Standing in line for a new toy.... WHY?

[ZLoth]

In case you were paying attention to the news, the new iPhone was released yesterday.... along with the obligatory story about people in line to be the first to get the new iToy.

Let me be one of the many people to ask... WHY?

This story is repeated ad nausea over the years as it relates to the new Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, Game, and iPhone over the years. The people are camped out overnight. Do these people not have lives? Or jobs? I would feel pretty silly asking my boss to take a few days off to get a new electronics item... especially one which, in a week or so, I could easily purchase without a long wait. Is it really that necessary to be the first on the block to have that iGadget?

The last time I remember standing in line for something, it was before the local community offered online registration for classes (about 15-20 years ago). I needed to get this one class that had limited availability, so yes, I took the day off, and it was for something I needed (an education), not something I wanted. Any boss can understand that.

The last time I got something "brand new and at launch" was last year's Samsung S3 Android phone. Even then, it was ahead of schedule, and the sole reason was not for the phone having 4G capabiltiy (verses my then-existing 3G Android phone), but because I wanted to get an upgrade before Verizon changed the plans and I would lose my unlimited data plan. I have been stung once too many times from "first release defects" that get fixed in later versions of the same device.

[DaBigE]

I say the same thing when Black "Friday" rolls around. I'd be driving to my family's house and see people camped out Thursday morning.   I have better things to do with my life than stand in line just to get the latest gizmo or pay the same amount for that gizmo that I could online. The only thing I've waited early in line for was when our university used to have a voucher system for student tickets. But even then a bunch of us would get together and block out times we would stand in line so we could still go to class.

[hotdogPi]

At Joe's Crabshack in Methuen MA, when it opened, people set up tents for people to be the first ones there. This had a reason for it, though: the first 100 people to get there got a free Bucket Of Crabs.

[Takumi]

iSheep be like "baa"

[hotdogPi]

iSheep be like "baa"

Be aware if the iGoat ever comes out. That one's worth waiting in line for.

[txstateends]

They showed people in line this week outside one of the Dallas stores.  It was pouring rain outside and people were still waiting.  Stupid!!!  I'm not going to risk getting sick over some dumba$$ cell phone.  Most of them wanted the gold-tone phone which IIRR, sold out in no time.

No cell phone is worth waiting in the rain.  I don't care if it has apps to cook you dinner and 'make you happy' later, it's still not worth it.

[hbelkins]

If there are more than a couple of vehicles waiting in line at a drive-through, I won't stop there. That's how badly I hate waiting in line for anything. I sure wouldn't do it for a stinking cellphone.

I just this summer replaced my 3GS with a 4S. They'll probably be up to the iPhone 7 when I'm up for an upgrade, at which time I'll probably buy a cheap 5S. 

I don't understand this need to upgrade immediately.

[Molandfreak]

Developers and the like tend to have a legitimate reason for constant upgrades.

There used to be a type of people who would wear their processors out so fast by sending E-mails, they almost had to get a new blackberry every year. Now they have made handheld devices so powerful that there really isn't a good reason to get a new device until your current one goes obsolete or even bites the dust.

Then there are people who can not handle a delicate smartphone, and for whatever reason, refuse to get a damn case for it and end up breaking the thing two days after they got it. Then they complain about it until they can upgrade again.

In any case, I'm fine and dandy with my iPhone 5 w/otterbox defender case and Samsung Galaxy Camera on my belt, in holsters. I don't have any need to get a 5S, 5C, Galaxy S4 zoom, or anything else for that matter. The new Sony clip-on smartphone lens intrigues me and I won't have to carry the extra weight, but I carry enough stuff on me anyway that weight issues don't matter.

[SteveG1988]

I use a nokia lumia 810 i got off ebay, it is a t-mobile variant of the 820, it wasn't fancy when it came out, no LTE, just HSPA+(3.75G or as T-Mobile calls it 4G) has a chunkier case then the 820, bigger user replacable battery.

