Wal-Mart Mayhem - They do it on purpose

[DoctorMyEyes]

If you've noticed, whenever you see these "retail fights" in the news it's happening in Walmarts. Walmart must believe that this is somehow "good news" or advertising for them. Like maybe it gives the idea that they have deals so good that people will fight over them? I'm not exactly sure of the reasoning behind it. But, I am SURE that they let it happen on purpose.

I work for a big retailer. Last week we had people lining up 11 hours before we opened in order to get an XBox 360. We only had a little over a dozen and knew they would be gone within a minute of opening the doors. They were, and there were NO acts of violence, no pushing, shoving, grabbing, etc. Just down the road from us the Walmart needed 10 police officers to break up the fight. The Circuit City across the street from us had a line around the building before they opened their doors at 5am on Friday. The same for Best Buy. No fights at our place either. But, Walmart, yet again, had fights break out.

Why? What's the difference? A better deal? A different class of shopper? Less available merchandise?

No.

It's because Walmart doesn't practice any sort of sensible crowd control. They ENCOURAGE mayhem!

In the XBox story from above - the customers themselves had designed an equitable system of distribution amongst themselves - with NO input from Walmart. It might have gone successfully too - had the store manager not disregarded it, and instead told the shoppers that the games systems would go on a "first come, first serve" basis. He might as well have said - "Only the strongest, quickest, and most ruthless among you will get your hands on an XBox 360".

[bunkerbuster1]

1. I don't doubt this for a minute

although it'd help to get someone off the record as to whether it's store policy.

Surely some Wal*Mart slave will be willing to cough up the truth, yes?

[mandomom]

4. Walmart is a microcosm of Bushworld.

Bully power rules all.

[bigluckyfeet]

8. True Story

Yesterday morning around 5:30 there was a long line trying to get in the electronics dept at walmart,they had 19 laptops on sale.
The police had to spray pepper spray to calm them down,one lady coughed and her teeth fell out of her mouth and broke,people were hitting the floor,the manager did not seem concerned on the news,he said the police did the right thing.

[FreedomAngel82]

23. The only people who might know

are the more higher official people. Workers probably wouldn't know so they wouldn't go and tell people.

[Vincardog]

2. WalMart the Jerry Springer Show of Shopping. How long before they

are saying Show Us your TITS?

[Obamarama]

3. Sounds like a plausible theory....

eot

[Jara sang]

5. Sounds about right to me.

Americas "me first" attitude. Greedy and spoiled rotten to the core. Man, this country disgusts me.

[Drum]

6. Remember that Arnold movie about shopping for Xmas?

I don't recall the title, but it was about some such quest for THE toy.

There's a parental mythology at work here too, about the pressure to show your love by getting that ideal gift. What a shame that people sully themselves so during a 30-day bacchanal of retail (while proposing to celebrate the birth of Christ) and leave that parenting aside for the other 11 months. Maybe if they loved their kids enough all year, they wouldn't feel the desperate need for such proof on one annual morning.

Vis-avis the XBox thing: I just can't help but think that retailers ordering such paltry numbers of in-demand products have it coming...just what are they thinking??

[Syncronaut Seven]

7. I smell a lawsuit!

Always fucked up, always.

[tularetom]

9. Watch the walmart movie

There is a whole segment in there about assaults, muggings, kidnappings carjacking and murder that have taken place in wally world parking lots for the simple reason that there is no security provided by walmart. IMO this leads to the lowlife behavior among patrons that you see on TV every year. (They do however provide hidden cameras in the parking lots to spy on employees who might be thinking about joining a union and have caught several carjackers/rapists after the cops discovered the tapes.)

[DoctorMyEyes]

13. I don't think their shoppers are any more "lowlife"

I don't think their shoppers are any more "lowlife" than any other discount retailer. Sure, it's "lowlife" behavior.... but, I think it's the same demographic shopping at say, Kmart, Value City, etc. Why always with the "Lord of the Flies" incidents happening at Walmart?

Cause they, for whatever reason, encourage it.

Here's the news clip of the story I cited earlier. This just happened a few miles down the road from where we had a perfectly peaceful and fair distribution of XBox360's - with NO incidents.

