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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 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 and made everyone leave.
Another red (and green)
letter day in retailing.
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