Crazy mob swarms wall-mart video game pallet at 11:50 pm.

[wulfy42]

I read about a decent number of games going on sale at Wall-mart last night so I decided to head down figuring I would pick up a couple of games I didn't have in my collection. I got there about a half an hour early and was shocked to see the entire (huge) parking lot full. Since Wall-mart isn't that close tome I decided to head in anyway figuring not that many people would be there for the video games at midnight......


I was wrong.


I got inside about 15 minutes before midnight and found the area with a huge pallet of games on sale. The sales were decent but not incredible. Most of the games were about 5-10$ off what you can get through normal sales or buying a used copy. I didn't really think it was going to be a big deal.

There must have been 200 people standing around (surrounding) the game pallet when I got there. Only a few minutes later either the Wall-mart employee signaled it was ok to start taking games or he or she (never did spot them) got trampled to death.

It was a mob attack. It was so insane people all over were filming it (mostly the adults stayed back and used cell phones etc to film the insanity). I had swung by the electronics section first and picked up a rythm nations game and another couple that were on a shelf there and I actually gave my copies away because it was not worth it to me to save a few dollars. People were thrown to the ground, shoved, pushed, stepped on and the entire pallet (probably over 1000 games) was empty in less then a minute.

What was really disturbing to me was that I was the only person there that I saw who didn't either concentrate only on grabbing games or filming. I helped a few people up off the ground, held other back from stepping on a kid and just generally tried to help contain the chaos.

I was so shocked I rushed home to see if anyone had put it on youtube so I could show my wife. It is impossible to describe something like that in words, you really have to see it to believe it. Not only is there nothing on youtube at all about it but there was nothing about ANY crazed shoppers which leads me to believe this is normal.

I'm 38 years old and this was my first black friday experience. I wish I had never seen human greed in such a massive pure form. My faith in humanity suffered a blow last night

To make it worse after I got home and talked with my wife about it, searched for videos etc I went to the wall-mart website and found almost all the games I wanted on sale online for the same price. People hit, pushed, trampled and fought over things they could have just gotten online. I was planning on going to gamestop today to take advantage of their buy 2 used games get one free deal but after last night I'm just going to stay home. Saving a few dollars just is not worth hurting people over.

 

[CD-R]

They call it Black Friday for a reason.

 

[wulfy42]

Yeah, after doing a bit more research I found that people have been killed in the past at Wall-marts including employees.

You would think they would change how they distribute stuff after that.

I can't believe wall-mart hasn't been seriously sued for accidents and injuries caused by their method of selling. I saw at least 3-4 people shoved to the ground last night, other people pushed into shelves etc.....someone had to get hurt in all that. Why aren't there tons of lawsuits every year?

 

[feeback06]

Your a good man, I had a much better experience last night at my Kmart. I do live in a small town however. I'm surprised you couldn't find anything on youtube because I've seen plenty of videos depicting the madness that is black friday.

 

[omega 616]

This is just geeks, imagine women at a clothes sale ... the horror!

It's just assumed that 'cos everywhere else is cheaper than usual they will be as well, in fact they probably inflated the price a month or two ago, then dropped it back to normal to make it look like a sale. Just look at what happened, it obviously worked.

I bet the management were thinking "the morons" as they rubbed there greedy little hands together like Kotick on the 10th of November.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Oh Black Friday...you never cease to fail in the "random death" department

 

[wulfy42]

Your a good man, I had a much better experience last night at my Kmart. I do live in a small town however. I'm surprised you couldn't find anything on youtube because I've seen plenty of videos depicting the madness that is black friday.

I didn't search with the right keywords. Once I tried Wall-mart & black friday I found some videos although nothing very recent. That is where I found out about the employee being killed etc. At least now I have video I can show my wife of something similar to what I witnessed last night. Not something I could imagine/believe without actually seeing it myself.

 

[wulfy42]

This is just geeks, imagine women at a clothes sale ... the horror!

It's just assumed that 'cos everywhere else is cheaper than usual they will be as well, in fact they probably inflated the price a month or two ago, then dropped it back to normal to make it look like a sale. Just look at what happened, it obviously worked.

I bet the management were thinking "the morons" as they rubbed there greedy little hands together like Kotick on the 10th of November.

It's a bit off topic but I noticed that amazon had done that with quite a few games. They inflated the base price and then listed the sale as 50% off on quite a few items. I saw one game they listed as 49.99 base on sale for 25 dollars for instance and after searching for the game at gamestop I saw the price for a new copy there was $29.99. That is only 5 dollars savings or 20% or so......not the 50% listed. You could get a used copy or wait for a normal special (or especially take advantage of the buy 2 used get one free deal) and save more.

I always check prices against other stores before making a purchase. I'm guessing not everyone does that or retailers would not do this so often.

 

[MassiveGeek]

That is fucking crazy. We're a seriously messed up species.

 

[SinisterGehe]

And now we must ban all video games because they drive people crazy... Was this about it? No wait I think it wasn't...

