Consumer Confidential: Fees, sales and coupons

Here's your totally-Tuesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Only an airline would think of charging a fee for avoiding fees. Our friends at United Airlines have announced a new program in which passengers can pay $249 a year for the privilege of checking in two -- yes, two! -- standard bags without paying extra. But United says the program won't cover overweight bags, so you're still on your own there. Anyone want to bet how long it takes all the other carriers to follow suit?

--We've been hearing that it's going to be an ugly holiday season for retailers. But how ugly are we talking? The National Retail Federation says it expects sales this season to be down about 1% from last year, to $437.6 billion. My hunch is that this'll prompt most stores to slash prices in a bid to woo the few dollars shoppers are willing to spend. Keep a sharp eye out for sales.

--Ask.com wants to make bargain hunting easier. The search site is unveiling a new service that will allow users to sift through dozens of discount sites in search of money-saving online coupons. It will also mark regular search results with a special icon to let people know that a related coupon may be available. Electronic coupons now account for about 3% of all coupons used. Expect that number to grow as services like this make it simpler for people to ferret out deals.

-- David Lazarus

Wal-Mart cited in Black Friday death

Wal-Mart was cited by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration today for poor crowd management in the death of a worker in a Black Friday stampede last year.

The agency, part of the U.S. Department of Labor, said in a statement that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. didn't give employees enough training or tools to deal with a mob of shoppers at its Valley Stream, N.Y., store.

Seasonal worker Jdimytai Damour, 34, of Jamaica died as a result, knocked to the ground and asphyxiated after being trampled by 2,000 bargain-hunters when the store opened at 5 a.m., the agency said. His family has sued the retailer and several county agencies.

The Nov. 28 surge also injured several other people.

An inspection conducted by the agency’s Long Island Area Office in Westbury, N.Y.  found that employees were exposed to being crushed by the crowd and that Wal-Mart didn't implement “reasonable and effective crowd management principles,” according to the statement.

"This was an unusual situation but not an unforeseen one," said Anthony Ciuffo, OSHA's acting director for Long Island.

The citation carries a proposed $7,000 fine, the maximum penalty. Wal-Mart must either pay the fine, meet with the agency’s area director in an informal conference or contest the citation within 15 days.

Nassau County Dist. Atty. Kathleen Rice agreed earlier this month not to prosecute Wal-Mart in the incident. In exchange, the giant will implement an improved statewide crowd-management plan for Black Friday events at all of its 92 New York stores, set up a $400,000 victims’ compensation and remuneration fund, donate $1.5 million to the community and provide 50 jobs annually to Nassau teens.

In a statement, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Daphne Moore told the Associated Press that the retailer has "never had a tragedy like this occur in our stores and we never want it to happen again. ... There is no OSHA or retail industry guidance that would have alerted us to this type of unforeseeable hazard."

-- Tiffany Hsu

After Black Friday stampede death, some crowd-control ideas

Remember the Black Friday stampede that killed a Wal-Mart worker? Police in New York state have issued a report recommending rope lines, numbered tickets and walkie-talkies for employees to help control frenzied bargain-hunters in the future.

The Associated Press reports that Nassau County police released recommendations Wednesday, two weeks after meeting with 75 Long Island retailers about how to stage major sales events safely. Retailers and police had debated who should take the lead on securing discount-hungry crowds.

The report said that while county police would respond if needed, "the responsibility for the security and control of these sales events rests with the store. Store administrators should never market a sales event without having a plan, and the proper resources to manage it."

The report recommended setting up barricades or rope lines to manage crowds before the sale, handing out wristbands or numbered tickets to arriving customers, positioning store employees in the parking lot and providing them radios to share information. Patrons should enter the stores in smaller groups, not all at once; retailers should have maps showing where to find the hottest sale items; and patrons should be kept out once the store reaches maximum occupancy, the report said.

Stores should call police if crowds become unruly and plan whom to call in a medical emergency, but they should also have defibrillators on hand and staffers trained to use them, the report said.

