120 GB hard drive snagged for $99

Most big retail stores are like that.

NOW that price is much better.

Why is this newsworthy?

OMG! WOW! Things like this never happen.....oh wait, they do all the time.

If that were the normal price I would get one, but considering I bought my external 250GB HD for my laptop for $50 a year ago, I just can't give in to this price structure.

Congratulations, he took advantage of what he clearly knew was a mistake... that's a good thing?

Opportunists. :shrug:

kinda dishonest it seems as though he would have know the correct retail price.

You know, if you don't find something of interest to you... don't comment. Not a crazy idea.

Personally, I think it is of interest because there's some chance any random Walmart might have it mismarked like that. It might be worth checking out for some people. So what?

Beyond which, a lot of places will not honor that "common" policy. I've had many places tell me that it was just a mistake and I'd have to pay the real, full price.

Seems like a fluky deal, but hey, I'm all for taking advantage of the lenient policies of big companies. Just don't be expecting to pull off the same feat at your local store.

The sad part is that you can buy a stand alone 120gb 2.5' hdd for less then $99 even, and yet this is considered a deal and a half.

Anyone who buys the 120gb drive for $180 deserves to be shot.

Dishonest, yes, but if YOU had got the chance for a reduction on this, would you seriously say "oh wait, I should pay $179 for this"? No you wouldn't. Dispite whatever kind of facade you defend yourself with. =P

Actually ssuk, I would not take that chance.. and that's not a "holier than thou" sentiment either... Some people still actually have integrity.

Rip on Wal-Mart all you want: you may hate it, hate the policies, whatever... doesn't justify ripping them off.

It's not ripping anyone off. It's a policy for a reason, if not an actual law. It's used to prevent companies from posting one price, and registering another. Hoping that either the customer won't notice, or will pay the higher price at the cash as not to cause a fuss.

It is a law here in Canada, though you only get up to $10 off the the price difference. If it's under $10 you get the item for free.

Sorry, it's not a law in Canada, but a voluntary policy. From the policy:

The Item Free Scanner Policy – The Retailers’ Promise of Price Accuracy.

If the scanned price of a non-price ticketed item is higher than the shelf price or any other displayed price, the customer is entitled to receive the item free, up to a $10 maximum. When the item has a price tagged, the lowest price applies. When identical items are incorrectly priced, the second one will be sold at the correct price.

I would rather shop somewhere that supports this policy, than not.

That very well may be, but you honestly don't see the distinction from this story?

He knew what the real price was ( ala "seizing upon the opportunity..."). Sugar coat it all you want, it's ripping them off, if not theft.

now if i can just find a 42" plasma HDTV with one of those stickers on it

Wow, I can't believe so many people are ripping on this guy for just taking advantage of a Walmart pricing error. You do know your defending a company who has horrible hiring policies and employee treatment.

I for one congratulate this man and am all for taking advantage of LEGAL errors and policies to get the best deal possible. Congrats man and don't let these people make you feel bad for what you did.

@15 Get off your high horse and don't bash the man for just getting a good deal. "Theft," I laugh at you and your ridiculous image of what he did. Why don't you go to Walmart and overpay on an item in order to bring Karma back to this world. You idiot.

Its alright, Bash all you want. I got lucky. I will live with "ripping off" a multi BILLION dollar company of $80.00....

I saw a similar story on Digg a while back. Some guy got a Wii for $30 because they were stocked in the wrong spot.

Good job, Scooter!

They F'd up, you did nothing wrong, and #^@* Wal-Mart anyway.

I can't believe anyone try'n to bring their moral BS out for WM.

And 'Seizing upon the opportunity' are xbox360fanboy's words, not his, if you read the actual post.

If you're going to complain about MS's pricing of this HD, keep in mind that identical HDs cost ~$80 OEM. If you got a much bigger HD cheaper, you got a 3.5" drive or got a 2.5" IDE drive. Not a 2.5" sata which normally costs more.

the same thing happened to me with wii-motes. my friend and i went to target and he was lookin for remotes, the put them on the rack for the nunchucks, but they didnt have a rack for the remotes, so they were listed as $20. when they came up as $40 he said the sign says $20. so the guy rings it up at $20, and even tho i dont have a wii i went back and bought 2 more and then sold them on ebay for more then 100$ profit haha.

