Walmart Employee Trampled to Death

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This sale happened at many other stores without fatal results. I don't think they should have to expect that it may lead to trampling deaths.
 
This sale happened at many other stores without fatal results

And that's probably due to, in large part, organization and planning by those stores. Most give out tags for each item and let people in in a controlled way-and they have proper security. Wal Mart likes to cut corners-they need the money.
 
Money doesn't change a thing for that poor mans family but hopefully they can use to at least make their lives somewhat more comfortable in the future

This story is such a stinging indictment on the hideousness of consumerism and the hold it has on some people - yes the store should have been much better prepared but the people at that sale should have behaved better also - makes me more than sad to think that some poor fellow died because a bunch of people wanted to save money on stuff - in fact, it makes me furious

May he rest in peace
 
This sale happened at many other stores without fatal results. I don't think they should have to expect that it may lead to trampling deaths.

Yes, there were other sales all over the country given by other retailers as well, guess who had the most injuries? WalMart. Guess who had a fatalaty? WalMart.

You don't think their lawyers tried you line of logic?
 
^ As I recall, they'd initially hoped to identify specific individuals who might be held accountable from the security cam footage, but I gather that wasn't possible.
 
Bloomberg.com: Worldwide


kinda disturbing that today people would care more about saving a couple bucks on some shitty chinese products quicker than someone else, rather than the human being they are stepping over to get to it.

I agree. This is absolutely horrible.

I don't know about the rest of the Walmarts, but the one in my township. Has some of the most ignorant people on earth, shopping there. They hit into you with their shopping carts and don't even say "sorry or excuse me." Their kids are screaming and the parents (if you can call them that) are screaming and cursing them back. I hate that store. I only go there, when my mom wants to go. She likes their five dollar dvds. And this errand is done on a weekday morning, only. I can't tolerate their weekend crowd.

Being working class. I would much rather shop at the Kmart, which is within walking distance to my house. They have some nice products for the home. Such as bath towels and shower curtains. Plus, the employees are very nice and so are the customers.
 
the problem is, you combine the hysteria of these doorbuster deals on black friday with poor planning (what, did they think no one would show up or something?), you're going to have a problem on your hands, even if it's for saks fifth avenue or gucci. i'm glad to see the ny wal-marts are at least going to put better policies in place, though i'm disappointed they're not making it a company-wide policy. so what, just because this happened in new york, it won't happen anywhere else? with the economy the way it is and the fact that these black friday deals start earlier and earlier, you're just going to get more people worked up into a frenzy every year because they just HAVE to be the first one to buy the $50 laptop. these sales happen in all 50 states, so there should be company policies in place nationwide.
 
Do it like several of the venues on U2 tours: no one on the property until X-time of day. :shrug:

I think these sales things are pretty dumb, yes, but I still think the problem is with the people and not as much with the store.
 
I think these sales things are pretty dumb, yes, but I still think the problem is with the people and not as much with the store.
agreed (i do like shopping on black friday, though i'm not the type who lines up before the store opens to get the ridiculous deals advertised, i just stop by in the afternoon and browse what's for sale). unfortunately though it's easier to change how the store behaves than how people behave. :sigh:
 
Yeah I went out this past time, I went to the mall at 6am. Wasn't busy in the mall. A few stores were busy (like Menards), but not dangerously busy or anything. I got everything I wanted in about 45 minutes and was back in bed before the sun came up. I went out mainly b/c I liked the thought of ALL Christmas shopping being done and then still having the entire day to myself (rather than going to the mall at 10am, and now that I think about it the mall is usually busier during normal hours than it was when I went). I would have bought the same things I bought at regular price. I did not see any fighting, yelling, trampling...not really any lines except waves of people wanting to check out. Not every person in America is so insanely self-centered.
 
I think these sales things are pretty dumb, yes, but I still think the problem is with the people and not as much with the store.


The problem is these sales are not new, and major injuries happen every year, this isn't even the only fatality, so measures have to be taken by the stores, they have precedent to work from...

That being said, basic human decency does tell you to try and stop once you realize you are walking on someone's back, but we all know how communication can almost seize when you are hearding in a huge group of humans all at once.
 
