By Connor Donnellon

The holiday season is upon us, which means the end of the semester, more time with family, holiday traditions, and of course, waking up early in the morning the day after Thanksgiving to get the best deals. This means everyone will be trying to get the thing that will make or break their child’s Christmas. But, we see all the time of the large crowds at retailers, and in some instances, injuries caused by people stampeding through the aisles.

Jake Webb worked at Walmart’s North Tonawanda location for the last two years, and he discussed some of the things that he saw. “In 2021, we still had COVID rules in place, so it was a little easier to handle.” Webb said. “In 2022 however, it was chaos. People were lined up throughout the parking lot to get through the two front doors.” It’s not uncommon for there to be injuries, but as a result, most people are willing to take that chance.

Black Friday sales happen all over the place, but are you actually getting a good deal? It’s believed that stores would be losing money leading up to Thanksgiving, which they would then hold these sales to recuperate any money they did lose, putting them back in the black. “I would be in charge of telling people that the items under the blankets were not on sale yet” Jake said. “People would try to take those things to buy them before anyone else. And then, we would bust them at the register.” Jake Webb did not disclose how the store does its pricing leading up to the holiday season, however, he did discuss that it wasn’t uncommon for larger chain stores to slightly raise their prices to make it seem like you were getting a deal.

The last thing that Mr. Webb told me that the sales have already started for Walmart Plus shoppers. The service is a subscription to Walmart, and is for people to get better deals on items both in the store, as well as online, and are able to pay through their phone instead of the check out areas. He went on to say that the service is helping with congestion at the self checkout lanes, but it doesn’t work all that well when it comes to checking receipts for anything that customers are walking out with. Walmart may not be someone’s first choice when it comes to doing their holiday shopping, but having something for everyone on a shopping list is always beneficial. Even if it does start at 7 A.M., the day after Thanksgiving.