Wal-Mart Let Me Down

ARRRGH!!!!!

It is not often that I get truly excited anymore. Maybe a month or two ago I read that Stephen King had a new novel on the horizon - it was supposed to hearken back to his earlier style of writing, which was what I really enjoyed. It was also his longest work to date (1,088 pages), even longer than the uncut The Stand. I love long books. The scheduled date of release was today, November 10th.

Meanwhile, along the way, Wal-Mart got into it with Amazon - a price war of sorts on some of the more popular book titles. The short of it is that King's book was selling in both places for just under $9! The companies hoped that people who bought one book would buy others. Wal-Mart made a big deal of being a place consumers could always count on for having the lowest price even if it was by a penny (the CEO himself said so in an interview I heard just a few days ago [at least I think that's who it was {and when}]).

Soooo, I thought about camping out by the Wal-Mart door this morning to be one of the first to get and start the book, but I had other things to do (like sleep [never quite enough]). Besides, I knew the store'd have plenty of copies, so I would still get one no matter when I got there. I had other errands to run, so I waited and got to the store around 11:00 AM. I took a deep breath and headed to the book rack... and there it was! Unfortunately, the price sticker was just under $24! I thought there was a mistake.

When I got home, I went online and found the price online at both Amazon and Wal-Mart had risen to $17.50. I didn't know the $9 price was for pre-order only! Arrrgh! There was no way I was going to spend $24 for a book, so when I went back to the store later in the day, I asked a manager if they matched their online price. "No." I tried to look pathetic, but it didn't work. If I wanted the book TODAY, I had to fork over $24. I have to admit that I thought about it.... I did end up buying a Lee Child paperback to hold me over.

When I got home, I did order it... from Amazon along with a couple of other books (free shipping). I gotta save a few bucks where I can.

I don't know if I should send Wal-mart HQ in Arkansas an e-mail or not. Usually all that happens is someone down there has the store manager up here call me, which I don't like (I am sure the manager doesn't like it either). However, the next time I get one of those surveys....