Comments on: Wal-Mart plays Black Friday spoilsport

Bargain hunters mourn as the retail giant cracks down on Web sites that post holiday sales information early.

[Penguinisto]

ROTFL... who needs Wal-Mart?

No, seriously.

There is exactly one (yes, only one) Wal-Mart in Portland, Oregon that I am aware of (and nother in Newport on the Coast, plus maybe a handful scattered elsewhere in the state).

It was something I noticed when I moved out here.

Now, I'm originally from Northwest Arkansas - a region where you almost literally cannot swing a dead cat in a crowd without braining a Wal-Mart employee... for obvious reasons (Wal-Mart HQ is in Bentonville).

All that said, here's the deal. I once figured Wal-Mart to be this huge and indispensable thing. Fact is, it isn't. If I can't find it locally, I can get it online from anywhere.

In many cases, the prices are a touch higher - a buck or two at the most. but the prices are compensated for by smaller crowds, friendlier staff, and a far shorter amount of time spent in finding a decent parking spot.

Getting groceries w/o Wal-Mart is a pleasant task again (and finding entire Asian-specific grocery stores up in this area makes it even more of an enjoyable experience - as in whole stores with [i]real[/i] Asiatic food, not a single aisle stocked with MSG-packed americanized versions of the stuff).

Buying some household item is nice when you know it won't come apart on you two months after you get it home.

If I have a problem with something I buy, I don't have to fight parking and ginormous crowds at the service desk just to get it taken care of.

I can finally shop in a store that doesn't have 9,000 cameras tracking my every move as I walk through it.

Saturday Markets (in Portland and Beaverton) are alive with small business, and friendly people. I can get fresh veggies that haven't been shipped by truck from ten states away.

I can post lots of other nice things that I've discovered w/o Wal-Mart, but honestly, most folks I think would find it sufficient with what's posted already. :)

/P

[fred dunn]

Then they take themselves out of the market

Why take the advantage away from people that want to shop with you? So we can wait to the last minute to decide whether we will spend Friday morning at Wal-Mart?

Not Me. I am going where I know the good deals are going to be...in advance.

I don't want to play games with my shopping money.

So Wal-Mart just count me out.

[goneoutflying]

things to pirate , Movies , Music, Walmart add

If people can pirate movies and music I'm sure a walmart add won't be much of a match.

[1957joe]

Wal-Mart

That's just another reason for me to stop shopping there.
I used to got to Wal-Mart exsclusively, now I go about once a month.
It seems that all they want is every nickel out there and they don't rally care how they get it.

Thank You

[bluon]

Copyright claims are incorrect - please update or elaborate story

The article mentions that posting black friday information would be a copyright violation. Copyright claims would only apply if sites were posting scans of the ads. Just posting product names and prices would not violate copyright laws, unless they try to pull some bizarre DMCA claim.

And Wal-Mart says that there could be criminal penalties? Even if there was some sort of copyright violation, how would that amount to something criminal? That would be civil as far as I know. Wal-Mart sounds like they are just trying to scare people with their legal staff.

[make_or_break]

Here's how it applies

Copyright infringement: the argument would be that since the pricing information is intended for publication at some point, releasing this information beforehand IS a violation of copyright in so much as the replication of said information [i]in any published form, even if it's not a direct copy of the future ads,[/i] violates the creator's (Wal*Mart) rights to control the distribution of the pricing information as they deem fit. It can be argued that prior publication of that data--whether by print or by website--is then in violation of that copyright. The information is what is copyrighted, not the print ads themselves.

Criminal violations: two points. Not only is the pricing information argued to be protected by copyright, it can be deemed as 'trade secrets', since it's pretty clear that this is part of Wal*Mart's marketing strategy for their business operations following Thanksgiving. Revealing such privileged information loosely amounts to corporate espionage, particularly since WM's competitors can gain a strategic advantage by the early release of this data. Moreover, WM more than likely has contractual agreements with their various publishing partners on data privacy and restricting release of this data; anyone getting this information, even if there was little in the way of arm-twisting or bribery, would then be seen as acquiring what amounts to stolen property.

[krevered]

Heh

"Also, Black Friday Web site fans aren't necessarily the best customers of the retailer anyway"

Wow, ignorant people for the loss.

Side note, Wal-mart customers are usually on welfare and have a family full of mullets. Wal-mart treats their employee's very bad and decent people are starting to look in other places for shopping. Who cares if they are emotionally destroyed over somebody "leaking" out their prices, they still suck. They'll always be the store that has just as many low income customers as a store like K-mart, poor man's shopping.

[vgraybeard]

Just Comply

Just comply. Don't post the info to the site. Wally World loses the AD space.Then e-mail the ad info to the competitors. Can a price be copyrited ?

[Morisot]

Just out of the goodness-of-their hearts these

Just out of the goodness-of-their hearts these other websites want to post the Walmart ads?

Did you ever try and give a surprise party or shower for someone and get it spoiled by someone else who let them know about it?

Walmart has a right to its business information.

[LarryM701]

Ads

No problem, if they do not want their ads out early I just will not put them on my do not buy from list and will not go into their stores. I check all pricing on the Internet and through ads before I shop, as all comsumers should do. If a store is caught doing as Best Buy did, I will reframe from buying from that store until it gets a clean bill of health from customers.

[proadventurer]

I did not know that Wal-Mart shoppers used the internet.

I heard they were worried that the information tubes got so hot that it might set their trailer on fire.

No, I kid.....

No I don't. I can't stand the Wal-Mart mentality. Really, I hate Wal-Mart, but respect Sam Walton - Didn't finish high school that guy, dropped out in the 10th grade!

[Mike_in_Florida]

So why bother then...??

WalMart says it won't affect theor bottom line because people are going to shop anyhow - so then why bother pestering the Black Friday websites?

I've been reading the BF sites for years and they never did anything like this before - why all the fuss now? If anything, you are killing any free publicity you had. Trust me, BF business is a big deal and anyone who gives the shoppers a hassle, will suffer - admit it or not.

I too enjoyed partaking of knowing who had the best deal on a big screen TV - If Wal Mart had the best price, but I get to see other stores ads first, guess what - they lose my business because I made my decision based on the ads I could see early.

If WalMart really wants to solve this - easy - release your ad EARLY then you don't have to worry about sneak peeks. Or better yet, how about chasing after the real problem - the newspapers and printers. THEY are the ones who grab illegal copies of the ad and scan and send it in to the websites. Sure, the sites should not post them either, but how about cutting it off at the top??

Leave the BF sites alone - they have bene HELPING you.

[paragonmatrix]

more info

here: http://www.mahalo.com/Walmart_black_friday_ad