PlanetFeedback's ShopperCast

The Blackest of Fridays

We've all heard about it by now...  Jdimytai Damour was the 34 year old temp worker who was trampled to death at a Long Island Wal-Mart on Friday.  His body was crushed by a throng of people for whom a sale was more important than a fellow human being's life.

Disgusting.  Wal-Mart calls it a blitz line... and if you have seen football, you know what a blitz is and they apparently throw open the doors at 5 a.m.  (and future workers had better run like hell at this point) to let the crush of humanity in.  Which is much different from, say, Best Buy, where they hand out numbers and the whole shopping process is much more orderly.  You may not get that Wii Fit, but at least you make it out with your life.

Jump across the continent to Palm Desert to a Toys R Us where two women got into a fight and their husbands or boyfriends decided that Toys R Us was a great place to whip out a pair of hand guns and start shooting.  The word is that this wasn't related to an Elmo Live... rather it was a gang situation.  Pardon us if we don't muster much sympathy for the deaths of these gang-bangers.  Are two less thugs in the world really something to weep about?.  But we're furious these people opened fire in a store filled with children.  What a great holiday memory - duck and cover and pray.

Apparently common sense and common decency aren't so common when it comes to the almighty dollar.  People behave in ways that they would never have under ordinary circumstances.  We wonder if the people who stomped Jdimytai Damour to death have any idea that they killed a man?  Doubt it.  If they even suspect they had a hand in it, we bet they blame the surging crowd behind them....  'tis the season to blame others ~ and apparently to give blood-soaked Christmas presents.  Will all of great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? 

Personally, we have our fingers crossed that the people who killed him face some kind of justice, but we're not hopeful that this is going to happen.  We also hope that Wal-Mart changes its policy of allowing "blitz" tactics at 5 a.m (and appropriately compensates Jdimytai Damour's family for his loss - immediately).... but again we're not holding our collective breaths. 

--Contributed by Deb

'Tis the Season for Gift Cards

A couple of other things to think about regarding giving store gift cards as presents for the holidays - first, what do you do when you have store gift cards and have a specific item in mind, only to find out that they stores don't have the item they are seeking?

Carrie Lee's son asked for and received gift cards from Wal-Mart because he had his eye on a particular game system for his birthday.  The family was thrilled when they saw this particular game system on sale at Wal-Mart, with a bundle pack, which included the game he wanted.  Carrie Lee called around to 9... yes 9.... different stores and NONE of them had the item in stock.  And they weren't just sold out of the pack, they have just never received them to sell in any of the stores.

Now how in the world is Carrie Lee's son supposed to be able to purchase this product if no one has it?  Especially when he has store-specific gift cards.  Sure, he could wait until there are tons in store (and probably not on sale) but isn't it better (certainly in this economy) to save a few bucks where you can?  Sounds like good economics to us. Sheesh... 

Wal-Mart really dropped the ball on this one ~ what they should have done is ensure a guaranteed minimum number items is on hand in each store.  That's what they do with those huge Black Friday door buster sales, so we know it can be done.  We have to say, however, that Carrie Lee made a good call in asking for Wal-Mart gift cards rather than, say, Circuit City gift cards.

A word to the wise, always err on the side of caution when purchasing (or holding onto) store gift cards.  We're seeing a number of companies who have gone (or are in the process of going) belly up and filing for bankruptcy protection.  If you have a store gift card and the company files for bankruptcy (even if it's a reorganization bankruptcy) your store gift card becomes an unsecured debt and the money on that card goes down to the bottom of the repayment list and your card may become worthless.   $20 million of Sharper Image gift cards early this year vanished with the company's bankruptcy.  Poof.  Just like that.  Gone. 

And we expect the same will happen to Circuit City gift cards.

All in all, we think if you have a loved one who has everything, gift cards are a great idea.  Just be careful when you're picking out one to give as a gift.  And if you receive a gift card, we recommend not holding on to it too long... just in case.

--Contributed by Deb

The Earlier Bird Gets The Worm?

We did what we said we were going to do in a previous ShopperCast post.  We ventured out last Friday to one of the dying Circuit City stores and purchased a couple of items on our holiday shopping list.  At good prices too!

So as we inventoried what we've purchased thus far this year - for brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, mother, son, ex-boyfriend - and we were shocked to realize that *sob* we're almost done with our holiday shopping this year. 

What in the world are we going to do on Black Friday this year then???  Perhaps sleep.

So should you buy now or wait until Black Friday?  If you're one of those advance shoppers like us, there's a couple things you should be thinking about when you make your decision whether buy holiday presents now or wait closer to the holidays: 

If you're purchasing clothing, it's probably to wise to buy now - while there are different sizes and colors actually still available.  There's nothing worse than seeing the perfect blouse for your mother or sister and finding out that they are only available in XS or 5X. 

However, if you're purchasing electronics, it might be a good idea to wait.  If Best Buy or other electronics retailers don't move their big ticket items, they very well could start slashing prices so they can move their inventory.  Another reason to wait for these type of items - return policies.  Some stores have a 15 or 30 days return policy, especially for electronics.  You do NOT want to buy your Kiddo a gadget, only to find out he really doesn't want it (or that his uncle also bought it for him) and your window to return this item.

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day ~ and there are some good sales to be had tomorrow, if you're not inclined to wait.   

--Contributed by Deb

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Our favorite shopping time of the year approaches!  Do you realize that it will be November this week? Yeppers.  That means its time for us to start checking out the Black Friday websites.  We've already lost 20% of our retirement, so we definitely need to tighten the ole belt this year.