ELKTON, Maryland (AP) -- A melee erupted among a crowd of shoppers in the rush for the new Xbox 360 video game console at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in northeast Maryland.

It took 10 police officers to restore order.

A crowd of about 300 people waited as much as 12 hours for the game, considered a must-have item this holiday season, to go on sale at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. But an announcement from a store manager that the Xboxes would be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, instead of using a number system devised by customers, triggered the mayhem.

"That's when all hell broke loose," said Ben DiSabatino IV, a 23-year-old Bear, Delaware, resident, who had been waiting in line since 4 p.m.


http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/23/xbox.scuffle.ap/

[seabeyond]

10. walmart had laptop incredibly low across the nation

they had ten per store. the average that store ran out of this sale item was reported at 9 minutes. my brother went in at 5:30, in alabama and the laptop was sold out. they told him there were only ten per store. the news didnt report that part, just that they sold out on average within 9 minutes. he was listening to fox

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Well here is the logic, as sick as it may sound

any way you can get yourself promoted is a good way. You see here we are on DU writign the world Wallmart... mission accomplished... it is part of their marketing plan, no doubt in my mind.

[onthebench]

12. Wal-Mart is a clearance center

the other stores that you mention stock items. They keep the stock of items up. Customers know that Circuit City and Best Buy will try to sell as many of a hot item that they can get their hands on.

Walmart just buys enough to make it to their sales flyer that goes in the mail. I always see one time items at Walmart. If I like something at Walmart I have to make up my mind then and there or it may never be there again. Walmart code for roll back usually means "we are never get this again". Shoppers know this and fight for the items because they realize that there are no rain checks and the item will not be there in a week.

Toys R Us is pretty good at pre-selling hot items in order to have control of their inventory. This way they know what is in demand and where.

I do not think that Walmart is evil in the polical sense. Just in the overhyped capitalist sense.

[ComerPerro]

14. Promoting an item like that at such a price, given their customer base

and then only having 10 per store, is evil.

There are plenty of ways Wal-Mart could have curbed this disaster.

But they didn't, because they don't care.

I agree with the OP, that Wal-Mart encourages this sort of things so they can brag about how people literally walk all over each other to get their deals.

You're telling me a powerhouse like Wal-Mart couldn't get access to more than 10 laptops per store? Why the hell not? They obviously would have sold. And its not like Wal-Mart is taking a loss.



If that's not evil, in any sense of the word, then I don't know what is.

[DoctorMyEyes]

15. No, that's not necessarily true.

The local Best Buy had Kodak C350 (?) digital cameras on the front page of their sales flyer for $129.99. That's about half of what you can buy them for anywhere else - and clearly a "loss leader". They were to be part of a "special" 7 hour Black Friday sale starting at 5am. There were only 30 of these cameras in stock when they opened. And they knew that that's how many they were willing to lose money on for the hype before they even printed the ads.

That's just one example, there were dozens of such items in the Best Buy sale ad alone. The thing is that even though people lined up around the building for as long as seven or eight hours only a very small number got ANYTHING that they were waiting for. Yet, no fights erupted. There were some scowls, and a few choice words for the poor staff - but, no violence or even shoving.

I work at Costco. I'll admit that we're a little different as we're not open to the general public - but, still we had no problem. Not with the Xbox360 or with Black Friday. But, as far as I can tell the ONLY stores that ever have a problem, and consistently have a problem, on year after the next is Walmart.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi onthebench!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[onthebench]

26. Thanks

I am probably about 55 miles due west of you. I will probably be more around the election forum as that was my cause several years ago. Although it is fun checking out the rest of DU. There are some funny stuff here. Sort of like 24 hour Daily Show.

Thanks.

[baldguy]

16. Bars that have fights all the time,

and don't do anything to stop them, are closed down. Why is Walmart any different? Allowing - even encouraging - assaults to take place is depraved indifference to the public safety.

[DoctorMyEyes]

18. Exactly! They are a public nuisance

I don't know why the law enforcement agencies that have to deal with their crap don't just step up and put an end to it. I know that at my store we try to be "good neighbors" with the police and not involve them in anything that isn't necessary.

