Top Of The Line

My plan was genius. The opportunity to reserve one of the six Playstation 3 systems being shipped to local Electronics Boutique and Gamestop stores had come and gone, and I was only a few hours too late. But, my new plan would surely work...

Best Buy!!! But, is Best Buy even receiving any Playstation 3 units, I pondered? Yes they are! According to their website, each store will be selling 25 units on November 17th, the official release date of the Playstation 3. The website continued on by stating that the first 25 people in line at 8AM on Friday would be able to purchase one system.

"Perfect", I thought. I'll arrive around 6AM, be one of the first people in line, spend $600 on a Playstation 3, and then turn around and sell it on eBay for 3 times as much! My plan was flawless...until...

I decided to take a ride to my local Best Buy. I figured I'd chat with a sales clerk, try and get some insider info into the release date procedure...but before I could even enter the store, I was confronted by an extremely disappointing site. People...in line...waiting...outside of the store...waiting to purchase a Playstation 3...THREE DAYS BEFORE THE RELEASE DATE!!! Upon entering the store, I wearily approached the nearest sales clerk and asked "Tell me that's not what I think it is.", to which he replied "Yep...Playstation 3." I was floored. It turns out these 30 or so people standing outside of the Best Buy had been there since the day before, prepared with chairs, sleeping equipment, food, etc. The clerk continued on by explaining how the same thing had occurred a year ago during the release of the X-Box 360, and 5 years ago during the release of the Playstation 2 (only in those years, the initial U.S. release numbers for those systems were in the millions, rather than in the hundreds of thousands).

Listen, I have nothing against waiting in lines for long periods of time to get highly anticipated goods and services. I myself once waiting for over 6 hours outside (and eventually inside) of a Sam's Club to have a freshly purchased copy of My Life signed by Former President Bill Clinton (by the way, he's taller than I expected...then again, most people are when you're 5'5" tall). However, if someone came up to me on the street and said "Hey, I can guarantee you a Playstation 3 system on release date, that you'll be able to sell on eBay and make a thousand dollars or so, and all YOU have to do is drive to Best Buy and live outside of the store entrance for 4 days...what do you think!?", I'd look them straight in the eyes and say..."Your car or mine?"