Have you been living under a rock?

[TravisRB69]

Guess what? WE DON'T HAVE ANY MORE NINTENDO WIIS. There has been a shortage going on literally for MONTHS now, and it is 15 days before Christmas. Asking again WILL NOT WORK. Consulting a manager WILL NOT WORK. Asking the manager once more WILL NOT WORK. Bitching and moaning WILL NOT WORK. Going home and coming back in half an hour WILL NOT WORK. Calling us and asking us on the phone WILL NOT WORK. Claiming that you HEARD FROM A RELIABLE SOURCE that we were getting 15 Wiis this week WILL NOT WORK because it DID NOT HAPPEN. Having me write your name and number down to give to the office to see if maybe we can special order one WILL NOT WORK.

Any Wiis we get will be immediately set aside for those who had the foresight to get off the couch, come in and get a rain check, and then STFU and WAIT like good little boys and girls. No, you are not the center of the universe. Neither are your precious little children. I'm sorry to break your heart. No, we are no longer giving out rain checks for any more Wiis because frankly, we don't know if corporate will send us enough Wiis to cover the rain checks we already HAVE, let alone any new ones added to the bottom of the bible-thick pile.

Yes, it is just absolutely ABSURD and HOW DARE we not have any Wiis in stock. What you fail to realize is the fact that you had the entire summer to get a Wii, at which time we literally had FIFTY of them piled up at the office most of the time, along with a nifty sign on EVERY door and EVERY checkstand stating that "Wii've got em!" Instead of getting one THEN, you're opting to come asking for one NOW.

I am sooooooooooo glad I have this next day off. I would have strangled the next customer that came in saying "Uuuuuuuh hey do you guys have any Wiis?"

A nice big bonus F.U. to the brain dead kid on the other end of the phone the other day that, immediately after hearing me say (and I QUOTE) "None of us know when or IF we will be getting in any regular XBox 360s during the holiday. All we have are the cheaper XBox 360 Arcades. It all depends on what Corporate sends us, and they haven't sent us any for quite a while," decided to ask "So do you know if you'll be getting any in?" RIGHT AFTER I JUST GOT FINISHED CLEARLY SAYING NO!!! Step away from the crack pipe son, or I will be forced to contact the authorities. Move away from the bowl of lead-based paint chips, please. I beg of you. No really, I insist.

[Gerrinson]

I've posted this a couple times elsewhere, but when I was up in Canada, the shelves were fully stocked with Wiis and there was no rush at all for anyone to get them. I called ahead to see if they could hold one and they acted like I was an idiot. Apparently, everyone in New Brunswick who wants one, has it. The next time someone calls about a Wii, tell them they have to go to Canada to get it.

[poofy_puff]

This happened to me when I worked at Child World during the Great PoGo-Ball Shortage of 1986. I was training at the mall register, whose job it was to answer the phone, and it rang every few minutes and nine out of ten calls were "Ya got 'ny POGO BALLS?!?!" I started answering the phone "Thanks for calling CW, we are all out of PoGo Balls" and people would just hang up on me. Management told me to stop doing that. Why??? It does the caller a favor, helps them save their breath for the next call. They took me off the mall register and eventually put me on the Service Desk.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

This is the one time I can't blame Nintendo for not having the Wii. They recently ramped up their production numbers from 1 million units to 1.8 million units per month. Last week they sold 350,000 units.

In one week they sold more units than Macroshaft sells XBoxes in a month.

The problem is that while the Wii is not as graphically impressive as the PS3 or 360, Nintendo developed a platform that promotes game play. As a result not only are they getting the typical gamers (who are getting pissed off at the overheating PS3 and the Red Ring of Death on the 360), but they are getting people who never would have thought of getting a gaming platform. Someone bought a Wii for a local nursing home and they had to buy three more and ration everyone's time on them.

The Wii is getting these people up and active again. People who can't fish can electronically. I've even seen an elderly bowling league with the embroidered jackets with a bowling ball knocking over Wii controllers instead of pins.

Hell even my mother in law spent three days of getting up at the triple-buttcrack of dawn to get one for her grand children and another 5 days to get one for herself.

In the summer, sales traditionally for the console systems. This gives the companies a chance to stock up on units for the holiday rush. The Wii didn't get their summer break in demand and so Nintendo isn't doing this to drive up demand...the reverse is true.

