John Bennett Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I wanted the Best Buy Celeron desktop system for $150 and the laptop for $398. Their newspaper circular said they would have a minimum of 20 units of each, per store. Doors opened this morning at 5:00am. I got there at 4:20am thinking there might be 20 people in line. Ha! Silly me. There were at least 300 people in line. I am not exaggerating. The line was three people wide and snaked down the sidewalk across two other stores. I didn't think that would be necessary to camp at 11pm because I live in Lufkin, Texas, a small city whose newspaper only got a website a year ago. Boy was I wrong! Just for fun I drove over to the Wal-Mart Super-Center. It was dangerous to even drive through the parking lot. Those nut-jobs were shooting all over the place to find parking and running, I kid you not, ...running across the parking lot to get in line. It was bloody dangerous. I'm one of the most "frugal" people you'll meet, but newegg will get my computer purchases this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RossMAN Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 Insert obligatory, "told ya so". Search for "GET IN LINE EARLY" by RossMAN and you'll find at least 20 posts, this is why. Oh well, maybe next year. I might have to get in line at 8PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alimfp Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I've learned something over the past few hours - location means nothing. If it goes by the name of Best Buy, it will be jam packed by 1am at least! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigNate Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I got to staples at 5:00 and was maybe 6th in line. They didn't have the hot deal on computer systems though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super56K Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I said screw going out this year and did my shopping from my computer. So far I've gotten $108 worth of stuff from Staples for ~$28 AR including the 200gb HD. Now I'm waiting on Musician's Friend to update their 10% sale to get some stuff. Granted, there was nothing in the ads that I had to wait in line for. For the other deals I'm interested in I'm just going to take the 5 minute drive to my local Walmart with some competitors ads to see what I can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhakiBoy Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I think next year I'll be doing most if not all of my BF shopping online. Unless they happen to have something I really really want and don't want to wait for. This year I had to actually go out and shop since it's my first BF in 7 years I was working retail. Had to experience it from the other side. I must admit I like the customer side alot more ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ufwa Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 Yes its getting worse each year. Either people have nothing better to do are are really really desperate for these things. like rossman my cc had people out their 6pm yesterday for the laptop. I would rather pay the normal price than standing nearly 11 hours outside a store to save 200-300 bucks. I also found it to be terribly done, they should've just annouced to people waiting in line, laptop is all out after handing out all vouchers as more and more people filed in it cramed the store with people all asking for the laptop. took me nearly an hour to get out. Though it was partly because one employee crashed the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyBerry Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 No computers here either. We finally got to BB at 4am. HA! Found out that 11PM was the time to line up. People were selling vouchers and employees looked the other way. I would have bought one but no CASH! Shoot! Interestingly the IPOD NANO was not a big hit in line. He had many vouchers. It was done rather well but the inside was jam packed and crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enoreeman Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I find that I can buy most anything cheaper online and with NO rebate to worry about, That video card you bought at BB or CC is cheaper at newegg and with NO rebate crap most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txguy Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 Yes its getting worse each year. Either people have nothing better to do are are really really desperate for these things. like rossman my cc had people out their 6pm yesterday for the laptop. I would rather pay the normal price than standing nearly 11 hours outside a store to save 200-300 bucks. I also found it to be terribly done, they should've just annouced to people waiting in line, laptop is all out after handing out all vouchers as more and more people filed in it cramed the store with people all asking for the laptop. took me nearly an hour to get out. Though it was partly because one employee crashed the system.The stores will never tell people that they will not receive the laptop (or whatever hot deal that store has on that day), doing so would kill the line. Killing the line would mean they wouldn't get people so desperate to catch a deal that they'll buy something else they didn't necessarily come for, just to feel the wait was worth it. I'm amazed at how this BF mania makes people act, waiting in line for over 12 hours, fist fights and trampling people to get that deal etc. All that to save a couple of hundred dollars? It's not like they're giving away a huge dollar item like a house or a free Lexus. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavenlysshine Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 A lot of people are nuts for those items because they can sell them on eBay and make lots of cash. ~H~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txguy Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 True, which is why I won't buy anything that was on sale for BF on E-Bay. There'll be more sales before the season's out and they'll be good enough to save some money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhakiBoy Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 My Best Buy had plenty of the Ipod Nano tickets too. Couldn't give them away. I was tempted to get a ticket just so I could feel more justified getting there so early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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