Black Friday Sales
My theory is that scared retailers, fearful of reluctant consumers, will offer the hugest discounts ever. Is this accurate, as far as you've seen? What are the awesomest deals you've seen, or things you plan on snapping up? [COLOR="White"]. . .[/COLOR] This page,
Black Friday 2008 appears to be a good place to start.
More gas before the sale ends.
I am not going shopping. We are cutting back on everything this year.
I didn't intend to get into it, but I couldn't resist 2GB of RAM for my laptop for $16.00 at newegg.
We're also thinking about an HDTV... our 15 yo Magnavox isn't going to last forever. But we're waffling... we'll see what else materializes between now and Christmas. And there's always the pre-Superbowl sales.
http://slickdeals.net/ has an
excel spreadsheet built populated with black friday sale items!
I have created this spreadsheet the past couple of years to help with my Black Friday shopping, I have found it very useful and I hope you will as well. Essentially, it is a spreadsheet that lists all the major Black Friday store ads in a format that can be sorted by store, product, price, etc. Use the drop down arrows at the top of the columns to sort and/or filter the data.
We're doing the black friday thing just for fun. as a family we decided to give the kids a few small things but no gifts for adults this time around. We've instead adopted a family and are spending our normal gift money on them instead. So we'll hit black friday just for tradition but no real items are targeted.
I do not shop on Black Friday.
Momwolf tells me that the local news covered a story in which a consumer purchased something with a bold "SALE" tag on it, peeled away the Sale price sticker, only to find the original sticker with the lower price.
I don't do the herd mentality thing, at least with respect to shopping today.
I do have a 20% off offer from Atlanta Cutlery/Museum Replicas. My gentleman wants something from there, so I will make a phone call today.
it can be kind of fun--getting up a 5 am to go to the mall--but my tolerance for crowds is low--so -- generally not worth the hassle unless you have a specific need/want for an expensive item
someone in our salesmeeting this morning likened it to tailgate partying for women.
i want an iphone. and a wii. but neither of those are likely to be on sale.
I am doing my part for the economy and not shopping.
Well, I thouroughly enjoyed the whole process.
From having a general idea of a big ticket item my wife wanted, to researching exactly what features I wanted/what size thing we could accomodate, to pricing these items/finding the sales, printing up the item numbers of my choice (and a backup), showing up at the store at 4:45, waiting in line for a few minutes, getting in, going directly to the counter and ringing it up (no dicking around not being sure what I'm looking for), then picking it up, bringing it back home, and going back to bed!
This was fun, and way worth saving several hundred dollars.
I'm curious too see how well retailers did today, versus what they expected.
Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede
A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.
The 34-year-old worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.
Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot the best part:
...waiting in line for a few minutes, getting in, trampling a motherƒucker to death, going directly to the counter and ringing it up...
Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede
Read the blog at the bottom of the article. There's a lot of 'those people' comments. For some reason, people think that mob behavior is limited by skin color.
Lends new meaning to the title Black Friday Sales.
Well, he died on the job. I'm sure Wal-mart will give his family an employee discount on the casket.
At least they won't grab
his settlement.
There is no way that I'd risk my life or safety for these guys.
We need a lawyer to comment, but I would say there had to be some negligence on the part of the management for not noting the throngs of shoppers pushing up to the doors to get in at the moment they were opened. They need to have a better system to allow access to the building that provides for the safety of the staff and the shoppers. I feel a good lawsuit coming on.
While it is always tempting to dump on Walmart, there are very sound justifications for subrogation clauses. Assuming no contributory fault, the tort victim is legally entitled to full compensation from the tortfeasor for all past, present, and future costs, including those covered by insurance. The goal, of course, is to make the victim whole. If insurance companies didn’t recover some costs using subrogation clauses, victims would receive a windfall and the rest of us would end up paying for it through higher insurance premiums.
Insurance companies SHOULD (and in some states are required) to discount any subrogation claim by the standard 30%-33% cut that the victim’s lawyer gets in a contingent fee arrangement. It’s unclear whether Walmart did so in this case.
As far as I can tell, the real bad guy here is the victim’s lawyer, who struck a really bad deal for her client, possibly to hasten the laywer’s payout. What kind of settlement only provides for FUTURE costs, without including an allocation for PAST costs? What kind of lawyer doesn’t check for subrogation clauses in her client’s medical insurance?
As a humanitarian matter in this case, Walmart probably did the right thing, since it seems like this woman was the victim of some really bad lawyering. But in general, I want insurance companies to go after their share of settlements and damage awards so as to minimize costs to the system. (And before I get attacked, I am a victim who will have to turn a big portion of my damage award over to my insurance company because of a subrogation clause, so I’m taking the same medicine I’m prescribing).
— AnneS
4. April 4, 2008
1:06 pm
Link
I partially take back what I wrote about the plaintiff’s lawyer - it wasn’t a REALLY bad deal, just a stupidly careless one. Having the damages paid into a trust account for future care, then writing a letter to Walmart saying the victim had no money to pay because none of it was under her control, was cute, but ultimately very risky, since anyone looking at it afterwards knows that it was a trick. They should have arrived at a written arrangement beforehand - believe it or not, most insurance companies would prefer not to litigate the matter and many are willing to reach an accommodation. Try getting cute, though, and you often just succeed in ticking off the other side and any subsequent judge who has to wade his way through the quagmire.