It's not unethical to allow a store to fulfill it's pricing promise policy on an item you've selected for purchase, even if you know it's likely mispriced. This *is* their policy. For all you know, it's on an early-release promotional price list, whatever.

It is however unethical for a publication to promote the idea that its readership scour a chain of retails stores for similarly mispriced items in order to "stick it to the man". It's the difference between burning a mix CD for a friend and putting your entire copyrighted music collection up on the Internet for download.

I'm no fan of many of Wal-Mart's labor related policies, but suggesting in print that everyone go out and try to find and exploit this shelf-label mistake is just as bad as what Wal-Mart does to American workers and Chinese laborers alike.

Whip your ethical backbone into shape, would you?

I just went to my wal-mart and it was out with the lower price tag but just said "Xbox 360 Hard Drive"

They wouldn't sell it to me because it wasn't supposed to be released yet, but I did get a store manager to give me a handwritten note of a rain check. I can take pics if necessary.

@25 do you read any of there articles on this website. All of them are chalked full of satirical humor. Lay of a website for just having a little fun.

Besides it's up to each individual consumer to decide to try and go out and try this.

Also, let me add. I did not ask for the 99.88 price. This was their choice alone. I had no feedback on it. I just kept my mouth shut.

They did the same for me today, although I have to wait to pick it up until the 29th.

Scooter, I presume you're the Scooter who got the drive at the bargain price? That's why I defended you. You ran into a singular situation and merely allowed the retailer to execute a policy that they have in place to satisfy you and keep you as a customer. You no doubt must have, at least for the now, a favorable feeling about Wal-Mart and how they treat their customers when the store makes a mistake. I wouldn't blame you even if they'd tried to charge you the higher price and you'd ask them to please follow their own stated policy.

@26, "Our advice: scour your area Wal-Marts for mislabeled hard drives. You might end up with a killer deal." That's hardly clear satire. I don't even think it was intended as satire, and it certainly won't be read that way by many of this publication's readers. Sure it's up to the individual to decide if they think doing such a thing is ethical. But it's also up to the editors and publishers to make an ethical decision about promoting the practice as socially acceptable, or even "hip", en masse. Which they surely did.

We care about this why?

The reason Wal-Mart has the policy is simple: some states make it law. I live in NJ, and I know for a fact it is the law. My wife and I have regularly used it to our advantage at Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Target, Kohls, Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy and Circuit City. At some stores you have to ask for a manager, but he/she always honors the law -- and usually orders the clerk to change the signs ASAP. I don't think it is dishonest on the part of the consumer, so I say good for Scooter. Now, when I head off to Target for my weekly shopping expedition, I hope to be as lucky as Scooter...

san,

It certainly wasn't my intention to inspire a mob of unethical shoppers. At any rate, it's more directed towards the outrageously priced hard drive than it is Wal-Mart.

Besides, if I really thought X3F had that much influence on people, I'd use it for much more selfish purposes :)

Richard, I'll take you at your word on that. The drive certainly is over-priced. But unfortunately the profit margin on it for Wal-Mart is surely very slim; that's why Wal-Mart doesn't discount games or consoles or the like much less than a few pennies. So Microsoft got full wholesale for it, but Wal-Mart ate the difference.

Matt, it's the law in some states not all. Large retail chains have policies that vary by state according to state laws. Primarily Wal-Mart uses this policy to engender good will with customers, but not out of altruism, but because several years ago some press outlet did a story on them about how a huge number of items labeled with discounted prices actually rang up at point of sale for quite a bit more; they blamed it on inventory system disparities, but it was ugly press for them. After that, they rolled out this sticker-price is the price policy.

Chuckles,

You're an idiot. If Wally World is *SO* horrible, then why do you constantly hear of situation where a new store will be opening up and trying to fill a couple of hundred positions, and several THOUSAND people show up?

It's capitalism, fair and square.

I for one, salute the guy. It's not like HE put the wrong price sticker on it. If Walmart has the policy, and Walmart lived up to it, then I congratulate both Walmart and him. As long as both parties agree with the situation, no one can complain, no matter your political leanings and how you may feel about Walmart.

Liberals. Sheesh.

Ya right, i was just at Wal Mart and seen GRAW2 for $29.99 witch is GRAW1s price and they told me that there store policy is, if its under $5 its free over $5 and you get $3 off, THATS BULL !!