Now for lines, i attempted to score free groceries when bottom dollar food opened up in a former superfresh building here, first 50 people would get a bag of groceries for free on opening day. I got there and the line was easily at 100 people. That being said, i went there abotu 30 mins before opening, just got off work for the day (night shift has some advantages)

I work through most holidays and i get a week off, and thinking about people who wait in line for new tech, if you're a college student that's one thing, but if you have a real job, can you afford to take a day or two off, i can't. 60-70 bucks a day lost, and i only get one paid personal day a year due to being where i work for just 2 years. So if the latest game costs 60 bucks, i just lost a night of work to pay for a game that costs the same as a night of work, getting dinged twice.

[formulanone]

Some people just like to be first or want to show off. Maybe in an age when supplies are limited for the first few months, this made some sense, but I don't hear much about this sort of scarcity anymore. I recall the PlayStation 2 and original iPhone were quite limited at first, and even the Wii was a tad scarce during holiday seasons. Personally, I don't get it because it's not that important to me, and the first round of buyers become the beta-testers. I also value my time, since I have a job, things to do, fun to be had; if you have lots of unproductive time to waste, then losing a week of your life for 100 chicken sandwiches is fine and dan
I've bought exactly one album on the day of it's release (twenty years ago - called up, said they'd have it via UPS by 10am the next day, so they held me a copy of an album nobody else bought that day), I haven't waited more than five minutes in line for a movie/event in over fifteen years, and have pre-paid for a single video game (no lines, anyhow), and exactly never for an electronic product, other than waiting at a checkout.

[Big John]

I will let others be guinea pigs for the new products and wait until the glitches that are invariably found are fixed.

[J N Winkler]

I had a chance to observe this phenomenon when each of the later volumes of the Harry Potter series came out.  For many of the people who showed up for the midnight releases, a lot of the attraction was the festival atmosphere and the opportunity to play dress-up.  There weren't just young people dressed as Harry, Hermione, or Ron--there were also older people dressed up as Dumbledore or McGonagall.

For the people who simply have to be the first on the block with every new device, that is clearly their enthusiasm, in much the same way collecting sign panel detail sheets is mine.  Walking through the minefield of initial-release defects and bugs is not my idea of fun, and I am not sure it is theirs, but that is clearly a price they are prepared to pay for novelty, the sensation (if not the actuality) of greatly increased functionality, and the status rewards of being among the elite company that own the latest "happening" product.  Ultimately there is no accounting for individual taste, and I am sure my own enthusiasms cause them to look on with incomprehension.  (Taking an interest in roads?  Why?)

[kj3400]

I'm too lazy to spend my time waiting in line for something. I've never waited in line for anything to come out and have no plans to. Having something first isn't really my thing. If anything, I'm usually the one to get it last, when it's extremely cheap. I am however getting GTA V at the end of the week, so maybe I'm contradicting myself.

[english si]

There's a difference between queueing to get a new book/tickets/etc and queueing to replace an iPhone4 with iPhone5. Tickets are limited stock, getting a new book is like watching a TV programme/film soon after release - you don't want to be spoilt and you want to discuss it with others. I mean how long before the Half Blood Prince was spoilt? I looked on the internet after finishing the book 20 hours after release and "Snape killed Dumbledore" was already a meme. Luckily it came out on a Saturday, but if you hadn't read it by the Monday it was very hard to avoid spoilers at school or work.

You can wait a few days before upgrading your phone without really suffering (if the iPhone4 was so bad you had to get rid of it ASAP, why on earth would you want an iPhone5?), but limited things like tickets, or brand-new things like books.

There's also the fun element as dressing up as a Wizard compared to moping around playing on the thing that you are about to replace as Apple fans seem to be doing in the queues.

I saw a snip of a news item the other day (while changing the channel from BBC News). Blackberry has axed a couple of thousand jobs and this expert predicted doom for Blackberry and Nokia (understandable), but also Apple, which surprised me.

[jeffandnicole]

I remember waiting in line once for Billy Joel tickets (before online ticketing).  I was 5 people away from the ticket booth when they announced a second show.  I was offered floor tickets, but wanted something a little bit in the stands - got 2nd row...just enough that I could see above those people standing on the floor.  One of the best shows I've ever attended.

It's a rare day in hell that I'll wait in line for something, especially a product like a phone which I can walk into a store and purchase a few days later with no waiting.