— AnneS
Some comments after that article Rich. While that was a pretty stupid PR move for walmart let's not pretend they're some evil entity specifically creating ways to screw their employees. It sounds like the lawyer may have made some mistakes which opened the can of worms.
This would make a great CSI episode.
Motherƒuckers gave me the wrong TV!
I was showing the box, still in the back of the van, to Pooka, and I was like "720p? This should be 1080p... 31.5" diagonal viewing area?! WTF?!"
It's okay, I have the reciept for the correct TV, they literally just grabbed the wrong box out of the warehouse; and they do have the correct one (1080p 37") still in stock. Maybe next time I'll trample somebody to death--apparently that's what it takes to get decent service these days.
let's not pretend they're some evil entity specifically creating ways to screw their employees.
yeah, there really is no need for that.
pretending, that is.
NO WAY. I hate shopping. Shopping in a crowd like that would be my personal idea of HELL.
I am shopping online.
We went to the mall today, for entirely unrelated purposes (we weren't even buying anything.) It was crowded, but not out of line with the Christmas season as a whole, and everyone was being exceedingly polite, especially in the food court where tables and chairs were hard to come by.
Went to ToysRUs. Almost bought a Wii for @250. Good price, but, seriously--what am I going to do with it? Play Guitar Hero all by myself?
Read the blog at the bottom of the article. There's a lot of 'those people' comments. For some reason, people think that mob behavior is limited by skin color.
I just got to the photo gallery ... there is a remarkable level of similarity in ALL of the people in the photos.
I just got to the photo gallery ... there is a remarkable level of similarity in ALL of the people in the photos.
Don't believe your eyes, wolf. When you become
enlightened, you are freed from such illusions.
Please consult your political correctness handbook for the accepted interpretation of these photographs.
We need a lawyer to comment, but I would say there had to be some negligence on the part of the management for not noting the throngs of shoppers pushing up to the doors to get in at the moment they were opened. They need to have a better system to allow access to the building that provides for the safety of the staff and the shoppers. I feel a good lawsuit coming on.
There will be lots of lawsuits. In fact, I think I'll file one. I'm pretty traumatized by this.
Maybe next time I'll trample somebody to death--apparently that's what it takes to get decent service these days.
No, they closed the store after the death...and people got furious because, after all, they'd waited in line for hours.
Got to have your priorities straight.
What kind of piece of shit do you have to be, to bum rush a wal-mart? This story makes me depressed.
I've seen it go on though, although not as bad as that. One christmas eve I happened to be there (at wally world), and customers loaded up, and made a run for it. If enough shoppers do it at once, security can't get them all. I saw people running out of the building 3 at a time, jumping in the cars, and putting the pedal to the metal. It was interesting and stupid.
NO WAY. I hate shopping. Shopping in a crowd like that would be my personal idea of HELL.
I am shopping online.
I worked at a Michaels craft store for years, and was a M - F employee, who foolishly volunteered to work Black Friday once. My only though was WTF is wrong with these people at 5 am on a holiday? Every one since, I have stayed home with the family and made a really big breakfast. And I have done virtually all of my shopping online.
I just got to the photo gallery ... there is a remarkable level of similarity in ALL of the people in the photos.
They are Borgs.
I can't find the link, but I saw a story that two guys just shot each other during the sales (I think it was ToysRus), apparently their wives had been in a dispute about a sale item and each drew, and shot. Two dead.
Am I going insane or is it the whole world?
Last news report I saw said the shooting was unrelated to shopping, the guys had a prior history with each other.
I can't find the link, but I saw a story that two guys just shot each other during the sales (I think it was ToysRus), apparently their wives had been in a dispute about a sale item and each drew, and shot. Two dead.
Am I going insane or is it the whole world?
What a way to celebrate the birth of Christ. :sniff:
To the tune of "The Christmas Song"
Morons shooting down crowded aisles.
Dead guys trampled at the door.
Black Friday sales are resulting in death.
Merry Christmas. Merry Fucking Christmas, tooooo, yoooouuuu.
On second thoughts, this isn't such a bad thing.
No one else was (physically) hurt, there are two fewer asshats in the world, and there are no expenses of arresting, prosecuting or imprisoning anyone. If only they'd taken it into the car park like gentlemen, we wouldn't even need to mop the floor.
Just wait until everyone else in Toys 'R Us sues the company for their mental anguish because the store didn't prevent it from happening in the first place.
Won't be long before you'll have to be scanned and searched to enter any public place of any kind.
Yeah, maybe you guys should think about, you know, banning guns.
:bolt:
ETA: We need a "shit-stirring" smiley.
Yeah, maybe you guys should think about, you know, banning guns.
We're Americans. We'd just go in for knives. Or running down each other in our useless SUV's.
Who says they are useless?
Now isn't there suppose to be a Black Monday internet sales deal?
Being short, crowds of hellbent humans are a danger to me. And I need a freakin' periscope to see what's going on & a snorkel to breathe, so I avoid the milling hoards of holiday shoppers. Other crowds, too. But I would brave it all to revisit NYC at this time of year. It's special. But not to shop at Wal-Mart, even if there was one in the city.