Those before-daybreak "Black Friday" shoppers who braved cold temperatures and the crush of others while crammed at the front of stores that had advertised super bargains might well be judged as having been the lucky ones.

Many of those caught in the massive traffic snarl near Prime Outlets near Grove City — especially those people stopped six, eight or 10 miles behind the front of the "shopping convoy" — might now be pondering whether the price breaks they received, or tried to receive, were worth the frustration and aggravation they encountered along the way.

That is an assessment for each shopper to make.

For travelers merely trying to get past the traffic jam that started to develop about 10 p.m. Thursday and continued until after 6:45 a.m. Friday, the experience was no doubt maddening and — based on the amount of gasoline burned while stopped in line — unnecessarily costly.

There has to be a better way.

That is not to imply that Prime Outlets shouldn't hold a midnight madness sale next Black Friday. The outlets have a right to hold whatever sales they please — actually, at any time of the year, whatever the occasion.

However, Friday's experience signals the need for better-coordinated planning for such an event — by the outlets, by the state police and by the state Department of Transportation.

Perhaps early shuttle bus service from some nearby communities is a viable option. Shoppers, in their frenzy for bargains, shouldn't feel that their only option for obtaining some of the items for which they waited so long in traffic lines is to leave their vehicles unattended in travel lanes of roads leading to the outlets.

That's what happened on Route 208 just before the outlets, which are located in Springfield Township. That made a bad situation worse.

Everyone involved obviously hadn't anticipated the possibility of what occurred. Only a dozen shops at the mall were offering steep markdowns beginning at midnight; other shops were offering early bird specials between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., more in line with what retailers elsewhere were offering

The opportunity to save a significant amount of money at "Midnight Madness" then move on to the more-traditional sales — regardless of the amount of sleep lost — was too appealing to ignore for the Black Friday die-hards.

Not only did many not envision what they would encounter; neither did PennDOT nor the state police anticipate the situation with which they would be forced to deal.

"You betcha; this is great," replied Carmen DeRose, outlets general manager, when asked if a similar sale will be held next year.

But between now and then, some serious brainstorming is in order so a similar situation of unnecessarily snarling travel on an interstate highway isn't repeated.

"We hoped this sale would attract shoppers, but we never could have foreseen the kind of traffic jam we saw this morning," DeRose said.

Despite the challenges of Black Friday, thousands of area people enjoy the experience, and stores work hard to satisfy the shoppers. However, such an event shouldn't seriously inconvenience those who prefer not to participate, as it did on Friday.

For those people, this Black Friday promotion was anything but a super bargain.

Maybe Santa Claus can offer some suggestions.