Well, anyway.
I don't have personal experience of "black Friday" since that sort of stuff Is almost illegal in Finland, let alone letting that many people inside a building that fast. I think it is mandated in law that in a organized even (free or reserved) where there is possible to be more than 100 people there must be 1 security guard (licensed and non-connected to the event itself) for 100 people and 1 more for each passing 50. Or something like that, I don't know. I wonder how many guards there were at wall-mart making sure everything goes as planned and stay safe.

Also, they call us Finns crazy, but no one has ever died because of shopping here. You might want to try change some of the consumer-cultural perks you have there, it doesn't sound safe to go to a mall there.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Black Friday... never go out on black friday. The sales just might actually get you killed. People go crazy with consumerism. If you have to buy, do it from the safety of an internet store.

 

[Lamppenkeyboard]

To be honest that is pretty typical. Sorry to hear about the rude awakening.

 

[wulfy42]

Thats what I learned last night Twilight guy.

I like to sleep in so the whole 5am thing never appealed to me. I figured since stores were starting sales at midnight (i'm still up then) I'd give it a try.

Wall-mart though does not just let people in all at once at midnight. They were already opened....which was actually worse because it allowed people to pool up into big mobs around the items they want...and I guess built up anticipation in them for when they could start grabbing.

They need to have organized lines with a bunch of security guards letting people in a few at a time or something. There is no excuse for what I saw happening even once let alone year after year. It's criminal negligence in my opinion. That people are that......selfish and greedy......is hard to imagine, but if it's true then the retailers have a responsibility to prevent injury when customers are in their store.

I really can't believe a big deal has not been made of this when people are dying or being injured every year. I have heard of black friday madness before but hearing about it on tv and seeing it in person is a totally different thing. It's scary what people will do to save a few dollars

 

[Blue_vision]

aaand this is why consumerism is the stupidest thing to stand up for in the world.

Get over your goddamn stuff, people!

 

[Ernie1042]

There wasn't really a swarm for games at my Walmart, but it was around 12:30 when I got there. Only about a quarter of the games were gone, and I got Left 4 Dead 2 for about $30. Not bad.

But there was a $350 tv going on sale for $200 at 5 am and there was already quite a line at 12:30, so I waited in line for this tv for 4 and a half hours. Everyone was calm and orderly, unlike your story. It was actually kinda funny how people were getting pillows, books, and pet beds from other departments for this 5 hour wait.

It might have been because there was so many security officers and the like there that it ran smoother.

I was also at Toys R Us from 8 pm to 12 (bought Fable III and got Sims 3 for $5). It was pretty much how you describe it; parents trying to get discount toys practically mauling each other and every aisle was part of a line for a checkout at the other end of the store. Some lady who cut in front of us was seriously close to being murdered by the ladies behind us.

I kinda enjoyed it though. Very... exciting.

 

[omega 616]

This is just geeks, imagine women at a clothes sale ... the horror!

It's just assumed that 'cos everywhere else is cheaper than usual they will be as well, in fact they probably inflated the price a month or two ago, then dropped it back to normal to make it look like a sale. Just look at what happened, it obviously worked.

I bet the management were thinking "the morons" as they rubbed there greedy little hands together like Kotick on the 10th of November.

It's a bit off topic but I noticed that amazon had done that with quite a few games. They inflated the base price and then listed the sale as 50% off on quite a few items. I saw one game they listed as 49.99 base on sale for 25 dollars for instance and after searching for the game at gamestop I saw the price for a new copy there was $29.99. That is only 5 dollars savings or 20% or so......not the 50% listed. You could get a used copy or wait for a normal special (or especially take advantage of the buy 2 used get one free deal) and save more.

I always check prices against other stores before making a purchase. I'm guessing not everyone does that or retailers would not do this so often.

Amazon have sort of a bad name recently (with the guide to be a good peado) so this isn't going to help there brand.

Although alot of companies do really shady and morally questionable things, such as the little green sign on some chocolate bars to say "the coco in this bar hasn't damaged the rainforest" what it doesn't say is the oil in the chocolate bar does damage the rainforest.

So legally they can put it on and we all think "wow, I am not damaging nature", when actually you are.

Anyway, I am miles off topic.

Black Friday is one of the reasons I wish I could just stop doing Christmas. Black Friday shows what Christmas is all about these days, greed. Greed for everyone involved, including the consumer.

Of course, I have always been the type of person to wonder why they don't sell things at sale prices all the time. Obviously they can cut 50% off the price and still make money so why can't they do it all the time?

I do think that sales like this are socially irresponsible but as bad as retailers are for Black Friday, shoppers are just as bad. Is saving $25 on Halo Reach really worth another persons life? Is it worth standing in line for an hour or more? Is it worth fighting the crowds and the traffic?

I don't do Black Friday and I never have so I have trouble understanding the people who can't miss it.

Why sell something for £20, when you can sell it for £45? One makes you profit, the other makes you more profit and the consumer will pay for it either way.

 

[BreakfastMan]

And that is why Cyber Monday was invented children. Thank God for Amazon and GameStop online.

 

[Eri]

got Left 4 Dead 2 for about $30. Not bad.

Considering steam sells it for 20$ and that it has, on multiple occasions been cheaper, I'd say that -is- pretty bad.