Why are people in tents in front of Best Buy?

[jazzandmetal?]

What is so special that you need to camp out in front of a store 24hrs before it opens?:NUTS

[jcoloccia]

They must have gotten a shipment of Wiis.

[gkoelling]

because they have no life

[Tonefish]

They all want guitars, no?

[TwoTubMan]

And then all the local TV channels go out and interview these brain-stems, so we can have the joy of listening to them yammer on the news.

[Boobala]

Black Friday.

I guess they want to be the first to get the "super terrific ultra low Black Friday prices!"

[Suproman77]

Some, maybe many, people depend on these sales to make a living.

[Old Tele man]

...something about "...fools and their money..." being eager to be parted, I believe.

[jazzandmetal?]

Some, maybe many, people depend on these sales to make a living.

:huh

You mean resellers?

[Suproman77]

:huh

You mean resellers?

Yep. They sell these things in their own shops, flea markets, etc.

[chumpguitars]

im goin tomorrow to get some cheap laptops and resell them on ebay. I make around 1000 profit when its all said and done. Im also goin to guitar center to pick up bout 10 five dollar guitar tuners and resell them. make bout 50 doin that.

[jazzandmetal?]

Yep. They sell these things in their own shops, flea markets, etc.

Gotcha. I have a friend who does that. He has a deal with Costco to buy all of their returned TVs. He then sells them at his shop at the flea market.

[Frater B]

800 dollar 50" plasma TV?
I am typing this from my tent..................


not.

[Mike9]

Why are people in tents in front of Best Buy?

Shit for brains???

[jetydosa]

The deals this year are not even that good.

[paulrocker]

So funny I was going to ask the same question.. I have a best buy not too far away from me. This small group started showing up around 9 this morning. That's like 24 hours before the store opens and it aint warm here.

Anyway, its like 5 pm and the same people who got in line at 9 are still the only people in line.

Hysterical.

[eBay]

Maybe they're just shills for the store put there to generate some much needed excitement and sales.

[66fs]

They must not realize black friday is buy nothing day.

[Texas_Blues]

Yeah I saw it at my Best Buy also...not Guitar Center. Maybe they are gonna buy new electronics for their tents?

[jazzandmetal?]

Yeah I saw it at my Best Buy also...not Guitar Center. Maybe they are gonna buy new electronics for their tents?

I saw a few at Circuit City too. Across the street from Best Buy.

You can get the deals all day at GC. No need to sleep outside, just bring the coupon. Plus BB has more to offer the general public than a music instrument store does.

[jcoggins7]

All I know is...it could make for a lot of fun if you went and threw waterballoons at those people.

[rattles]

None of those stores have ANYTHING that I'd be willing to sleep out in the cold for!

[The Last Rebel]

Lets think of why. Get up at at least three in the morning, get ready then drive to Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart, etc. Wait outside for the doors to open then risk getting stampeded by waves of cranky bargain-hunters. Fight through crowds of aforementioned bargain-hunters to find that one thing that's 20% off today only. Get there to find that the guy who's been waiting since 6:00 a.m. yesterday, the obese, heavy-smoker housewife and you all the want the same thing and there's only one left. Have a fight with these two people and hope to win. If failure befalls you, the inexperienced shopper, you then sulk out of the store, climb into your car and drive home wondering if that's really the best life will ever have to offer you. No, I'll be sleeping in and going to a movie tommorrow. Oh, and laughing at the idiots who actually think it's worth doing year after year.

[phoenix 7]

Because they're friggin idiots?

:)

[Texas_Blues]

Lets think of why. Get up at at least three in the morning, get ready then drive to Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart, etc. Wait outside for the doors to open then risk getting stampeded by waves of cranky bargain-hunters. Fight through crowds of aforementioned bargain-hunters to find that one thing that's 20% off today only. Get there to find that the guy who's been waiting since 6:00 a.m. yesterday, the obese, heavy-smoker housewife and you all the want the same thing and there's only one left. Have a fight with these two people and hope to win. If failure befalls you, the inexperienced shopper, you then sulk out of the store, climb into your car and drive home wondering if that's really the best life will ever have to offer you. No, I'll be sleeping in and going to a movie tommorrow. Oh, and laughing at the idiots who actually think it's worth doing year after year.
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/42/Arrested_Development_-_Good_Grief.jpg

[HeeHaw]

The idiots here got in a huge fight last year while stampeding the door at best buy. The more I see things like this the less faith I have in humanity. People act like dogs.

[Soapbarstrat]

Why can't those people get drafted for military service ? I don't care what their age is. If they can put up with staying in a tent for some some electronic gizmo, then maybe they wouldn't mind hiding behind a sand-dune in a far away land, waiting to toss a grenade at Bin Laden.
Keep more intelligent teens here at home to go to school and study and develop better ways of harnessing solar energy, etc.

