A short while ago I attended Whistler’s annual Turkey Sale, a massive ski and snowboard sale with supposedly great discounted prices held on Thanksgiving weekend. As I pushed through crowds and waited in lineups, my business-oriented mind couldn’t help but critique several of the profit based flaws I was observing. What better way to share this grief, then through my blog? So, Here are a few of my observations of a Turkey:

1. Huge lineups to get into a relatively small space. Lining up early and rushing in to find the best deals may be part of the fun, but only for the first hours of the sale. After that, normal people want to be able to go in, take there time finding the raddest and best fitting pair of pants for a reasonable price, while having the space to do so.

The Turkey sale experience: rushed and crushed by all the people and product surrounding you.

Here, all I could see was lost opportunity for all the people walking away simply because of endless lineups to get in, to try on, and to buy the products themselves. Even with these conditions the sale is still very successful, but I can imagine the possibilities beyond if they expanded into a larger, more compatible space.

2.Far too much reliance on the computer for important sales. Usually, I can go into Whistler guest relations, take my picture, and buy my season’s pass; it’s simple and effective. However, this year the only place to buy the student pass was online. Lo and behold, as I have experienced before, is a faulty system, wasting hours my time just trying to buy a pass. Luckily for them, I love skiing so much I will spend whatever amount it takes to get my pass. But for many, I see this just being a frustrating bump that would stop consumers from buying a product online, and thus not at all. Again, a flaw that leads to money just walking away.

3. Lastly, I noticed the Salomon store: currently under renovations. Could there have been a worse time? Here you have one of the busiest buying weekends before ski season booms, and one of the most popular stores, but no one is able to buy anything.

I  will still be an avid attendee of the Turkey Sale, looking for all the extreme sports toys I already have. But you won’t find me standing endlessly in the lineups; I’ll be up on top of the mountains observing as the little turkey’s run around below.