My 2009 Black Friday Experience at Walmart

Charlotte, N.C. -- I am not usually the type of person to awake at the crack of dawn to go shopping on Black Friday. In fact, this would be the first Black Friday in which I would try to take advantage of doorbuster sales. It's not that I don't like sales, but the idea of missing out on valuable sleep to fight crowds for parking spaces and sale items just wasn't that appealing to me.

That was not the case this year. I wanted to go shopping on Black Friday and take advantage of some great deals. I was willing to stay up all night if I had to, in order to get what I wanted at the price that I wanted.

My shopping actually began earlier in the week, as I scoped out what sales would be offered and where they'd be offered. I perused a few Black Friday ads, but found most of what I needed on the website Black-Friday.net. I had to determine which items would be on sale and which retailer offered the best prices.

After my "research," I decided that my main destination on Black Friday was mega-retailer Walmart, and it seemed like I wasn't the only one who was headed there.

When I arrived at Walmart at 3:00 am in order to take advantage of the sale on the laptop computers, I was both surprised and disappointed to see that there were about 30 people in front of me in line for the model of computer that I wanted. I had heard in the days leading up to Black Friday that the quantities of "doorbuster" items were usually limited. That was proved true in this case.

I learned that all the "tickets" for the laptop computers were handed out to consumers around 2:30 am. Walmart started handing out tickets a few years ago in order to better manage the crowd of people waiting for the products and eliminate any violence or "mob rushes." Those in line receive a ticket for the item they want to purchase at 5 am, and only those with tickets are guaranteed to receive an item. This process lets people know upfront how many items are in stock so there are no surprises once the items are handed to consumers.

Well, I wasn't giving up that easily on my laptop computer. I called my cousin-also an early Black Friday shopper-to see if she had already made it to the Walmart on her side of town. She arrived around 3:30 am and let me know that she was able to obtain a ticket for the laptop computer. So I headed to that Walmart.

After driving 20 minutes to the second Walmart, she handed me my ticket. I was so relieved! Now I just had to wait until 5:00 am when I could make that beautiful purchase. In order to pass the time away, I chit-chatted with the shoppers in front of and behind me, whom I befriended on this cold, early morning.

An hour and a half later, the significant discounts on the HP laptop computers were honored, and I was rather giddy when I arrived at the register to receive mine. At over a $300 savings, I was ecstatic about the purchase.

After my experience, I may do this Black Friday shopping every year. But next time, I won't take any chances. I'll be aiming to arrive at my retailer of choice around midnight.