Walmart Calming the Black Friday Crowds

[superconnected]

Source: Yahoo News

A year after an unruly crowd trampled a worker to death at a Wal-Mart store, the nation’s retailers are preparing for another Black Friday, the blockbuster shopping day after Thanksgiving. Along with offering $300 laptops and $99 navigation devices, stores are planning new safety measures to make sure the festive day does not take another deadly turn.

Last year, frenzied shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., trampled Jdimytai Damour, a temporary store worker who died soon afterward. To prevent any repeat, Wal-Mart has sharply changed how it intends to manage the crowds.

That new plan, developed by experts who have wrangled throngs at events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics, will affect how customers approach and enter the stores, shop, check out and exit. Each store will have its own customized plan. The hope is for an orderly Black Friday, a seemingly incongruous notion.

The most significant change at Wal-Mart is that the majority of its discount stores (as opposed to its Supercenters) will open Thanksgiving morning at 6 a.m. and stay open through Friday evening. Last year, those stores closed Thanksgiving evening and reopened early Friday morning. By keeping the stores open for 24 hours, Wal-Mart is hoping for a steady flow of shoppers instead of mammoth crowds swelling outside its stores in the wee hours of Friday.

Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108137/calming-the-black-friday-crowds

---

Apparently they are keeping in mind what happened last year.

[marmar]

1. "the festive day"

For brainwashed idiots, maybe.

[superconnected]

2. I'm just glad they didn't forget. The guy killed was 43.

Corrected age.

[timeforpeace]

13. Forget? No way. We know more about him than the Ft Hood victims.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lorien]

26. An orgy of materialism for well trained consumers

I'll pass on those kinds of "festivities".

[Missy Vixen]

3. So,they've now moved Black Friday to Thanksgiving?

Oh, that's just dandy. In other words, the employees don't get a day with their families.

They didn't address the problem that makes people stampede: Hugely advertised "doorbuster" items that are purposely scarce, so people trample each other to get to the $25 DVD player or the $99 navigational device or the $300 laptop.

Are they nuts? Plus, why is this not illegal? Festival seating is STILL frowned on at concerts because of what happened with the Who over twenty years ago, but we see the same stuff happening every Black Friday still.

:eyes:

[SoCalDem]

34. All they need to do is have a drawing on the day AFTER black friday

all shopped ON black friday, fill out a raffle ticket, and only the people who win the raffle are eligible to purchase the "door busters"..tie of original receipt for black friday breaks ties (3 tvs and every winner wants one)

and it means the winners all come back to the store to "claim" their option..

[Deja Q]

4. The concept is wrong. Just offer fair prices all the time.

Not forcibly lowering prices.

Not pushing "good enough" as being good.

Not instigating issues like this, though it can't be denied people have their own responsibility to act like grown-ups instead of rabid elephants too...

Still, without walmart we wouldn't have these examples to readily point out how everyone involved is wrong.

Not to mention, "$300 laptop" sounds nice. Assuming the customers know how to read, did they read the specifications of the model in question? Probably runs slower than a netbook... :eyes:

[2Design]

9. they do loss leading items to put others out of business while losing money

on that item but making money on items priced higher than their competition

[CatholicEdHead]

11. K-Mart is taking it one step lower

Their upcoming $120 netbook running Windows CE. Lots of upset people coming over that expecting XP Home and unable to run standard software.

I feel for the night shift workers at Wally World with those insane crowds.

[orpupilofnature57]

Altruism ain't got shit to do with it.

[kirby]

24. This is a legal settlement with prosecutors office!

I love how the article fails to mention that.

MINEOLA, N.Y. (WABC) -- Wal-Mart will pay nearly $2 million, including $400,000 for victims compensation, and implement improved safety measures to avoid criminal charges in last year's trampling death of a temporary employee at a Long Island store.

In exchange for agreeing not to prosecute Wal-Mart, the settlement will require Wal-Mart to implement an improved statewide crowd-management plan for post-Thanksgiving Day events at each of its 92 New York stores, set up a $400,000 victims' compensation and remuneration fund, donate $1.5 million dollars to the community and provide 50 jobs annually to Nassau teens.

[pinniped]

33. Pretty good. Wallyworld paid money to avoid criminal charges.

..

