Walmart Worker Trampled by 2,000 Shoppers

At a Walmart store in Long Island, NY, a tragedy befell a worker the day after Thanksgiving. Could it have been prevented?

Peter Goodman wrote an insightful article on the incident; here's an excerpt:

"It was a tragedy, yet it did not feel like an accident. All those people were there, lined up in the cold and darkness, because of sophisticated marketing forces that have produced this day now called Black Friday. They were engaging in early-morning shopping as contact sport."

If you can't stand up in a crowded theater and yell "fire" then why can a store create a situation where the chances of someone getting hurt are higher?

There is a way to prevent this: increase insurance rates for retail stores between Thanksgiving and New Year's day. Manager will then think twice before opening the doors to their stores as throngs of shoppers egged on by tales of free merchandise or "75% off" wait impatiently. Or maybe it will begin to change the contact sport that has become Black Friday.