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Trampling not allowed
Wal-Mart making big changes to prevent rampaging crowds on Black Friday.
Retailers don't like it when Black Friday leads to mayhem, fisticuffs and dead employees. Kinda puts a damper on things, no?And this year, shoppers' desperation to get in on a good deal might be ratcheted up a notch. Blame the economy. Blame the pressure we put on ourselves to still shower friends and family with gifts even if we can't afford it.
So now retailers, worried about potential calamity in their future (not to mention lawsuits), are taking steps to make Black Friday less chaotic.
Wal-Mart even hired crowd control experts who handled the Super Bowl and the Olympics, according to The New York Times. The store is making big changes this year.
The biggest change, according to the Times, is that Wal-Mart will remain open for 24 hours from Thanksgiving day through Friday night. No more unlocking the doors to rabid crowds at 5 a.m. on Black Friday.
So when do people line up? Whenever they want. Customers will now go to the specific merchandise display to line up, and can do so at any time.
Workers will start giving out the goods at 5 a.m. to people in line.
I like the change. It will keep everyone safer, and people won't be freezing in a Wal-Mart parking lot all night long.
Wal-Mart isn't the only store concerned about rampaging customers. The National Retail Federation is distributing guidelines for crowd control, the Times reports.
Best Buy told the Times it has a policy of handing out store maps and tickets to shoppers waiting in the parking lot. Tickets will be handed out at about 3 a.m., the store said.
Related reading:
If Walmart were a bad employer people wouldn't work there:
-People work at Walmart because they choose to.
-People shop at Walmart because they want a good value.
My best ever Black Friday shopping experience was at Target, where an employee was standing by with carts full of DVD's to restock the shelves as the bargin priced movies were sold.
The way to make Black Friday safe for consumers and employees is to have real sales instead of teasers Ads promising "4 flat screen tv's available at this price at each store" or some similar thing.
My mother-in-law works at Walmart and makes almost $12 per hour. She did not go to college or have a work history prior to getting her job at Walmart 10 years ago. She makes more than her daughter, my sister-in-law, who works for a local college in the student health department as a certified medical assistant.
I just had a discussion with my mother-in-law over the weekend about her insurance. Turns out, it is cheaper for her to keep her Walmart insurance than to use Medicare. She's 65 now and can use either insurance. Because she is a long-term, good employee, she only works 30 hours per week and she only works day shifts. The managers give her every Sunday off.
Based on her experience, Walmart isn't so bad. I think it depends on the person and the location of the store. Any job or company can get a bad rap depending on whose view you see it from.
I am proud to say I shop at Wal-Mart! When my daughter was 17-19 she worked at Wal-Mart. She got good pay and excellent benefits. When she was pregnant with my first grandchild, the medical benefits from Wal-Mart covered all of her and the baby's expenses, we did not have to pay out one dime! Plus when her son got RSV and had to be hospitalized, they worked around her personal schedule of having to be at the hospital with him and really stepped up to help her out whenever she needed. I don't know where these people are getting that Wal-Mart doesn't have medical benefits. Could the pay be better? Yeah, maybe. But nowadays, something is better than nothing. I shop at Wal-Mart because they have low prices and I feel I am getting a great value for my money.
When I lost my job, I have had employees encourage me to get a job there because they feel they have good jobs with adequate pay and good benefits. Obviously, the employees in our store don't feel exploited. They feel fortunate they have a job!
come a long way, but they are still way behind in their benefits and pay. They love people like you that they can "educate" in their mentality. I have known people who work at walmart and they are not a good company.
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