On Being at Wal-Mart this Morning
It was 4:29 this morning. The alarm went off and so did I—to Wal-Mart that is.
Today was Black Friday. The day retail stores see more black than red.
There weren’t many cars on the road, but as I pulled into our Super Wal-Mart, I noticed the parking lot (which is huge) was near capacity. I had to park in the farthest row near the farthest corner. That’s alright. I was on a mission. I had to get this 14″ Lightning McQueen car from Cars.
I will make it a point to never go to Wal-Mart on Black Friday again, but when I go next year at the insistence of my wife, here are a few tips I will take with me.
- I will go 15 minutes before the sale starts. My time is worth more than I can save by waiting an hour and buying things I don’t need.
- I will park far away from the store. This makes for an easy escape.
- I will not use a buggy. As soon as the sale started 99% of the people were stuck right where they were. I was able to wind myself around aisles with ease.
- I will get what I want and then immediately checkout. 10 minutes after the sale started, I had found the Lightning McQueen car, the Lightning McQueen sleeping bag and the Lightning McQueen tent I was looking for. Most people were still shopping so the registers were pretty empty. Within 5 minutes I was out of the store! A record for Wal-Mart on any day.
One last thing. Check Wal-Mart.com for secret sales the day before. I noticed online last night that Shrek 3 was a secret sale. I wasn’t intending to look for it, but at checkout there it was right in front of the cashier. I grabbed it and asked if it was on sale too. She didn’t think so, but after scanning it, it was $12 (instead of $20).
Makoto with the spoils…
Makoto feeding the car his breakfast:
Aww
And that’s good advice for shopping. I think though that more people will start shopping exclusively online just to avoid the hassle of travel and crowds. That’s mostly what we’re doing.
Yeah, that’s what I normally do. The trip was done solely at the insistence of my wife.
I noticed when making the Amazon link to the Cars toy above that it was only about $3 more than the super special. In other words, the gas and time it took to save the $3 may have cost more than $3.
That’s why we shop online too. We live out in the country and the nearest Wal-Mart is about an hour away so ordering online saves us a lot of money, even if we don’t get the in-store specials.
That’s why we shop online too. We live out in the country and the nearest Wal-Mart is about an hour away so ordering online saves us a lot of money, even if we don’t get the in-store specials. And it saves the aggravation looking for something you just can’t find in store.
Except groceries and gas, I think 99% of what we buy is online. My wife buys most of her clothes online and I just get… hand-me-downs.
Nice new site design too. Looks very cool.
And I apologize for double posting. gomen nasai.
iie! It makes this blog look super popular
Well it is super popular
One of the best Japan-related blogs I’ve read.
Thanks! Well, not yet (I can see the stats
), but I appreciate the comment.
As you can tell, I am playing with the theme. I had to stop midway to let my wife check her email and call her mother through Skype. Now I am back at the helm…
mwahahaha
Can’t wait to see the final new design!
Well good luck with it. I suppose I should stop annoying you. Keep up the great work. I really do appreciate it.