I had a great time this morning. Best Buy has the “New IPad” and I’m in line. It is 6:30am. I am number 7. Rickey and Eric are in front of me and off to the side. I’m there to be a place-holder but realize I might have to choose a product. The Best Buy sandwich board says 2 hrs before they open, tickets will be distributed. We laugh and say two more hours. Not so bad; I have on three sweaters. Yes, it is cold in Southern California.
I start asking what I should get….32? 64? 4G LTE? wifi?
Yes, a present for my daughter-in-law and my son will not be here by 8am and I have no idea which he wants. I query more and more. Number one and two agree with Ricky and Eric, 64 wifi is perfect.
Eight, 8:30 comes and goes. No ticket- givers appear. I suggest, half in jest, that they tweet,”Best Buy lies” etc. A man in a black leather jacket sticks his head out the doors and announces everyone here will get what they want. By now there are about 15 in line.
We guessed we were not given tickets or let in because no product was in the store. Starting at 8, FedEX trucks arrived. First one, then two more and finally a total of seven trucks came and went. Out came two employees to take our orders for warranties and for hotspot with carriers. This was the deal…….hotspot=$49.99 and in two days a rebate plus $100 off the price of the i pad you choose, plus if you use Sprint it would be $35 per month. NOW THIS IS A DEAL??
My son arrives, I tell him the deal and he says OK. Within minutes, he decides to spend $300 more and get the iPad with 4GLTE and thank goodness I am off the hook for deciding which of these not-needed, greatly desired products I would take.
People arrive after 10a.m. when we are checking out, they get an iPad.
Cold, more tired, and realizing I didn’t have to stand in the cold CA mist for this gadget, I was not sorry. It had been a blast.
Over on realmoneypro.com, Kass says:
At Seabreeze we conducted our own channel check — but in only one location at the company’s Boca Raton, Fla., store.
There were no lines at all.
The clerk was standing at the door with a large box of inventory cards, asking which color, size and cellular carrier (Verizon or AT&T, or Wi-Fi) customers wanted.