Black Friday

[Bella Fortuna]

Ugh, no way I want to go out there on that day! Not that I have money to spend anyway...

Spent it all on air fare?

My hobby money does go to that, yes, though I haven't spent much on it in the past couple of years.

[JimC]

These days, we (in reality Bron or Nick) usually shop on-line...

Certainly a lot cheaper in almost every case...

[Tero]

OK, peace ended 2 hours after I got up. Jobs now divided between female
http://www.rationalia.com/forum/viewtop ... =2&t=40796
And male (shop ekectronics) in the 2 hours before guests arrive. Im going to Best Buy.

[Tero]

Problem solved, but I did not help the economy much. I bought a mini stereo cable 6 foot and a book case stereo. As it turned out we had a sound system unused, so I am returning the bookshelf stereo. This is stuff rigged to TV. So we can watch a football game.

[rasetsu]

Went to one of those a couple of years ago, and when I got to the item I wanted, they were sold out because they only had 4 in stock at the advertised price. Learned my lesson...if you can't get to the front of the line, might as well sleep in.

Meh. I didn't plan on buying anything last year, but Wally World had a 40" TV for $250, so I went. I certainly wasn't the first in line, but got there in a prudent time frame, stood in line for no more than an hour or so, and got my TV.

I'm very satisfied and would do it again.

Meh... Magnavox 40" 1080p at Sam's Club regularly $298. Wait in line for an hour or so for $50 off? No way. Unless the TV is something special, or would normally be like $400 - I'd not bother.

First, that was a year ago. I noticed similar televisions for under $200 this year. That's a third off of your price. Second, I don't have a Sam's Club membership, so add another $50 to your price.

You're not comparing apples to apples dear, and your willingness to do so to make your point indicates an ideological, emotion driven goal rather than truth. Do you dislike saving money? Or just sour grapes?

Anyway, if you think $100, or even $50 is inconsequential, I'll be furnishing you with my paypal account and I'll unburden you of any such inconsequentialisms.

$50 for an hour's work for a disabled chick? Nice work if you can get it, and I did. (Btw, I still have that TV, sitting a few feet away, and it's one of the most satisfying purchases I've made in recent memory.)


This year, bought a bunch of cheap Blu-ray disks (I'll be returning some), another external hard disk (3 TB at $99, normally about $150), a plastic dragon statuette, and some faux foliage.

[Coito ergo sum]

Just hit Target! My group of friends was second in line!
Going to the next stop as soon as my girls get done shopping!

I must say, I love your Christmas spirit, but shopping on Thanksgiving?

[Coito ergo sum]

Went to one of those a couple of years ago, and when I got to the item I wanted, they were sold out because they only had 4 in stock at the advertised price. Learned my lesson...if you can't get to the front of the line, might as well sleep in.

Meh. I didn't plan on buying anything last year, but Wally World had a 40" TV for $250, so I went. I certainly wasn't the first in line, but got there in a prudent time frame, stood in line for no more than an hour or so, and got my TV.

I'm very satisfied and would do it again.

Meh... Magnavox 40" 1080p at Sam's Club regularly $298. Wait in line for an hour or so for $50 off? No way. Unless the TV is something special, or would normally be like $400 - I'd not bother.

First, that was a year ago. I noticed similar televisions for under $200 this year. That's a third off of your price. Second, I don't have a Sam's Club membership, so add another $50 to your price.

You're not comparing apples to apples dear, and your willing to do so to make your point indicates an ideological, emotion driven goal rather than truth. Do you dislike saving money? Or just sour grapes?

I love saving money. I have, however, heard of and seen too many examples of retailers raising prices just before Black Friday, and then offering a "discount." And, I have personally priced things -- last year a computer -- which was one price on Black Friday and then cheaper after Black Friday.

Saving money is great. Camping out in order to save $50 or $100 off of a $300 item? At a certain point, one's time has value. And, one's dignity has value. The same goes for standing in endless lines with unruly customers.

Anyway, if you think $100, or even $50 is inconsequential, I'll be furnishing you with my paypal account and I'll unburden you of any such inconsequentialisms.

That depends on the item. Saving $50 on a $300 item is -- or ought to be -- relatively inconsequential, because if you are that hard up for money, you may wish to evaluate the budgetary propriety of buying the unnecessary luxury item in the first place.

$50 for an hour's work for a disabled chick? Nice work if you can get it, and I did. (Btw, I still have that TV, sitting a few feet away, and it's one of the most satisfying purchases I've made in recent memory.

To each his or her own.

This year, bought a bunch of cheap Blu-ray disks (I'll be returning some), another external hard disk (3 TB at $99, normally about $150), a plastic dragon statuette, and some faux foliage.

There have been 3 Terrabyte drives available for $99 for a while now. Maybe the brand you got was normally $150, I don't know. Seagate has had one for $99 at least since I picked one up a month ago.

