No, you aren't reading The Onion. Yes, there really was a stampede. No one was seriously injured, but this morning's $50 iBook sale was an insane mob scene by all accounts. Lines of parked cars started to form around 1:30am and by 7:00am, when the sale was to begin, the line was said to be more than a 1/2 mile long, while thousands of people rushed the gate for an opportunity to spend $50 on a 4-year old iBook that stood a good chance of barely being worth even that little. There are reports of baby strollers being tipped over and mangled and one old man in a walker was reportedly trampled to the ground! More after the jump...One of our readers, Jason Coleman, sent us this first-hand account of the scene:
"My wife and I just came from the Henrico County iBook sale. It was absolutely insane. The estimate was that about 12,000 people showed up. There were a number of people injured when people rushed the gates. [link]"
"We left after 4 hours of baking in the sun, empty-handed. There were some rumors that the actual number was something less than 1,000, but I couldn't say for sure. However many, there were many times that in people who wanted one and the crowd control... well it wasn't being controlled really. Just the police shouting at people to keep backing up, even though there was no where to go. Insane. Your readers should be very glad that they didn't come. Just wait and buy one for cheap on eBay next week."
Phi sent us a link to some video footage. It's not pretty.
I just hope Henrico County and everyone involved in this fiasco has learned how to handle future sales so that this never happens again. They really did muck this up pretty badly.
Any other eyewitnesses who'd like to share with us?
Thanks to everyone who kept us informed on today's events in VA.
Related links (will update as new links come in):
Stampede at Computer Sale Injures Several People in Va.
Henrico iBook chaos makes good T-shirt fodder
Let the eBaying begin
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
8-16-2005 @ 1:39PM
narco said...
This is so funny -- the things people do to save a bit of money. I for one won't be purchasing an iBook on ebay any time soon. The seller had better specify that it was indeed one of the $50 iBooks because I would be pissed if I opened it up and it was total crap. I'd like to see what these iBooks actually looked like.
Fishes,
narco.
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8-16-2005 @ 1:53PM
arkowi said...
i only live about two hours away from Richmond in Harrisonburg Virginia. When I first saw the reports about this I was considering going. I mean, how many people would really want to spend 50 bucks on a four year old iBook?
Well, I called the monday after I saw it here on TUAW and the lady said she had done nothing but take calls on it all morning, and I called around 11. I pretty much decided then I was not going to go. Then I saw all the drama with people in Henrico protesting the sale, and I made up my mind 100% I was not going.
After seeing this, I am REALLY glad I didn't go. Looks like a damn mess. Factor in the money you loose from taking a day off work + Medical bills from getting trampled + the 50$ you would have spent = you could by a BETTER Apple laptop on eBay.
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8-16-2005 @ 2:03PM
marc cardwell said...
holy crap. i don't know if this is more of an indictment on mac people (and how utterly insane we all are), or on the henrico county residents who wanted a good deal, no matter who gets hurt in the process. i had to laugh, i hate to admit it.
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8-16-2005 @ 2:03PM
Zach said...
Hey Arkowi, good to see a fellow Harrisonburgian on here. Haha. My girlfriend goes to B-water and lives right off JMU campus.
Being from Louisa, I am only about 30 mins away from the mayhem, but abstained from going when I read all over the internet just how many people were coming. Glad I did. It's been all over the papers and in the news here, though. Pretty crazy stuff.
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8-16-2005 @ 2:12PM
Van Daniel said...
Fifty dollars is a great price: the airport card in it is worth twice that on eBay... I know... I desperately need one.
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8-16-2005 @ 2:24PM
Joseph Matt said...
As a former resident of Henrico County, this is no surprise. The utter stupidity of this county is beyond comprehension, from neglecting schools that are falling appart to build a new multi-million dollar school for the rich and then buying millions of dollars worth of iBooks. It shouldn't be a surprise that this county dropped the ball, I mean, they DID drop Apple and go to Dell.
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8-16-2005 @ 2:52PM
Bootes said...
I was actually thinking of going, good thing I didn't.
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8-16-2005 @ 3:02PM
Jason Coleman said...
