Black Friday Nightmare Makes Change

Tomorrow marks one of the largest shopping days in the year. Stores will offer great sales on products and customers will line up early (some even today) to get their hands on them. I was disappointed in the human race when I heard the news last Black Friday that a Wal-Mart employee died from being trampled by shoppers after opening the doors.

The 34-year-old male employee was pronounced dead an hour after shoppers came through the doors of the shopping center in Valley Stream, Long Island, about 5 a.m. and knocked him down, police said. Wal-Mart called the incident rare and said they didn't know of any other employee deaths related to Black Friday. A Wal-Mart representative Dan Fogleman called the incident a "tragic situation, ... The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," Fogleman said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this difficult time. Police said about 2,000 people had gathered outside the doors before the Wal-Mart opened at the suburban location about 20 miles east of Manhattan. A crowd pushed the man to the ground at 5:03 a.m., three minutes after the store opened, leaving a metal portion of the door crumpled like an accordion. Wal-Mart worked closely with the police, but those who trampled the man to death could not be identified in order to prosecute them.

Wal-Mart is making big procedure changes for this year's Black Friday sale after what happened. This year the company is keeping its stores open 24 hours on Thanksgiving Day. That will make it unnecessary for shoppers to converge outside for pre-dawn openings. Other changes include handing out maps so shoppers can quickly find hot sale items, and keeping those items far apart so big crowds don't form. Other retailers are making similar changes. Prosecutors considered criminal charges after the guard's death. Instead they let Wal-Mart Stores pay a nearly $2 million settlement after it agreed to the sweeping.

I think this is a terrible situation and I blame the public much more than Wal-Mart. Overall, I think Wal-Mart did a good job handling this crisis. I do not know what more they could have done except give the man's family more money, but that doesn't really fix anything.

I will be out there shopping tomorrow, I don't mean to frighten you off! Hopefully nothing like this ever happens again, it makes us as people sound terrible. I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving (and Happy Black Friday) too!