ObiRich

They do at ours (Hill AFB). I'm never too close to the front of the line, so don't know when they actually start lining up. If I'm going there I usually get there maybe 30-60 minutes before opening.

I started BF shopping in the early 90s. First one I really remember was when we were stationed at Fairchild AFB outside of Spokane. Drove into town about 5:00AM (stores opened at 6:00). Scored some good deals, and then had to brave an ice storm to get back home. Have done the early morning thing for the past several years, but usually not at any of the big box stores the past few years. Last year was Office Depot...they have the best deal on a laptop for DW. Was great...they handed out tickets about a half hour before openning and so went next door to Target to warm up. Office Depot and Staples seem to be my first stops the past few years. Also got a major score at Circuit City later in the morning a year or two before they went belly up. Did the outlet malls a couple years ago at midnight...was fun, and was back in town in time to get to the other places on time. Used to do the Walmart thing before the stores here all went Supercenter. Got there about 1/2 hour before openning and probably already about a thousand people in line...about 8-10 wide and about 2 blocks long. Now Walmart is a later in the morning stop. There's 4 within about within a 10 mile radius of my house, so if one is out, just check the others. Amazing how the mob is gone by around 8:00. Last year scored all the BluRays I wanted between 2 stores. Overall, seems like over the past few years I spend both less time and less money each year. This year there's really not much I/we need, so will have to see if there's anything in an ad that will trigger the impulse buy. Saw one thing in the Penney's ad so far....but not much has tripped my trigger so far.

You have to have a valid military ID (active duty, reserve, guard, dependent, retiree) in order to shop at any of the Exchanges.

Wonder if AAFES is going to have the same deals?

I spent 24 years in the Air Force, 18 1/2 of them in a "mission essential" position (read that 24/7/365). There's a world of difference between essential and non-essential services. Hospitals, fire, police, utilities, etc. are essential; shopping for bargains (contrary to popular belief) isn't.

That's my vote too...

Based on my experience with the USPS, I wouldn't be surprised if it gets delivered and the status still says it's ready for pickup. Lots of orders I ship via them show it never left the local post office but get delivered anyway.

At my company I am responsible for all the orders that are shipped overseas. The vast majority that we ship to are APO addresses for the military and US Embassies, so we use USPS (no other option). Their delivery confirmation is definitely less than reliable. I mean, if it shows delivered it's been delivered, but I'd estimate that about 10% of the time it will show the "no information" or that it never left our local post office, but it has been received by the customer. Of course, the fact that the post office just has us drop shipments at the counter and doesn't process them on the spot may have something to do with that.

Probably around $700 counting everything. I keep finding little things and getting them. And they do add up.

Our Christmas tradition...pecan rolls and fruit cocktail. yummy

You can rant all you want, but the policy is clearly stated on the Walmart site: "Price differences between Walmart.com and Walmart stores Due to differences in distribution, regional competition and other factors, online prices do not always match store prices, and prices may also vary between stores. Prices shown on Walmart.com are online prices only. Walmart stores do not honor or match prices from Walmart.com, other online sellers or advertisements outside of a store's local trade territory." Lots of B&M stores don't honor online prices from their own company's website.

Was 12 degrees in the Office Depot line this morning in Layton Utah. Luckily not much wind, and no snow falling. Toes were still like ice cubes though....

I had a couple extra $1.00 off coupons for the Tidy Cat and gave them to someone at Petsmart after I told her about how to work the deal on it. Plus I was nice enough to leave a few buckets even though it was such a great deal.

If the one you ordered was an HP and the number ends in US, go back the the webpage. There's a really small text link that says something like " mail in offer" Click it and it brings up the rebate form. It's for any HP laptop that ends in US.