[Dr. Tweedbucket]

What happens if you have to go to teh baffroom while you are waiting in line? Would you lose your place if you stepped out of line? :dunno

[Lawn Jockey]

Brown Friday.

[itgoesto11uc]

It Depends

[James Dawson]

I am not sure, but maybe they're in training for the next Depression, which they certainly contributed to by the use of easy credit to buy things they did not need nor could afford to impress people they do not like.

http://z.hubpages.com/u/342718_f520.jpg

Goggle "Hoovervilles of the Great Depression.

[pir8matt]

Some, maybe many, people depend on these sales to make a living.

They make their living for the entire year on one sale in November? Sounds like a recipe for success all right.

[Suproman77]

They make their living for the entire year on one sale in November? Sounds like a recipe for success all right.

Yes, that's right. They only work one day a year on Black Friday.

:rolleyes:

[cram]

what's your time worth to you?

I think about that in so many scenarios of life. That someone in your example is going through the motions of pitching a tent in a parking lot so they can be early in line at a store. The questions become: How much money are they planning on spending? Does it even come close to recouping the hastle of pitching a tent? Are they a bestbuy employee? (sorry had to throw that one in there :) )

[Luke]

I won't do it but my girlfriend has been bothering me to put up a Christmas tree this year, so she and her mother were at Home Depot at 6AM to buy a 7.5' LED tree that is normally $200 for $50. She's happy and I'm glad we can check that off the list and no longer have to talk about it. :D

[untoldguitarist]

because they have no life

I totally agree

[scottlr]

I wonder how many of us would be pitching a tent outside of GC if they were selling 20 Les Paul Standards for $500 each. :D
:stir:stir:stir:stir:stir

[RichieRich]

The idiots here got in a huge fight last year while stampeding the door at best buy. The more I see things like this the less faith I have in humanity. People act like dogs.

the Bumpuses dogs, to be exact.

I witnessed hysteria at a Staples I waited at last year. I'll never shop on Black Friday again.

[rob2001]

A dude I used to work with stayed overnight in line last year for a few laptops. He saved some money. I wouldn't do it and we gave him crap but still , he saved money.

[James Dawson]

I wonder how many of us would be pitching a tent outside of GC if they were selling 20 Les Paul Standards for $500 each. :D
:stir:stir:stir:stir:stir

Not in this economic period. Maybe another time. But not now as we enter a recession and on the verge of a full blown depression.

[pir8matt]

Yes, that's right. They only work one day a year on Black Friday.

:rolleyes:

Sarcasm detected. Still, your post I responded to made it sound like black friday sales were some vital part of the economy or something, with lives hanging in the balance.

I think if they didn't exist, things would be just fine. People shouldn't rely on sales like this to make a living. Just sayin'.

[Jon Silberman]

I wonder how many of us would be pitching a tent outside of GC if they were selling 20 Les Paul Standards for $500 each. :D
:stir:stir:stir:stir:stir
Not a stirring at all - it's exactly what I thought when I saw this thread. We like to dismiss others while lauding ourselves.

In fact, I detect a strain of judgmentalism and elitism in this thread. So you're not poor or desperate enough to get up early and spend a few hours outside to meet your strained holiday budget? Wonderful for you.

[scottlr]

Not a stirring at all - it's exactly what I thought when I saw this thread. We like to dismiss others while lauding ourselves.

In fact, I detect a strain of judgmentalism and elitism in this thread. So you're not poor or desperate enough to get up early and spend a few hours outside to meet your strained holiday budget? Wonderful for you.

Actually, Jon, this year our financial situation has declined to an all time holiday low. We'd be perfect candidates for getting out there to try to get something for nothing. Instead, we are just not doing Christmas this year. Maybe on New Year's Eve I'll buy a medium priced bottle of Scotch. :D

[Suproman77]

Sarcasm detected. Still, your post I responded to made it sound like black friday sales were some vital part of the economy or something, with lives hanging in the balance.

I think if they didn't exist, things would be just fine. People shouldn't rely on sales like this to make a living. Just sayin'.

The big retailers have to cut their inventory way down before the first of the year, so end of the year sales and having people there to buy into them is hugely important to them and the economy in general.

All the little guy retailers that come in to seek a profit from it is an unintentional benefit, but still a very important one because one hand washes the other. They've come to expect these sales every year now and whether or not they should is another topic of discussion...the reality is that they do.

I think that using words like 'idiot' and 'stupid' like many here have is a little out of line...especially in light of how the economy has been doing as of late. People are just trying to get by in this world, put a little more bread in their jars, provide a better Christmas for their families, etc. Let's cut them a break.

