BLACK FRIDAY, 4 AM @ Best Buy: Coffee and a Slimjim for everyone!

[greves]

Sorry to steal this idea from someone who posted in another thread, but it was a bit buried there and really deserves its own.

Here's the basic idea, you'll need at least 2-3 people. Go to your local Best Buy, Walmart, etc on Black Friday around 3 in the morning with a tank of coffee and a half dozen packs of slimjims. Hand out a slimjim and some coffee to everyone in line, if you're giving out coffee at 3 am they really won't mind talking about Ron Paul for 2 minutes - nothing to do for at least 5 hours anyway!

Have one person by the coffee (in your car, presumably), one handing out slimjims to every new arrival in line. Make sure the person handing out slimjims tells everyone they can get some free coffee (and ask for a $1 donation if they are interested, with all proceeds going directly to the campaign). If you have 3 people and a serving tray it will be better, since people will not want to walk out of line to wherever the car is to get their coffee. The more the merrier, and make sure to wear your Ron Paul branded t-shirts on the OUTSIDE of your jackets - Black Friday at 3 in the morning is typically FREEEEEEZING! (At least, where I'm from.)

You get: supporters, donations, coffee, and some good prices like on any other Black Friday! I've waited for hours in these lines before in the cold and dark, and I'm sure we all would've killed for someone to come around and pass us coffee and any literature they wanted - it was better than sitting there twiddling your thumbs!

[cac1963]

A porta-potty probably isn't a bad idea either. Maybe difficult to arrange, but would be mighty appreciated I'm sure.

[ronpaulyourmom]

great idea.

[DealzOnWheelz]

awesome idea


BUMP

[lastnymleft]

I'm neutral about this particular scenario, since I have no idea what the lines are like at 3am, but if you can get good face time to talk to people, and there are sufficient people to justify your time, it really can't be anything but positive.

On a grander scale, I really like your general principle in getting (at least) materials to people killing time. All sorts of possible scenarios jump out. For example, would it be possible to place slim-jims on each of the 50,000 seats of a stadium, for instance, by getting in there early? Such scenarios offer the opportunity to hit a lot more people a lot more quickly than, say, letter-box drops.

[Cindy]

Another idea for the non early birds is to do sign waves and put flyers/slim jims under window wipers at the Malls on Black Friday. They will be jam packed all day.

I'm going to bring this up to my meetup groups tomorrow.

[Jojo]

How about handing out handwarmers, you know, those pocket things that you shake.

[jake]

these seem like the type of people that might join the grassroots effort too.. I mean if they are going to stand in the cold dark night outdoors for a good deal at best buy, they are dedicated to a cause ;)

[ValidusCustodiae]

This will only work if BestBuy gives you permission to peddle Ron Paul on their doorstep, which is highly unlikely. It's private property, and most megacorporations like b buy have policies against allowing people to solicit or hand out literature on their property.

A better idea: Hold a Thanksgiving canned foods drive for your local food bank. This is the type of thing you can usually get away with advertising on community boards in grocery stores and the like, and all you have to do is present an open box and an address for people to come drop off cans. It's a great time to throw in the Ron Paul plug very nonchalantly, and it also reinforces the principle of private charity being a great benefit to society.

Also you can send press releases to local TV and radio stations, they are usually pretty cool about announcing charity events. It's totally doable... just a few thoughts.

[Roxi]

(and ask for a $1 donation if they are interested, with all proceeds going directly to the campaign)


all except this part which is illegal, unless you have them fill out a donation card with it (which is next to impossible to get strangers to do because it has personal info on it) then you have to mail in the donation card and the donation from each person to the campaign....

other than that.... great idea

(tulsa group is also having a thanksgiving food drive, and a Black Friday Flash Mob)