If you were store manager how would you handle BF?

[wnielsen1]

This is how I would handle it:

 

Let’s pretend that I am the store manager of a very popular store on BF. To keep it simple, let’s assume it is the local Best Buy but it could be any popular store (I do not work for any store). This is how I would handle BF:

 

1. First of all, I will eat Thanksgiving dinner with my family and so should you. You will not be allowed on the premises until 5 PM on Thursday. The entrances to the parking lot will be blocked and security will chase you away if you try to loiter on foot.

 

2. At 5 PM, we will allow people to park and approach the check-in area. There will not be a mad dash – if there are several people arriving right at 5 PM, the line order will be determined by random draw.

 

3. At the check in desk, you will register and show ID. You will receive a card with your name and number in line. Children who do not have ID will need to be with their accompanying adult at all times. Their card will show their spot in line and the adult that they are with. The first several hundred people will register in this manner – certainly as far back as the tickets will go. You will need to present your card and the ID you used to receive it during various random checks throughout the evening and overnight. If you are not present during one of these checks, you forfeit your spot. If you cannot show matching ID, you forfeit your spot. You cannot transfer your card – if you want the tickets you have to wait the entire duration.

 

4. The line will be secured – meaning it will be barricaded as far back as reasonably possible. There will be no line crashers at 5 AM. Anyone trying to crash the line gets this -->

 

5. The following will not be permitted. There will be no tents, no waiting in your car, and especially no saving spots for anyone. I don’t care if they are coming after work, in an hour, or in 5 minutes.

 

6. Food and drink will be available for purchase at a reasonable cost throughout the waiting period and portable toilets will be available. People can use these amenities as needed but otherwise are expected to be in their spot in line at all other times.

 

7. Tickets will be distributed at 3:30 AM. There is a maximum of 3 different tickets per person. Your name will be put on the tickets and they are absolutely non-transferable and yes this will be enforced at checkout. Once tickets for a specific item have run out, we will take a reasonably sized waiting list as we go down the line. We will call people on the waiting list to buy items not claimed and they can come in on Friday night to buy the item, and yes, I will override the computer to give the doorbuster price as the 11 AM deadline would have passed. At store closing, if items are still unclaimed, I will offer employees who worked the graveyard shift with me to purchase at the BF price.

 

8. At about 4:40 AM, I will allow the first 10 people to come into the store to receive their ticketed items and do any other shopping they wish. Make sure to present your card because it is the only way you are getting in. They can queue up for the checkouts as well, but we will not start checkout until 5:00 AM. Each minute or two, I will allow another 10 to come into the store. This will continue at 5:00 AM and beyond. There will be a cap on the number of people in the store at all times and it will be much less than the fire marshall states is max capacity.

 

What are your thoughts?

[freesia39]

you'll have about 300 cars across the street from your parking lot and about 20 car accidents methinks...

[Rebirth]

There's no perfect way to handle BF, just a way to maintain it.

 

Rule #1 is flawed, because someone can just park there on Wednesday night. Like freesia39 said, everyone would just park somewhere else then start parking at 5.

[dmmiller]

Its a nice thought.. I love the idea about the porta-potties.

What a miserable evening it is w/o coffee (cant have coffee, cuz you cant pee).

 

I dont see an issue with the tents. Especially if there is bad weather (cold, rain/snow).

But I can see how they take up a lot of room.

[conj]

why can't the security people eat T-day dinner with their family, too?

[Brad]

How about have people register earlier in the week (Monday or Tuesday). Randomly pick the first however many spots and notify them on Wednesday what number they are. As long as they are there by 1 hour before opening they get their spot, and if people want to camp out for the spots behind this main group, let them.

[conj]

ooh, Brad, I like that!

[lovebears65]

Its a nice thought.. I love the idea about the porta-potties.

What a miserable evening it is w/o coffee (cant have coffee, cuz you cant pee).

 

I dont see an issue with the tents. Especially if there is bad weather (cold, rain/snow).

But I can see how they take up a lot of room.

Pensacola best buy provided porta potties. It was great .. I hope they continue this year as well

[davephillyj]

Pensacola Florida??? That's where I BF Shop@!

[freesia39]

How about have people register earlier in the week (Monday or Tuesday). Randomly pick the first however many spots and notify them on Wednesday what number they are. As long as they are there by 1 hour before opening they get their spot, and if people want to camp out for the spots behind this main group, let them.

so are we going to have people lining up on Sunday nights to register Monday morning?

[Brad]

so are we going to have people lining up on Sunday nights to register Monday morning?

They could, but anyone who registers at any time during the registration period gets put into a random drawing for the first however many spots, so there would be no advantage to getting there early.

[Rebirth]

They could, but anyone who registers at any time during the registration period gets put into a random drawing for the first however many spots, so there would be no advantage to getting there early.

What about people get multiple drawings?

[jdrd90]

I'm telling ya, Brad is Santa.

[AshJs3]

How about have people register earlier in the week (Monday or Tuesday). Randomly pick the first however many spots and notify them on Wednesday what number they are. As long as they are there by 1 hour before opening they get their spot, and if people want to camp out for the spots behind this main group, let them.

