Wal-Mart Black Friday Vent

[Ciciwoowoo]

Not really much to add to the OP's original comment, but I would like to vent about Walmart on BF just the same...

The people there last night were CRAZY!!!



Is it really necessary to throw an item on the floor when you are pawing through a bin of PJ's just because it isn't the size you need?

Stuff was tossed everywhere...it looked like a war zone.

Went to Best Buy after and I applaud them...the store was much more organized.

 

[gracie1]

Without that system you have what I was stuck in last night...

We went in at 9:45 for 10 pm sales. I didn't expect to be up front, but it was sheets... I didn't expect it to be insane. I was wrong. My big toe is broken today, people were pushing and shoving, I saw one person pull the body in front of them back by their shirt. 2 people fell and there was screaming and yelling. They even knocked over the display next to them. I did not participate... just watched. No item was worth that.

And that was for $6.88 microfiber sheets. Can you imagine it over big ticket electronics??

Sorry to hear about your toe!! Your walmart sounded like mine! Ours is full of state police just standing at every turn and sitting in cars out front the stores. I took my dad last night, his first time in walmart on black friday. what an experience for him One lady in electronics took a movie and threw and hit a man in the face. The store manager completely blew his fuse on her and the police hauled her out.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I don't understand. The line formed between 5 and 11.

What would it matter whether they handed out the tickets at 8pm or 11:59? The line was already formed and the spots were already gone by the time you got there at 11. I don't get what would have changed had they not handed out the tickets to the exact same people who were in line until a couple hours later.

That's what I don't get either. You still would've not gotten one because you still would've had the same place in line. I like the ticket system because it means the people who wait the longest get what they waited for, and it makes the line cutters at least not just able to show up at the last minute and fight for the really big ticket items.

 

[Auggietina]

I just got back from our Wal-Mart and they had at least 5 of those TVs still in stock.

 

[YodaGirl]

My DH went to Walmart last night for the 10pm opening. Well the store didn't open until 4am!!!! The ad in the paper said they opened at 10pm for the toy sale then @12am the electronics went on sale. All the people in line were upset bc they had waited for hours just to find out they weren't opening at the time they said.

I dare say that if someone called 1-800-WAL-MART that the store management would be in major hot water.

This is should how it should have been done in our store, but it wasn't. As I said my DH & I were in the store at 4:30 til almost 5. We decided to go home and be ready for later. If we had seen any lines starting 1 of us would have stayed and waited, while the other went home and changed. They we would have changed roles. We did not have trouble be in a line. The balloon for the Emerson was not up when were there in the afternoon. At least in your case, they did not hand out the tickets until midnight. If our store had done this I would not have had a problem at all. But they gave the tickets out prior to 8pm and that is what we have a problem with.

You had the choice to go ahead and form a line, hang around until the lines started to form, or go home and come back way late to chance your luck.

You made a bad choice. Bad choices have bad consequences. In this case, the bad consequence was that you didn't get the TV. Poor planning on your part doesn't mean Wal-Mart was at fault.

I'm sorry that you didn't read up more on Black Friday. As you said earlier, next time, you'll know.

 

[disneychrista]

I just got back from our Wal-Mart and they had at least 5 of those TVs still in stock.

A lot of time someone will grab more than they really intend on purchasing and then ditch them. Sometimes going back in the evening or a couple days later you can find the "hot items" with no crowds.

 

[2binak]

I dare say that if someone called 1-800-WAL-MART that the store management would be in major hot water.



You had the choice to go ahead and form a line, hang around until the lines started to form, or go home and come back way late to chance your luck.

You made a bad choice. Bad choices have bad consequences. In this case, the bad consequence was that you didn't get the TV. Poor planning on your part doesn't mean Wal-Mart was at fault.

I'm sorry that you didn't read up more on Black Friday. As you said earlier, next time, you'll know.

According to our local news last night, some states have laws about how early these stores can open. Ours is one of them, so calling corporate may not actually do anything unless the individual stores were supposed to post signage & did not.

I totally agree with your comments to the OP about her choice to not form a line at 4:30pm. In fact, I was going to say just that - she had the choice to form a line but didn't, she made a bad choice if she really wanted that tv.

As for those who say they don't know how Black Friday works - do you all not read or watch the news? I've never gone out on Black Friday but I know how it works because every....single....year the lines & chaos are all over the local & national news stations and in newspapers.

 

[surfergirl602]

Despite what others are saying, I happen to agree with you. If it goes on sale at midnight, then tickets should be given out at midnight, not at 4pm, if that is how they are going to do the sale.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

I have never gone out shopping on Black Friday and I never intend to. I always shopped ONLINE Black Friday sales. Last year I even got some Black Friday deals the day before BF on the Radio Shack website. Today I got BF deals on Amazon. You can get Black Friday deals at almost every online electronics seller until supplies run out. This morning Best Buy has a TOSHIBA 15 inch laptop for $299. I paid $1400 for my Toshiba laptop. SO that was a heck of a deal to be had right from home. Now, mind you my $1400 laptop is a custom order big hard drive dual processor type laptop, and not the laptop they sold for $299 but the one they had for sale was still a great little laptop. Especially for a tween or teen.

I don't think saving a hundred dollars on a TV is enough to make me stand in a line for 4 or 5 hours. Ever. I never say never, but so far my intent on going to BF sales is never.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Despite what others are saying, I happen to agree with you. If it goes on sale at midnight, then tickets should be given out at midnight, not at 4pm, if that is how they are going to do the sale.