My disgust with Black Friday comes from the fact that what it is is a giant promotional gimmick designed to convince customers from making a run on stores. They intersperse "loss leaders" (which are great if you can get them -- but, like the article I just read about K-Mart, they had a total of 10 of an item, and people had waited in line for 6+ hours outside the store and they ran out in literally seconds after the store opened). The rest of the store makes up for the loss leaders by actually charging slightly more for other items that people wind up buying while they're their, because the promise of crazy deals draws people into the store and they spend additional money while they are there.

As a matter of principle - Economics 101 suggests that when demand is high, prices tend to go up. It's like when lots of people want to buy a stock, the price goes up, not down. Today is the biggest day for retail demand of the year. So, whether done by gimmicks (e.g. telling you that an item is marked down 20% off from $500 when in fact 2 weeks earlier it was priced at $400), or otherwise, you can be sure that retailers are getting the dollars one way or the other. The best time, I have found, to buy is in the week after Black Friday, because the traffic in the stores goes down, so they price compete to draw customers into the store -- and then even better is the week or two after Christmas itself (but, that is another issue, since most people need to buy the presents before Christmas, not after).

[rasetsu]

You're not comparing apples to apples dear, and your willing to do so to make your point indicates an ideological, emotion driven goal rather than truth. Do you dislike saving money? Or just sour grapes?

My disgust with Black Friday comes from the fact that what it is is a giant promotional gimmick designed to convince customers from making a run on stores. They intersperse "loss leaders" (which are great if you can get them -- but, like the article I just read about K-Mart, they had a total of 10 of an item, and people had waited in line for 6+ hours outside the store and they ran out in literally seconds after the store opened). The rest of the store makes up for the loss leaders by actually charging slightly more for other items that people wind up buying while they're their, because the promise of crazy deals draws people into the store and they spend additional money while they are there.

Disgust, eh?

And on the second post, the lady rested her case.

[Coito ergo sum]

You're not comparing apples to apples dear, and your willing to do so to make your point indicates an ideological, emotion driven goal rather than truth. Do you dislike saving money? Or just sour grapes?

My disgust with Black Friday comes from the fact that what it is is a giant promotional gimmick designed to convince customers from making a run on stores. They intersperse "loss leaders" (which are great if you can get them -- but, like the article I just read about K-Mart, they had a total of 10 of an item, and people had waited in line for 6+ hours outside the store and they ran out in literally seconds after the store opened). The rest of the store makes up for the loss leaders by actually charging slightly more for other items that people wind up buying while they're their, because the promise of crazy deals draws people into the store and they spend additional money while they are there.

Disgust, eh?

And on the second post, the lady rested her case.

Yes, disgust. That's the word for a giant commercial scam that appears to dupe people into believing they are getting sweet deals, when in general they aren't.

I don't know what case you're resting. Are you suggesting Black Friday behavior is reasonable behavior? Rushing out to the store in the middle of the night, often with children in tow? Camping out for days at a time in order to be able to dash through the door and grab at consumer items in a mad rush?

Black Friday is the embodiment of and is emblematic of the crass commercialism that folks have been complaining about relative to the holidays for many decades now. It takes the bastardization of the holidays, which most folks think should be about family, friends, love, kindness, compassion, and such, and instead poisons the holidays with Scrooge-like qualities of "squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous[ness]."

It's gotten worse over the last 20 years, for sure, this Black Friday, business. Now, there isn't much celebration of the idea of Thanksgiving in the media anymore -- instead our news reports are clogged with daily updates of the morons camping out now for six days ahead of the stores opening in order to save $100. Daily prognostications of the scuffles, riots and fisticuffs that will ensue on the much-awaited "Black Friday" when droves of rabid shoppers will descend upon malls and big box stores racing with each other like hoards of rats at pieces of cheese. Then...the aftermath... stories of people trampled, of threats on people's lives for "cutting" in line, of police being called in to rescue children left in cars so that morons can rush and buy some appliance that they can't afford, but will buy anyway for 20% off.

Yes...disgust. That is the term, I think. Maybe add some contempt and disdain to it - a nice gravy of disgust, contempt and disdain. Black Friday: A tradition representing some of the ugliness that is in human nature, and the a giant symbol of what the holidays absolutely should not be about. Opinions vary, of course.

[Kristie]

Just hit Target! My group of friends was second in line!
Going to the next stop as soon as my girls get done shopping!

I must say, I love your Christmas spirit, but shopping on Thanksgiving?

I am currently at my 4th Thanksgiving meal. I needed a shopping break!

[SteveB]

I'm hoping to score a deal on a computer in an hour on this fine Black Friday.

[Kristie]

I'm hoping to score a deal on a computer in an hour on this fine Black Friday.

[SteveB]

Indeed.

[Coito ergo sum]

I think I'm going to go wait in line for 20 hours to save $100.

[SteveB]

Physical stores, wha?