A freakin sale is hardly a "law enforcement" event.

If Walmart could use the common sense standards that every other retailer I know uses then they wouldn't have this commotion. Isn't that why we don't have "stadium seating" tickets anymore? Because we finally figured out the obvious - that it leads to people being hurt?

I hate Walmart for a whole lot of obvious reasons. Reasons that we talk about here whenever their name comes up - but, this is one that's less obvious (I think) to non-retail people and is just as shameful. They are a menace to society. :grr:

[converted_democrat]

17. I wouldn't put it past them!!!

I hate Walmart. I refuse to shop there. They have taken out many of our local retailers, and I don't think that's good for our community. I will go without before I go to Walmart. Going to the other stores cost more, but I have a clear social conscience.

[MissMarple]

19. I rarely remember where a WalMart is anymore.

A couple of years ago my daughter and were looking for a particular item, someone suggested WalMart might have it. We looked at each other when we got back in the car... and burst out laughing. We weren't sure where a WalMart was.

True story. :rofl:

[madrchsod]

20. it`s the old bait and switch scam!

to think that people think they are such a great business model.

[madrchsod]

21. yes walmart knows this will happen

that is why each year they increase the "prize value".

[FreedomAngel82]

22. It does make you wonder

I've never heard of fights or anything else at other stores either. :shrug:

[Lady President]

25. Sure, it becomes "exciting" to shop at Wal-Mart

The mayhem looks exciting on television. And, the poor woman who lost her wig? That's some funny film. :eyes:

The coverage of the XBox 360 was dull-- you'll never see yourself on the national news as part of that crowd. The people were wrapped up in blankets, sitting on lawn chairs, and having donuts/coffee. It's dull to act civilized.

[beyurslf]

27. People who stand in line that long to buy a video game for over 300bucks..

I have no doubts what they will do :)

[DoctorMyEyes]

28. More evidence of their willful recklessness

They should be sued for deliberately creating such pandemonium:

" Monroe – Lynn Hayes leaned on her shopping cart – which, of course, had a busted wheel – and watched a packaged Hewlett-Packard laptop computer sail through the air.
Shouts. Screams. Discount-hungry humans reached out for the descending loot, the crowd ebbing and flowing toward the computer box.
"Oh, my God."
Deeply discounted portable DVD/CD players and LCD TVs soon followed as Monroe Wal-Mart employees mounted a countertop and tossed electronic swag into a sea of hands about 5:45 a.m. yesterday."

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/11/26/shopp26.htm

[DoctorMyEyes]

29. Yes, at this point I'm talking to myself - but this SO bugs me!

Yes, at this point I'm talking to myself - but this SO bugs me! (lol)

I just discovered a thread about this (kinda) over on Kos
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/25/204438/48

And here's one poster saying pretty much the same thing I was saying regarding Best Buy. This is just how it worked at the Best Buy and the Circuit City here, as well as our Costco for the XBoxes - - and we're no where near Grand Forks or Fargo, so it's not like every other freakin' retailer doesn't have a strategy in place to keep people from hurting themselves and each other.

That's a good point (none / 1)
about the publicity. The lines were just as long at Best Buy this morning in 10? weather. I'm in Grand Forks, ND visiting family and I needed a cheap laptop for law school to take my exams. My handwriting is slow and completely incomprehensible and I'm not going to flunk out of law school just because my professors can't read hieroglyphics. (I'm just a simple unfrozen caveman law student.) Anyway, I got there at 4:30 and people were really well behaved, plus they did a really good job on managing security. They had tons of people out directing the line, and when people tried to bumrush the door as they let people in, security deflected them around the building. They went down the line and handed out tickets for the limited stuff. Their sales were as good as Walmart but Best Buy wasn't all over the news about how their prices were so OUTRAGEOUS! that people had to fight over it.
Another point, I thought I was nuts getting up at 4 AM, but the people in front of me at the checkout were near the front and they had been out in the cold since 11 PM and they said it was so crazy at 10 PM down in Fargo, an hour away, that they came up here and were near the front.