Shopping the Day after Thanksgiving....

[Rattus]

Sure -- that'll happen. Like they'll invest in their employees. Or ethical manufacturing practices. Or give a flying f*** about the communities they destroy. I sound like a broken record, but WATCH the documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices. Save money. Live better. My a$$!

You may be a broken record, but you're playing my song. I don't need to watch the documentary to hold a jaundiced eye on Walmart. My husband works for a company that is one of the largest local suppliers to them and I hear enough stories about how Walmart operates to ensure that neither of us could ever be paid enough to shop there.

Walmart is putting up a fight to build a big box centre in my neighbourhood which is being strenously resisted by all local businesses and a lot of local residents. There are a number of people, though, who keep insisting that they can't survive without a nearby Walmart (I'm not sure why they are still alive by this point). But I look at all the alternatives for inexpensive local shopping (they way I need to shop) and as far as I can tell, it's brainwashing that tells them a Walmart is required, not actual need. I just bought two solid pine end tables at another local store for $20 less each than the same table cost at Walmart. Yesterday, I bought enough meat, chicken and fish to last a month at a local butcher for $40. I'm sorry, but I don't believe I could have done better at Walmart. And really, even if you could, their egregious business practices would ensure that I pay more but buy less (probably a better policy anyway) elsewhere than ever follow the path of least resistance and put so much as a $1 into their coffers.

Sorry for the ranting, but Walmart just pisses me off.

[MRD]

I can grocery shop at Walmart cheaper than I can at any of the other stores. I don't buy a lot of meat or produce there as it sucks. But boxed and canned items and cleaning supplies are so much cheaper that I have SIGNIFICANT savings. I'm not defending Walmart. I'm just saying that on the kind of budget we have, saving about $50-75 every time I shop makes a big difference to me. And I know to other people too.

And I just bought flannel PJ pants there for $6 a pair. NO ONE has them cheaper because I've been looking.

So for me, it's a necessary evil. I wish I didn't have to, but I do. So until I make more money, I do usually do a monthly trip to Walmart for pantry and cleaning items.

[Harmony2000]

My husband and I have talked about the "savings" and decided years ago that the couple of bucks off isn't worth it. All you have to do is keep an eye out during the year and catch the item on sale during a less crazy time. Like somebody posted, that Toshiba laptop? That's not an OMG discount because I've seen it that price before. We just buy our Christmas presents all year long and store them away that way we don't have to deal with the madness and it's easier to budget that way.

[barefootdyke]

that's what i kinda do ... since i usually don't have more money at this time of the year than any other, so sometime around fall, if i notice something that i know would be a nice gift, i go ahead and buy it.

[Harmony2000]

All my annual bills come due in December so I normally don't have a lot of extra money this month. I have found that it's better to buy the gifts in January (when everything goes or sale) or even during one of the other holidays and then just tuck them away. Still works while my son is young and when he gets older? He will have to learn to let "santa" know early what he wants because if he waits till November? He's probably not getting it.

Plus it's just easier. Instead of spending $500 or more in one month? You wind up spending about $50 a month and no headaches, no rude crowds, no people hitting you with their shopping carts, no people cussing you out because you got to the parking spot before them, and no worrying about somebody mugging you in the parking lot or breaking into your car to get your gifts. We had a problem with that at our malls one year and now even walmart has armed security guards on their roofs to watch the parking lots.

[barefootdyke]

when my kids were teenagers, they got a couple of gifts for christmas, but when i got my income tax refund in january, they would get $200-300 to go shopping with. there were a few rules though. they couldn't spend it on magazines or munchies or whatever ... it had to be something that would normally be like a gift. and i didn't just let them go off and spend ... it was a shopping trip we did together.

teens LOVE getting money, and it's amazing what you can learn about them by watching what they buy for themselves. not to mention, they typically enjoy their gifts more if they were able to choose it themselves.

[Unklescott]

I am one of those crazy people that loves to go shopping on Black Friday , even if I don't have a list (like this year-everyone is dragging their feet to get the list to me!)

I just pm'd my list to you. Sorry it took so long.

[KeepItReal]

I am an avid Black Friday shopper. Has been a tradition of mine since about 1997. I've seen some good and some bad, but nothing out of control. I NEVER go to Walmart on Black Friday, I don't care what they advertise. They even price match what you may see in other circulars to get you in the store. Still, I will not go. Why? Because most of the stores in my area have something to maintain control of the crowd. They hand out tickets. They put up barricades to avoid line jumping. Walmart has nothing. Nothing but hundreds of shoppers waiting to storm the doors from every angle. Sure, it's the fault of a few. Once people from the back of the lines start to push forward, those people in the front have very little control of their movements. The more people yell to stop, the more people push from the back. I have never in all my Black Friday shopping adventures been involved in anything like that (thank goodness)! It's always been quite a predictable experience in my area. Yesterday the longest line I encountered was at my cable provider trying to exchange my equipment. It had nothing to do with Black Friday. If you have a solid plan you're in and out early. I hit 3 stores, cleared my list, was in bed by 6:30 am. The one item I wanted from Walmart I was able to order online. Saved myself the trouble and only had to spend an extra $7 on shipping. JC Penney was wise enough to open a half hour earlier than advertised when they saw a line of about 30 people. Why wait until the last second and have a crush at the door? They were there and so they let us shop and get out in order to make room for the next wave of shoppers.

I've driven past Best Buy the day before thanksgiving and seen tents outside the store. People camping out. I think that needs to stop. It is private property. I think the lines should not be allowed to form before a certain time at any store. They had people lined up since tuesday at Best Buy. It's insane. Why do stores allow this? For one reason and one reason only. To create that buzz. To show that the deals are so great that you need to get out there and shop. But it also fosters that other mentality in some people. The mentality that you need to literally bust a door and trample someone to get a deal. It's pathetic.

Funny thing is most of the complaints and tyranny comes from the back of the line. The people who know they have little to no chance of getting their item. They scratch and moan endlessly, annoying the staff of the store as if their constant complaints will help a laptop to appear for them. Then they push and disrupt in order to snatch someone elses spot. A store that issues tickets avoids that, Walmart left the door open for it to happen. It's happened in other cities in the past. They knew it could happen again. As for the Toys R Us incident, the news stated that the shooting happened at the store, but the dispute was not Black Friday related. The parties just decided that a store full of shoppers was the best place to have a shootout and settle their differences.

Some people go into Black friday with the wrong mindset. I've gotten what I wanted 99% of the time. When you don't get what you want you need a solid plan B. If a line already has 50 or so people on it move on to plan B. A solid plan B helps keep people sane. I also know that Black Friday is only the beginning. The sales will keep coming throughout the holiday season. Both Walmart and Best Buy had laptops for $299 about 3 weeks before Black Friday this year. I bet they'll have it again before the shopping season ends. Keep looking at the Black Friday sites. They will keep you informed of deals throughout the entire holiday shopping season. No need to blow a gasket because that "big deal" passed you by. People need to realize that to prevent another shameful tragedy like the one that took place yesterday. May that poor man rest in peace.

[SR5Rfan]

KeepItReal - you said it perfectly.

[Gutmutter]

As far as not shopping at Walmart goes (upthread) - it is a half hour drive each way to get to any other store from here. After watching Al Gore talk about An Inconvenient Truth, I don't think that driving an hour every time I need to go to the store is a better answer.