The demand is naturally so high that the poor people at Nintendo just can't keep up.

Now if the rest of the world would learn what I've learned the clerks at the stores wouldn't be in dire need of those fabulous white "hug myself" jackets.

M

[marty]

Because the Wiis didn't target hardcore gamers. They target everyone else. They sell more than the 360 because the 360 DOES target hardcore gamers, and, well, there's just not as many of us as there are people wanting Wiis. I can't stand the Wii because I'm lazy (I can get my excersize elsewhere), I play a console to bum around and sit on my ass and enjoy the story. But then there's everyone else. That, and the 360 came out earlier than the Wii, so everyone who has one pretty much does. I personally think the games out for the 360 are much better than those for the Wii (Halo 3, Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Gears) but then again I'm into first person shooters. And this is all coming from a hardcore gamer.

PS3 is NEVER going to keep up with either of the other two consoles. At this rate, they're not spending enough time on the games that will 'make' their system, they're trying to rush things out too much to keep up. Sony's really messed themselves up, they even removed the chip that makes the system backwards compatible to the PS2. And they'll burn your house down, ya know.

I told one woman the other day, "Yeah, we sell out of our Wiis within 30 minutes of getting them into our store." Whereupon she replied, "THAT'S JUST RIDICULOUS DON'T YOU GUYS KNOW ABOUT SUPPLY AND DEMAND?!" ....sigh.

[GingerBiscuit]

Why this happens every year, I don't understand. Every year, a toy or game or, in this case (and a few others) games console is pimped all year, and it's pretty obvious it will be 'toy of christmas'. So why don't people learn in advance and buy it in september or october, when it becomes obvious it will be the must have? Why do the wait till two weeks before the date?

[Swordsman422]

They do that because they assume that production will be able to keep up with demand.

This reminds me of the Lionel Polar Express disaster a few years ago, when the movie came out and every child needed one. Unfortunately enough, Lionel had been foolish enough to steal a competitor's design and got caught. They were sued and the competitor, MTH (who makes better stuff anyway) won. The amount of the lawsuit effectively bankrupted Lionel and put them in recievership. Add to that the fact that their main factory for producing the Polar Express sets burned to the ground that September and took 80% of the already-produced sets with it, and you get a company that was completely unprepared to meet holiday demand.

The sheer number of angry customers we had to deal with that year... I think it reached into the four-digits before Christmas came. We had to turn away special orders and tell people there wouldn not be any more until January, which actually meant April after all was said and done.

[aurelemsrealm]

Quoth GingerBiscuit

Why this happens every year, I don't understand. Every year, a toy or game or, in this case (and a few others) games console is pimped all year, and it's pretty obvious it will be 'toy of christmas'. So why don't people learn in advance and buy it in september or october, when it becomes obvious it will be the must have? Why do the wait till two weeks before the date?

As we all know, people don't think more than a couple of minutes ahead, as a general rule. I've come to view the world of consumers much like a bowl full of goldfish, only less fun to watch. At least goldfish are entertaining to watch, and help reduce the stress level. The average consumer is aimlessly wandering around searching for the next trend because that's what everyone else seems to want. Otherwise, the average consumer is focused on instant gratification of its whims and wants.

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

My bf finally got the wish lists for his nephews & niece (on threat of 'no wishie, no gettee'). One item just made him laugh. "It's 2 weeks before Christmas & he expects me to find him a copy of Assassin's Creed? Looks like he'll be getting a t-shirt." Now, my bf probably will look, but he'll be surprised if he actually finds it.

[protege]

Quoth marty

I told one woman the other day, "Yeah, we sell out of our Wiis within 30 minutes of getting them into our store." Whereupon she replied, "THAT'S JUST RIDICULOUS DON'T YOU GUYS KNOW ABOUT SUPPLY AND DEMAND?!" ....sigh.

...apparently *she* doesn't know about supply and demand

But, I can see how it's annoying. Some years ago, I wanted to get a BMW Z8 model like the one in the Bond flick for my brother. However, I couldn't find one locally--of the 4 hobby shops I went to, nobody had them. I found one online, bought it, and got hit with the shipping charges. Imagine my annoyance, that as soon as the package came, nearly *every* local shop had them