Great idea OP. Too bad this sorta stuff can't be posted in the regional deals forums, but ah well... that goes with an exploding and unfamiliar user-base.
One thing that I've learned about Walmart clearance deals is that many items will be marked down at multiple locations, but the amount of markdown, clearance schedule, and availability seem to vary wildly. Similar to the Best Buy clearance theory, clearances seem to occur more frequently and have a more aggressive rate of price reduction for stores of smaller volume, size, and market.
Also, clearances can be determined automatically (from the corporate inventory system), or by department & store management. I've seen a store manager mark down each item on four clearance floats in the front of the store to $1 on a whim. I walked out with 5 Crossman BB guns, two floodlights, 4 baseball bats, and 6 PC games.. all only $1 a piece (of course, that's a bit of an extreme situation.. and very "right place, right time"... mullets soon began to swarm the area like nobody's business).
Most stores are notorious for ignoring price updates for games. If you see a stack of 5 year old games tucked away in the back of a case, chances are a few are marked down but not stickered. Of course, that's a crapshoot. Some will sit for years at full MSRP (one local Walmart carried Suikoden II for 2 years after printing ceased @ $49.99, and they only started selling after Ebay prices inflated).
Also, depending upon the department manager.. some stores may have boxes full of "consolidated" backstock sitting on a couple floats in the back. If you know a couple of employees at a local store, it may be worth the trouble to get them to look into it. This also depends on the age of the store, and the amount of shelf space for the games (as older software is taken to the back to make room for new mainstream releases). Other chains without their proverbial "shit together" (Kmart being a great example) can have boxes of really old backstock sitting in the back (we're talking Saturn or PS1 games, due to the poor inventory management & control).
So hopefully this info will help someone. It IS all dependent upon the market, size, and location of each store; however, some clearances will be at many given stores across different regions (just at different price increments). Keep in mind.. distribution centers are the ones who get all of a certain item.. and general logic would dictate that the quantity of an item would be distributed evenly across all stores in respect to the size of the store/volume sales/etc etc. That's why all Walmart stores have an assload of merchandise with Billy Mays and "as seen on TV!" stickers plastered on the packaging
? Those should be on a table, outside of the store with a sign that says 'PLEASE TAKE ME'
