Anyone work at Best Buy? Hometown Heroes Sale

[go2grl]

Our local Best Buy is having a Hometown Heroes sale this Sunday. People that work for fire, military, hospitals etc are invited from 8-10pm. During this time you get the employee discount price of cost + 5%.

 

So I am interested in buying a digital camera, an LCD TV and possibly a gaming system...and who knows what else. So I called to see how we would know the price of items since the base is "cost." I mean, how does the public know what the cost of a particular item is. I want to get the best deals and lowest cost items. The guy said we would have to write down all the SKU's of what we are interested in and bring them to the cash register line. The cashier would then give the prices. He said it would be hard to tell beforehand as some brands give a better discount than others.

 

So I wanted to research different cameras and lcd tv's beforehand. I want to check out prices and reviews so I have an idea as to what I am going for. But without knowing the cost how can I do that without researching every single option and waiting until that day to give a gazillion SKU's for everything?

 

Does anyone know which brands give the best deals, or which cameras or smaller (under 27" TV's) might be the least expensive with the Best Buy employee discount?

[Xfeg]

if i recall dvds are pretty much at cost. the tvs are really hit or miss. i knew someone that worked there a few years ago. im sure that this has all changed by now but HTH!

[go2grl]

I went there today to compare a bunch of TVs so I would know how much $ etc and what I was going for. I asked a saleperson for pricing for Sunday and he got the mgr. She basically said it is all confidential and they can only release the employee discounts on Sunday night so they don't "get into the wrong hands." I just wanted to have an idea of what I was buying before Sunday. I would hate to have to get SKUs for 20 TVs, 10 different cameras, accessories etc to compare prices. I bet it is going to be a big mess on Sunday with everyone trying to figure out the prices.

[MeliesMom]

What about the gaming systems? Are they pretty much at cost too? I doubt the employee discount is hardly anything on those. I would like to get a wii discounted! lol. But I doubt employees get much of a discount on those because the prices are regulated aren't they?

[go2grl]

I am going for an LCD TV, I think there are pretty good mark ups on those. I doubt the discount would be much on a gaming system either. I am just trying to find a place that even has the wii to buy. Just the console system.

[freesia39]

Way back in the day, I worked at Fry's Electronics (employee discount was cost +10%) and Circuit City (employee discount was cost.)

 

Here is where you will get the biggest discounts:

 

1. Cabling, i.e. Monster Cable, since they sell them at like 1000% markup.

2. Furniture. That tv stand that costs you 75 bucks? It cost the store 25.

 

Gaming systems - there really won't be that much of a discount, including Wii, Xbox, DS, etc.

Computers - sold nearly at cost.

DVD's - regular price, you may be able to get a dollar off. The better deal is ALWAYS to buy them on sale.

Video Games - never purchased a video game, so I'm not sure what the cost is. Can't be that much of a markup, I think. 5 bucks at most.

Digital Cameras - not much wiggle room. Higher end, you can probably get 50-100 off. But I don't think the markup is that much on them - too much competition.

 

TV's - now this is where it gets interesting. When I worked at CC, I had purchased my parents one of those large 50"+ projection TVs, as this was before LCD's were big and plasma was still ridiculously expensive. The TV was about half off. We also purchased a Sony Wega TV, and it was nearly half off.

 

The thing is that margins on TV's have changed so much, I'm not sure where the price point is. However, I would assume it's at least 25% of the MSRP, and probably closer to 30-35%. Even if a TV is advertised as "take 500 dollars off!" the store will still make at least 100 bucks, and they want you to get the warranty plan on top of that.

 

(ask if you can buy the warranty at employee cost also, because that is SO much cheaper.)

 

When I worked at CC, I also purchased a video camera. MSRP was like 699, and I got it for around 450.00. Regular old Canon Mini DV camera.

 

Just note obviously the name brands, you will have bigger discounts. Westinghouse probably won't seem like it is as much, along with Dynex.

 

Actually, another good deal would be on appliances... if you needed a new fridge or a washing machine.

[MeliesMom]

Thanks Freesia!

[tjarena]

Is this all best buy or just some? Would love to do this but I never heard anything about it

[happyrat]

It may have changed in ten years, but in 98 when I worked at Kmart there was a huge margin around 60% in video games them selves. The systems were almost a cost, but the profit was in selling games. The biggest discounts will be on appliances, tvs, cables, and accessories in general. Audio equipment and speakers also have good margins. The biggest tv discounts will be on big name brands like Sony and Mitsubishi and maybe Sharp as they all have MAPs (minimum advertised price) that restrict how much a retailer can charge. The can discount to employees, and "secret" sales an such though.

[josetann]

My wife is a nurse, might have to check this out.

 

Take a copy of the ad with you, just in case. When I worked at CC (where we could buy items for cost), often times there were loss leaders in the ad, where the employee price was actually higher than what was in the ad. The loss leaders were there to get people in the door. Hopefully they'd get a higher end PC (that the store could actually make a profit on), and regardless we'd try to push accessories and the warranty.

[Karmarose]

I guess this won't be online? I'm torn on whether it will be worth the drive and keeping my kids up. We are looking for a 32+ LCD. Thanks

[go2grl]

I believe it is just a local only thing. It is happening tonight at the Auburn Maine and Topsham Maine stores. We have lots of other BB in Maine, but those weren't included on the flyer. I don't think it was very advertised. I think some flyers were given out to fire depts etc, but I never saw anything in the paper or flyers even posted in the store. I'm having my husband bring the flyer we have with him.

 

I am thinking about a dual portable DVD player too since ours is about dead (skips and restarts all the time) and the babies are currently obsessed with Elmo in the car (19 month old twins).

[go2grl]

I ended up getting a dual montior portable DVD player reg $229 final cost paid was $124. Good deal with over $100 in savings. My mom got a digital camera and saves about $60, and my aunt got a steroe and saved about $60. Most people were buying the big flat screen TVs...which we already have ours.

 

It's funny, my husband told a ton of people he worked with about the sale since it wasn't highly advertised, but they were all eligible to go. So this morning he called from work and not one person he had told went to the sale! I guess people a lot of people don't like a bargain like we do!

[mba54]

let me give you an example of the discount. samsung ln52a750-retail 2999.99 BB employee discount roughly about- 2100.99.