Post-madness report: Black Friday 2007
Black Friday 2007 was a success for me on all counts.
Before I recount my adventures, I'd like to present my Theory of Black Friday: The first person who's crazy enough to get in line is the person who decides when everyone else shows up. It may sound like common sense, but allow me to explain: I arrived at 11:30pm to Staples last year, and was fourth in line. (I had done a drive-by around 11, and it was empty.) Something I have noticed that is extremely common is the drive-by. This tactic entails a quick reconnaissance of the store(s) that the shopper is interested in. When I arrived at 10pm last night to Staples, I was the first to arrive. I got out, set up my chair, and cracked open a book. There were 4 more people within 15 minutes, and double that amount of drive-bys. See, if I hadn't gotten out and set up shop at 10pm, those drive-bys would not have turned into stops. I could have come at 11pm, and it would likely still have been empty. (Why did I come early? Meh, I was bored. Didn't want to take any chances. That sort of thing.) My plan for the coming years is to set up a highly organized network of consumers, with one scout parked outside of each store the collective group is interested in. We'll communicate with a central location (our headquarters, if you will) to report on the status of the lines outside stores.
I have more to say on my theory, but I'll move on for now.
As I said, I arrived at Staples (for the second year in a row) at 10pm. Supplies: camping chair, sleeping bag, blanket, 5 layers of clothing, 3 books, one fully-charged iPod, and some snacks. Oh hell yes, I was prepared. I am professional Black Friday shopper. 
My goals (when I arrived) this year at Staples were a 400 GB SATA internal hard drive ($60 after MIR) and a 4 GB USB flash drive ($18 after MIR). Mr. Number 2 arrived shortly afterwards. We quickly became acquainted. His wife was there, his son (twenty-something ROTC student) showed up around 2am--and brought a propane heater, and his daughter (17-year-old senior at IMSA) hung out for a while too. Mr. Two had one goal in mind: a Navigon 2100T Portable GPS, for $99, no rebate. He did his homework too-- he came to the store earlier in the week, printed data sheets on the model off the Internet, as well as a comparison chart to other GPS systems. Mr. Two really knew his purchase. He actually convinced me to buy one. Not just me, as a matter of fact-- at least 4 other people in line. I joked with him the whole night that he should be working as a salesman for this Navigon company.
I got to know several other people in line really well. Mr. Number 7, who wanted a laptop, but ended up buying a bunch of other, smaller items. Mrs. Number 4, who wanted the laptop. Mrs. Number 6, an odd, Indian woman who frequently left (leaving her daughter behind, with no chair or blankets), returning hours later. Her daughter would also stand in one of the close parking spots, physically blocking anyone else from taking her mother's parking spot. Mrs. Six actually didn't get the laptop she wanted-- her daughter was the only one in line when they handed out tickets, and they refused to give it to her because she was "underage" (when I heard this, I kinda slinked away... I'm only 17 myself).
We had fun, the first 10 or so of us. That's how it was last year, too. I'm not sure if that's how things work at the more competitive places like Best Buy or Circuit City (more on Circuit City in a sec), but the atmosphere outside Staples (at least in the front) is pretty laid-back.
My buddies were all at Circuit City for the second year in a row. They were Messrs. Number 10, arriving at 6pm. Back at Staples, Joe came by to visit me in his cousin's dump truck, and Ziggy drove by in his muddied-up, off-roading SUV on his way to work (at Radio Shack) just before 5am.
Spotted in line: Mrs. Number 3 from last year, Mrs. O'Brien- my P.E. teacher last year (I actually almost sold her a voucher for a TomTom GPS :-D), a Woodridge Storm soccer coach (one of the good ones), a guy who was at Circuit City last year, when my buddies were boxing, scalping, and brought recliners to the line, and the night manager from the McDonald's by my house.
As with last year, around 5:30am, they passed out vouchers for all the "doorbuster" items. This is where the fun started. There were about 10 items that were ticketed, meaning only those who had a voucher could get one (since they had such limited quantities). I got vouchers for every single item. The general manager (who we'll call Mr. Old Douchebag-- you'll see why in a moment) strolled through the line as his employees passed out the tickets for each individual item. He warned us at the front of the line (me in particular, I would assume, since I was grabbing a ticket for every item) that "we better not be selling these to the back of the line." I turned and smirked to Mr. Number 2 and his wife and son, who had already passed me their unwanted laptop vouchers to scalp.
After the employees went back inside, I opened up shop. People really wanted the $350 laptop, the Navigon GPS (which I was buying myself, so I couldn't sell my ticket), the TomTom GPS, and the 500 GB external hard drive. All of these were ticket items, and I sold them to the highest bidder. I walked away from those deals $275 richer, and I still had several tickets left for other, less popular items.
6:01am: the doors open. I grab my stuff, pay, put it in my car, and am back in the store 15 minutes later. I hang out near the voucher redemption counter, trying to pawn off the rest of my tickets to the people who are just showing up. This is where the trouble starts. This one old guy working there starts telling the other voucher sales associates, in hushed whispers, to "watch out for the guy in the blue jacket" [me]. I hear this, turn around, and calmly ask what the problem is. They flip out on me, telling me to stop loitering, and call over Mr. Old Douchebag. I figure it's a good time to make my exit. I stroll right by Mr. OD, walk out the door, as he's yelling for my unused vouchers to be given back to him. I had no use for them at this point, so I tossed them over my shoulder and kept walking. Done and done. I figure I won't be going back to that Staples for a while, and definitely not for Black Friday 2008. 
I can't complain. I got what I wanted (and then some). I may have ruffled a few feathers scalping tickets, but it comes with the territory. I hope everyone else got what they wanted today, and if not, check online, a lot of stores are still selling the stuff online. See you next year...