When did the 120GB HD become available for sale? I thought they weren't out yet. Did I miss an announcement?

"34. Chuckles,

You're an idiot. If Wally World is *SO* horrible, then why do you constantly hear of situation where a new store will be opening up and trying to fill a couple of hundred positions, and several THOUSAND people show up?

It's capitalism, fair and square.

Liberals. Sheesh.

Posted at 7:34PM on Apr 20th 2007 by TheIcemanCometh"

••• You don't know what you're talking about. Do your reseach and try to stand by that. I will sum it up for you -

It may appear to be capitalism at it's finest, but it becomes in effect the antithesis of capitalism in the long run:

WalMart opens stores in areas all around the country, going head-to-head with local businesses. Yet WalMart has the buying power of thousands of stores, versus the local chain having let's say, 3 or 4 stores. So when 'Local' store wants to stock something, they might be buying 50 units or something at $10 each from a manufacturer, while WalMart can approach the manufacturer and say "We will take 10,000 units for our nationwide stores, but we want a deal - $6 each."

Sounds good, right? Cheaper items FTW! But not so fast... A smaller manufacturer might not be able to make 10,000 units, and certainly can't afford to sell 50 units at $6 each... So the smaller store can't offer prices like WalMart and the smaller manufacturer can't meet the demands of WalMart, and both get shut out of the loop.

Who cares anyway, you ask? Well, it matters because it limits our choices as a consumer. Companies making items that WalMart doesn't buy have a harder time. Local businesses can't compete on simple items like paper towels, milk, televisions, etc. because they can't get the wholesale prices WalMart can, and the consumer loses because WalMart doesn't carry anything but major brands, limiting our access to smaller companies making items that might be taking a stand to manufacture items that are local to the area, healthier, better for the enviroment, or even games and movies that are considered violent or don't meet the criteria of 'middle America.'

Companies like WalMart kill local business, and in turn, puts people out of work, creating the groups of "several THOUSAND people" that you talk about.

Google-up on the phrase "McJob" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McJob )and tell me that "THOUSANDS" of people are taking jobs at WalMart as a first choice. I'm not even touching on the class-action lawsuits they lose concerning fair overtime and back-pay.
(Ok, maybe I will... Here's a recent one: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/20/national/main533818.shtml )

What we live in is not a TRUE 'capitalism,' we live in a REGULATED 'capitalism' where our government is supposed to monitor and regulate MONOPOLIES that prevent 'fair competition,' but the government is not on the average American's side right now. It is catering more often to CORPORATIONS and privatization. Not 'Liberal' nonsense, just the way it is right now.

So you truly don't know what you're talking about when you type "Capitalism, fair and square."

...Not that I can really expect a dude with a Starbucks/Abecrombie/Olive Garden/GameStop/WalMart mindset to ever care or understand.

If ANY of this means ANYTHING to ANYONE out there reading this, I would suggest reading journalist Naomi Klein's book "NO LOGO."

In Michigan there's a law stating that the item must have a price tag on it, and it must be sold at the price.

But there's a catch, the money has to exchange hands. If the HD rung up at 179 bucks and the kid was like "but it's marked at 99!" the store would have their way with upping the price.

But if you buy it for 179, get the receipt, walk up to customer service, show them you were over charged. They will give you the difference back, plus double the difference, but only up to 5 dollars for being morons :)

Works with everything, buy meat for 3 dollars but it was marked at 2, give them the 3 dollars, goto the customer service counter and they will give you 2 dollars back (one dollar for the difference and an extra dollar for being fuckwads)

I work at wal-mart and know how this works.

First of all, there isn't a law preventing this unless we are advertising said price in a way meant to compete with competitors. Shelf tags do not constitute false advertising.

Secondly, and most importantly, you are not ripping off the billion dollar company. If you work a job, most likely you get a bonus, at some time in the year. At Wal-Mart, our bonus is based off the bottom line of the store, and this includes things like broken items, theft, and scenarios like this.

The corporation pulls the same amount of money from our store based on their projections, and however better we do from there is extra money for us. So really, when you rip off wal-mart, you're ripping off the store employees.

Thanks.

Honestly, i couldn't care less about Wal-Mart or any employee who works there. So you didn't get a bonus cause I got a great deal...quit and get a real job.