A predawn horde of about 2,000 shoppers broke down the electronic doors to the Wal-Mart and rushed past Jdimytai Damour, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound man stationed near the entrance of the Valley Stream, N.Y., store to assist with crowd control. At least four other people were hurt. Damour, 34, had no experience with crowd control and had been hired a week earlier from a temporary agency. Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart has said it tried to prepare for the crowd by adding workers, putting up barricades and consulting with police.

-- Julie Makinen

Retailers have a dismal November, despite Black Friday

Even a better-than-expected Black Friday couldn't save the nation's retailers, which reported dismal November sales figures today. The first month of the crucial holiday shopping season again saw consumers snapping their wallets shut even as stores slashed prices and offered numerous specials.

We'll have more on the retail outlook during the day here. For now, here are the so-called same-store sales figures for November:

Year-over-year percentage change in November sales at stores open at least a year:

Company /  % change

Hot Topic   +6.5%
American Apparel  +6.0
Wal-Mart   +3.4
Ross  -2.0
Costco Wholesale   -5.0
Saks  -5.2
Gap  -10.0
Pacific Sunwear   -10.0
Target   -10.4
American Eagle  -11.0
J. C. Penney   -11.9
Neiman Marcus   -11.9
Limited  -12.0
Wet Seal   -13.9
Nordstrom   -15.9
Kohl's  -17.5
Abercrombie & Fitch  -28.0

Sources: Thomson Reuters, Times research

Family of Wal-Mart employee trampled by shoppers files lawsuit

The family of the New York Wal-Mart employee trampled by a horde of Black Friday shoppers filed a wrongful death lawsuit today against Wal-Mart Stores Inc., asking for compensatory and punitive and/or exemplary damages.

The day after Thanksgiving, an estimated 2,000 customers swarmed into the Long Island store just after it opened at 5 a.m. In the mad scramble, Jdimytai Damour, 34, a temporary employee contracted out by Labor Ready, died after being knocked to the ground.

The stampede also injured three other people and caused a pregnant woman to be taken to a hospital.

In a statement this afternoon, Hank Mullany, president of Wal-Mart's Northeast division said Damour's "tragic death" overshadowed the company's planned release of November's sales numbers Thursday morning. Wal-Mart is continuing to work with local law enforcement to implement stronger safety measures in the future, he said.

Black Friday: Best Buy pandemonium

A little boy walking toward a Best Buy in the Glendale area this morning with his mother was so impressed by the size of the line that he rubbed his eyes and softly said, “Whoa.”

The crowd was massive -- draped around two corners of the building and heaving and surging toward the sliding doors at the entrance. Amid the cacophony of wailing children and hooting teenagers, one staff member hollered down the line, "No pushing, no shoving! We have women and children in line, and no one wants to step on any children."

As doors opened and the horde funneled inside, leaving trash and upended chairs next to the sidewalk, another employee greeted customers with "You made it!" Within minutes, the Geek Squad was swamped, and employees kept busy monitoring the mob from a raised platform.

First-time Black Friday shopper Kevin Kim, 18, a high school student from Glendale, waited inside with his uncle, leaning against a stack of boxes that was taller than he was and three times his width. He didn't know the prices of the TVs, computer monitor, vacuum and other items he had picked up.

The pair arrived at 8 the night before, skipping Thanksgiving dinner and getting by on coffee and snacks. Kim, dressed snugly in a hoodie and fleece vest, said he had to endure the biting chill as well as the rowdy crowd and crotchety security guards.

"I did this just for fun," he said. "But it wasn't fun -- it was horrible being in line, where people kept pushing back and forth and the employees were so mean. But it was very, very worth it."

Too bad Kim was also very, very tired.

"I'm going to go to sleep and never wake up," he said. "I'm not going to talk to anyone for a while. I have to think about whether I'm coming back next year."

Within half an hour of the store's 5 a.m. opening, customers started staggering out, away from the mother lode of electronics, looking haggard. Many sat on the sidewalk waiting to be picked up, slouching in exhaustion.

