I hated the "Shop While You Wait" from Walmart! Am I alone in this?

[starbeck96]

Sometimes you just have to make your own traditions. You can celebrate thanksgiving on any given day of the year. Military families do it when loved ones are far away. I changed my thanksgiving dinner to the Saturday before.

We still do our Thanksgiving that day. We do Thanksgiving with my parents, usually, the Saturday before. We do Thanksgiving with my in-laws on Thanksgiving Day. I try to prepare as much as I can the day before Thanksgiving. All I usually have to do by Thanksgiving is put the dressing in the oven and put the turkey in the crockpot. I also fix some of my vegetables that morning. That way, I have time to grab me a quick night before heading out to Walmart...

[Tarmax4]

Shop while you wait was HORRIBLE!!!!!!!! It was the worst & most dangerous BF situation I ever been in. And I've been doing this for 10+ years. I PRAY walmart does not do it this year!!!! If they do I will go to target!!!! They covered the midnight & 5am sales with black tarp, employees weren't allowed to tell u where the big tkt items were. People walking around trying to figure out where to go for the item they came for. IT WAS CHAOS!!! And DANGEROUS. I wrote a nasty letter to corporate last year for them to go back to the traditional standing outside with sticker system. Whats not broke don't need fixing!!!!! I'm very passionate about this!!! I hope someone from walmart corporation is reading our forums!!!! As shoppers our voices should be heard

[Tarmax4]

Another pet peeve I had with shop while you wait is they allowed people to put big ticket items in there shopping carts and just wait inside the store until u can purchase it at 5pm. Wtf? I got there at 10pm. No one knew where anything was!!! It was a nightmare. DH & I camped out in the women's shoe department thinking the palette next to us was the digital picture frames. When 5am hit employees uncovered the palette and that was not it. By the time we figured it was on the other side of the store they were gone. How unfair was that. This was the secaucus, new jersey walmart. What happened to the ticket system?????? If anyone hears oh walmart doing this again this year PLEASE let me know. That way I wo t go and plan to go to other stores accordingly. Love my gotta deal family for listening to me vent.

[ourhappyfamily4]

We actualy liked it......

Maybe its the difference of being in a smaller town, I dunno.

We got there about 10, they had things set up around the store( towells, games,movies,dishes, clothes etc all the small BF items) people were shopping early by putting it into their buggies with most items, and everyone seemed fine. But closer it got to "time" the employees were asking people to stop getting things early to just stand beside it and wait( now that didn't make much sence) seeing how everyone was doing just fine but once they started trying to enforce something people became a little pushy and antsy lol. they did need to inform the employees a little better so that everyone would know where to send people for different lines, but for the most part everyone was figuring it out and was waiting in lawn chairs in line for things lol Only thing that got out of hand was the one video stand they had covered up( which were the DS games) once they pulled the cover off i thought people were going to lose arms and heads being pushed and shoved and knocked around that was the craziest part!

[dwc designs]

I like the new system. Why wait in the cold if you don't really have to? Our Walmart is a 24hr store, on normal days it's busy. On BF it's packed! Even with the crowd everything ran smooth for the most part. The employees knew where the items were located. They also had maps available for the big ticket items. Inventory for a lot of the HOT items has been good in the past year. In fact the there were a few palettes of the tv's and blu-ray players that were still there until after Christmas. For the smaller items like PJ's and toys they let you shop and add it to your cart as long as everyone was calm. I witnessed no fights, no arguments, and on the most part everyone was helping each other. I've done Walmart on BF for the past 3 years like this and have yet to have a complaint about the system.

 

The one problem I do have is with all the new staggering sale times. You have the midnight, then 5am opening at the Mart. Like 4am at another store. 12am at TRU. I hope the times aren't going to be that way this year, but I'm sure they will.

[gottashop]

Hated it!! Mine let everyone get most any thing at any time. But but made them wait in lines with baskets full. Craziest, most disorganized thing I've ever seen! Hoping not to see that again!

[ClosedAcct]

I think I am not even going to Walmart this year! Well, except maybe for DVDs but that will be much later in the day.

[leefamily23]

Sometimes you just have to make your own traditions. You can celebrate thanksgiving on any given day of the year. Military families do it when loved ones are far away. I changed my thanksgiving dinner to the Saturday before.

Unfortunately my sister and I are the only one's who go out BF. The rest of our family wouldn't buy into this. Having a family member away serving our country and BF don't compare, especially not in my mothers book. It's all good though, you can't put a "bargain price" on the memories you make with your whole family gathered. Aside from BF, the majority of my shopping has been online the last few years, I suspect it will be the same this year. Just means places like Walmart don't get my business because I tend to find other sites that have much better deals for online shopping.