I agree...If you want it bad enough you will WAIT from 4pm until whenever. You can't get there are 4pm and say, "Well...This is my spot in line...but I'm gonna go over here since I have a ticket". You can't leave and come back....you tough it out or you don't get the doorbuster.

 

[mickeysgal]

A lot of time someone will grab more than they really intend on purchasing and then ditch them. Sometimes going back in the evening or a couple days later you can find the "hot items" with no crowds.

So true. Last year, we were at Walmart waiting in line to pay. DH stood in line and I went scouting around the store looking for DVDs from people's discard piles. Grabbed a few DVDs that way. People are horribly messy. Would love to see how they live at home.

Picked up some Blue Ray DVDs today on Amazon for 9.99. No stampede.

 

[YodaGirl]

According to our local news last night, some states have laws about how early these stores can open. Ours is one of them, so calling corporate may not actually do anything unless the individual stores were supposed to post signage & did not.

I totally agree with your comments to the OP about her choice to not form a line at 4:30pm. In fact, I was going to say just that - she had the choice to form a line but didn't, she made a bad choice if she really wanted that tv.

As for those who say they don't know how Black Friday works - do you all not read or watch the news? I've never gone out on Black Friday but I know how it works because every....single....year the lines & chaos are all over the local & national news stations and in newspapers.

Interesting. Ya learn somethin' new everyday.

Despite what others are saying, I happen to agree with you. If it goes on sale at midnight, then tickets should be given out at midnight, not at 4pm, if that is how they are going to do the sale.

Do you have a problem with people getting in line before midnight? That's essentially what the tickets are.

Why am I reminded of a FastPass debate?

 

[RitaE]

WalMart actually has the most advanced up to the minute inventory and sales tracking computer system in the world. All sales from every single store feed into the national system practically instantly.

I can guarantee you that if a single store didn't have their check-out cash registers going for 5 or 6 hours after they were supposed to be open on Black Friday, the corporate offices would have known about it.

 

[YodaGirl]

WalMart actually has the most advanced up to the minute inventory and sales tracking computer system in the world. All sales from every single store feed into the national system practically instantly.

I can guarantee you that if a single store didn't have their check-out cash registers going for 5 or 6 hours after they were supposed to be open on Black Friday, the corporate offices would have known about it.

That's true. I didn't think about that. I guess my previous post was a knee-jerk reaction.

To add to that, the heat and a/c (at least at one time) was controlled by Bentonville (location of Home Office).

Also, when our store caught on fire, we were trying to get everyone out (you would be amazed at the number of people who want to check out before evacuating...). Before we could get very many out at all, HO was already calling to let us know where the fire was located.

You can't sneeze without home office knowing.

 

[LilyWDW]

Despite what others are saying, I happen to agree with you. If it goes on sale at midnight, then tickets should be given out at midnight, not at 4pm, if that is how they are going to do the sale.

Okay, but how does that change things? People will still be lined up and all the tickets will already be "claimed" by those already in the line. Someone arriving later would still not get a ticket.

There are X items, meaning there are X tickets. X people in line get those tickets and thus those items. If there are X+2 people in line, then 2 people don't get tickets... it doesn't matter if it is 8pm or midnight, those people won't get that item. Period.

So, how does handing out the tickets change things besides holding up the actual start of the sale? At least if the tickets are handed out earlier they can get going at midnight instead of just sitting around waiting.

 

[npmommie]

Looking forward to Cyber Monday. Looking forward to spending my money wearing nothing but my pj's and slippers.

I am with you, I got some great deals yesterday online, and am still finding lots of great deals now. looking forward to Monday.

I have never done black friday, I hate shopping with normal crowds, so black friday shopping would make me very unhappy. LOL
our local walmart couldn't open at 10 pm last night, they opened at 4 am this morning. they had signage all over the store for a couple weeks.

 

[cornflake]

As someone else pointed out, this is not particular to Black Friday.

This is how concert tickets work (they often do the bracelets in addition to the line) and have for decades, how iphone releases work, how hot movie releases work (remember the new Star Wars films?), software and game releases work, etc.

The line/ticket/bracelet/whatever system should hardly be news to anyone living in the Western Hemisphere.

 

[DeaverTex]

Sorry, cornflake. I live in the western hemisphere and it's news to me. I know about visa bands and such, but none of the stores around here did it, or if they did they certainly didn't tell anyone about it. No way I'd try to hit the stores on Black Friday anyhow, though. Makes the sack of Rome look like a day at the zoo.

 

[cornflake]

Sorry, cornflake. I live in the western hemisphere and it's news to me. I know about visa bands and such, but none of the stores around here did it, or if they did they certainly didn't tell anyone about it. No way I'd try to hit the stores on Black Friday anyhow, though. Makes the sack of Rome look like a day at the zoo.

I don't do it either.

However, had you decided to go to try to get something at a Black Friday sale, would you have been surprised and confused by a store having handed out tickets to the people in line?

 

[bellarella]

Despite what others are saying, I happen to agree with you. If it goes on sale at midnight, then tickets should be given out at midnight, not at 4pm, if that is how they are going to do the sale.

How is this any different?

People stand in line starting at 9 pm. At 12:00, the people who showed up between 9:00 and 9:25 (and are thus people 1-50, or whatever, in line) are given tix for what they want.

Or: people start standing in line at 9 pm. The first 50 of them are given tix as the show up for the items they want.

Same thing happens in both scenarios. The first people to show up and form a line get the items.