| Thanksgiving Day Holiday Massacre |
- I have to brag on the Best Buy's way of
doing things, but first I have to tell you about Wal-mart, so you can
appreciate the Best Buy way.
- Nearly 10 years ago, the craze was Furbys.
Everybody wanted one. So did our family. Wal-mart had them, limit 1 per
customer. Of course, we needed more than 1 and we knew the crowds would
be rough. So we made our plan.
- My daughter, my son and his wife would all
go to the Brown Road Wal-mart, while I, alone, would make my way to the
one that was then in the Ingles Shopping Center on 28 by-pass. We
figured with three of them at one store, our chances would be better
there.
- We got there before dawn. None of us had
cell phones back then, so we had to wait until we got home to see if
any of us had any luck.
- At the Brown Road Wal-mart, even though my
family got there well before dawn and stood for hours with a mob of
people, it was not first come, first served.
- Someone came out of the store with a roll of
tickets and handed them out to all. Then at opening time, they called
numbers, so even if you had just walked up, you could get your ticket
number called before those who had been standing there for hours. Does
this seem appropriate?
- So my three, did eventually get in the door,
but only after hoards of other people. At the Wal-mart where I was
standing, I decided to kill to some time by talking to a nice lady,
who, like me, seemed alone in the mob.
- She was not there to get a prized Furby, but
to get some stretchy wrestler, which I cared nothing about. She needed
two, though, and had no clue what she would if she couldn't snag two of
them for her sons.
- I knew what to do. I offered my services!
If I was able to grab two Furbys, and she was able to grab two
wrestlers (I really didn't see a run on them, but then I had no little
boy who wanted one) I would glady buy her wrestler for her, and she
could buy my Furby for me, and we might both leave happy.
- She excitedly agreed. I told her to go find
her wrestlers and meet me at checkout. There were no tickets given at
my Wal-mart, it was just mob time, push and shove, try to stay standing
(and me disabled!), and try not to get stuck in the doors as all those
people tried to get in at once! It was a madhouse!
- When I finally got in, the focus was
straight ahead. They had a huge bin full of Furbys, or so the chatter
said. I could only see the mob of people, not the bin. I slowly
inched my way toward the middle of the mob, but I could never see the
bin (not the whole time I was there!) .. I could not see into the bin,
but if I scrunched down a tad, and reached my arm through the waists of
the people ahead of me (who, oddly were searching through the Furbys to
pick and choose - gimme a break - this was not the time for that) -- I
just needed some! .. any! .. then my fingers felt a box!
- I clutched the box and brought it though the
people to me. I had one! I put it under my left arm and reached my hand
back through the couple of people ahead of me who were apparently
browsing. Another one! I got two! woohoo!
- I backed out, holding tightly to my prizes,
then got back out into the aisle, and began looking for my new lady
friend at checkout. She was waiting patiently for me, empty handed. She
had driven over from Seneca to get a wrestler, but they had not arrived
for the sale.
- She still gladly stood in line with me, and
I gave her the money to buy my second Furby. I offered to follow
her to the other Wal-mart to see if we could find a wrestler over
there, but she was definitely not going. If they had any, they were
gone by now, and if one store didn't get them, it was a pretty good
idea the other did not, either.
- I really did appreciate that nice lady who
bought that Furby for me. I didn't know how well Wal-mart would honor
their Limit 1 ad, but I needed what I had.
- I was very excited to get home and see how
well my other three family members had done. I got home first and
showed my mom the Furbys and we couldn't wait to give them to my aunt
and uncle for Christmas.
- Finally, the other three came home.
Regretfully, they came home empty-handed! Three of them got zero
Furbys and one little ol' me got two! However, I'm not sure I
would ever want to get in such a mob again!
- That brings us to Best Buy and their after
Thanksgiving sale. The prices are fantabulous! About two or three
years ago, I went to my first Best Buy sale. I was there in the dark. I
was the third person in line.
- By the time the store opened, the line was
around the corner and no clue how far it extended. Notice I said around
the corner. The mob was there, no doubt, but they were not allowed to
BE a mob!
- Best Buy had the best system of any store I
have ever been to, or have been to since. I was so impressed! Here's
how they did it.
- When I got there, it was me and the people
ahead of me, some young boys. In the beginning, we lined up against the
wall, mostly to try to stay warm and out of the cold, cold wind.
- As people began to gather, some people
(thank you early workers!) came out of the store and started a
barricade (for lack of better description) that began where we were
standing at the door, and wrapped around down the side of the
store.
- It was like a construction fence, at least 3
feet high and what seemed impenetrable to line breakers. Once you were
wrapped, you were wrapped! It didn't touch your body, but I saw no way
for barging in line or mobbing up. Terrific idea, but they were not
through!
- As time neared for the door opening, maybe
45 minutes before, out came several people this time, pushing carts.
On these cards, were clipboards, flyers and papers. The workers
asked us, "What are you here for?"
- I was there for a computer, a camera, and
several other things, many limited to 1 or only 10 to a store. I got a
paper for the computer, filled out some info, then she gave me back a
paper with a corresponding number on it. She told me I could go right
in when the doors opened and shop for other things at my leisure.
- When I got ready to check out, stop by the
desk with my paper, and my computer and camera would be there waiting
for me. No pushing, no shoving, no grabbing. How wonderful!
- When they got so far down the line, it was,
"I'm sorry, we've already given out our 10 computers, but you can check
the desk later to see if they have all been sold."
- If they didn't want to wait, they could
leave now and not continue to stand. When those doors opens, we single
filed in, no pushing, no shoving. It was absolutely wonderful!
