Today was freight day for Portland Fred Meyer stores.
Bedtime: 2100
Awoke: 0350 (20 minutes before alarm)
Target Store: Wood Village Fred Meyer
Arrived: 0430
The trucks arrived at about 0530 and left an hour later. At about 0630 I called the Glisan Fred Meyer to get directions in case I needed it as an alternative. Expecting to get the phone system, I was surprised when a real person answered and put me through to Electronics. They told me they had no Wii’s, but I now had a great idea. I called Electronics at the Fred Meyer where I was waiting and asked if they had any Wii’s. They did not. Next I called two more to find the nearest and to get the lowdown on their inventory.
The nearest at 148th and Division said they would not complete freight until after 0800, so I motored over there where I waited with a small crowd of about 10 people. There were six in line when I arrived, but there were others that later got out of their cars. There was no orderly line and I could see that it had the potential to turn out badly. At 0700 the store manager let us in and gave us the lowdown. They did not expect to have freight completed until 0830. They would not hand out numbers (which has been customary in all my experience with this) until they knew if they had any. If they did have any, they would award them based on a lottery system. Needless to say, the woman who was first in line at 0500 was more than a little upset.
Fast-forward to 0815 after extensive browsing of the very small electronics department. The inventory clerk informed us that they had received no units.
Tomorrow is Circuit City freight day and Fred Meyer will have another freight day on Friday. If nothing else, I was able to figure out a better plan for Friday based on today’s experience.