secretagent2006

I just checked the link out, and it says the game is not available for purchase.

I have been on the hunt for two things that have eluded me this Christmas. Mario Kart for Wii and Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice. I saw the grape juice one time in a special Christmas two-pack but cannot find it anywhere now! Also, my parents got me a Wii for Christmas and I am in search of the Mario Kart for Wii. Let me know if anyone has seen some deals on those. Thanks.

Guys, I went again, to see if maybe I wasn't still feeling the effects of Christmas egg-nog and they still had a sign on the games that said, "Looking for Wii Games, Buy Them Here $10.00". They scanned at $10.00 too! Various generic sports games, party games, etc. I asked the clerk and he said it was a "Manager's Special".

I went browsing around at the stores today and have to say I was not really impressed by the supposed markdowns. Our local news did a huge story about all these great deals that were going to be out there, but I really didn't see anything that great. I bought some items this past week, and most of the places I went, the items were still the same price. I guess my area didn't get the memo about markdowns. The only bright spot I saw, was Best Buy. I wish I would have stopped there earlier. They had 50% off of all their HBO Series Box Sets, as well as many random movie titles for $4.99-8.99. I got a Ghostbusters Gift Set for $6.99! I saved about 60% on that one. I went to Michaels to see if I could find a Christmas tree for next year and all the trees were the same price as before Christmas. Wal-Mart was completely out of trees. I did go to Barnes and Noble because I recieved an e-mail about a huge "clearance" sale on books. I was disappointed to find 3 tables filled with a variety of books. All the books were a hodge-podge of those "last-minute" type coffee table books, game books, and a few calendars. They did have 50% off of their 2009 Calendars (which brings it down to regular retail as far as I am concerned anyway, not much of a sale there). To be totally honest, there really wasn't a ton of traffic out there at the sales, but we have had a ton of snow in the last two days as well. Just a few thoughts...

I was at Walgreen's and they had a bin full of Wii games for $10 bucks. Various sports related games, party games, etc. I don't have a Wii but thought it was a good deal for those who have them. So I passed it along to you guys.

JCPenney's announced all stores will open at 5:30am the day after Christmas. All Christmas merchandise 80% off. All men's, women's, and junior's clothing 50-75% off already reduced prices! This is the first time JCP has opened this early on the day after Christmas in its entire history. http://biz.yahoo.com/usnews/081223/23_where_to_find_the_absolute_best_post_christmas_sales.html?.v=1&.pf=family-home

At first I was excited about this deal, then when I checked the places in my area that it was listing, I wasn't a tad bit thrilled. All of the hole in the wall, new management weekly, no-name eateries were on it and were all in the worst part of town in our area. Not ONE known eatery came up on the list. I'm sure it's a good deal if you're in a bigger area, but for some reason nothing good came up on the list. I'm bummed.

Just got a Pre-Lit 6.5 ft Christmas Tree for $29.00!!! Amazing!

It is funny that people sit here and complain (sarcastic), however, A BIG HOWEVER to YDKJMAN... I was a Front-End Manager (CSM/CSS) with Wal-Mart, and yes it is VERY TOUGH to operate the front-end.... H O W E V E R, with that said... IF your company is going to ADVERTISE on NATIONAL TV that they have MORE LANES open to serve you (the customer) better, one would EXPECT, now correct me if I AM WRONG, one would expect when they go in to Wal-Mart they would have...DRUUUUMROOOOLLL PLEASE..........MORE LINES OPEN? I went to WM last night around 7pm...NO express lanes open, 4 self checkouts open with people trying to self scan 100 plus items, and 3 regular lanes open at a supercenter. Now, you tell me, wouldn't you be frusturated if you came across that??? And "Princez916", I feel for your ds17...I recently heard from a friend still working with WM, that they have a new hiring system that is all computerized, and it supposedly is more difficult than the old one...this new system gives a personality test, matches people in specific cities to specific stores based on their availablity. The best way to get hired is to have OPEN availability, that will get you into the store and being interviewed quite quickly!

Here is my BF story... First year I get to attend BF as a shopper...and guess what? I slept in til 2 in the afternoon!!! Ughhh....maybe next year!!!

I thought I had a GREAT deal last year when I picked the chairs up on CLEARANCE for $125!!! Man, I should have waited another year!!! The $30 chair was the same as the one I bought last year. Anyways, they are great. My girlfriend and I have watched movies in them, played the X-Box in them, and listen to music in them. The only issue I have noticed is either the vinyl makes your back heat up or the speakers overheat and make the seat warm, but I'm guessing it's the vinyl making my back warm. The sound is great, especially on the racing games and the baseball games...feels like you are right there. Movies are awesome in them too!

Around the time I left Wal-Mart I remember hearing that they weren't doing many print ads anymore, that they were trying to get people to their online site with the online ads. However, that did NOT go over well, hence, I've seen print ads in my local papers off and on and in the mail off and on. I was only able to get the print ad this year because I happened to be shopping for Thanksgiving items on Wednesday night. Other than that, it never came in my paper at all, and we were missing SEVERAL store ads from local retailers...Me thinks the paperboy got sticky fingers.