[2bauer4]

I too liked the new system. My 70 year old parents were able to wait in line for TVs overnight. They couldnt and wouldnt do that outside.

[SweetCanela]

I have been doing the black friday thing for about 7 years now. I always hit Walmart first because Walmart usually has good deals and is open before everyone else at 5am. Also being that I live in a relatively small town (only one Walmart) I usually get a fair share of stuff. Get up around 4am, drive down to Walmart, get in line for my item or just hunting some small deals. Last year, they changed it to Shop While You Wait, here's their reasoning; Allowing customers the ability to get some items and then go and wait for the big ticket items that come along at 5am. Sound thinking but here's the problem; Usually stores don't get a lot of shipments, so everyone has piled up everything and then those who come closets to 5, gets hardly anything, instead everyone gets a fair chance. It's basically first come first served, which is ok if you have alot of shipment. Thank God, I managed to get a few things plus my big tickets. I was so thankful, that I just went straight home and didn't bother with the other stores. Do you like this or do you wish that it would just go away like a bad dream

Went to Wal-Mart for the first time last year and will never go again. Scooped out at 9 p.m. to get a layout and came back at 11:30 p.m. and everyone had everything in their cars. Better $3 deals and a much easier time at Target which we went to after standing in line for 2 hours at Wal-Mart to get half of what we wanted non of which was big ticket items. Not worth it and never going again.

[cynomologus]

I liked the way Walmart worked last year. I wasn't looking for any of the 5AM items. I walked into Walmart at 11PM, loaded up a cart of what I came for, and headed to the checkout. I was 2nd in line and after they opened the registers at midnight, I was out the door by 12:05 and headed off to other stores.

 

I hope that happens again.

[mgreen]

Last year our WM had roped off lines for each of the big ticket items and a map telling you which numbered line you needed to be in for the item you were trying to purchase. They put a numbered nonremovable armband on your wrist and gave you a ticket. then you were free to wander through the store. You paid for the item and then you had to drive around to the back with your numbered armband and your ticket and receipt to pick up the item. That actually went OK. I got one of the LCD TV's and they even loaded it in the car for me. The pallet thing was a mess. Total chaos. All of the Wii games were gone in like 2 seconds. They finally realized they had more and made everyone get in a line. They took us 1 - 2 at a time. We got to pick our games and then go check out. Then they would take the next couple of people to pick theirs. That worked really well. I got the games I wanted and there was no pushing or shoving. They should do that all of the time. The pallet rush could be/and sometimes is dangerous. A woman acatually fell out on the ground last year. I think she had low blood sugar or something.

[lukesmom01]

If my Walmart was as organized as mgreen's was, then I would have liked the way they are doing it. But at my store, not a single employee knew where any of the TV's or computer lines were supposed to be, so after one employee telling us where to go, everyone got in line only to be told after 4 hours (about 100 people in the line) that we were not in the right line!! Talk about absolute CHAOS! People were threatening people. Then we didn't get a ticket until about 4am so we couldn't get out of line unless it was to go to the bathroom, and we had to tell the employee who was "standing guard" over the line- and we only had 15 minutes or we would loose our place in line. Our line was down the cookie and cracker aisle and people were eating boxes of crackers/cookies and putting them back on the shelf empty. The management are MORONS here. Hope they get things worked out better this year.

[georgiarose2004]

Most of the big ticket Items that went on sale at 5am were in different parts of the store and at 5 they handed out tickets, then at 5 they started handing out the product to the people with tickets. That was great!!!! But as for the sales that start at 12am. If it wasn't for my Dad and Brother last year who just decided to go up to the store to see what the 12am thing was all about... my daughter would have never got the Trampoline thats now in our back yard. I got to the store at 2:30am last year. EVERYTHING that went on sale at 12 was gone!!!! I would have been very upset if I wouldn't have gotten that.

I want this whole midnight sale to go away!!!!! Everything needs to start at 5am like before. I have been doing the Black Friday thing at Wal-Mart since 1998. Coming from someone with more than just a few Black Fridays under her belt I believe I can Honestly say that last year at Wal-Mart was the WORST on record!!!!!!

[bluebearyh]

I loved the midnite sale. We were going to be there anyway for a big ticket item, so we got to shop and get some things first, putting them in the car. The thing I didn't like was that as they were putting out the other 5am items, towels, clothes, small appliances, etc. the staff would literally scream at you not to touch any of those things. Then at 5 am there was the usual bedlam and trampling, and not being able to go anywhere as the masses were in the aisles. To me, that is the most dangerous and needs to be stopped. If they had allowed those of us that were there early, staying in the store all night to go ahead and put the smaller things in our cart while we waited for the big items, a lot of nastiness, bedlam, trampling, and rudeness could have been avoided. The early bird gets the worm, so to speak. My Walmart has never given out tickets to those in line, it's always been a free for all when the doors opened. THAT is what I hate!