Sometimes you might see a paper laying somewhere from someone who
changed their mind.
- Oh, it was still crowded and the lines were
long, but I knew I had my computer and my camera and I had no need to
worry. It was the best holiday buying experience I have ever had. I
hope other stores do the same thing. It was very fair, very orderly,
and extremely well done.
- Best Buy needs a great pad on the back! Thank you Best Buy!
-
|
| Michael's and Hobby Lobby |
Most Sunday's there are money-saving coupons for both Michael's and Hobby Lobby craft stores.
Did you know that you can take your Hobby Lobby coupon from the paper
and use it at Michael's? You cannot use it at the same time as you use
your Michael's coupon, but it will give you an extra coupon per week.
Did you know that if you go to www.HobbyLobby.com you can find their
current ad, along with a coupon? Sometimes the coupon is the regular
40% off anything coupon, but sometimes it is specifically for a
particular item, like books or kids' crafts. You can print out as many
of these as you like, but you can only use one at a time.
You cannot use the online coupon at Michael's, however, only the
newspaper one. A Michael's representative told me that since Michael's
does not have an online coupon, they will not honor an online coupon.
Also, if you have an AC Moore craft store coupon (located in
Greenville) those coupons are not good at Michael's. They are not
considered in competition with our Michael's.
Also, Hobby Lobby will NOT honor any Michael's coupons.
|
| Watch Those Scanners at Checkout! |
This is one of my favorite money-saving
tips! I taught my children when they were young NOT to talk to me at
checkout. I lose too much money if I am distracted.
Let me say right off, it is not the cashier's fault (most of the time).
Watch your items ring up. Never "assume" the prices will come up right.
Many times they do not.
Let's take Bi-Lo, where I do a lot of my grocery shopping. Bi-Lo has a policy. If it rings up wrong, you get it free.
Now, no one is going to say, whoa, that was wrong, lady, you get it
free. Some of the cashiers don't seem to know about this policy. So,
you, the comsumer and eagle-eye price watcher, have to say .. "That
rang up wrong, I'd like it free, please."
Some will just take off the wrong price, and you get it free. Some may
have to call a manager over, tell him or her the problem, but you will
get your item free. (There are restrictions .. no alcohol, cigarettes
and a couple of other things.)
Now, don't think you should not call this to their attention. They made
this policy, not you. You are just helping them bring it to fruition. I
think it's wonderful of them, but YOU have to catch their mistake. They
won't do it for you.
As a matter of fact, I find at most places, when you tell them it rang
up wrong, they tell you that you'll have to go to Customer Service, or
they may just take of the wrong price and put in the corrected price,
nothing more said. Don't let that happen to you. You go to Customer
Service or you insist on the free item. |
I basically have nothing but good things to
say about Best Buy. I spend a lot of my life there and if I ever won
the lottery, they would get most of it.
Let's just say you buy a computer because yours crashed and is
unfixable and the one you want is not on sale, so you go to Best Buy
and buy another one. You pay full price.
Three week from now, that very same computer goes on sale and you could
have saved $100 if you could only have waited. Not to fear. Take
your receipt to Best Buy, they will already have a flyer there, and if
your item goes on sale within FOUR weeks of your purchase, they will
give you the sale price difference. Is that super or what? You still
get the sale price.
I will check, but I believe Target does this as well. I'll get back to you on that one.
|
Most stores (like Wal-Mart have their policy posted
where all can see it, but they just don't look.) Recently when I was
way over-charged for an item at Wal-mart, stood in a long line to get
to the Customer Service person, the service person had no clue what I
was talking about, so she called a manager. That manager said that
policy was no longer in effect.
I left and went to the
checkout lane, where at each checkout, there where you bare down to
write your check, is the policy, all printed out for you. It IS in
effect. I spoke with another manager, who was very helpful, knew her
store's policy, and immediately got my money returned. Wal-mart's
policy is that if the mispriced item is more than $3.00, you get $3.00
off your total bill and a corrected price, a penny wrong could be worth
$3.00.
If the item was less than $3.00, you get the item free.
Petty?
No. It is company policy. Do they run change the price on the mispriced
item? ummm, no. I have never noticed this. Try it sometime. If you get
$3.00 off your bill this time and it's something you use often, try it
again next time you go through and see if it has been changed. Then let
us know. Keep them on their toes. |
Do you have a Bonus Card? I hear they track
you from here to yonder, but I have a huge set of them on my keyring
and you don't get the sale prices without them. Bi-Lo, Ingles,
Bloom, I've got 'em. I don't leave home without them.
But, other stores offer Bonus Cards as well. I was behind an older lady
at Best Buy once who had bought an expensive item and refused to invest
$10 in a Reward Zone card. Pity her. She would have gotten well more
than $10 back just for that one purchase alone. Every so often when
your purchases hit a certain mark, Best Buy sends you $5, $10, even $20
coupons to use on anything in the store .. you can use them all at
once, too. I have gotten well more than the $10 charge back on my
Reward Zone card.
Books-A-Million offers cards as well, and you discount comes off right
there when you purchase. They charge for their crds, too, but, again
... I have gotten my money back and then some. I think I'm good until
2010 on those because they offered a great tote bag when you renewed
for a year. |
Do you have experiences with local prices,
bonus cards, know where to get great prices. Where have you found the
best marked down prices? Tell us here at freebeezzz! We want to learn
to save money! Drop us an email at
freebeezzz-owner@yahoogroups.com Thank you! |
|
