OK first let me say, I don’t know if this is true or not, I just heard two clerks and a few people at Wal-Mart discussing this. They were discussing the Walmart Sale that starts at 5am on the day after Thanksgiving.
The clerk says “Since it’s cold out and not the best neighborhood, the management doesn’t want people waiting outside the store like last year. So what they are gonna do is let the people in the store at midnight and they can shop but they won’t be able to check out till 5am.”
Again, I don’t know if this is true, I just overheard.
I am thinking why not let them checkout? Would it be the POS (point of sale system) is set up to only ring the sale prices between certain hours? Or would you think it’s just a better policy to hold the sale as advertised? Or would it possibly be illegal to advertise a sale and start it earlier?
I don’t see how it would ever be illegal to start a sale early. To have a legitimate complaint, someone needs to show damages and cheaper merchandise isn’t the best way to do that. Wal-Mart is one of the better run businesses in the world. I doubt that a single store manager (who probably makes more money than your doctor) has that level of discretion.
Would the no check out apply to everyone, or just those buying sale items? If everyone, then it would kinda screw anyone who stops in after work to buy groceries or whatever like I do and aren’t interested in the black friday stuff.
Likely anyway that “doorbuster” items that everyone wants will be either still in the back or wrapped up on pallets until the sale is actually supposed to start.
Wouldn’t it be false advertising if they advertised the sale started at 5am but let people buy all those hot items before?
Maybe it’s a state or local regulation about business hours? They could let people in but wouldn’t be able to ‘do business’ before 5:00am. It would be like the ‘no booze before noon on Sunday’ rules I’ve seen in some stores.
This. While it sounds like the store in question is not open 24 hours, no WM (even those open 24 hours) will be able to check out the “blitz” sale items at their sale prices until 5 AM. (Items only available during this sale will be sale-restricted until 5 AM, and regularly-available items will ring up at full price until 5 AM…)
It’s a popular activity for many families to come into our store right after napping after Thanksgiving-- think 10 PM tonight-- in order to stake out prime spots for the 5 AM sale. And we’re open all night with no restrictions on normal purchases.
Blitz (or Black Friday) items will be out on the floor prior to 5 a.m. but as mentioned above, they’re wrapped (usually in black plastic) and associates are assigned near each pallet to prevent people from tearing into things prior to the start of the sale. If by some chance someone manages to get a Blitz item before 5 a.m. and to the register, the price scanned won’t be the sale price.
The 5 a.m. start time is there for a reason. I’d doubt any store would permit that merchandise to be selected before then, not to mention the home office would likely pitch a fit.
All that being said, I’ve gone to one Blitz sale. Never, ever again (but at least the year I went, there wasn’t any fighting). I’m doing my shopping online this year.