[Zeffy]

Last Tuesday marks the only time I have ever gone to a midnight release for a video game - in this case Grand Theft Auto V. I chose to do so because right now I'm unemployed, and I'm not in school, so why the hell not? It's something I've wanted since it was announced, and being that I only waited 2 hours when I arrived to GameStop and waited only 8 minutes after midnight and then left, I'd say it was damn worth it.

I also have the iPhone 5C just recently released by Apple - but that's because my iPhone 4, which I got 2 1/2 years ago, was slowly getting worse and worse (especially since iOS7 was installed on it), and I had an upgrade available, so I chose to go get it. In the end, I paid only about $60 for it - my iPhone 4 was in a good enough condition to trade it in for $100 in-store credit and the rest was the activation fee as well as the accessories. (the case, screen protector, etc.) I only had to wait maybe an hour when I walked into Verizon, and that was yesterday.

Now, had I had to worry about school or work, would I have still waited 2 hours in line to get my copy of GTA V at midnight? Most likely not. But when you're not doing anything else but watching the Monday Night Football game, what else is there to do?

[triplemultiplex]

"I'm a 21st Century Digital Boy, I don't know how to live, but I got a lot of toys."

-Bad Religion from way back in 1990.


Built-in obsolescence works even if the old one is still functional.  Thanks, marketing!

[1995hoo]

If there are more than a couple of vehicles waiting in line at a drive-through, I won't stop there. That's how badly I hate waiting in line for anything. ....

At the KFC/Taco Bell near our house, often the drive-thru will have 10 or 12 cars waiting on line. I'll park, go inside and order "to go," come back out, get in my car and drive away, and at least half those other cars will still be sitting there waiting on line. I do not understand waiting on line like that. They're probably the same people who then gripe about the price of gas.

A lot of you young kids don't remember the days when movie theaters were single-screen or at most two or three screens and a movie would only play at a few theaters in an area. The lines for big releases, especially Star Wars movies, were insane. People would get on line a week or more in advance and the lines would wrap around the block or through the shopping center. If your parents hated standing on line like mine did, it meant you didn't get to see the movie until several weeks after it came out and everyone else had already seen it....at least there was no World Wide Web to barrage us with spoilers.

[J N Winkler]

At the KFC/Taco Bell near our house, often the drive-thru will have 10 or 12 cars waiting on line. I'll park, go inside and order "to go," come back out, get in my car and drive away, and at least half those other cars will still be sitting there waiting on line. I do not understand waiting on line like that. They're probably the same people who then gripe about the price of gas.

I struggle to understand the concept of the drive-thru in the first place, and this is not just because I'm deaf and can't use them--I like few things less than trying to stay in control of a vehicle while handling cash and goods at the same time.

I saw a snip of a news item the other day (while changing the channel from BBC News). Blackberry has axed a couple of thousand jobs and this expert predicted doom for Blackberry and Nokia (understandable), but also Apple, which surprised me.

This sounds like a variation on the Apple-as-Polaroid hypothesis.  In a nutshell, Apple is thought to be in danger because it is refining existing products (iPhone 5 is allegedly only an incremental improvement over the iPhone 4) instead of focusing on the next game-changer, in much the same way Polaroid never devised a follow-up to its resounding success with instant photos.  This is linked to the theory that the company lost its facility for creative disruption with Jobs' death and will now slide into sclerosis through consensus-based management.

[Bruce]

I guess I'm at odds with most of you guys here. I like to have the "latest and greatest" because there are improvements under the hood that make all the difference.

For example, I just upgraded to the second gen Nexus 7 (from the first gen) because of the better hardware (as seen in this handy chart) and better long-term software support.

[english si]

At the KFC/Taco Bell near our house, often the drive-thru will have 10 or 12 cars waiting on line. I'll park, go inside and order "to go," come back out, get in my car and drive away, and at least half those other cars will still be sitting there waiting on line. I do not understand waiting on line like that. They're probably the same people who then gripe about the price of gas.

I struggle to understand the concept of the drive-thru in the first place, and this is not just because I'm deaf and can't use them--I like few things less than trying to stay in control of a vehicle while handling cash and goods at the same time.

Certainly in the UK, the main restaurant closes at, say 10pm, but with the drive-thru they can be 24h, much like how petrol stations (and occasionally other shops) close down to just a window at night.