[Iliveforblckfri]

I only went to Walmart at midnight to provide a chair for my son who was waiting for a 42" television. Most of the items you could shop for had been picked over and I knew then that Walmart would not be on my list for the morning. Of course, I did have to go to Walmart to pick up my son with his TV.

[Katyloveshockey]

I shopped at a different WalMart last BF and I was not a fan of their system. The items that were 5am items were out at 12 and most were gone by 3am. I was there for a doorbuster item for someone else. Luckily, I had someone with me so we could get out of line and look around. Almost missed out on a camera and external hard drive that I really wanted because they put them out early and the employees had no clue of what was supposed to happen. Checkout was faster than normal though. I just wish that the sales all started at one time, so employees knew what to do a bit more and people would not miss out because of their confusion.

[tdanette]

My WM didn't have maps for the 12am sale so I missed a couple of things but no biggie. I liked it as I was able to get what I wanted (went in at 10) then lined up for the 12am checkout. It gives options imo: time to line up at other stores, go home to shop online or you can get what you want, put it in the car, and still have time to line up for the doorbusters (at least at my store).

[amickeyfan]

I went there with my sister to her Wal-Mart last year. We went for the Mid-night sale, but it was hard to shop when you have the 5am people lined up all over the store. It was horrible. I really think Wally-world needs to get their act together. If they are going to do this again this year, they need to have a section only for the 5am people. They cannot have them camped out throughout the store! This was just insane last year. They never seem to get it right. I truly wonder if they either do not know how to organize of they do it on purpose to just make the deal seekers go thru pure Hell to find grab that deal...

[maguszxz]

Well, it seems that my greatest fear is that WM will be, in a attempt to be ahead of the curve, will be opening at 10pm Thursday night (if the rumor is true). Now I wish for midnight, unless they have some stellar deals, I will be making an attempt for them online if I am lucky, then go in later and mop up. Shame this happened tho, maybe they will wise up and go back to the old ways.

[Rockfordmom]

Well, it seems that my greatest fear is that WM will be, in a attempt to be ahead of the curve, will be opening at 10pm Thursday night (if the rumor is true). Now I wish for midnight, unless they have some stellar deals, I will be making an attempt for them online if I am lucky, then go in later and mop up. Shame this happened tho, maybe they will wise up and go back to the old ways.

Stores aren't going to go back to opening up later, they are going to open up earlier and earlier until they are open on Thanksgiving Day all day, unfortunately that is where they are headed.

[BlackFriDiva]

I wouldn't say I liked it, but it worked out for me. I got everything I needed. Just hated how the isle's were difficult to navigate. Especially with a buggy. But, I needed it. Had two bicycles and whatever else I had loaded down in there :)

[chilimak]

We actualy liked it......

Maybe its the difference of being in a smaller town, I dunno.

We got there about 10, they had things set up around the store( towells, games,movies,dishes, clothes etc all the small BF items) people were shopping early by putting it into their buggies with most items, and everyone seemed fine. But closer it got to "time" the employees were asking people to stop getting things early to just stand beside it and wait( now that didn't make much sence) seeing how everyone was doing just fine but once they started trying to enforce something people became a little pushy and antsy lol. they did need to inform the employees a little better so that everyone would know where to send people for different lines, but for the most part everyone was figuring it out and was waiting in lawn chairs in line for things lol Only thing that got out of hand was the one video stand they had covered up( which were the DS games) once they pulled the cover off i thought people were going to lose arms and heads being pushed and shoved and knocked around that was the craziest part!

OMG, this is the exact same thing that happened at my local wal mart, lol. Mine is in Edinboro, PA. Where is your store?

[racerfan]

We actualy liked it......

Maybe its the difference of being in a smaller town, I dunno.

We got there about 10, they had things set up around the store( towells, games,movies,dishes, clothes etc all the small BF items) people were shopping early by putting it into their buggies with most items, and everyone seemed fine. But closer it got to "time" the employees were asking people to stop getting things early to just stand beside it and wait( now that didn't make much sence) seeing how everyone was doing just fine but once they started trying to enforce something people became a little pushy and antsy lol. they did need to inform the employees a little better so that everyone would know where to send people for different lines, but for the most part everyone was figuring it out and was waiting in lawn chairs in line for things lol Only thing that got out of hand was the one video stand they had covered up( which were the DS games) once they pulled the cover off i thought people were going to lose arms and heads being pushed and shoved and knocked around that was the craziest part!

I liked it also. I am in Milford PA and I have to say it was very organized and fun!! The employees even came around and were giving us goodies, ie snacks, drinks gum. They closed lines waiting for 5am when they got full. I will do it again this year if they have anything I want.