Michael Rodriguez, 19, Highland Park, arrived at midnight with six other men and was tucked in the far stretches of the line. But at one point in the morning, employees required customers who had brought tents to remove them, allowing shoppers who had traveled light to sweep to the front of the line.

So Rodriguez, who had been planning his Best Buy jaunt for a week, managed to score a 32-inch TV. But instead of taking a rest and enjoying his spoils, he had to head to his job as a swing manager for McDonald's.

--Tiffany Hsu

Photo: A shopper pushes a new LCD television toward a check stand Friday morning at a Best Buy store in Glendale. Hundreds showed up before dawn to take advantage of door-buster specials and advertised deals at the consumer electronics store. Credit: Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times

Black Friday: Ikea draws lines for bed frame discount

At the Ikea store at Costa Mesa, the $99 Malm bed frame -- normally $199 -- drew at least 150 people this morning. The crowd had to wait in four different lines, one for each color the bed frame comes in: birch, oak, medium brown and black-brown. Employees were handing out tickets to customers, who were then allowed into the store in small groups.

Bence Daru, 17, a high school senior from Irvine, was paid $50 by his neighbors to stand in line for an oak-color bed frame. He arrived at 8:45 a.m., when 100 people were already waiting. Earlier, he was at South Coast Plaza, trying to buy clothes and shoes for himself, but was repelled by the long lines. Having to bide his time at Ikea didn't help his mood.

"This is the first and the last time I will ever come to Black Friday," Daru said. "The discounts don’t justify the wait."

-- Joanna Lin

Black Friday: Snippets from Cerritos, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach

South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa

The luxury branch of the shopping center was drawing healthy numbers, but few goods were actually on sale. Shoppers at the Saks Fifth Avenue store were allowed in just before 8 a.m., and a flock of women made a beeline for a table of (full-price) Marc Jacobs purses.

Security guards were stationed at every parking lot entrance to direct traffic. Employees had to park in an off-site lot to make room for customers and were taken to the mall in a shuttle.

The Christian Louboutin shoe boutique was decked out with a red carpet and Christmas bows in the window -- and only one customer was inside just after 8 a.m. Iana Oviedo, 31, of Beverly Hills, an advertising account director, was trying on purple pumps while the single sales rep chatted her up.

She was only at the shopping center to pick up the shoes she had ordered in advance from Nordstrom, but decided to pick up a few things for herself.

“I just wanted to go shopping," Oveido said. "Usually, I try to avoid this day as much as possible.”

Meanwhile, John Zhang, 21, a student from Arcadia, had just purchased a $512 Louis Vuitton scarf for his girlfriend. Though he said he was generally cutting back, with presents for fewer people, he admitted he was still buying gifts for himself. Case in point, the Dolce and Gabbana shoes and jacket he snagged for 50% off.

“If you really want it, the price really doesn’t matter,” he said.

Toys R Us, Cerritos

There were 300 people in line at 4:30 a.m., some sitting in folding chairs, others reading books. One girl was sitting inside a shopping cart, waiting.

Tammy Johnson, 45, a Medicare specialist from Bellflower, came straight from Thanksgiving dinner at 8 p.m. with her 16-year-old daughter Saira. The pair were first in line, hoping to haul away an iPod, bikes and a scooter for Johnson's three children and grandson.

“I come for the thrill of it,” said Johnson, who has come out to stores early for three Black Fridays in a row. Each year, the wait is long.

And the worst part? There's never an open restroom in sight.

Black Friday rush underway in Southern California stores

Malls, individual shops and electronics stores were stuffed with thousands of Black Friday shoppers today. A wave of frantic customers were on hand before dawn, but the mood was calmer in the afternoon.

Stores all around Southern California displayed their best wares, nestled amid holiday frills and signs touting bargains. As retail-minded consumers swarmed inside, stacks of neatly folded clothes and aisles of CDs were quickly upended as they hunted for discounts.

