ObiRich

Sometimes when I click on the arrow to go to the first unread post in a thread. I get a "The administrator has banned your IP" error. If I hit the back button and then click on the title of the thread it will open, and then I can navigate to the latest post(s). Any idea why this happens, how to fix it, and does anyone else have this problem?

Ace Hardware...9/16

Always: Walmart Staples Ace Hardware/Harbor Freight Sam's Club FREE BREAKFAST Sometimes: Office Depot Office Max Target Lowes Home Depot "The mall" Radio Shack

It's the thrill of the hunt! Kind of like trying to "limit out" when fishing. All about getting the bargains, and of course free breakfast at Sam's Club!

Worse. It seems like every year for the past several it just gets worse and worse. People rude, line cutting, people getting trampled. But that doesn't mean I won't be out there!

I think on the things that BB will have to compete with the mass retailers (TVs, low end home audio, low end computers) they will be very competitive. On areas where they pretty much own the brick and mortar business (computer upgrades, medium-high end computers, high end audio, etc.) I look for them to not have as good a deals as they have ion years past.

I think it's up to the individual stores whether to give the discount all the time. I know I've asked about it at both a local HD and Lowes, and was told no.

10% off at Lowes and Home Depot this weekend for military ID holders. Good time to buy that stuff that never goes on sale. Last time, Lowes gave me the 10% in addition to the 25% they were offering on Pergo, so you may be able to "double up" the discounts.

I bought from them one time...no problems.

Depends on what capabilites you want and your budget. I have a really nice little Philips setup. Bought it a couple years ago. It has a single, upconverting DVD player, AM/FM tuner, and a USB port (great for using a flash drive). It also plays Divx files. 100 watts per channel. Paid less than $200 for it at BestBuy. That's on the lower end of the price scale. You can end up paying $1000+ depending on what you really go for. One thing you might want to think about is getting it with BluRay capability, since it will play both those and regular DVDs. BluRay is the "wave of the future."

From the specs, it's comparable to the HP at Best Buy/Office Max that's $549.

It did that to my DW. She's 4'11", and 107 pounds. It told her she should gain about 4 pounds.

Mine did the same thing (unfortunately it is right), but the smart aleck thing GROANS everytime I step on an do the body test! The first time I gained weight between sessions, it put up a list of about 10 reasons why, and told me to pick the reason. Of course, "it's evening and I just ate dinner" wasn't one of them.

I've been ordering from them for over 3 years...always satisfied.

I feel your pain. Same thing happened to me last year when I tried to order the Navigon GPS from Staples. Went all the way through, and about 6 hours later got an email that said sorry it was out of stock and the order was cancelled. Needless to say i was pretty upset! So it's not just Walmart that it happens on....just a risk you take doing the online ordering.

Since unions are the good guys, where do you shop? Target? KMart? Shopko? Kohls? Gee, none of them are union. Now let me tell a little story from about 3 years ago. I was unemployed, and started applying for retail jobs. Interviewed and got an offer from Kohls for floor help...15-20 hours a week, $6.50 an hour. Only benefit offered was employee discount. I asked HR how many full time benefited positions were in the store, the answer was 14! I didn't get an offer from Target, but their wage scale was the same. At the same time, I could have gone to Walmart just down the road, 25-30 hours a week as a cashier for $7.50, with at least the opportunity to get benefits. Didn't take any of them, as a better position in a small company came through for me. My point in this is to say "Hey...before you start bashing WalMart, look at the business segment they are in." Do they do some things poorly...yes. However, when it comes to pay and compensation, they are competitive with or better than their competition in the retail segment. Kohls and Target part time employees aren't even eligible for benefits, at least Walmart makes them available. Not going to debate affordability, as everyone's circumstances are different. But if just 1 Walmart parttime employee gets healthcare, that's more than at the other retailers. One last word on documentaries...they can be made to say anything the director/producer want them to say. A sound bite out of context here, a little video edit there, and a slanted narration are all it takes. I'm a skeptic...I take whatever they say, and anything I read on the internet with a grain of salt. I let my personal knowledge and experiences shape my thinking on things. Back on topic for just a minute...the whole stamepede thing is just a manifestation of the same BF attitute that causes people to camp out at BB for days to get the door busters. Here's a hypothethical situation...It's Wednesday night and there's a small group camped outside BB. A group drives up and gets out, pulls guns, and starts robbing the campers. One guy refuses to hand over his wallet and is shot. Is BB responsible since they didn't hire security or have the police onsite? Afterall, they should have known that people would be camping...it's happened for the past several years. If BB is not responsible, then why is Walmart responsible for this incident? They had taken precautions, even if they were "inadequate" for the crowd size. However, once the crowd shows up, it's a little late to change the game plan if it's bigger and more unruly than you'd planned for.

