Most times when I go there – actually, every time I go there – I think to myself, I bet I could run this Wal Mart. It seems to me that most Wal Mart stores, like the Super Wal Mart near my house, can pretty much run themselves. The distribution chain is already in place. The staff is in place, mostly. The customers shop, the products flow in and out, the employees get paid and everything should run pretty smoothly. I’m sure it takes a lot of effort to get a new store up and running, but once you do, it should keep running. All the managers have to do is prevent major problems and fix the minor ones. All they have to do is keep their store from making national news as a result of their poor decisions.
Whoops.
My local Wal Mart store made national news about a year ago near Christmas when someone on the management team thwarted their customers’ best attempts to remain calm and orderly. Nice one. It all started when a large group of people decided that they all had about $400 too much in their bank accounts and decided that they really needed to get rid of it as soon as possible. It just so happened that on the very next day, at exactly one second into the next day, just after midnight, they would be able to spend their $400 on a new video game system which promised to be worth every cent of their money and would be the greatest thing to ever be available right up until the next one becomes available, probably sometime just after they get this one working right. That doesn’t matter, though and never has. If there is a new product being released anytime near Christmas, there will be crowds of people clamoring for it. In previous years, there have been fights over Cabbage Patch Dolls, people being crushed trying to grab Playstation IIs and people stalking Toys R Us employees trying to find out when the next case of Furbies was expected. Even I am not immune to the fever and to this day I’m embarrassed by the Furby incident. After years of this phenomenon, experienced customers know what to expect and have actually put their heads together and developed procedures to prevent ugly incidents.
At my local Wal Mart store, the customers in this case had devised a plan where each person was given a number and they would wait in line peacefully until their number was called. Then, they could buy the new Xbox game they were there for, assuming any were left. They began lining up in the afternoon in anticipation of the game going on sale at 12:00:01 AM.
At some point in the evening, after people had been waiting for hours and right after a management shift change at the store, a Wal Mart manager announced to the crowd that their civilized system was unacceptable, and a melee-type system was going to be implemented. First come, first served. Never mind that the first people to arrive at the store had slips of paper with really low numbers on them (numbers like “1” and “2” for example), so there was evidence of who had “First come”. Nope. First come, first served at 12:00:01 AM. This decision made the crowd so happy that they began pushing in closer together in what can only be described as a massive group hug, or I guess you could call it chaotic pushing and shoving. Anyway, that’s what the police called it when they arrived to make everyone leave.
Another red (and green) letter day in retailing.