[tinrobot]

5. So they make their employees work on Thanksgiving Day?

Only at Wally World.

[superconnected]

6. Good catch!

[Rage for Order]

22. No, not "only at Wally World"

Many different businesses are open on Thanksgiving. Are you equally critical of bars and restaurants that make their employees work on holidays? What about casinos, airlines, trucking lines, and nearly every retail chain in the country, to name just a few? The faux outrage over Wal Mart's employees having to work on a holiday is ridiculous. If you don't want to work on holidays then don't take a job in the retail or service industries, to name but a couple.

[musicblind]

29. Yes I am critical of them as well.

We even close our office for the 4th of July. The world can deal with out bars, restaurants, casinos, and trucking lines for a day. There are necessities that must keep employees such as hospitals, but in no way are the majority of the things you listed a necessity for one day.

[emilyg]

30. Lots of stores do. Not only wal-mart.

[madrchsod]

7. nothing like buying really cheap crap and outdated technology

walmart does`t "lower prices" it just sells cheaper stuff...

[2Design]

8. walmart shoppers are desperate and willing to kill and strample for STUFF - I would not be caught

anywhere near a Walmart and especially on Black Friday

[TomCADem]

10. What's Up With That? Even Last Year Black Friday Was Insane...

I usually do my Christmas shopping to avoid Black Friday. What is the attraction of shopping for Christmas on the Friday after Thanksgiving? I tried it once several years ago, and now I try to get it done online or before that weekend if possible. Finally, that sucks for the folks having to work on 6:00 a.m. at Walmart on Friday after Thanksgiving.

[AndyA]

12. Their employees don't want Thanksgiving off to be with their families, I'm sure.

They'd rather be at the stores helping pathetic people who have nothing else better to do than shop themselves and the rest of America out of jobs.

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[Psephos]

25. Maybe they want a paycheck and holiday pay?

:shrug:

[DesertRat]

14. That is so sad for those employees who have to work

I totally avoid Black Friday and do a majority of my shopping online on Cyber Monday (Monday after Thanksgivng). The deals are great, many offer free shipping and you don't have to get trampled in the process.

[stubtoe]

16. By all the gods, is it time for Black Friday again already?!

Maybe we need to organize a "War on Black Friday".

Nah, nevermind. I don't want Walmart sending its goons to silence me... :)

[cleverusername]

17. Don't think that will help

If they offer $300 laptops and the customers know that there are only going to be a few of these available, it's still going to get out of hand. I can't imagine taking the risk of getting injured for a stupid cheap laptop.

[skoalyman]

19. now if they lowered game consoles down to $99 lol

we could call it red Friday.And that 300 crap-top what does it have a p1 cpu lol sounds more like a price range for net-book.

[flvegan]

18. People are so programmed.

[ShortnFiery]

20. Not all of us. Many of us still do not love Big Brother. n/t

[Lorien]

27. Sad, isn't it?

If I had a family get together on Thanksgiving I'd want to spend the time with them, hanging out, eating leftovers, taking a walk, seeing a movie...shopping would be the last thing on my list!

[liberal N proud]

21. Good luck

Those crowds are vicious.

I have been in those crowds, I have stood outside waiting to get in for that one item that is a too good to pass up deal. After standing there for hours in the cold, a bunch of thugs show up from the side and crash the line and take over.

It gets ugly!

[xchrom]

23. open thanksgiving for cheap wages

buying cheap stuff -- manufactured in other countries at dirt cheap wages.

what's to be thankful for?

[ArbustoBuster]

28. I'd like to congratulate Wal-Mart's PR department.

They managed to get the phrase "Along with offering $300 laptops and $99 navigation devices" into the first paragraph of a news story by the New York Times. Bravo, you magnificent bastards. You earned your pay today.

:sarcasm:

[NuttyFluffers]

31. mobs you say? what if we put a few of these loss leaders in Afghanistan? would we win?

:shrug:

would it look like this?
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
:nuke:

maybe this can be a new warfare tactic! i shall call it Walmart-Zurg Swarm...
:crazy:

[davidpdx]

32. Maybe they should just hang the items from the ceiling and give customers a big stick

and let them wack at it. It would be a good reality TV program. Oh wait, too many lawsuits.