"A couple of dollars saved here and there might net us another present," said Josephina Zavalza, 31, a homemaker from East L.A. "We have a large family, and we don't want to leave anybody out this holiday."

Zavalza and her husband, Ivan, lugged three enormous Disney Store and Aeropostale bags crammed with toys, clothes, dolls and books into the JCPenny store at Glendale Galleria.

The couple, who had come with Ivan's cousin and aunt, planned to get 90% of their holiday shopping out of the way today, much of it for their two young daughters.

"I hope they're happy with what we bought -- we can't afford to hear otherwise," Josefina Zavalza said. "We're just here to save a few bucks because we're tight in our budget."

Shoppers lined up for hours, and some for days, outside stores like Best Buy and JCPenny, waiting for door-buster sales to launch throughout the pre-dawn hours. Often, only the lucky few at the front of the lines could grab the really extravagent discounts.

Many stores are extending their hours through the weekend, bracing for customers to continue streaming in and scrounging for deals. At the same time, they're preparing for next week's CyberMonday, a day of online deals.

All retailers are hoping that Black Friday gives them some buoyancy as they start to slosh through what may turn out to be a slow and dreary holiday shopping season. 

But some stores, like Mervyns and Kmart, were neglected. Others left shoppers out in the cold when they opened later than expected.

Around 20 people huddled ouside KB Toys in Glendale Galleria a little after 4 a.m. JCPenny had just opened, and the mall was bustling. But KB Toys, which had been scheduled to open at midnight, still had a metal grate over its entrance. Those in line said a store representative had announced earlier that the new opening time was 5 a.m.

Vanessa Montiel, 34, a teacher from Glendale, was seething. She and her husband Cesar had taken their three young children to the store at 11:40 p.m. Thanksgiving night, hoping to get the first crack at the buy-two-get-one-free offer for the Tomb Raider video game.

Hours later, after biding their time by spending $300 for clothing and shoes at Children's Place and the Disney Store, Montiel's son was crouching on the ground with his head in his hands, exhausted by the wait.

"It's awful that they tell us one thing and then we end up waiting," Montiel said. "We're here because of the good offers -- it's not that our kids will care if they don't get certain presents, but they do expect gifts from Santa."

The full story is on latimes.com here.

-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: Thomas Rodas, 6, sleeps on the floor while his mother Santos Rodas waits with bags of Christmas gifts at Glendale Galleria on Friday. The Rodas' arrived at the mall at 2:30 a.m. to take advantage of early morning bargains. Credit: Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

UPDATED: Wal-Mart employee dies on Black Friday after being knocked down by shoppers

** UPDATE: Wal-Mart just released an updated statement from Hank Mullany, a senior vice president and president of the company's Northeast division. It includes this passage: "We expected a large crowd this morning and added additional internal security, additional third party security, additional store associates and we worked closely with the Nassau County Police. We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred."

** UPDATE: A "personal dispute" at a Palm Desert Toys Us at 11:30 a.m. left two men dead from gunshot wounds. Read the full story here.

It's every Black Friday shopper's and security guard's worst nightmare.

Overeager shoppers jostling to get into a Wal-Mart on New York's Long Island trampled an employee to death this morning in the rush to snatch some good deals.

Also caught in that chaos at the Valley Stream, N.Y., store: a 28-year-old pregnant woman and at least three other shoppers who suffered minor injuries.

According to a police statement, the death happened at 5:03 a.m., minutes after Wal-Marts across the country opened their doors to the holiday rush.

The employee, a 34-year-old man, suffered "an undetermined death" when a "throng of shoppers ... physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground," according to the statement. He was declared dead at a nearby hospital at 6:03 a.m.

Wal-Mart was tight-lipped about the accident, saying in a statement that its officials are still working with Nassau County Police. The statement called the situation "tragic," added that the employee was working for a temporary agency and confirmed that several customers were also injured.

At a Best Buy in the Glendale area this morning, frustration and impatience caused several small fights to break out in the crowd before doors opened, according to police officers patrolling the front of the store.

--Tiffany Hsu