[Doug's Tubes]

Not a stirring at all - it's exactly what I thought when I saw this thread. We like to dismiss others while lauding ourselves.

In fact, I detect a strain of judgmentalism and elitism in this thread. So you're not poor or desperate enough to get up early and spend a few hours outside to meet your strained holiday budget? Wonderful for you.

And there you sit in judgement of their judgmentalism!

[pir8matt]

The big retailers have to cut their inventory way down before the first of the year, so end of the year sales and having people there to buy into them is hugely important to them and the economy in general.

All the little guy retailers that come in to seek a profit from it is an unintentional benefit, but still a very important one because one hand washes the other. They've come to expect these sales every year now and whether or not they should is another topic of discussion...the reality is that they do.

I think that using words like 'idiot' and 'stupid' like many here have is a little out of line...especially in light of how the economy has been doing as of late. People are just trying to get by in this world.

It is what it is, but ultimately you really have to fight and scrape to get the best deals. Its really just a dodge to get bodies in the store to buy 'consolation prizes', other discounted stuff that arent the crazy deals that sell out in 5 minutes anyway.

Someone else mentioned it in an earlier post, it just has to do with how valuable you think your time is. If camping out for 16-24 hours is worth your while, more power to you. I'd rather sleep in and have more time to blab about it on an internet forum. :)

And I didn't call anyone stupid or an idiot.

[James Dawson]

Not a stirring at all - it's exactly what I thought when I saw this thread. We like to dismiss others while lauding ourselves.

In fact, I detect a strain of judgmentalism and elitism in this thread. So you're not poor or desperate enough to get up early and spend a few hours outside to meet your strained holiday budget? Wonderful for you.

Having worked in retail during several Black Friday's I didn't see a lot of people that were trying to meet a strained holiday budget. But rather people that would shove and push each other to the ground to save $50 on an Espresso machine.

Maybe there are people trying to provide for their families, but when I hear about people pitching tents outside of Best Buy I have to think of nerds and new toys.

There was an interesting article in the Times about the old days when people saved by opening a Christmas Club account, and summer vacations were also saved for, and rather than two weeks on a cruise, they stayed in a hotel and went to the Jersey shore.

Its not that people should not have nice things, but it has come to the point that it is expected, and in excess with no consideration how they intend to pay for things. Nor any understanding of the potential consequences.

[Jon Silberman]

And there you sit in judgement of their judgmentalism!
True (and for you, too, now with me) but were it otherwise we could hardly respond to anything.

[The Guy]

when you call yourself 'sane,' these are folks to which you are comparing yourself.

its just total madness.

[Jon Silberman]

No. Trampling someone to rush into a store is insane (or evil, depending on your terminology). Getting up early and waiting patiently on line is not. That's the only point I'm making in this particular thread. See y'all again elsewhere and enjoy your black Friday shopping (myself, I'm working today). :)

[Bradd]

I'm just waiting for the January "oops no one bought our stuff" sales.

[shadowbox]

Black Friday.

I guess they want to be the first to get the "super terrific ultra low Black Friday prices!"

Exactly. But, in fact, the real deals come a week or two after Xmas, when retailers are hoping to get at least something for all the stock they brought in for the hols.

The tales on the radio this morning from the local Best Buys made it sound like a demented mob scene, people mowing down kids and grannies while trying to muscle their big-screen tv's to the registers, etc.

[James Dawson]

Wal-Mart worker dies after shoppers knock him down

By COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press Writer Colleen Long, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 43 mins ago
NEW YORK – A worker was killed in the crush Friday after a throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains burst through the doors at a suburban Wal-Mart, authorities said.
At least four other people were injured, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island was closed.


Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store.


"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," co-worker Jimmy Overby, 43, told the Daily News. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too. ... I literally had to fight people off my back."
Nassau County police said the 34-year-old worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m. The man's name was not released and the cause of death was not immediately known.
A police statement said shortly after the store's 5 a.m. opening time, shoppers "physically broke down the doors, knocking (the worker) to the ground."
A metal portion of the door was crumpled like an accordion.
Shoppers around the country lined up early outside stores in the annual bargain hunting ritual known as Black Friday. Many stores open early and stay open late, and some of the most dramatic bargains are available in limited quantities.
Among the bargains offered by Wal-Mart for Friday were Samsung 50-inch high definition Plasma TVs for less than $800.
Witnesses told the Daily News that before the store was closed, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the worker's life.
"They were working on him, but you could see he was dead," said Halcyon Alexander, 29. "People were still coming through."


