Target Again Fails to Control Black Friday Crowds

It all boils down to the bloated sense of entitlement most people get. We’ve all felt like we’re above the law at one time or another.
For a unique perspective, try looking at Black Friday from the inside. In Nov. 2005, I did. Circumstances led to me taking an early-morning job at Target, unloading trucks and stocking shelves. Frankly, I had no idea how orderly or disorderly the crowd was outside the store because we were all too busy (working from 9 p.m. the night before) unloading two trucks and stocking everything we could, then spending a scant ten minutes or so familiarizing ourselves with the layout of the extra goodies tossed throughout the store so we could even have a chance of knowing where things were when the deluge started.
All of the suggestions you had for extra security/beefy, Target-employed line watches, barriers, et cetera, are fine. They cost money. Discount stores have enough fun finding people willing to work crazy hours at $6.50 an hour to unload trucks and stock shelves, let alone deal with Black Friday crowds, some of whom obviously are going to flout whatever security measures come up. That sense of entitlement kicks in quickly.
I like the idea of store managers tracking down people who want the scarce items, then handing out numbered cards or bits of paper to those, in the order they appeared at the store, so they can get what they want. Frankly, if I were a store manager and found 20 people who want the 20 plasma TVs I have in stock, I’d let them in early. Until I had to deal with the shouting masses of people calling UNFAIR! because they’re not being let in as well, due to their special circumstances, blah blah blah. All may be fair in love and war, but nothing’s fair in shopping.
Shoppers bear that responsibility of self-regulation.
We Target employees were much more harrassed by that entitlement once people got indoors, blamed us for the scarcity of some sale goods, chastized us for not knowing the precise location of the 1,500 items in the sale circular and then asked us why we looked so tired. (Mercifully, I was able to spend my last hours on Black Friday at the cardboard bailer, in the back room, blissfully away from the revelers.)
Black Friday, 2006, I was waiting in line at Wal-Mart (in Rexburg). I froze for over an hour, with many people in line freezing longer. As the time came to open the door, yes, there were people not in line, looking like they were going to rush the doors. People in line started getting tense. Then the doors opened up. . .and nothing happened as the line marched in an orderly fashion into the store. Only one person did any darting — and she was, shall I say, dumb enough — to wear flip-flops for an hour outside in freezing weather. No extra security, no extra employees with cudgels enforcing line regulations. We did get cocoa, and coffee was offered. But the crowd self-regulated.
Scary thing is, I’d work at Target again. A very pleasant working atmosphere, albeit not a career in the position I was in. Last year, I also worked at two call centers, dealing with other peoples’ sense of entitlement, mainly people who racked up huge cell phone bills then got really mad when we cut off services for non-payment. They’re probably the same ones cutting in lines on Black Friday.

I hit both the Wal-mart and Target in Ammon this year.

I arrived at Wal-mart at about 4:45, the sales started at 5:00. When I got inside was actually surprise by how orderly everything was. The doors were already open and folks were standing around the pallets of “sale items” in the middle isles where items had been places and wrapped in some type of black shrink wrap. I must have been asked by at least 7 employees if they could help me find the pallet that I needed during that 15 minutes of waiting. Not because I didn’t know where I was but just because they had a ton of employees on hand, one at each pallet. I found what I needed and waiting by it, when the items were upwrapped I got what I needed and moved on. Granted it was crowded but there wasn’t any pushing and shoving or anything of the sort. I think by having the merchandise in these larger isles that customers were able to get to the products that they needed without trying to all mob down the smaller isles. All in all it was a good experience.

I then left Wal-mart and headed to Target. I arrived there about 5:50 (store opened at 6:00). I was one of those standing in the long line waiting to get in. When the doors opened I noticed that the line went well at first but then stopped. I am rather short (5′4″) so I was unable to see over the people in front of me to figure out why the line stopped moving. I am guessing now that it was the “mob” that caused this. What got me was the overall choas when I got into the store. The first half of the crowd that had gotten in had already got what they wanted and were headed back to checkout while the rest of us were trying to get into the store. The area right in front of the registers was an absolute bottleneck! No one could move either direction (I guess everyone was afraid of loosing their “spot”). When I was finally able to get back to the toy area I was surprised to see that some of the sale merchandise was on the endcaps that face the back wall where the games are. It tooke me forever to find it and because of this narrow isle it was crazy place for that many people to try to get to. The items that were on the end caps on the main isle were easier to get to but they had few of the items on these. I don’t know if Target could try the pallet idea like Wal-mart used, but it would certainly make it easier to just reach the items. I was hit with at least 4 shopping carts and had one lady tell me to “f*** off” although I was doing nothing but standing waiting for the line to move. I hadn’t touched her or taken the last of some magical item. I think it was just the tention of not being able to get into the store and find the items due to the poor layout. I was listening to two of the employees discuss the fact that they had no idea where stuff was even though they were there to help direct people to the items they wanted.

The checkout process at Target was HORRIBLE! There were two main lines, one running beside the girls clothes section to the back of the store and the other along the main isle back towards electronics. Once you got up to the actual main isle in front of the registers then everything just fell apart. There was no organization and no actual lines to the registers, just grab one and go. If they could somehow have people directing where you should go when you get up there I think the lines would have processed faster.

In the end, this year I have to give Wal-mart an A for their efforts and Target a D.