[quote name='yukine']I don't see what's so difficult about posting a note on the door, that clearly states how many units that are available.
The Gamestop that I went to yesterday did just that, they had 6 Wiis and they put that on the door. That way, no one waits in line for hours to find out that they are not getting one.[/QUOTE]
THIS is the biggest beef I have with all these retailers. I didn't go out today, but I went out 2 weeks ago. None of the stores had any notices. I drove by TRU and there were at least 60-80 people out there more than an hour before opening (with more waiting in cars - I didn't want to get into that mess). This is almost assuredly because they, too, didn't have any allocation posted. Then I swung by CC and saw only 10-15 people there. Whoa, I thought, here's a chance. So I waited for a few minutes, then all these people start walking up and saying they handed out tickets hours earlier and they were all taken. While this was nice for the people who waited overnight, it was MORONIC of them not to tack a damn note up on the door saying this for the people who showed up 2 hours before opening.
On BF, I settled into a GS line 20 minutes before opening after getting some stuff at a nearby Target because it wasn't too bad - yet I was about 20-30 back. Now, I had other business to do there (wanted to get other BF deals) so I thought I'd just take care of that even if I couldn't get a system. The stupid store didn't even open on time - I think they came an hour late. I dunno for sure, 1/2 hour after they were supposed to be open I left to go home and sleep (as I had just stayed up
). But there were a ton of people behind me who thought they were going to get a Wii. I'm sure they had no more than 10 (one of the people in front of me said the manager said less than 10 a few days before - yet she was there in the mid 20's anyway
). But a simple sign on the door would have cut WAY down on the line and made everyone much happier. And if lines are reduced then "stories" like this CNN one (I also call BS on the details of it) wouldn't even come close to happening.
If I owned a store I'd do a damn lottery. My sign would say for people to show up AT opening - anyone waiting more than 10 minutes before opening would be disqualified (OK, that is impractical, but ideally that's what I'd want to have happen). Then I'd hand out tickets to everyone, pull numbers, sell the systems, and move on. That way no one waits more than the 1/2 hour or so it takes to do the lottery. The way it works now not only do these people go early and wait for the store to open, they have to wait an additional X hours until they ring everyone up, offer them protection plans, memberships, and whatever other BS, only to find out they ran out. With a lottery, you pull numbers, put people in order according to the numbers, and everyone else can go home without feeling like they wasted hours for nothing.
The way Amazon is doing it this week is THE WAY to handle online sales. Kudos to them for that.