Great days, both yesterday and today. Thanksgiving...got 2 comforters online from Kohl's, and an 8 port network switch from Newegg. Today...day started at 4:00 waiting at Office Depot. DW needs a new laptop, and their $329.99 one (AR) was the best deal in a mid range laptop. Temp was 12 degrees when I got there, and was about 20th in line. About 4:45 they set out hot chocolate and coffee for us (a couple infrared heaters would have been AWESOME as my toes were like ice cubes). About 5:30 handed out tickets - SCORE! Went next door to Target to warm up until the store opened at 6:00. Went in, straight to the line, got the lappy, and was out the door by about 6:20. On the way out the ticket guys was standing at the door, so asked what was left. THEY STILL HAD THE LAPPY's!!! Waited in the cold when I could have shown up at 6:00 and got it! Oh well, you just never know. Next, Kohls. Forgot to put the deep fryer with the comforters in the online order yesterday. Got there, lines went to the back of the store. Found it...they still had about 6 on the floor. Grabbed one and headed to customer service in the back. Three registers going, only about 6 people ahead of me. In and out in in 15 minutes, and that included a potty break. Headed to Sam's for free breakfast...all gone except for bananas and coffee. Refilled the coffee, passed on the bananas, headed next door to Petsmart. With 4 cats, their Tidy Cat was just too good to pass up. First pass...$7.99 a bucket with the $1.00 coupons I got online. Went out to the car, opened them, got the $5.00 coupons out, back in. Got that batch for $3.99. Repeated 2 more times, so now have a 6+ month supply. Now it's 7:30 or so...so went to Walmart next door to assess the devastation. Store was relatively quiet. They still had some of the 5:00 doorbusters, like the Phillips Blu-ray home theater, both desktop computers, and the blu-ray players (except for the Magnavox). Since DD and DW are getting me a Blu-ray player, decided to see if I could find any of them left. Surprise, surprise, surprise...Got all 3 Lord of the Rings, Notebook, Blindside and a couple others I can't remember. Also grabbed a couple of the Monster $10.00 HDMI cables (ok, ok, I know they are overpriced to begin with) and a couple of the Rubbermaid sets. After that it was hunger...and done, so headed home for pancakes and sausage. Now it's time to do up the rebates (only 2) and take a nap. Overall, got everything I was after and then some.

If I showed up and saw the empty tents, I think I'd wait a reasonable time (maybe 30 minutes or so) and if nobody showed up, I'd take the #1 spot. Having inanimate objects hold your place in line for extended periods just doesn't seem right.

Best Buy, Riverdale Utah, 8:00pm. Nobody camping. Of course, with some snow on the ground and temps in the low teens I'm not surprised.

If I showed up and there were empty tents there, I think I would go the the head of the line. But only if I was going to stay...

Here in the top of Utah...no new snow (expecting 4-8" over the next day and a half) but a morning low of 9 degrees! Thats mid-January weather. Hope it will help keep the outside crowds down.

Posted on another thread but worth posting here too...' I know this is heresy on this site, but this is just ridiculous. Giving them Ipads only compounds the problem. And since they have 10 people taking turns, you can bet that at 5:00 on BF the first 10 spaces in that line are already taken. IMHO it's things like this that will eventually result in Black Halloween.

I know this is heresy on this site, but this is just ridiculous. Giving them Ipads only compounds the problem. And since they have 10 people taking turns, you can bet that at 5:00 on BF the first 10 spaces in that line are already taken. IMHO it's things like this that will eventually result in Black Halloween.

Thanks for the advice. However, the WM ad has thrown a monkey wrench into my planning. Wasn't planning on hitting WM but I don't think I can resist that Phillips Blu Ray home theater. I wouldn't try the BX online...I'd be there. Considering I can get a comparable one at OM this week for $399, and I'm saving at least twice as much on the Blue Ray as I would on the laptop, might just bite the bullet and do Wally World instead.

Best Buy...way too much of a zoo. I'm not willing to camp, so I have no chance of getting anything that's a good deal from them.

Actually, EMachine was bought by Gateway. Compaq was bought by HP.

Military, retired military, or dependent.