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I think apple stopped running this in the US because of people complained about it not being fair or just complaining (to be honest I don't know for sure, but I know they used to do it, but don't anymore).

we camped out for the SF Union Square apple store in part to get lucky bags. They were $250 for those ones and the big ticket items were ipods - yes, that's how long ago this was. None of us got any ipod - here's what came in most of the lucky bags:

http://www.ifoapplestore.com/stores/lucky_bags.html

It'd be cool if apple brought that back to the larger retail store openings, unfortunately I don't have the freedom & flexibility to camp out these days.

I remember Apple doing the same and yes the hot item at the time was an iPod.
 
Let me get this straight: I hand over roughly $450, and I get a bag filled with stuff. I open the bag hoping that I got something worth more than $450 like a Macbook and not something like a $29 DVI adapter and $29 power cord.

Am I correct? If so, how many bags have stuff valued over $450? How many total bags are there?

I think risking $450 in hopes of getting something (and what if I don't need what's in the bag?!) valued at $450 is pretty stupid. Might as well go an gamble the money or find some specific contests/raffles for the Apple product I want.

I think the term "lucky bag" implies that there is a small percentage of "bags" that are lucky and hence worth the gamble. No?
 
That's a very cool idea! Although, I wouldn't risk that much money on something like this. I'm just not a gambler. :)

Sadly, I don't think our culture is compatible with something like Luck Bags. People are attacked during Black Friday store openings all around the country. Could you picture a typical person being ok with receiving a few things they may not want but paid for?

I don't personally know many people who would be happy with the situation. I imagine that US consumers scare retailers away from this type of event.

I'm open to being wrong but that's how I feel about this topic.
 
Let me get this straight: I hand over roughly $450, and I get a bag filled with stuff. I open the bag hoping that I got something worth more than $450 like a Macbook and not something like a $29 DVI adapter and $29 power cord.

Am I correct? If so, how many bags have stuff valued over $450? How many total bags are there?

I think risking $450 in hopes of getting something (and what if I don't need what's in the bag?!) valued at $450 is pretty stupid. Might as well go an gamble the money or find some specific contests/raffles for the Apple product I want.

I think the term "lucky bag" implies that there is a small percentage of "bags" that are lucky and hence worth the gamble. No?

Well ... as it was in 2007, there was a flyer that explained that you are guaranteed to get stuff more than double of what you paid ... if it was what you wanted? That no one can say ... but here is the list of stuff I got for about 440$

JBL on time 34800
e3c shure headphones 19800 Yen
procare 9800 Yen
smartwrap 1980 Yen
4gb silver ipod nano 23800 Yen
nike sport armband 4200
nike + ipod sport kit 3400 Yen
ipod nano dock 3400 Yen
crystal film set for nano 1280 Yen
porter for ipod nano 4800 Yen
train schedule software 3590 Yen
japan map software 11340 Yen
t-shirt (priceless, but let’s say 1500)
Total 123690 Yen (785 EU / 1042 USD)

The JBL ontime and the Ipod Nano alone were worth the price

This was a guy going down the line preparing people mentally of how BIG the bag would be (and that you should check, since you might have a coupon for an iMac in there) http://nacken.com/img3/fukuapple.jpg

Also, at that time I had some issues with my 17" MBP, which was just out of warrantee .. so ... the pro-care came in very handy :)
 
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"All I got was a rock":(

iPad-vs-Rock.jpg
 
I thought the value of the bags was always greater than the price. They may not be things you want, but I don't think you lose money on the deal.

arn

:eek:
That's amazing.
But wouldn't everyone just buy over 9000 lucky bags then?
 
Are there any unlucky bags?

"I got a smart cover, an iPod nano armband, an iPhone bumper, a $25 iTunes gift card, and four copies of "Steve Jobs""
 
I thought the value of the bags was always greater than the price. They may not be things you want, but I don't think you lose money on the deal.

arn

They are, but a lot of retailers use them to clear stock that they haven't been able to sell during the run up to Christmas/New Year and clear the shelves/stockroom for new items. Therefore, you often get a lot of **** that people don't want, or wasn't popular. Apple seem to have at least put reasonable quality stuff in there, although arguably to make it into an Apple Store, the product needs to be pretty decent quality to start with.
 
You would be pretty pissed if you got a load of cheap items though, no?
Let me get this straight: I hand over roughly $450, and I get a bag filled with stuff. I open the bag hoping that I got something worth more than $450 like a Macbook and not something like a $29 DVI adapter and $29 power cord.

Am I correct? If so, how many bags have stuff valued over $450? How many total bags are there?

I think risking $450 in hopes of getting something (and what if I don't need what's in the bag?!) valued at $450 is pretty stupid. Might as well go an gamble the money or find some specific contests/raffles for the Apple product I want.

I think the term "lucky bag" implies that there is a small percentage of "bags" that are lucky and hence worth the gamble. No?



I think from looking at the photograph the bag is from "Head Porter" brand which itself is worth more then $400
 
as someone who plays the lottery

I'd give this a shot especially if part of the lucky bag fee was used for charity.

I would not expect an 11" MBA and if what I received was not something I could use I would definitely gift the items to people I know would get use from them.

I do sadly agree with the comments made about the consumerism here in the States, but I am going to back to only buying when I need to, not when something new is released.
 
Appuru (アップル) is taken from English word "Apple" (borrowed/foreign-origin word), but as far as I know, it isn't used for apple the fruit.
It's used aplenty, for words like "apple pie", and any number of small businesses that include the word "apple" in the name (for whatever reason; possibly run by Apple fans, fruit lovers, pie eaters, Beatles maniacs, who knows).

As long as we're off topic from grab bags, if I may respond to an odd comment from another poster above:

"As cool as Japan is, I couldn't get used to not being allowed in a lot of places just because I'm a foreign gaijin."

That would likely be 0% of the places that you'd try to enter. Unless you've got a wish to visit every back-alley semi-private bar, or remote bath house, that you can find…

But anyway. Grab bags. Nifty wherever they may appear in the world. Moving on...
 
As long as they only put compatible products inside (No Mini DVI adapter with a MacBook Ar, for example ;)), I'd be happy to grab one. As some have already said, there's nothing I would NOT want in an Apple Store, even if I may not buy some items alone from lack of interest, and in the worst case, you could always find someone to gift it to.

It's a great way to attract publicity to a particular store, or brands, products or software people may not have bought otherwise. Would also be cool in clothes shops: get a bag containing clothes of one size.

Don't know how canadians would react, but from the few comments I read here, it seems US consumers are just that - brainless, spoilt zombies with just one neuron linking eye to wallet. So easy to manipulate those stupid asses.
 
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I think apple stopped running this in the US because of people complained about it not being fair or just complaining

I suppose that's your dog whistle for blaming unruly and/or violent "Americans" when you actually mean Black people.

I thought we had progressed beyond this type of arcane, covert racist attitudes. smh
 
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