However there are two electronic items that are on our to-purchase list ~ a digital camera and a camcorder.  True, it's not a big screen television, but they are the priciest things on our list this year.  So we're watching for the sales.  And some of these websites are very consumer-friendly as they leak unveil Black Friday ads early so we can plan our Black Friday shopping.  Planning out your steps in order to get the best bang for your buck - it's an art.

Sears has been posted; Toys R Us has been posted.  Can you just imagine us sitting here rubbing our hands with glee as we review the sales and consult our list?  Yep, that's us.

Despite the flailing economy, this holiday shopping season is going to be tight for another reason - it's going to be shorter than it was last year.  Thanksgiving is late this year - November 27 - which gives shoppers less than one month until Christmas to stock up on those items on their shopping lists.  HEY!  That's just one month from today.  Yippee!

One thing that's apparently not going to happen:  Wal-Mart is not bringing back its layaway program.  Customers have pleaded, but it ain't gonna happen.  The company cites the expense of maintaining the program as well as the losses it takes when it can't sell items that are placed on layaway and then ignored or forgotten by consumers.

So ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.  It's never too early to make sure you have broken in a comfortable pair of shoes and/or work on your endurance levels.  Black Friday is coming soon!

--Contributed by Deb

This Just In...

Just in time for the summer travel season, analysts are predicting gas prices in the $3.75 to $4.00 range or possibly even higher.  Just like milk prices which currently are higher than gas prices (but not by much), the staples we need in life are growing while our paychecks are not.  We went to the grocery store the other day and just bought a few things, bread, milk, hamburger buns, yogurt, hamburger patties, and hamburger meat, and maybe a few other things and we were startled when the cashier said that will be $48.00 dollars please, uh huh for what?  Well it now costs the stores more to get the merchandise to the store so they pass that expense on to us. 

Let's hope that our politicians can divert their attention away from the campaign trail and fix this.  Interest rate cuts are nice, but there needs to be some price controls on things at least for awhile.  Offer tax incentives where necessary to keep the prices on necessities at a rate where the average Joe can afford to live on something other than Macaroni and Cheese (which is now not nearly as cheap as it used to be), or Top Ramen (which is still cheap but......).  If you stay home don't use any energy because sadly that is going through the roof as well, but that is a blog for another day.

--Contributed (glumly) by Renee who will not be drinking milk or filling up with gas :(

Hannah Montana, Again?

This date will apparently go down in history, as Hannah Montana hysteria strikes again.  This time there will be throngs of adolescent girls packing local movies theaters at all times of the day and night just to see her newly released 3-D film "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus, The Best of Both Worlds".  The film started showing in theaters across the nation just after midnight this morning, and will only be playing for one week.  Some parents are letting their children miss school today to witness this epic event in history, I am sure just so they can say they were there!

When the tickets first went on sale a few weeks ago, the theaters almost immediately began selling out the shows (at $15 to $20 per ticket no less), owners have added more shows to the schedule only to see those sell out in record time as well.  This week will probably be among the most profitable for theater owners that are showing this film.  There is the ticket prices but can you say $cha ching cha ching $ at the refreshment stand?  Here is some more information on the hottest ticket around right now. 

--Contributed by Renee

Stay In School

Just in case, boys and girls, you need a reason to stay in school.... consider the plight of these poor schmucks retail employees on Black Friday.  How much job satisfaction do you think THEY had on Friday evening?

Or better yet:  how much alcohol do you think they had to consume in order to put the memories of this awful day out of  their heads?

-- Contributed by a very relieved Deb (she's not in retail)

Staples... Nope, We're Outta That

Not everyone had a pleasant Black Friday experience. 

Emanuel wrote a letter to Staples through PlanetFeedback in which he complained how terrible the Friday event was organized and how little management did to satisfactorily resolve his complaint.  He arrived was up waaaay before the birds and in line to purchase several items by 1:30 a.m.  Much to his delight there were only seven other people waiting in line in front of him.

As the hours passed, the line behind him grew.  As did the temerity of some of his fellow shoppers.

Black Friday Recap

We're now officially rested up after our Black Friday shopping expedition to the outlet mall.  We left the house at 3:30 a.m. (and left tire tread on the road while deer dodging), expecting to encounter serious traffic.  To our great surprise their wasn't ANY traffic.  That apparently was not the case at midnight when the stores opened.

According to the good folks who came into work at midnight, shoppers were leaving their cars in the 2 to 3 mile traffic backup and hoofing it to the mall rather than wait.  Walking miles in the cold darkness of Northern Virginia isn't our idea of a good time, under ANY circumstance, let alone for a deal.  One new CSR at Yankee Candle didn't take this into account and arrived at 2 a.m. for her midnight shift thanks, ostensibly, to traffic woes. 

Good timing for retailers... that Yankee Candle store apparently did as much business by the unholy hour of 3 a.m. as it had been doing during one entire shopping day.  The initial numbers nationwide were also good ~ total sales were up 8.3% over last Black Friday. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The turkey has been brined, stuffed, dry-rubbed and is ready to go into the oven.

Potatoes (white and sweet) are peeled.  Salads are chilling in the fridge. Pies have been baked.

We have our  holiday shopping list (complete with item numbers, prices, comparable items and which stores have the best deals), our playbook (Dallas and Detroit have nothing on OUR play calling schemes), brand new walking shoes, and a full tank of gas.  We charged our cell phone for easier communication and went to the ATM machine this morning. 

From all of us at ShopperCast, Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Black Friday.  Eat well... and shop happy. 

--Contributed by Deb