venerdinero

Classic! Closely related - in the top part of your elastic sock.

Sad thing is they're probably thinking almost the same thing about you/us! I know that you know what I know you know, you know?

Sorry about the news Star - glad to see you're apparently handling it rather well. Remember that what goes around comes around, and it would appear that you've got a good thing coming! Hang in there!! - just curious - did they have reason to be nervous? did they maybe do something wrong (wrongful termination, age discrimination etc.)?

According to the nationwide PR blitz they have launched, they are heavily promoting that they will match competitors prices. As for the fine print or exceptions, you might still want to call your local store to be safe. The story is linked within this thread: http://forums.gottadeal.com/showthread.php?t=21244

This morning's news was leading with two different Wal-Mart stories. In the first story, two union commissioned university studies apparently claim that shoppers are being charged the wrong price (both high and low) at a rate that exceeds federal guidelines. (Maybe that explains the laptop prices and other circular issues?) http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8E13IVG0.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db In the second story, Wal-Mart is getting full coverage of it's bid to win back sales. They mention prices being cut, the earlier BF opening (5am) and they are HEAVILY promoting that WM will match it's competitors prices (there goes our secret :)) . http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aspb0su1Sc38&refer=us

Good points trance - polite but firm and informed seems to work best. Should someone, especially the manager, turn you down, you might ask for their name & tell them you need it for when you call corporate (once they open) to complain that the written policies were not followed.

I believe that is supposed to be one of Kodak's strengths.

Ditto the above, plus they don't know who you are. You could be from corporate doing some sort of qc check, you could be a competitor looking for info, or you could just be a smart shopper! It's not worth getting in trouble for, even IF they know.

Zone Alarm (free or paid) has been good for many years, but I'm starting to hear that the most recent versions are resource hogs. Thoughts and opinions are welcome! There are several other free firewalls. As I noted above - the MS XP SP2 firewall is supposed to be much better than previous versions. OpenOffice is a GREAT free alternative to expensive programs.

Great post bigjimslade!! Ideally it would be preferable to have a firewall installed and running (even if it's only the MS XP SP2 built in one) BEFORE you connect to the internet, especially if you have a high speed (cable or dsl) connection. If you are purchasing firewall and antivirus programs, I suggest you consider installing them before you go online. If you want to download free programs such as AVG, consider trying to get someone to download the program and burn them to disk for you, then install on your pc before going online. I have heard nothing but good things about AVG so far.

Here you'll feel better, or maybe still works better?:) The "Ray Lewis" dance that someone referenced is the pre home game ritual of the Baltimore Ravens when they go into a loud demonstrative testosterone induced dance while Ray screams "We must protect this HOUSE!!" (meaning protect their home field which the visitors are attacking) (you may have seen or heard it in a commercial for underarmor) "Barry & Jill" are marketing profiles designed by BB. These "angel" profiles are the allegedly the wealthy and busy people who want the top electronics (read HIGH MARGIN ITEMS) and don't worry so much about the price. These are the people they hope to market their new psa (personal shopping assistant program) towards. As you may have noticed in other threads, some BB will be letting people cut the lines to meet with a psa who will already have their doorbuster items reserved and safe. (This is a YMMV situation) The "devil customers" is one of their terms and profiles for those who cherry pick the loss leaders, shop sales, price match and wisely utilize intelligent shopping strategies (most of us on here). They also lump in with us those who rip off BB because BB LETS people break BB's own rules. IF BB lets a customer return an item with the bar code or proof of purchase cut off, against their own policies, then they almost deserve to get ripped off. Give them store credit for the amount of the item minus the rebate (which I think they MAY finally be doing this year.)

The dance or the "Barrys & Jills" or both?? :lolrun:

10th birthday!! What are you running? a 386??? Actually, I do want to know :) Is your WM 24hrs? or do they close? If it's 24 hours, maybe you could make friends with an associate or mgr who could at least tell you which pallet to wait next to? Just a thought. Good luck! ama - it just ocurred to me that if the above ideas don't work, you might be able to find someone else to go with you and help - maybe even someone from the board who is already going? Just another thought. Just in case, where (city,state) do you live?

Nooooo!!! :eek: :no: That's the dance the BB managers do with their employees before the doors open. :2football We must protect this HOUSE!! :2bat: Then they tell the so-called ":gd_devild devil customers:gd_devild " that the doorbusters are sold out while they discretely hand them out to Jills & Barrys!! :splat:

Now that's the best idea I've heard this year!! Selling on Ebay or elsewhere?

Got it from the Hours thread -nice work Sigrist 2000!! Thanks!!

HEY!! Stop degrading and insulting witches!! :rotflol:

Huddle up! :2football Pam & Tommy, you create the big distraction. Lou, Chris, Eddie, Malik - you guys go block the line :2bat: :2bat: - hold your blocks as long as possible! Rocky - you race in and block the manager! Vanessa - gameboys Lisa - those fuzzy dolls Miguel - LCD TVs James - digital cameras and finally Angel and Eric- you go deep and grab ALL of the laptops. Angel you carry & Eric beat back the others! Meet back in the shoe department (less people) where we will divide our bounty :gd_pirate :gd_dollar and do a dance. :2elephant:2elephant:2elephant :gd_purple Break!!

No. That being said, it might be worth a phone call, but the general rule is that WalMart will NOT PM WalMart. Ironic, isn't it? They won't PM Sam's Club either.

That's not . Where is the challenge of waiting in line in shorts & t-shirts? Booooooring!! Besides, in the cold, you get to see :bunny: :rotflol:

I hate to tell you, as posted earlier (shirleyb), this isn't an entirely new idea, we're just more aware of it. That is why when you go to view a retailer's circular online, most of them request your zip code. I'm not sure that I've seen a store do this from the top down to a store by store level. However, it is WM, and they have Terabytes of info to review. In addition to competition, I wonder if WM is using last years BF sales figures to find the poorest performers and try to give them a boost? There have been articles over the last few years that checked prices in different stores of the same chain, in the same city and found different prices. Apparently local mgrs sometimes have the authority (or can ask for it) to lower individual items prices to better compete with other stores. I believe that Target & Kroger were used as examples. Also, each location can change it's product mix to fit it's market demographics. Saturnboy01 - great line about dalerider and many others will be doing it to!

It's the holidays, let's not get too greedy:slapcry: After all, is making his list you know!! :rotflol: Just think of the other hundreds of people on line with you! Wait, skip that, you may not care. Ok, think what would happen if there were no vouchers. There is no way you would be able to get one of each before they were gone and you still might get hurt. Enjoy your new computer!!

mouzey For more great information, epecially for someone new to BF, please the BF FAQ

What's fishy is that the general public isn't supposed to know about it until the ad is published! (that's another reason stores sometimes freak when scans etc get leaked and posted). As noted above, many times there are special models made just for one store for special sales or seasons. The clerk may be shocked that you already know, or he/she may think you are a competitor looking for info.

Many times, MicroCenter will take out a full page ad within the newspaper, as opposed to an insert or circular. I don't recall which they did last year. You can search the archive if you're really curious. Great computer store.