A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital for observation, and she and the unborn baby were both reported to be OK, said Sgt. Anthony Repalone, a Nassau County police spokesman. Four or five other people suffered minor injuries, he said.
Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman at National Retail Federation, said the group knew of no other incident where a retail employee has died working on the day after Thanksgiving.


Wal-Mart is working closely with police, company spokesman Dan Fogleman said.
"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," Fogleman said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this difficult time."

[zekmoe]

Two of the worst human activities known to man, combined into one. Shoping for retail electronics and camping. Is there no lower form of life?

[offbeat]

After the Walmart tragedy, we can only hope those tents are a M.A.S.H. triage unit.

Offbeat

[moody07747]

normally I get laptops an eBay them for profit but this year didn't bring anything worth waiting outside for. I still saw people camping out this year though which was very strange...

The wiis are not even worth it this year. Last year I sold about seven of them on eBay and got a nice profit.

[Doug's Tubes]

True (and for you, too, now with me) but were it otherwise we could hardly respond to anything.

Oh I wasnt judging you judging those who judge others, just being the casual observer of irony......

Anyway, after examining the Best Buy black friday offers online available only in the store if you wait outside online and get your voucher, I've concluded(ok, judged) that there must be a fool born every minute. The great "deal" on a Panasonic 50" Plasma for $899 at 5am, I got for $849 over a month ago at PC Richards at my leisure.........reinforcing my decision to sleep soundly this morning!

[gkoelling]

Oh I wasnt judging you judging those who judge others, just being the casual observer of irony......



You know, I was going to say something here but realized I'd be judging you for judging Jon for judging others in this thread for judging the people who waited outside Walmart.:huh

[epluribus]

Why are people in tents in front of Best Buy?

Be kinda silly if they slept outside of 'em.

HTH.

[Berlebster]

The great "deal" on a Panasonic 50" Plasma for $899 at 5am, I got for $849 over a month ago at PC Richards at my leisure.........reinforcing my decision to sleep soundly this morning!

that is great .
50 a night.

[Chiba]

What is so special that you need to camp out in front of a store 24hrs before it opens?:NUTS
Unbridled materialism.

--chiba

[realityczech]

Something tells me if Best Buy was blowing out BJFE pedals, a few unclaimed Dumbles, some JM man thongs, some Lionel Trainwrecks, an original too, and a free guitar summit featuring splatt and matte some of youse would be pitchin' tents as well.

[Jahn]

Something tells me if Best Buy was blowing out BJFE pedals, a few unclaimed Dumbles, some JM man thongs, some Lionel Trainwrecks, an original too, and a free guitar summit featuring splatt and matte some of youse would be pitchin' tents as well.

pitching tents figuratively and literally, my friend.

[jazzandmetal?]

Be kinda silly if they slept outside of 'em.

HTH.

:rotflmao:rotflmao:puh

[Tonefish]

Something tells me if Best Buy was blowing out BJFE pedals, a few unclaimed Dumbles, some JM man thongs, some Lionel Trainwrecks, an original too, and a free guitar summit featuring splatt and matte some of youse would be pitchin' tents as well.

Tuesday...no Monday!:banana:banana:banana:banana:banana:banana

[Texas_Blues]

Something tells me if Best Buy was blowing out BJFE pedals, a few unclaimed Dumbles, some JM man thongs, some Lionel Trainwrecks, an original too, and a free guitar summit featuring splatt and matte some of youse would be pitchin' tents as well.
Hahaha very very nice pun about the tents...oh and I would

[pir8matt]

Something tells me if Best Buy was blowing out BJFE pedals, a few unclaimed Dumbles, some JM man thongs, some Lionel Trainwrecks, an original too, and a free guitar summit featuring splatt and matte some of youse would be pitchin' tents as well.

If they were selling those things for only about 20% net off of what they cost normally, then it wouldn't make any difference, really. The people who want that stuff will buy it whether its on sale or not (free guitar seminars notwithstanding)

The stuff people are taking 2 days off to wait in front of best buy for might save them 1-200 bucks. They're not getting something worth 20 grand for $500.

Nice double entendre with the tent thing, though. :)

[Dr. Tweedbucket]

I wonder how many of us would be pitching a tent outside of GC if they were selling 20 Les Paul Standards for $500 each. :D
:stir:stir:stir:stir:stir



I bought a brand new Wine Red Gibson LP Custom off the rack for $550 with a Gibson case. :knitting


There was no line either! :knitting It wasn't GC. That my first guitar in 1978 :love:

[Suproman77]

I bought a brand new Wine Red Gibson LP Custom off the rack for $550 with a Gibson case. :knitting
There was no line either! :knitting It wasn't GC. That my first guitar in 1978 :love:

'78 was a good year for wine red Gibsons. Did you sniff the cork?

:D