I'm wishing that I hadn't gone now. Just a waste of time.
One thing I should have added in my e-mail above is that the crowds were relatively self controlling once they got in. I know the trampling thing is bad, and it is a shame those people got rewarded for doing it. However, most all of the masses just wanted some order and were happy to form into a line.
My opinion is that the county officials responsible really dropped the ball and the police were grossly understaffed for this kind of event. There were many ways this could have been handled better, but not too many things they could have done worse.
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8-16-2005 @ 3:46PM
paul said...
How ironic that the video of the action doesn't play on Macs. Unless there's a plugin I'm missing.
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8-16-2005 @ 4:00PM
chris hollomon said...
actually my sister and I were there, right at 7, I knew they didn't go on sale until 2 hours after the gates opened, so why bother,,, welll, We gave up before even getting into line...
after the we saw the traffic that quote "couldn't possibly be for ust the laptops", and then seeing the neighboorhoods around there chuck full of 1000's of cars that quote "couldn't possibly be for just the laptops", and then we saw the rush of people at the gate (we showed up just in time to see that from a distance for, it was dumb, becasue they open the gates at 7 but weren't selling till 9, and at seven people went nutz,, we saw the line that was miles long with well over a 1000 people...maybe well over 4000, so my sis and I gave up and had breakfast. So no 50 dollar a laptop, but I kept my dignity
I'd liek to publicly thank the lady who did stand in line for 4 hours and told me it wasn't worth, she actually sas the trampling... unreal, I think I'll jsut save up and get a newer one...
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8-16-2005 @ 4:01PM
Joseph Matt said...
You need RealPlayer for mac to see the video
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8-16-2005 @ 4:21PM
Gary said...
Paul - I just watched it after a few failed attempts. The initial error was that the server was overloaded and to try again later on. Mac OS 10.4, Real Player 10.0.0.
It might be worth your while selecting "Real Player > Check For Update" from the menu bar...
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8-16-2005 @ 4:25PM
Justin said...
This is the most insane thing i've seen all year. How sad. Everything about this story from beginning to end is rediculous. The way the county decided to dump these products for Dell computers and sell off their iBooks for fifty bucks is rediculous all in itself, then the way they set up the sale and executed it is truly rediculous and finally, all of the people who traveled long distances to get one of these iBooks and then trampling people in the process, rediculous. The only thing that shocks me is that Apple had nothing to do with all of this madness.
My questions are these: If these were not Apple laptops, and lets say, Dell laptops, would it have been this insane? And additionally, if news of this sale had not been reported nationally by Apple bloggers, would have this sale been so insane? THANK GOD nobody was killed.
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8-16-2005 @ 4:38PM
Drew from Zhrodague said...
Can't believe it. Of course, $50 for ANY laptop at all is quite a bargain -- I don't think I'd trample people for one, though.
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8-16-2005 @ 4:49PM
jaxed said...
Man, talk about lame. Sell the iBooks for more coin to lower the demand or hold a lotto drawing for them or just give them to the needy. Arg.
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8-16-2005 @ 4:55PM
Francesco said...
It is exciting when you choose the right price for a product and you attract many customers. I feel there is nothing wrong in queing, as far as the police can keep people under control.
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8-16-2005 @ 5:34PM
allen said...
People do crazy things for any bargain. Doesn't matter if it's Apple or Dell or whatever brand. I expect to see a few of these going to eBay the next few days.
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8-16-2005 @ 5:55PM
Dan said...
According to a friend who went to the VA event, they were actually G3/300 ibooks.
that's really pathetic. stampeding over a computer equivalent to a K6/400. idiots.
they aren't even worth $50.
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8-16-2005 @ 6:25PM
BillyBobTheRubberChicken said...
Hahaha! Awesome!
Shame nobody got killed tbh. That would have been the icing on the cake.
Well, if a bunch of people got killed and then they accounced it was all a joke, there were no iBooks, that would have been better, but hey, whatcha gonna do.
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8-16-2005 @ 6:42PM
Mike said...
This story was so unique that I just had to illustrate it on my blog.
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