Weekly Roundup 10/1 (1 Viewer)

[David Lambert]

Rodon: It's $14.95, not ...87 (see my last post on the subject). I have insomnia here at 3 in the morn, so I'm off to my around-the-corner 24-hour K-Mart to give it a shot just as soon as I can switch out of these PJs. I'll let you guys know within the hour! :wink:
Justin, I simply don't know for sure. Sorry. I think the Godsmack CD and a different box IS the only difference, though. Which is why I wasn't too worried about it:

 

[David Lambert]

Editing this down to less-than-novel length (still too long, but shorter than before!):
K-Mart was completely the opposite of the other week, when I went by around the same time to get Monsters Inc. Oh, the store was neat and clean, except for the normal restocking and floor-scrubbing you expect to see in the early hours. But the stock for SK hadn't been put in the glass cases yet, and it was harder to find people who weren't on custodial staff.
I looked all through the cases; SK absent, also all the other new stock. I was hoping I'd see Elvira's Haunted Hills for the $12.99 price mentioned above. No luck. :frowning:
I headed for a register that was open and found a lady who wanted to be helpful. Unfortunately she couldn't be: she knew that the stock was "in the lockup area in the back", and that the day shift would be there "After 7" this morning to put it out.
I insisted that "I'm here, and I'd like to buy it; my alternative is to go up the street to Wal-Mart, but I'd rather get it from you". She intercommed the manager, but the answer didn't change. SHE explained the District Manager wouldn't let their shift have keys to that, and so they just couldn't help me...sorry. I replied that they should explain to the DM that they lost a sale.
Promptly headed to Wal-Mart, where I found all the new stock I expect a Wal-Mart to have already out. There were plenty of SK out, in both WS and FS. Distribution was 50/50. Stock of The Mummy and The Mummy Returns on the big display also seemed to be WS, but I didn't eyeball it up close to be sure. I got interupted by a helpful person asking what they can do for me. Just then I spotted an older DVD I'd been wanting but hadn't seen in a while: the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers for $9.44, so I grabbed it and said I was ready to check out. I reached into my back pocket for the K-Mart ad...
...and she called the media section people to the counter for assistance. I noted that SK had no price marked on it, and asked. She said they'd let me know, but what was taking them so long? (It hadn't been a full minute yet!) 30 seconds later, she asked if I was buying anything else in the rest of the store, and I said no, She told me to just go check out up front; she didn't want to hold me up. Wow; how nice of her.
[rant]On the way up I scanned the SK barcode in a Wal-Mart "price checker", and it said $14.86!!! [/rant]
So the lady at the express lane rang up up lickety-split and as friendly as can be. As she did, I held up the $5 coupon and said "I have a manufacturers coupon for that".
"Sure" she said with a smile, and took it from me. She simply scanned it onto the reader, just like she did the merchandise, and the readout said "MANUFACTURER'S COUPON -$5".
A minute later I'd paid via debit card and was at the customer service counter, filling out a note that thanked them for the opportunity to buy widescreen, because I would never buy anything else. I turned that in, and was on my way home!

 

[David Hicks]

Great News!!! Thanks for the update David. Off to WalMart for me, coupon in hand!

 

[David Lambert]

Keep in mind that WalMart's are price-matching local competitors on a store-by-store basis. Mine is like 2 blocks from a K-Mart, so natch they'd beat K's prices. If there is no K near your W, then their price is gonna be different.

Moral: YMMV! :wink:

 

[Matt Wooten]

well im gonna head out here later today to pick up the movie. im gonna stop by circuit city to try that bring it on and scorpion king deal.. for some reason i think im not gonna have such an ease as you had dave. i can see it now.. "sir we're sorry but we can't combine these deals" ARRRGGGGHHHHHHH

 

[David Lambert]

Matt: Winchester CC? GOOD FRIGGIN' LUCK!! My wife's best friend used to work there...she's told me some veeeeery bad things about them. I try to avoid them.

If you're hitting the Wolfchase location you might have better luck. Happy hunting!

 

[Rob TT]

David H,
Are you going to Wal-Mart to save the 9 cents from K-marts price? I'm willing to support K-mart for there effort in selling these DVD's at the lowest advertised price. Yeah, they might not have the best service, but if we don't support them, they are going to stop doing it. We need the competition to keep the prices low.

 

[Malcolm R]

Well, judging by Dave Lambert's experience, Kmart didn't give a rats ass about helping a customer who came out at 4 a.m. to buy something from their store. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart seemed to have the merchandise all stocked and ready to go, and their staff was very cheerful and helpful.

So, it appears Wal-Mart cares much more about serving their customer than Kmart does (gee...I wonder why they're bankrupt?) and you get the rock-bottom price to boot.

