DaleRider

Don't know about CompUSA's policy, but the Best Buys we've BF'd at close their customer service areas for returns during the "doorbuster" hours and use that area for sales of "ticketed" items like the laptop, desktop computers, and the like. During the last hour or so prior to the doors opening, BB employees cruise the line handing out "reserve item" tickets for those that want this or that particular item and when the tickets are gone, so is their stock of that item.....applies to the laptop certainly, probably the desktop, some of the TVs, etc. The customer service desk area, usually the return/rebuy area, is open for customers to pick up and pay for those items only. The return/rebuy option has been "halted" during the first hours of BF, so far as we've seen.

We're quite rural.....a Wal-Mart is about 20 minutes away, but there is nothing else except an Office Max in that town. So, we have a choice of an hour trip to Savannah or an hour-an-a-half to Augusta. We always choose Augusta because of the greater number and variety of stores vs. Savannah....Augusta has a CompUSA, a larger BB, a larger Circuit City, a better Sears, a much better mall, and on and on. The Augusta BB, which is one store we always seem to have one of us camping outside, manages its BF crowds much better than any other store we've seen. They block off the front doors with shopping carts, leaving a two-or-three person wide lane open from the front door down the sidewalk. The BF campers line up along this aisle that's been created. The shopping carts effectively block the front doors off from line jumpers, that and the cops that are at the door every year. They also provide hot coffee and chocolate and donuts to those lucky enough to be close to the door.....they run out before they get far back.

We tend to not stay in the stores over a couple of hours......my wife and I will camp out the two stores we want to buy from first. Usually we're at the very front of the line......last year she was 5th in line at BB, I was 1st at CompUSA. So both of us were out in less than 20 minutes after the doors opened....we got our items and went right out to pay. Hit Sears as our last store.....that took a little longer, but we were on our way home before 11AM. We did start our camp-out at midnight, though.

Thanks for the info.....guess John, who's about to be manager of the SouthEast region of Wal-Mart's distribution networK (he's leaving this area after Christmas to move to Atlanta to take this job) just doesn't know what he's talking about. Glad to know I can always find out the truth on the internet......

If it is the 930B, it'd be a GREAT deal......but I'm just guessing that it's more likely one of the OTHER (read cheaper) Samsung LCDs.....the 914V. If it is that one, which would still be a big $100 reduction in price (from $330 to $229), it lacks the 930B's DVI input....only is analog. If it is indeed the 930B instead of the 914V, that's pure gravy and I guess I'll have to snag one myself. One can hope and speculate.....:)

Honestly, on some items there have always been rebates attached to the items to obtain the"advertised low" price.....I'd guarantee the video cards are priced after rebate, always have been and probably won't change this year, either. Last year was the first year I'd seen a laptop from BB without a rebate attached to drop the price (the $499 Toshiba)....other stores had comparable model laptops (HP/Compaq vs. BB's Toshiba but spec'd the same), but all had mail-in rebates attached. Really sparked a lot of interest in BB last year. Been doing BF too long NOT to expect EVERY price listed is after a MIR unless otherwise shown.....except Sears and their tool sales.

The managers may not have had copies of the actual ads, but they've had lists of the sale and blitz items for months........how else would they know what to order? Do people think the items just show up unannounced and unplanned for? As an aside, I'm part of a very active bicycle club and as it happens, one of our members is a manager of two Wal-Mart Distribution Centers that encompass 5 warehouses in our area. He says the BF items are constantly overordered by store managers each year simply because the store managers never know how many of any item each will receive. The laptop computer this year is a special case with very limited supplies per store. Usually, though, it's up to the distribution center managers to allocate the sale/blitz items "equitably" across all the stores they service. John takes into account the stores' prior sales volumes and splits up his supply to the stores his warehouses supplies.....and every year the store managers cry for more of everything. So, the store managers have known for months what items are blitz/sale for BF even if they haven't seen the actual newspaper printed ad.

I can kind of understand why some avoid BF during the blitz hours.....and it all centers around perceptions. We see pushing, shoving crowds on TV news reports on BF's evening newscasts and some people don't want to be involved in all that. But the same people that avoid BF will gladly shop the last weekend or two before Christmas. I find this odd, though, since the four largest shopping days are the two weekends before Christmas and BF consistently fininshes fifth in shopping volume. And with the two weekends before Christmas being the heaviest shopping days of the year, the crowds are much worse then than on BF. But perceptions are just that....perceptions. I guess most people just have that frenzied mob perception of BF sales and tend to shy away....which is alright with me....gives me fewer people to wade through. :)

Actually, if you read the PM language in CC's and BB's PM policies, both specifically preclude price matching "specials, limited quantities, promotional items," etc. Both stores would and do make a case that BF sales items are both special price promotional sales items and limited quantity items. And, no, it never has been "retail suicide" for either not to price match on BF during the doorbuster hours. Now, both BB and CC will price match after the doorbuster hours are over.....at least this has been the case for the last 4 or 5 years we've seen.

Was at my local Wal-Mart getting a prescription filled this morning.....found the BF Early Bird HP laptop already being stocked. Regular price is $688.

We are very early birds typically. Usually camp out the BB....like last year for their LCD TV and laptop. Thermos of coffee for me, thermos of hot tea for the wife, chairs, portable batt-op'd TV, book, layered clothing, etc. The "junk" gets packed back in the vehicle in the last hour.......by then, everyone in line's formed some sort of "relationship", esp. the front of the line, and all are gracious enough to hold places for everyone else if one has to go to the car, make a bathroom run, whatever. Of course, we couldn't top the family that was camped out in BB's parking lot with their RV.......now that's one way to camp outside the store in comfort. They'd rotate one or two to the line (they'd been in the parking lot since 11PM Thanksgiving night, so were obviously first in line) to "keep" their places. The rest would stay nice and warm in the RV....catch some sleep, whatever.

We've been BF'ing for almost two decades (we're OLD!).........and the time we've gotten in line is dependent upon what and where we've wanted to go. The last few years we (my wife and I) have split up between two stores to cover doorbuster items in each. Last year, 12:30AM at BB and 4th in line.....earlier by an hour from the previous year. Still haven't been able to get to BB and be first...... oh well. Was first in line at CompUSA though....its line really didn't start forming up until 3-4AM. We avoid Wal-Mart like the plague after two successive years, '98 and '99, produced fistfights between "customers" trying to get a TV or DVD player. Fortunately, we were fairly far removed from the fights, but the mobs at Wal-Mart tend to be much more unruly and I hate fighting like that. Now, with Wal-Mart having such a cheap laptop this year, I honestly think MN is probably not going to be too early......the last one we attended at Wallyworld, we showed up at 2AM and the store was already packed, and there weren't any great deals on computers....just TVs, DVD players, toys, bicycles and the like. That laptop deal is really going to bring out the campers at Wal-Mart this year.

Really depends on the store and if they want to try to control the crowd or not. The BB we BF at always has superb crowd control as does the CompUSA and CC. The BB uses shopping carts to make an aisle down to the IN door and block off the door from any other access. Of course, it does help that they also put a cop or two there. Another BB I used to go to on BF, in Savannah, GA, was pathetic and so I use the Augusta, GA store now. At Augusta, CC, BB, CompUSA, Office Depot, & Staples are within the same 1/4 strip center.....makes getting from one to another fast and easy.

The Best Buy in Augusta, GA always gives out coffee, donuts (Krispy Kreme of various kinds, including filled), hot chocolate, etc. It's also one of the best I've seen at controlling the line and crowd......