We got our ad in the mail, but SEVERAL ads were missing from our local Thanksgiving paper!

That's why I like being in the security profession...I get to carry cuffs, lol!

Exactly, There are people who stand for hours in the cold, then you have those whose family members sit in the car until the last minute. Whether they buy an extra items or not, the fact of the matter should be, if you're going to shop, STAND IN THE LINE WITH THE REST OF US...KOSHER?

The line jumpers I dislike are the ones that send, what I call, the "rep" to stand in line, then as it creeps towards opening time, family member after family member slowly meet up with the "rep". They laugh and joke with that person like it's a long lost family reunion. Those are the worst. I'm lucky, this year my loss prevention manager volunteered for the opening, me and my partner have the late shift this year. I still think that if these businesses did away with the "early bird" specials, and just ran these specials all day, had rainchecks, and had plenty in stock, that we wouldn't have to deal with all this extra police on duty type stuff, extra security to round up the line jumpers, etc.

Early openings will never change as long as there are people scrambling to be the first one's in the door. And I work retail, and not to be rude, I know that since I am in the RETAIL business and BF is the BIGGEST shopping day of the year, I know, and expect the store is going to be open early. It's one day, I can handle it, even though I deal with the dark side of retail (shoplifters and internal theft), it is just expected. I do feel if we weren't such a "buy me this now" type of people, and holidays didn't become so over-commercialized, then businesses could open at decent hours. Every year, we seem to lose more and more of the true meaning of these holidays and wrap ourselves up in "the next best deal". Every year someone tries to open a bit earlier and earlier. However, with all that said, I believe that the 4am opening is a crafty little move on the behalf of JCP!

A SuperCenter here just opened up a month or two ago and they don't have ANY self checkouts. You want to know what's sad? McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's all are offering 8.50/hour - 9.00 an hour to start...and that's fast food! Wal-Mart starts people around 7.00/hour here.

As an insider (in-store, plain-clothed, security) that has worked EVERY BF for the past 6 or 7 years, I say you ALL have given GREAT advice... Here are a few of my observations... *Don't steal, it just ruins your shopping experience, lol! (I've nabbed a TON on BF) *No carts, people that get carts LOSE valuable shopping time on BF *I say, ladies, NO PURSES, I have seen NUMEROUS people get their purses stolen on BF, the crooks love this day just as you do...Why? Because you are more focused on shopping than what is around your shoulder. I've seen women just leave their purse on an endcap while fighting for the last $5 toy or whatever. This is a GREAT tip, I have caught on to by being in certain stores... *In our area, there are (and I am not lying you can look it up) over 12 Wal-Marts within about a 30 radius. I'm serious there is one every 5 miles up and down the freeway and in the cities as well. But here is my tip...most people come into the city centers here because that is where the shopping is massed. Well, there are also SEVERAL of what I call, "RURAL" Wal-Mart's. They're in smaller towns on the outlying areas of the larger city center. These stores (when I have worked them on BF) have FAR LESS people and FAR MORE selection than some of the stores in the city because the managers planned on big crowds for BF, but got small crowds instead. I have found that many BF items at these "RURAL" stores sit throughout the day and rarely sell out. Those are just a few tips I have gathered...hope it helps... Ohhh...if you have a family member that works for a newspaper agency, or live near a newspaper depot, you might be able to sweet talk a carrier to get you some extra BF ads...or if all else fails make copies.

It's hard to say with the self-checkouts. I can tell you, that IF they are going away, it ISN'T because they are prone to breaking down, it's because they are THEFT magnets! I am a former loss prevention associate from WM, now with JCPenney's, but I can tell you those things are costing WM more than they are worth. I'm sure you've all heard about the guy that went and got a 800 dollar flat screen for 98 cents, that was through a self-checkout. Whether it be people skipping items, putting fake UPC's over the top of the real barcodes, or people just not even bothering scanning items, the self-checkouts are a huge burden of theft, as well as an invitation for it. If calibrated correctly those machines work well, but not perfect. Another problem lies in the fact that many managers turn off the weight calibrations and the "skip bagging" function, which basically defeats the purpose of any anti-theft setup on those machines. And the last thing that I think contributes to the demise of the self-checkouts is that MANY stores relied on the self-checkout as basically replacement cashiers. I think the self-checkouts were designed to be EXPRESS lanes, but many stores would send cashiers on breaks, leaving ONLY the self-checkouts open, or they would just not hire additional help, and just mainly rely on the self-checkouts as extra cashiers. Have you ever been in to a store and stood in a self-checkout behind someone who is trying to self-scan over 30 items? Yeah, pisses me off too! If the self-checkouts were ran properly, people didn't try to rip them off, and managers didn't rely on the self-checkouts as "backup cashiers", I think many stores would find them very useful.