Conscript

Price matching is just a hassle. You do have to go through a few hoops in the cash register's software, as well as fill out a little bit of paperwork (that eventually has to be signed by a manager at our store). This holds up the lines. It's normally no big deal on regular days when we're doing nothing but on a day like Black Friday its extremley frustrating. I am glad I can provide you guys with the other side of the counter view. I'm as much of a shopper as employee though and the main reason I came onto this site was to find good deals myself, but if anyone has any questions about how things work on the other side feel free to ask. :-)

I guess if all you want to do is store addresses and play solitaire or something a Zire should be fine. I, however, I want wireless internet, the ability use my PDA as a remote (I currently have 4 remote controls in my home theather so it'd nice just to use one), the standard contact and calendar features, the ability to play mp3s and movies on the road, and everything else I can get. What happens when I buy anything with "just the basics" cause im a beginner I always end up having to buy the better version shortly after, thus spending more money than I'd just bought the better version to begin with.

Likewise. :-)

I've always been a technology early adopter and guru. I've been programming Visual Basic since 7th grade (it was VB 4.0 back then) and I've went through every program and development tool there is over the years. Currently I am in college, involved heavily in local politics, and looking towards a career in elected office (the first one I'll be seeking in the 2006-07 election cycle) and private business. I'm majoring in Management and Political Science (though let me tell you, working even 2 months for a political campaign will teach you more about political science than any college professor ever will!). I'm a good salesman and what many consider a good communicator, so when I needed money in summer of 2003 I chose a retail job because they're fairly easy to come. Since I was a tech guru I preferred not to push carts at Jewel or ring people out as a cashier, but rather be in sales. That's when I got the sales job for a company dealing in cell phones and that was my first introduction to the world and culture of retail sales. Around early 2004 I quit that job (paid $9/hour + commission) for my current HP rep job ($15/hour, no commission). I still work in the same store with the same people, just a different department and different company. Over this last year and a half I've gotten to know and respect many of my co-workers as well as been made familiar with the retail sales culture. When you work in sales you develop a certain mindset and certain principles and knowledge that is unknown to many. There's too much to tell in one posting about what entails the retail culture, but one of the things is the respect for the employees as well as sympathy for those who have to deal with bad customers. As someone who has been yelled at, sworn at, had objects thrown at, I sympathize fully with any employees who are subjected to the same for just doing their job. I also loath the customers who think us retail sales people are godlike creatures capable of taking care of their every problem. I wish everyone worked at least a month or two in retail so that everyone could get the same level of understanding which I have. People have to understand that while to you it may seem like we're screwing up or that we're stupid and don't know what's going on, in reality we're just following procedure. Sometimes a simple task on the surface like exchanging a cell phone may seem like it should be handled without a problem but there is a lot more to it (for example having to update the ESN numbers with the phone company which sometimes takes time and some paper work) that makes it more complicated and require patience and cooperation, not having a cell phone hurled at me and excessive use of the F word. I have to follow the established procedure and make sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed or ill get fired. We all have our departments and over time we become experts in our areas, but just because we can't answer a question about some feature or product we deal little with if at all with on a regular basis doesn't mean we're stupid. As retail employees we despise people who price match. If you can get it cheaper elsewhere, then go get it there, not at our store! Price matching is especially troublesome during a day like Black Friday. It's not a good idea to piss retail employees off if you shop at a store often either, because we have good memories. We know which customers like to make trouble or are annoying and we treat them they way they deserve in our minds to be treated. At my store for example we have a customer who always asks a lot of questions and tries to draw us into conversations. Everytime that customer enters the store you will always see employees moving away from him. He must think no one works at my Best Buy because I don't think he's been able to bump into an employee for at least a few months now. We also have systems of helping eachother out too. When an employee appears he is bogged down by a non-buying customer who asks a lot of questions another employee will approach him and say something like "excuse me, Joe Doe, but customer service is having a problem with that rebate form you processed earlier", and then the employee has the window to politley say to the annoying customer "sorry, I have to take care of this, I'll be back later" and thus be freed. While many customers don't realize it, us retail employees KNOW our customers. We keep a close eye on customers and we know what their style is, especially if we see a customer multiple times. We also genuinley want to help our customers and will go to great lenghts to help our customers find the best deals we have and offer them the best advice. But our efforts are saved for only those who we feel are genuine with us. Wiseasses who insist on price matching or negotiating prices on small ticket items (its a retail store, not a flea market!) or who make constant returns and exchanges aren't respected by us and occasionally feel our wrath when we purpose not tell them about a better deal in the store or give them some advice we know they'd find useful. We like making people who annoy us suffer. I guess I've already started rambling, but you get the idea. There's a lot to learn and I'd recommend a retail job to anyone for at least a short while just so they learn what its all about. The perks of that is you find out all the neat sales tricks we use and marketing gimmicks, so when you see a sale or any promotion you'll know the catch without having to read the fine print. You'll also know if a sales person is b.s.-ing you if you're shopping at another store. And those skills come in handy.