Not every person in America is so insanely self-centered.
:up: exactly. i did do the lining up at 5 am or whatever time it was once before and i didn't experience any problems either. granted, it might've been different had i been in line at best buy (i was outside of sears which isn't exactly where i go to shop, but they were the first store opening that day at our mall) but i've never heard stories locally of huge mobs crushing and pushing people.
 
am I the only one who noticed in the video of the guy trying to be resucitated (spelling) that there were people laughing about something towards the end, after the police had just given up? :tsk:
 
OMG

St. Pete couple in line a week early for Black Friday

A check of the calendar shows the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, is still a week away. But don't tell that to Lorie and Ryan Davenport of St. Petersburg.

On Wednesday, they set up a large blue tent at the Best Buy store near the Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg, prepared to camp out for more than a week to snag some electronic deals.

"We've been doing this for six years now and we got beat out by the same guy for the last six years," said Lorie Davenport. "So this year, we said, this might be our last year, it might be our last hurrah, so we're coming extra early if we have to because we are gonna be first if it kills us."

After getting an OK from Best Buy management, the Davenports are now in it for the long haul.

Although the couple say they're not sure what they'll buy when the doors open at 5 a.m. next Friday, they are hoping for a good deal on a large-screen TV or perhaps something from the Apple Mac line.

From past experience, they know some items will be in short supply, and that means they have to be on guard for people who stretch the rules.

"You don't know how many friends at the last minute that are gonna come in and squeeze in the line. Lorie Davenport said.

Lest you think the Davenports plan to stay every hour of the day, there is a small detail you should know. They stay in line by day but another family spells them at night. The families are saving spots for a total of 10 people.

It appears stretching the rules may be open to interpretation.
 
Wish I had that much spare time!

Me too. My wife and I are considering doing the Black Friday thing for the first time in our lives next week. We'll be visiting friends in Portland, Oregon then so we'll be in unfamiliar territory. But we're going to try it anyway. I'm looking to get a new laptop and she wants a camera.
 
Must be a regional thing. I casually rolled into Best Buy around 10 AM on Black Friday last year, and they seemed to have stacks of everything that had advertised - even the big ticket items.
 
Do these people not ascribe any value whatsoever to their own time?

What losers.
 
For some people I cannot feel sorry anymore.

Do these people not ascribe any value whatsoever to their own time?

What losers.

To play Devil's advocate here, the same thing was said of me by friends and complete strangers when I slept outside the Bell Centre in Montreal for three days and two nights in freezing temperatures in March 2005 just so I could buy U2 tickets. And I wasn't even first in line. Some people had been there a full day ahead of me.

So, really, we don't know what motivates these people to do these things, nor do I think it's our place to judge. But that's just me.
 
So, really, we don't know what motivates these people to do these things, nor do I think it's our place to judge. But that's just me.

These people said that their motivation was that they wanted to be first in line because they had been beaten by the same man for a number of years in a row. :shrug:
 
To save a couple bucks on an electronics good, or to get the opportunity to see a unique event (every concert is unique, the experience cannot be repeated) of a band that, well, just elevates my mind and soul, I just value those things very differently. To each their own, right, but sometimes it takes very bizarre forms, little frightening too.
For my love of U2, even though I never went to nearly such extremes as many people I know, I've also heard funny things from friends, but most have some sort of understanding there.
A flat screen tv... I would hope my friends would take me to a psychiatrist. ;)
 
I can't really blame people who line up early on Black Friday, despite the media seemingly sensationalizing them as wackos.

If you save 300$ on some electronics product and line up 6 hours for it, there's a very good chance you don't earn 50$/hr at your day job and it's a worthwhile investment of time.
 
i'm not gonna lie, i'm going to miss black friday this year. i never buy any big ticket items so lining up early has never really appealed to me (my mom and i did go once super early, right before the department stores opened).

i always buy my big ticket items throughout the year :doh: i do at least get some discount, though. i got my hdtv around super bowl time through amazon so i also got free shipping and bonus...no sales tax. that alone is a nice savings as it's 9.25% back home. my laptop came with a free ipod touch (which i then sold on ebay), i think i got a free printer with my imac. the last thing i can think of where i don't think it was on sale or anything was my dvd player, but i waited so long to finally get a dvd player anyway it was pretty cheap as it was.

but if people have the patience to wait that long for a good bargain on something, more power to them. i personally wouldn't do anything like that (hell, i don't even do ga for u2) but that's just me.
 
If you save 300$ on some electronics product and line up 6 hours for it, there's a very good chance you don't earn 50$/hr at your day job and it's a worthwhile investment of time.

Sure.

But to line up a week in advance...
 
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