[KittyWampus]

35. LI Black Friday death Spurs 24-hour Wal-Marts (New Holiday Crowd Control Measures)

Source: Newsday

LI Black Friday death spurs 24-hour Wal-Marts
November 11, 2009 By KEIKO MORRIS [e-mail]

QUICK SUMMARY
The store will incorporate crowd-control measures to prevent the frenzied rush that led to a trampling death last year at a Black Friday sale in Valley Stream.


The retailer said most of its stores in the United States will remain open from Thanksgiving Day into Friday - the traditional launch of the holiday season known as Black Friday - and will allow customers to begin to line up at different locations within the stores to wait for specific items to go on sale at 5 a.m. Friday.

Wal-Mart also said it has incorporated into its nationwide planning for Black Friday some of the crowd management strategies negotiated with the Nassau County district attorney's office last May after last year's trampling death of Jdimytai Damour.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said Wednesday he is anticipating calm and order at the retailer's post-Thanksgiving sales event. "We reviewed the plans and are quite satisfied that they have taken the necessary steps to prepare for holiday shopping," said Mulvey. "I think they are taking some of the best-practice ideas we came up with last year after the tragedy."

Wal-Mart said in a statement it consulted with safety experts in the sports and entertainment industries to develop store-specific plans for all U.S. locations. Each plan looked at how customers approach and enter the store, how they check out and leave, as well as how customers move around the store and near the biggest bargains, Wal-Mart said. "We took elements from New York and applied them to other states," said Dave Tovar, a Wal-Mart spokesman. "We looked at each store on a store-by-store basis and developed specific plans for all of our locations."

Many of the retailer's crowd-control strategies were the result of its settlement with the Nassau DA's office in May, when it negotiated an agreement to avoid criminal charges, according to Meg Reiss of the investigations division. At the center of that deal was the creation of Wal-Mart's crowd management plans for its New York State stores, she added.

Besides explaining the sales process to customers, the steps include a crowd-management staff to maintain orderly entry into the store and placement of promotional or hot items throughout the store to ensure manageable customer traffic.

Mulvey noted that many retailers have ratcheted up their Black Friday safety plans in light of last year's tragedy. For the first time, the National Retail Federation issued crowd management guidelines for special sales events. But many retailers like Best Buy and Target have been using such crowd control strategies for years. Best Buy, for example, hands out tickets for limited sale items, limits the number of customers entering the store and sends staff to talk to people waiting on line, said Peter Conway, general manager of the Westbury Best Buy.

"Reducing anxiety is really a big piece," Conway said, "getting there early in the night and just talking to people and putting them at ease."

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/li-black-friday-death-spurs-24-hour-wal-marts-1.1580985

[NOW tense]

36. If ever there was a year to hurt Wal-Mart

It would be this year. But, everybody loves Wal-Mart....

[Skip Intro]

37. What does it say about the human race when we have to be herded like wild animals?

[slackmaster]

40. It's good evidence that we are in fact animals

And in particular, that we share a common ancestor with the Great Apes.

[bertman]

38. There's a rumor that they hired Temple Grandin to design chutes for the sheeple so

they won't panic and stampede.

:eyes:

[BlancheSplanchnik]

46. .

:spray:

[WriteDown]

39. Interesting...

I am hoping to get a new flatscreen for the guest bedroom this year though. Not sure if Walmart will be the place though. More likely Fry's.

[Missy Vixen]

41. Why not try Costco?

They're online. www.costco.com

They're a blue company, they treat their employees like human beings (good pay and benefits,) and you might pay $50 more than at Fry's, but you'll get a quality product AND Costco's guarantee, which rivals Nordstrom's.

No, I do not work for them, but we make a point of shopping there.

[WriteDown]

42. Costco is too far for me to drive there. nt

[Missy Vixen]

43. Order it online

Why else would they have a website?

http://www.costco.com/Common/Category.aspx?cat=2341&eCat=BC|79|2341&lang=en-US&whse=BC&topnav=

It's your money, but we sure as hell wouldn't be buying a big-ticket item from any company that wasn't blue.

[WriteDown]

44. That negates the point of black friday....

Fry's tends to have by far the best selection. That is usually the first place I hit on black friday. Also, I love gadgets so it serves a dual purpose.

[David Zephyr]

45. Get your Solylent Green.

.