No need to thank me, I meant what I said. Just out of curiosity have you been or are you now a retail employee, RossMAN? I started working retail in August 2003 as a cell phone rep (went through one BF as one) and currently work as an HP rep (going through another BF coming up). Both rep jobs were/are at Best Buy (funny how I've been working at best buy for what will now be a year and a half and I've never actually been on their payroll).

So far these forums are probably the best I've seen. Certainly this is the only one I'm registered and posting at and I've seen a few related ones.

Oh no! Price matchers! As someone who worked on BF last year (a 12 hour shift mind you) I can tell you that you will not be getting any respect from the employees if you decide to price match items on BF, ESPECIALLY in the first 4-5 hours of the day. At that point employees won't even bother with you and if you complain to a manager he won't care (this happened last year). I will be working again this BF from 10 AM till 6 PM and god help anyone who asks me to handle or go near a price match for them. Edit: Oh yeah, and if you want the ad for price matching purposes there will be plenty of ads available to those walking into the store. So if all you wanna do is check out the deals an online ad should be plenty. If you want to *growl* price match physical ads will be available at the store. I'm guessing you put that helmet on cause you knew that little rant was coming lol.

If you have a particular store in mind you can just check their website most likley. I know BestBuy.com posts its ad for BF the afternoon (if not the morning of) of thanksgiving.

The way they keep a limit on overzealous shoppers is by limiting the numbers of rebates per household. Us employees at Best Buy last year hand a grand ol' time laughing at all the overzealous and greedy shoppers walk out with 5 dvd players each who would only discover much later, possibly after it was too late, that the mail-in rebate that made them worthwhile was limited to one per household. That meant they'd be getting 1 cheap DVD player as the sale intended, and 4 crappy dvd players at full mark up price. So while you may feel like you're getting the best deal in the world by walking out with 40 pen drives or 10 dvd players, once you examine the fine print in the mail-in rebate forms you'll discover it was the store that got the profits. And if you don't notice the "one rebate per household" clause until after your rejection letters from the rebate people start coming in, you're going to be screwed out of a lot of money. As a general rule, for any store and any rebate, DO NOT get greedy and buy multiples of an item as for any great deal - like cheap laptops, free cds, etc. - there will likley be a 1 per household clause in the rebate form that prints out at the cashier.

I'm weary of buying generic drives. I've had two generic burners fail on me, while the two brand name ones (LiteOn and HP) work properly. So I am sticking to the brand names. On BF there's going to be quite a few brand names on sale as well, including HP for $89 and I think Sony for the same price. Also Mad Dog is semi-reputable, and its going to be for $59 I think. But I would stay away from the $39 OfficeMax one...

Best Buy on BF: 20GB iPod and inMotion Speaker Dock w/ $15 Download Card $399.99

I was looking at the HP 3115 which runs for about $350. I work as an HP rep this year, so I also get an additional $100 rebate from HP on anything I buy (well the rebate varies per item, but for that particular PDA I can currently get a $100 rebate), so if I could find the 3115 or the model below that one with a good sale I'll really be happy. But HP employee rebate or not, I am not looking to spend more than $350 total on a PDA unless its one heck of an amazing PDA.

I've noticed that none of the Best Buy rumors include a PDA on sale. I find this kind of odd as last year when I worked in the wireless department (that also housed PDAs) at Best Buy we had a pretty big sale on a Palm-based PDA as well as an iPaq (I think last year we had the 1945 for like $199 or sometheing). Does anyone here know of any PDA sales this year? The only ones I've seen are at a few stores the Palm Zires and at CompUSA the $299 2250 I think.