Bargain Camping: Is it Worth it to Wait in Line for Holiday Deals?

You've seen them, heard about them, or stood in one -- those lines of faithful bargain hunters, camped out in tents and sleeping bags outside of Wal-Mart or Best-Buy, hoping for the first crack of some new product launch, for a Wii, perhaps, to ragale upon excited newphews, or a PS3, to make a few (hundred) quick bucks on Ebay. I wanted to write a little "how-to" guide for this kind of shopping after I saw one of these bargain campers featured on the afternoon news on my local NBC station. This poor woman had camped out in the cold in front of K-Mart the entire night before Black Friday, expecting to get one of the limited marked-down flat screen TVs. The next morning, instead of being escorted to the electronics deparment and rewarded with her purchase, she was handed a ticket which she was told was a voucher for the television -- and by the time she presented said voucher to cashier in Electronics, she was told that another group (who had been given different-looking vouchers) were the ones able to purchase the flat-screen. This woman even witnessed another shopper being handed a ticket -- and this shopper had not been standing in line at all! Understandably, the woman in this feature was furious. I won't go into further details of this incident, since that is not what this article is about, but needless to say, her issue was not resolved quickly or easily.

I know a thing or two about standing in lines to get that special gift. Last year, huddled in the cold at 6 am in front of Best Buy, I watched as an employee went down the line, handing small blue tickets to the first 78 people who had qued up to buy a Wii. I held my breath as the stack in his hand grew smaller and smaller, and watched in disbelief as the last blue ticket was handed to the boy in front of me (due to a twist in fate I ended up with a Wii that day). I also was one of the few loonies waiting all night in the shoe department of Wal-Mart when the Xbox 360 launched. Safe in our camping chairs 11 hours before the sale, we were confident in being proud future owners of the greatest video game console to date.

To enjoy a successful bargain hunt, there are a few things you must ascertain in advance. Had the infuriated lady known K-Mart's policies on bargain camping beforehand, she might have saved herself the aggravation. First, if the product you want is launching or going on sale in several locations, decide in advance where you want to "camp". Will you be in a 24-hour facility, where you can wait comfortably in chairs, (or even a cot, as I observed during this year's two-day PlayStation 3 camp-out) or will you be outside? If so, what is the climate? Will you need food, blankets, and a tent? When considering location, keep in mind that rural areas may have fewer people vying for a product; whereas in New York you might have to compete with several dozen shoppers, a small-town Nebraska store might have the same item waiting on the shelf. In many cases, however, there will be only one retail outlet near your home offering the product.

Once you know what you want, and know where you want to buy, it is important to check the store's policy on bargain camping. Some chains, like Best Buy, are great about providing order and security for those standing in line. When I was there, the handing out of vouchers was done in fair and controlled way, with a police officer hanging around making sure everyone played fair. In other locations, shoppers are on their own -- many stores have no official policy for dealing with overnight lines, or even hour-long lines right before the sale. While the cusomers form a que on their own, the staff does not aid or inhibit them, or give them any guarantee that their place in line gives them more right to a laptop than an aggressive parent who shoulders her way through to the front. Find out if the line you are in is "official" -- I have actually seen several separate lines within one store, and no one seemed to know which was the "correct" one. The best thing to do, if you know you want to wait for any period of time over an hour, is to speak with a manager or knowlegable employee and figure out when you should arrive, where you should stand, and if your place in line guarantees you a voucher (or the product itself).

Just as arriving early and standing in line does not guarantee you a voucher, a voucher does not necessarily guarantee your purchase of the product. A voucher generally means, "We have one item in stock for each slip of paper -- 30 tickets for 30 XBox's". But with last-minute launch detail changes, shipping problems, or oversight, the numbers sometimes do not add up. In my case with the Playstation 3, the UPS boxes containing what was supposed to be my consolewere stolen -- twice. You might get a voucher that guarantees your purchase -- with the next shipment. If there is a variation on the product, such as a computer or game system with a smaller hard-drive, you might receive a voucher for that. Sometimes the first in line are the first served, and sometimes the tickets are given away raffle or lottery style. Try to find out in the beginning how many vouchers there are, and how many actually items are in stock. But don't be too impatient if you find it hard to obtain this imformation -- often only the store manager knows, and he might not want or be able to tell you. Any line I stand in, I ask employees and others around me how many actual items are available, and how many people are waiting. If you arrive 20th in line for a store that only stocks ten of the camcorders you wanted, you might as well go home.

(Tip -- If you are cutting it relatively close, say, 50th in line for 48 camcorders, stick around -- someone's credit card may not go through, or someone may have to leave. That is how I ended up getting the last voucher of the day for my Wii.)