Do you think Door Buster Sales shouldn't be allowed anymore?

[UDT89]

Originally posted by: lokiju
They need to do like when I bought my 3G iPhone the day of.

I got to the AT&T store super early and was about 15th in line. Then the employees came out before the store opened, took your information down and then let people in one at a time (or a couple that was together).

This allowed for controlling the crowd and craziness very well.

how many people waiting for the iPhone?

i think walmart had a lot more at the time of the incident. Bottom line, especially in NY (bc i live not to far from where it happened), you need presence.

The people that rushed the door are animals. I worked retail in college and witnessed it first hand. Normal people can become crazy over a 40% coupon or pre 7am sale to save a couple hundred bucks.

We would open one door and only one at each entrance, and by one door i mean half, just enough to let people in single file. If they started fighting, the door was locked again and we stood there waiting for them to calm down. We had 7 entrances since we were a free standing building, so the longer they argued the more people came in from other doors. Thing is, we had the whole security staff working, that was about 30 people. The perk to work that day? Free lunch.

Will the sales stop? Of course not. But if you put a combined police/security presence at the doors when they open people wont act this way.

 

[dudeman007]

Most stores already use coupons/let people in small amounts at a time. It doesn't matter how the sales are set up, people are going to try to be the first in line due to limited quantities. The stupid Walmart accent happened purely out of ignorance for the situation. Yes the customers were being completely ridiculous, but by the sounds of it the guys at Walmart didn't due much to prevent it from happening.

 

[imported_apocalypse]

The stores just need better planning for large crowds. They need roped off line up areas, maybe a stand w/ cheap food to keep people happy (and make a buck or two at the same time), and some beefy security dudes like at clubs who are authorized to remove people who cause disturbances from the line with prejudice, i.e manhandled and tossed, lol.

 

[Gooberlx2]

No, but an obvious presence of security might go some ways to prevent tragedies.

 

[Mo0o]

They just need better crowd control. Establish clear lines, control the flow of people into the store, use vouchers for the most desirable items etc. It can be done safely, stores just choose to be stupid about it

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
I don't think they can be discontinued, but I think stores should just hand out coupons to people in the order that they lined up instead of allowing them to race through the store.

first, that's a lot of people getting multiple things. You're making the store work before it's opening.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
I don't think they can be discontinued, but I think stores should just hand out coupons to people in the order that they lined up instead of allowing them to race through the store.

the prob with that is once they get their ticket at like 3am, what's to stop them from leaving and coming back at the opening time? They wouldn't have earned it.

No, they did earn it, by standing in line until they got the ticket.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Stores should not be able to advertise very limited quantities so that they can bait you into the store and then get you to switch to something different when that item runs out.
If something is on sale, they need to take rain checks if inventory runs out or substitute similar items.

 

[Drakkon]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
Stores should not be able to advertise very limited quantities so that they can bait you into the store and then get you to switch to something different when that item runs out.
If something is on sale, they need to take rain checks if inventory runs out or substitute similar items.

I like the raincheck idea but the problem is you would have stores like best buy substituting their own Insignia TV's when a Sony was the one on sale since they are "similar". And for things like gaming systems or dvd's there are no substitutions really. It also defeats the whole concept of loss leaders.

 

[KK]

It weeds out a few idiots, sometimes it takes an innocent bystander, but that's life. Maybe we should give them guns or knives and let them fight to their deaths alittle easier.

 

[vi edit]

Tickets really seem like the most reasonable manner to address it. But then you just push the problem a little further back and have people fighting for places.

And then the only way to fix that is to hand out coupons and call out numbers at random which just slows down the whole thing.

 

[Sasiki]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
I don't think they can be discontinued, but I think stores should just hand out coupons to people in the order that they lined up instead of allowing them to race through the store.

I agree with this.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
Jesus christ you want the government to tell a store they cant have a sale?


Yikes...

How on earth did you leap to that ridiculous conclusion?

Title: "Shouldnt be allowed anymore"


Only the government has the power to tell a business that they cannot open at a certain time or sell items for a certain price via law/code.

Title "Do you think Door Buster Sales shouldn't be allowed anymore?"

And you're WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY offbase on what the government can and cannot do. It's pretty easy to pass a law that says all advertised sales can't be limited to items on hand. Voila, doorbusters gone, but no government meddling by telling a store they can't have a sale.

Was that really so complicated that you needed it spelled out to you?

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
Jesus christ you want the government to tell a store they cant have a sale?


Yikes...

Agreed. ABSOLUTELY not. This would be terrible.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
Jesus christ you want the government to tell a store they cant have a sale?


Yikes...

How on earth did you leap to that ridiculous conclusion?

Title: "Shouldnt be allowed anymore"


Only the government has the power to tell a business that they cannot open at a certain time or sell items for a certain price via law/code.

Title "Do you think Door Buster Sales shouldn't be allowed anymore?"

And you're WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY offbase on what the government can and cannot do. It's pretty easy to pass a law that says all advertised sales can't be limited to items on hand. Voila, doorbusters gone, but no government meddling by telling a store they can't have a sale.

Was that really so complicated that you needed it spelled out to you?

Read that post again, and tell me why I shouldn't laugh at you right now.

I said Govt. has no business legislating things as trivial as black friday. You acted like me bringing the Govt. into this was off base. You then proceeded to explain how they could effectively outlaw the sales. I bolded it for you.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Title "Do you think Door Buster Sales shouldn't be allowed anymore?"

