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This is not always true. For e.g., last year, arguably the best deal last year on BF was CC's 46" Sharp LCD TV that I think was selling for $1,300. (Obviously, that seems expensive now - 12 mos. later.) But that deal did not have a voucher. My friend got that TV last BF and he told me when the door opened, it was a mad dash to the opposite end of the store to pick up a flyer that allowed him to pay for the TV and then pick it up. He said most of the vouchers that were offered an hour before store opening were for laptops, computers, digicams, and a couple other TVs.
So, itachi, to answer your question, while the voucher isn't guaranteed, if you can run well, you'll increase your odds. Start training ASAP.
Well in our store, we already have this dialed in. Like the last three Black Friday's we've done, we will have vouchers for the supreme door buster items. When we run out of vouchers, we run out of product. We have one voucher for each item. We will inform the people in the rest of the line that "such and such" product is now out. Now our store is on 100% private property. Anyone selling vouchers will get removed by security, who will be on hand at 3:30 a.m. (we start giving the vouchers out around 4:30, doors open at 5:00).
The only issue we had in the past is that sometimes we would get sent more product than what we had vouchers for. That means that after the faithful lined up customers get their product, there are still a few left. This is an issue if people have left because we told them we were out of an item. So this year we have a really nice color copier so we can make as many copies as we need. And they'll be signed by a supervisor so we can tell they're legit and not copies (in case someone brings a color copy machine to the line
).The last three years have been filled with compliments from our community. Most people are very impressed with our store's organization and preparation. And we move the line through fairly quickly as well. I can count on one hand (with fingers to spare) the times there's been an actual angry outburst in our store in the last four years we've been open, and I know of no fist fights (a block north at Wal-Mart there is usually a fist fight or shoving match every year - two years ago someone was stabbed in the parking lot!!)
Things to keep in mind:
1. Sales are regional. The leaked Best Buy ad on BFads isn't worth a damn. I've already seen several boxes labeled "$3.99 movies" come in, even though they're not advertised anywhere on that leaked ad. Our local sale and about two dozen other stores in this region all had different sales than last year's ad, as well. The secret sales were decent, too. Some of the items will be national, but I'm not going to put any weight into the pricing in the leaked ad. Last year and the year before we had a lot of $4.99 music CD's also, that weren't in the ad. (They won't even let us peek at these until the day before Thanksgiving. Wish I could tell you what we were gonna get!)
2. Each store will have their own unique way of organizing and planning for the BF rush. We have been planning and setting up for this in my store for two months.
3. Best Buy's general policy is to not price match other store's deals. Our store will not match deals from other stores. Sorry. Maybe your store will be different.
4. Just for fun we usually give out snacks to the people that are there when we show up (around 3:30-3:45). These are the craziest dedicated shoppers around. Usually some granola bars, cookies, or just some hot chocolate cheers them up quite a bit!
If your local store doesn't do any of this, you might suggest it, as it really cheers cranky tired people up!