Thanks for the deal. Ordered one to go with the Wii Fit I scored at Sam's Club yesterday.

Add my thanks to all the others to Brad and the BF mods. This site rocks, and I save a bundle of money ALL YEAR based on the info I get here.

This is the official Walmart statement on it: <<UPDATED - Walmart Statement on Black Friday Incident at Valley Stream Store We expected a large crowd this morning and added additional internal security, additional third party security, additional store associates and we worked closely with the Nassau County Police. We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred.>> If this is true, then I think it would be hard for them to charge Walmart with a crime. It sounds like they had taken precautions, but when the mob mentality took over, the crowd got by them. Short of having police or security tear gas the mob or shoot into it, what would you expect them to do? The other solution is just to open the store several hours before the sale starts, so people can get in orderly. Won't stop the shootings (TRU) or the armed robberies (Target parking lot), or the fights over the doorbusters, but hopefully would help the stampede/herd mentality.

Thanks for this link. It's short and to the point. I hope all the Walmart haters posting on this thread read it.

I'm sure there will be more sales, and possibly better sales, before Christmas. Just keep watching the ads, and you'll find something. IMHO, there were better laptop values on sale the two weekends before BF than on BF itself. In particular, I'd posted about on at OD that have everything you wanted, plus 4GB RAM and 64 bit Windows, for less (AR) than your budget is.

I bought the Sansui 19" TV, one of the 2 quart crock pots, and some of the rubbermaid containers, and got the discount on all of it.

Shhhh! Don't let the secret get out, or it will be a madhouse next year....

My hits and misses.... Started off bad...up and online at 4:25 AM (ET) to try and get the 19" TV and mixer on Walmart.com. Their customer service had told me earlier in the week it would go live at 5:00...but surprise! Both were already sold out by then. Got dressed and went to Sam's club. Was about #20 in line when I get there about 3:30. About 4:15, an employee came out with a container of hot chocolate...very nice since is was 38 degrees and raining. A few minutes later the manager came out and let us into the cart area...hooray! Heat and dry! Best news...they had a 24 Wii Fits, so SCORE!!! :D Then called DD who was at Walmart. She'd snagged me a TV, so beat feet there to replace her in the line. Got the TV and a couple other items, but what a madhouse! Got there @ 5:20, didn't get out the door until 7:00! So far, two out of three! Radio Shack still had 1 set of the noise cancelling headphones ($9.99) SCORE AGAIN! Next, Office Depot...scored some of the cheap DVD-R and DWD+R DLs. Paid for with one of their reward cards:D Harbor Freght, here I come... got DW one of the solar house number lights she's wanted for a long time, and of course, can't walk out without some toys for me... Strike out at Home Depot...all the 18V tool sets were gone... But it gets better... Staples for some lightscibe disks...last 2 packs of the CDs they had:D Home about 10:00AM...got online, and checked Lowes just for giggles and grins. They had a 24 volt tool set (Black and Decker) for the same price as the Home Depot 18V. Free shipping, so another SCORE!!. So wallet is a little thinner, but got everything I was after except for the mixer...another successful BF!

Nobody in line at the Riverdale UT Best Buy yet...but probably will be soon. Not me...Gotta cook the turkey....