And you're WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY offbase on what the government can and cannot do. It's pretty easy to pass a law that says all advertised sales can't be limited to items on hand. Voila, doorbusters gone, but no government meddling by telling a store they can't have a sale.

Was that really so complicated that you needed it spelled out to you?

Often vendors will have limited runs of items at a special price. How can a store continue to sell items at an advertised sale price beyond what they have on hand when even they can no longer get them at that price? Should the store not pass on the savings to the consumer and simply mark the items at MSRP? Should they just put the items in their stock at the greatly discounted price and not advertise them, therefore missing out on much of the incentive for buying them in the first place? IDK about you but if I can get my hands on a fantastic deal on an item I want the option to use that item to generate customer traffic.

 

[DrPizza]

I hope someone can correct me for being wrong, but here's a different perspective, Wal-Mart's perspective:

They're going to wind up settling out of court with the families. However, while the short term publicity is negative, that negativity isn't directed so much at Walmart as it is the people involved in that situation. Long term, people are going to remember that Walmart has deals so good that people died trying to get to those deals. Walmart very well may (sadly) profit because of this.

 

[sactoking]

Originally posted by: SlitheryDee

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Title "Do you think Door Buster Sales shouldn't be allowed anymore?"

And you're WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY offbase on what the government can and cannot do. It's pretty easy to pass a law that says all advertised sales can't be limited to items on hand. Voila, doorbusters gone, but no government meddling by telling a store they can't have a sale.

Was that really so complicated that you needed it spelled out to you?

Often vendors will have limited runs of items at a special price. How can a store continue to sell items at an advertised sale price beyond what they have on hand when even they can no longer get them at that price? Should the store not pass on the savings to the consumer and simply mark the items at MSRP? Should they just put the items in their stock at the greatly discounted price and not advertise them, therefore missing out on much of the incentive for buying them in the first place? IDK about you but if I can get my hands on a fantastic deal on an item I want the option to use that item to generate customer traffic.

Agreed, the example is erroneous. This would ensure that only those items that could be consistently produced at a lower cost went on sale. If there was ever a question about supply, it would never be listed as a sale for fear that someone would buy an infinite amount of an item and the retailer would lose money. In fact, overstock-style retailers like Overstock.com and dollar stores would be put out of business.

 

[amdhunter]

In the past I would have said that taking out a body or two is worth the savings. Not anymore though.

 

[compuwiz1]

Wal*Mart's new slogan;

Deals to die for.... :shocked:

 

[episodic]

Here is what I think.


Stop blaming the store.
Stop blaming sales.
Stop blaming police.


How about blame the people that did it - figure out who did it - and jail them - forever, if you like - but stop blaming everything/one else.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
Jesus christ you want the government to tell a store they cant have a sale?


Yikes...

How on earth did you leap to that ridiculous conclusion?

Title: "Shouldnt be allowed anymore"


Only the government has the power to tell a business that they cannot open at a certain time or sell items for a certain price via law/code.

Title "Do you think Door Buster Sales shouldn't be allowed anymore?"

And you're WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY offbase on what the government can and cannot do. It's pretty easy to pass a law that says all advertised sales can't be limited to items on hand. Voila, doorbusters gone, but no government meddling by telling a store they can't have a sale.

Was that really so complicated that you needed it spelled out to you?

So you can make laws without government interaction now? Sweet!

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

They should build fortresses and see what people will do to get in the store. Giant sharp stakes, high walls, blah blah. Make it a medieval fortress and watch people scale the walls.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
I don't think they can be discontinued, but I think stores should just hand out coupons to people in the order that they lined up instead of allowing them to race through the store.

the prob with that is once they get their ticket at like 3am, what's to stop them from leaving and coming back at the opening time? They wouldn't have earned it.

No, they did earn it, by standing in line until they got the ticket.

meh, they didn't earn it unless they wait the whole time like a normal line works. and besides, i changed my thoughts before you replied to it... see edit.

 

[tk149]

No. Stores just need a good way to handle large crowds of hyperactive people. The whole idea of Black Friday sales is to generate a type of hysteria and kick-start the shopping season.

One year, I was lined up in front of Circuit City, and about half an hour before they opened their doors, two employees started walking along the line and handing out tickets for the doorbuster items. No mess, no fuss.

This year, I went to Walmart (so I guess my mother and I are stupid Darwin mistakes according to some idiots in this thread), and they were sheduled to open at 5:00 AM. We got there at 4:30 AM (long story), and found out that the store actually opened its doors at midnight. This wasn't advertised. We walked in and found people already lined up to pick up doorbuster items. There was no huge rush of people stampeding. No pushing or shoving.

Real police officers handed out some of the highest demand items. Nobody's gonna argue with a guy with a gun. They even threw out one guy who tried to cut in line.

I thought that was a pretty good way to handle things.

In fact, I was rather surprised by my experience at Walmart. I spent one and a half hours there. Everybody was very polite and nice despite the crowds. Especially the other customers. This is in an area that is considered middle class/lower class and patronized by (gasp!) minorities.

It's a good reminder that for every news article you see about a mad rush at a store, there are thousands of other stores where nothing bad happens.

Just remember that in any large random group, half the people have below average intelligence.