Certainly I had friends try and make use of that with this Burger King Drive-Thru that was opposite their student house. They were hungry, they crossed the road, the main restaurant was closed as it was just gone 10pm, they mimed being in a car, they were refused as they weren't in a car. Fair enough, to some extent, as the area is densely populated with students and dealing with drunk students isn't a good idea.

I guess I'm at odds with most of you guys here. I like to have the "latest and greatest" because there are improvements under the hood that make all the difference.

For example, I just upgraded to the second gen Nexus 7 (from the first gen) because of the better hardware (as seen in this handy chart) and better long-term software support.

Oh, yes, it is better and upgrading soon is a good thing. However there's a sensible, rational, view of having the upgrade a couple of days/weeks earlier at the stroke of release isn't worth bothering with the queues for and an idiotic view that "my phone turns into an obsolete pumpkin at the stroke of release and is therefore unbearable to use, therefore must queue up and replace it as close to the stroke of release as possible".

As I said, if you were finding the iPhone4 so bad to use that you must change it as soon as a better model came out, and are willing to queue for ages for the upgrade, rather than wait a couple of days, you really ought to seriously think about switching manufacturers...

[hotdogPi]

Burger King Drive-Thru that was opposite their student house. They were hungry, they crossed the road, the main restaurant was closed as it was just gone 10pm, they mimed being in a car, they were refused as they weren't in a car. Fair enough, to some extent, as the area is densely populated with students and dealing with drunk students isn't a good idea.

Same with me in Chicago for McDonald's, but it closed at 10:45 and it was 10:41, so we walked in the drive-thru. They didn't let us order until we told them that it was 10:41 and that they should still be open.

[Zeffy]

As I said, if you were finding the iPhone4 so bad to use that you must change it as soon as a better model came out, and are willing to queue for ages for the upgrade, rather than wait a couple of days, you really ought to seriously think about switching manufacturers...

The problem with that is I've bought a lot of stuff on the Apple store, and if I switch from an Apple device to say a Google device, I lose about $70 worth of apps.  I could've kept using the iPhone 4 because it still was in good shape, but because of how slow the processor is iOS7 doesn't really work as well as it can on the 4.

[SteveG1988]

For my smart phones it went:

HTC Windows Phone via T-Mobile (Model Dash3g) windows CE 6.x based
Droid X
(None, unemployed, didn't go back to verizon for the droid x)
LG Optimus Net10 version*broke it due to water*
T-Mobile Lumia 710 *dropped it*
T-Mobile LG Optimus T *now a spare phone, it was bad on battery, i got it used*
T-Mobile Lumia 810 *main phone*

All but the droid X, HTC Dash 3g, and Net10 were refurb/used. i have yet to pay more than 150 bucks for a phone

[jeffandnicole]

Oh yeah...I did wait in line this summer for something - a Drive-in Movie Theatre!

Vineland, NJ has NJ's only Drive In.  Best of all, they show 1st run, new releases.  2 screens - 2 movies per screen, only $9 per screen! (And in the case of this story, there was a triple feature!)

We went to see the Lone Ranger, World War Z & some other movie I can't think of right now (The other screen was showing Monsters Inc, Despicable Me 2 and something else).  1st movie began at 8:50.  We got down there about 8:20pm...and the line was 1/2 mile long on the shoulder of NJ 47!  It took 45 minutes to get thru that line.  I thought for sure we were not going to make it in, but they pack them in good, and made it.  Since the audio is broadcasted thru some low power radio stations, we found the station with the movie we wanted to watch and listened to it until we could get in.  The 3rd feature didn't start until nearly 2am that night...we stayed till about 3am, but my wife still had to work in the morning so we left.

Usually, we try going earlier, and we screwed up our timing to get down there.  Usually an hour or more beforehand, there's no issues getting in.  Along with the low movie prices (again, $9 for 2 (or 3) movies), the concession stand has plenty of items as reasonable prices as well (under $5 each for a large popcorn & large soda).  Worst thing about that, with a lot of people there, the line was long for the concession stand as well. 

But, having said about the long lines, this is about the only movie theatre I ever go to anymore.  No annoying side conversations and cell phone chatter from others nearby in a theatre...and depending on your point of view, either you can smoke, or you may have to deal with the smell of the smoke.