I convinced my business partner that he “needed” to buy the skeleton for $80, which would allow me to get the pumpkin prop for $80 - what a bargain!!

After paying for these items, I received an email receipt written entirely in Chinese - not English. Maybe this should have been the first clue that something was off…

Four weeks later, without additional correspondence from my supplier, I sent them a note asking for an update. That day, I saw another ad on Facebook promoting the same items - this time for $29.99! Uh oh, I thought, I’ve been scammed because you can’t even ship these items from China for $30. So, I stopped payment on the card. That same day, however, I received an alert that the U.S. Postal Service was anticipating a delivery for me from, you guessed it, and think how Donald Trump would say the word: CHINA.

Nevertheless, I thought even this could be part of a scam, and hearing nothing further, I reconciled myself to having no pumpkin inferno skeleton this year. Life went back to normal - and I found a few other ways to spend my $160 for Halloween - until a month later, last weekend, actually, when I received notification that USPS had a package to deliver to my office on Saturday. Looking back at the tracking history, they had shipped this package from China to New Jersey. From there, it had made its way to Atlanta, then to my local post office in Suwanee, Georgia.

I was excited on several levels. First of all, I was getting this incredible prop. Next, I was getting it at a fantastic price. And, maybe that price was $0. I would happily pay the $80 for each of the two pieces, but I wasn’t even sure they were organized enough to ask for it having gotten the items to my doorstep only after I stopped payment over a month earlier. And, I have to admit, I felt pretty smart to have bought this item for $80 when other suckers were buying it for $295 (or $1000+ on eBay).

I watched my phone obsessively waiting for the alert these items had been delivered to my office and was ready to drive over and secure them in the office until I could get a truck to bring my prop home. Only later I got a notification they had attempted to deliver it, but no one was there (and they would attempt to deliver it on Monday).

I was disappointed I didn’t have my new prop in hand, but now it was only a matter of time. (I have to be honest, I had harbored doubts this was really going to happen until the United States Postal Service confirmed delivery of the package.) I debated whether to go to the post office on Saturday to try and get it, but knew I didn’t have a vehicle big enough to receive both packages anyhow.

So, on Monday, I told my office manager to be on the lookout for this delivery. I told my staff - who already know my Halloween obsession - the long story I have told you so far, and we all kept an eye out for the delivery. To be honest, I didn’t want to leave for lunch in case we missed them again.

After watching my phone all day for a status update, and thinking way too much about all of this, I had an epiphany of sorts. I told my co-workers, who must have been tired of hearing about this already that the only way I could be scammed would be if they shipped me a twelve INCH item instead of a twelve FOOT item…

Within the hour, my Office Manager came around the corner with a curious look on her face…she was holding a small sealed package. After opening it, I took the picture you see below. (For reference, my hand is not twelve feet long.) Good news: they had shipped me not just one skeleton and one pumpkin prop, but three of each of them. Bad news: they were only eight inches tall.

After getting over the initial shock, I have to admit a begrudging admiration to the scammers for their commitment to their craft. After all, they could have shipped me a brick - or nothing at all - but no, they went to the effort of manufacturing replicas of the Home Depot item in miniature so they could say I had received the item they sold me.

Besides warning you not to buy Halloween props from China, I want to remind you that you usually don’t get more than you pay for. This is especially true in today’s labor market. In my business, we have an unprecedented number of openings to fill for our clients. Fortunately, our clients are coming to understand in this highly competitive market that you need to be responsive to good candidates and you have to pay them well to attract them (and pay your current employees well to retain them).

As a recruiter, I, too, am learning to recalibrate expectations for both the candidate and employer in our new normal. While things may be quite different than they were a year ago, our goal hasn’t changed - we match good candidates with good clients.

And, yes, they may not be 12’ tall, but we do promise they are life-size.