Dave, you should have stopped at Kmart again on the way home to show off your multiple purchases that they missed out on. :wink:

 

[Rob TT]

I just think it's sad that K-mart has advertised the best price(on a major release) two weeks in a row, and everyone uses their ad to go shop at the monopoly stores. You have to give K-mart a little slack at 4 in the morning, c'mon.

 

[Tony_Faville]

Has anyone tried the $5 off coupon at Best Buy yet? Need to know if I need to take my "angry eyes" with me.

 

[David Lambert]

Well, judging by Dave Lambert's experience, Kmart didn't give a rats ass about helping a customer who came out at 4 a.m. to buy something from their store.

Malcolm, I didn't intend to give the impression that the ladies I talked to "didn't give a rat's ass" about me. They were quite nice and apologetic. After 13 years of retail mgt. experience myself, I felt that they were being quite sincere to me as well.
I was conveying that K-Mart's district level didn't trust the nightshift people to have access to put out stock for the new releases, presumable for loss prevention reasons. Yet the dayshift people didn't have the foresight to get these items out of there before the folks who WERE trusted with the keys went home last night.
That's the fault of individuals making poor decisions, not an entire company. Every business is full of them, not just the ones who have filed for bankruptcy.
Two weeks ago, for Monster's Inc., the situation was the opposite. I got there at 6AM and MI discs were stocked up and locked up in the two different sets of glass cases that the Electronics Dept. has. I had a very short delay while they retrieved the keys, and I had my bargain-price Monsters Inc. PDQ.
This morning was different; probably an oversight on the part of the day-shift folks. I guess they were more concerned about a Pixar title than about a wrestler/action hero.
Rob TT has an excellent point: support K-Mart if you can. I was already out, and didn't want it to be for nothing. But, if it wasn't for K_Mart, Wal-Mart's price would have been more like $16.86, to price compete against Best Buy instead of K-Mart. OTOH, I wonder if K would have even had WS copies. Probably, but if so then how many?

 

[David Lambert]

Tony, BB has never refused a manufacturer's coupon in my experience...which is quite a lot. Shop with confidence.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

The big Bust Buy (oops, a slip, but I'll leave it) had not gotten in any of the new Warner titles. No PERFECT WORLD. No AUNTIE MAME. There were two guys in front of me asking the clerk to check on MAME, so at least we registered a little bit of a demand.


Guess I'll be ordering this through Amazon.

- Steve

 

[Malcolm R]

Need to know if I need to take my "angry eyes" with me.

If that fails, you can try the "puppy dog eyes."
And in fairness to Kmart, and to "cut them a little slack," the 24-hour supermarket near my home (our town's only 24-hour retail store) does include a disclaimer in their ads that "advertised sales start at 7 a.m. on day of sale." So perhaps the Super Kmart's need to post a similar disclaimer for those night-owl shoppers if they're not going to have merchandise available at 12:01 a.m.? But I still think if Wal-Mart can manage to accomplish this, Kmart should be able to as well.

 

[Carlo_M]

Not yet, but I did print out the copy I got in an email (I think it's the same that the link points to) from Universal. I'll be trying it either at lunch or right after work. If no one has posted their experiences I will post mine.

 

[Jeff D]

I think Dave found the prime time to shop at either of the stores and get ANY help from employee. Granted the Kmart help wasn't much, but she was trying.

 

[David Lambert]

The big Bust Buy (oops, a slip, but I'll leave it) had not gotten in any of the new Warner titles. No PERFECT WORLD. No AUNTIE MAME. There were two guys in front of me asking the clerk to check on MAME, so at least we registered a little bit of a demand.

I was wondering about this. My guess is that, besides Strange Brew (which is in their circular), Best Buy probably won't have any of the Warner titles in-stock on street date this week because they're all catalog titles.

I have little hope even for Firefox, much less the others.

I'll stop by on the way home from work and check, though.

 

[Michael Mathius]

The $5 off worked at Walmart without a hitch. Even the customer in front of me had one.

 

[Matt Pasant]

Steve, I was at that one too this morning. The only title they had was Firefox. No Strange Brew, no Heartbreak Ridge.

I then went to Circuit City close to that location, Nothing. So I just went to Frys. Waste of a mid-morning though.

-- Matt

 

[Joe Fisher]

Well I stepped in poop today. And it was good poop too.
Went to Best Buy to get "The Scorpion King". Went to register with DVD & $5 coupon. This is where it gets fun.
Cashier automatically price matches DVD to $14.89 from $16.99. She then deducted $5.00 from the $14.89. I'm down to $9.89.
After adding up the tax it comes to $10.71, but wait she now scans the coupon I had originally given her thus taking $5 more off the price for a grand total of $5.71!!!.
And she did all this without me having to say a word.
needles to say I'm going back tonight with a friend and trying again.
Joe