I like this idea. It's similar to Ticketmaster's. You can go up and get a ticket and no matter if you have ticket #1 or ticket #100 you have an equal shot at being #1 in line. They draw the "start" number out of all of the tickets given and line them up after that. If they draw ticket #75 as the start you line up "75, 76, 77, 78...etc" then when you get to the last one you go back to 1.

[wnielsen1]

Brad, I wonder how many people that have confirmed spots in line would show up several hours in advance "just for the experience?"

 

People are nuts on BF!

[lovebears65]

Pensacola Florida??? That's where I BF Shop@!

 

Same place.. will be there this year as well.. Depending on what the ads say I will be there anywhere from Noon -3pm if not earlier

[jarerice]

I think you have to take it as We come to shop!!!! And remember it's just one day!

[jellybean051901]

1. hand out tickets or bracelets to people in the order that they arrive. Must be in line to get one with a strict one per person policy

2. Rope off the line.

3. Have some sort of security

4. Let a limited number of people in at a time

[barc]

1. Like the idea of braclets. Different colors in groups of 20 - 25. Allow different colors in every 5 to 7 minutes.

 

2. Allow tents. Why make people uncomfortable?

 

3. Don't like the idea of a lottery to get first places in line. You show up first, you get first place in line. Show up last, get last place in line. Fair and square.

 

4. No need to do ID checks if braclets are used. If you don't have the green braclet when it's their turn to go in, you don't get in. Shuts down those who save a place for others.

 

5. Let people show up whenever they want. If someone wants to miss the Cowboys game to sit in the cold, why stop 'em?

 

Bottom line, there are a lot of things that aren't that hard that would make the BF experience more enjoyable for those who make it an experience. But, for some reason, the store managers in a lot of stores won't make the effort.

[H_Hancock]

Taking your scenario, wnielsen1, I have a few questions....

 

First, who is going to pay for all the security you'd have to have present from Thursday afternoon until Friday morning at 3AM?

 

Second, it's a rare store that has an exclusive parking lot....most of these stores share parking, so when you block off the parking lot, you're going to block off the other stores, too.

 

Third, who pays for the porta-potties? They aren't free......or cheap.

 

You have a lot of good ideas, but unfortunately, they almost all cost the store......and the expenses the store would have to foot would make it unreasonable to expect any store to swallow these expenses.

 

 

 

Now, as to how the BB handles the BF crowd at the one I go to........the line is left on its own until around 2AM on BF. At 2:30AM, the store had two county deputy sheriffs show up that had been hired for door/crowd control.....one positioned himself at the entrance/exit and one cruised the line settling line disputes. Worked out pretty well and if there was a line crashing problem, and there was one last year, a patrol car was called in and the crasher, if he/she didn't remove him/herself voluntarily, was removed with help. Last year, the crasher claimed he was there for hours, but when 20 people surrounding him disagreed, he was bleating his lone story......and was lying about being there.....and got removed by patrol car from the store and parking lot.

 

I was first in line last year and after the next 5-10 people arrived, I started being asked how the line was being run. It seemed that the others were deferring to me as I was there first and had been granted ersatz "control" of the line. I found it odd, but I did take the responsibility upon myself at that point to set some rules down.

 

I told everyone else they were on their own as to keeping track of who was in front and behind them.....to prevent line crashing. Once this was established, it did work out quite well. Only had one instance of someone trying to crash the line.....and it was taken care of very quickly by a deputy and the line sitters.

 

The BB leaves outside most of their shopping carts, so when I arrived and found them and that I was first, I took it upon myself to set up a barricade of sorts using them. As most all BB's are arranged the same, you can probably understand how this worked (the entrance door on the right, the exit on the left, and a couple of stationary panes of glass in between.) I lined up carts outward, in between the exit and entrance using the stationary glass as the wall, then when the carts reached about three people wide, I made a 90 degree turn with them and had them run down the side of the store, thereby separating the exit from the entrance and barricading the entrance. Worked out very well.

 

I made it quite clear I had one spot saved for my wife.......and as that I had arrived at 9AM or so on Thursday, and she was getting there by 9PM Thursday (which she did), no one had a problem with it. As far as saving spots for others, I told them that they should check with those surrounding them if it would be alright if a spot was saved. Seemed to work out well, too. I did make it clear I personally wouldn't like it if one person was in line and then six others magically appeared two hours before the store opened.....and this was generally accepted as how it'd work. One spot at most saved....

 

I also made it clear that once you'd spent time in line, leaving and returning should be alright.....esp. for toilet runs and food runs. I, myself, made a few trips away from the line......I went to CUSA at midnight for their opening. No one had any problems with this, either. I left at 11:30 and returned at 12:30....and not one peep of dissent was heard by anyone. Guess being first had its advantages.

 

As far as tickets......the store managed this as well as can be expected. It was first come, first served. Items that were limited to one per household.....the employees tried to follow through with that limit by asking people for ID's before handing out those tickets. It was kinda obvious when several people were grouped together as a unit. Weird, I know, but groups tended to stay more clumped together and were fairly easy to pick out from singles.....that, and the surrounding line would inevitably alert the ticket givers of groups trying to pose as singles. Amazing that the line self-regulated very well.