Black Friday

Every year about this time a bunch of stores run Black Friday specials. While they look good on paper, it seems to me the deals are scarce and just entice people to come in and buy other things that aren't a good deal.

I'm too lazy to do any Black Friday shopping. Standing outside in line for a chance at a great deal isn't my idea of fun. I'll stand in line for an item I already bought, that I know I can pick up 100% of the time on a pre-order, but the concept of Black Friday seems crazy to me. If you stand outside 5 hours to save $100, you've sold your time for $20/hr which isn't bad for someone who makes minimum wage.

With that being said, have you found any great deals, and what was the likelihood of receiving the deal? I've heard people getting deals just as good on cyber Monday, which doesn't involve standing in line, is that a great deal?

Black Friday shoppers often brag about "saving money", but they are really talking about "spending money".

I'll be at home "saving money" for real.

Buying things just for the sake of buying things doesn't make any sense.

I stopped standing in line more than a decade ago. While there are a few things in most stores you have to be there for the majority of them can be bought online and either picked up later or shipped, often with free shipping. Last year I woke up, went online to Walmart about 5 AM and got a 42" TV for $115. (Not the greatest TV in the world, but it's really pretty decent and well worth the price). I picked it up later in the day, and got dirty looks from more than a few people :)

I'm kind of a minimalist so I try to avoid buying anything and there is little, if anything, I'm interested in this year but there are some incredible bargains on some things if they happen to be what you are looking for.

I stay as far away from retails on Black Friday as possible. The savings I may receive don't even come close to making up for the crowds, the anxiety, the fatigue, and the the general unhappiness that Black Friday shopping would create for me.

Quote: djatc

I'm too lazy to do any Black Friday shopping. Standing outside in line for a chance at a great deal isn't my idea of fun. I'll stand in line for an item I already bought, that I know I can pick up 100% of the time on a pre-order, but the concept of Black Friday seems crazy to me. If you stand outside 5 hours to save $100, you've sold your time for $20/hr which isn't bad for someone who makes minimum wage.

You said it, DJ. It isn't worth the aggravation. In fact, you get a present from me, I can guarantee you that it was purchased either online or at the liquor store! That's where I do my Christmas shopping.

I can't stand Black Friday. I've done it a couple of times. I did have a friend, 10 years ago, who had a deal lined up with his Best Buy best friend manager, and I got a laptop for 449, regular 1300 that year (about 10 years ago). Probably the best I ever did on Black Friday.

Had sort of a funny experience a couple years ago. Maybe you had to be there, but maybe I can tell it "funny". Mom insisted she wanted to go to Target, so we drove over there, entered the back parking lot, found a good space along the side of the building just before the main doors. We came around the corner, and there was nobody in line at the first door, and several dozen carts tipped up/stacked into a wall just beyond it. Could also see a cop car on the sidewalk beyond the line of carts.

Mom says, "Oh, good! Nobody came out for it!" and starts in the door. I grab her arm just before a cop does, and walk her out past the carts to look past the police car. This is a supertarget, one of the biggest I've seen, and from the other side of the carts, the line starts at the door, 4 wide, goes the entire length of the front, and snakes out into the parking lot. Maybe 5000 people; maybe more. And the looks they're giving us! She came THAT close to starting a riot. She said, "Oh, HELL no!" and we got back in the car and went home.

Came back Saturday and they still had the TV she wanted, so no harm, no foul. But people DO turn out in amazing numbers for this stuff.

Can't beat internet shopping for those box stores IMO (as above). You must want to be part of a scrum to show up in the first place.

While I loathe crowds, my wife cannot resist the Coach store in the North Premium Outlets (the ones by the Civic Center). The line snakes around the inside of the store, then goes outside. The last time I was there, as designated place holder while the Mrs. shopped, there was an actual fist fight near the register, as one woman cut in front of the line, knowing that 200 people were already waiting, but perhaps not because the head of the queue was well back from the register to allow cross traffic. The cops were on the scene pretty quickly, and the store never closed.

5 years ago we sat outide a best buy. Got there at 7pm thanksgiving night for a 5am opening. It went down under 30 degrees overnight so it was cold. We were 2nd in line of about 2000. At first friends and family called us crazy but around 1am they were calling asking us to get stuff for them. We ended up getting a lot of stuff thay day at really good deals.

Quite honestly I haven't seen much worth waiting for over the last few years.

Did it once about six years ago. There was a Kohl's by my house and the woman I was dating had told me she wanted this radio/cd player/thingamajig that they had there and it was good deal on BF. IIRC Kohl's opened at midnight, so I got up around 3:30 A.M. thinking the crowds would be gone by then.

I was wrong. It was a madhouse, but I braved the crowds, found the item, then waited in a line that stretched halfway around the store to reach the register. Took about 2 hours total but success right? Until we broke up shortly there after and I had to drag the dang thing back to Kohl's for my refund

Quote: Ayecarumba

... there was an actual fist fight near the register...

I don't know how you people do this. Or even why. One person losing it would be all it would take to light the powder keg, and I'd snap until I was tasered back into reasonableness.

I mean, seriously. The women of my extended family do this, it's like an event to them. So be it. But not once, never in the history of ever, have they ever gotten something that I couldn't any random day, sitting in my underpants at home behind a PC. It reminds me of those midnight releases for the next hot media. Camping outside for 12+ hours, or even days? You know I slept until 1p and strolled in at about 5p and got the same thing as you for the same price, right?

And the juxtaposition with Thanksgiving just takes the cake. Gods, but I loathe the holiday season.

Quote: Face

Or even why.

Quote: Rene Descartes' idiot cousin

Consumpsi, ergo sum.
(I consume lotsa crap, therefore I am.)

I think I am going to go to the art museum on Black Friday.

Quote: teddys

I think I am going to go to the art museum on Black Friday.

Good idea, I may try that. A better place to be around folks of similar interests and attitudes on a day like that.

Quote: Face

I mean, seriously. The women of my extended family do this, it's like an event to them. So be it. But not once, never in the history of ever, have they ever gotten something that I couldn't any random day, sitting in my underpants at home behind a PC. .

Face, we are brothers from another mother.
I don't leave the house on the Fri after
bird day. I hate sales of any kind, they are
for the mindless masses..

Quote: Ayecarumba

While I loathe crowds, my wife cannot resist the Coach store in the North Premium Outlets (the ones by the Civic Center). The line snakes around the inside of the store, then goes outside. The last time I was there, as designated place holder while the Mrs. shopped, there was an actual fist fight near the register, as one woman cut in front of the line, knowing that 200 people were already waiting, but perhaps not because the head of the queue was well back from the register to allow cross traffic. The cops were on the scene pretty quickly, and the store never closed.

I can get you 30 % to 50% off of any deal you get at Coach(not the inflated prices) You have my PM Just let me know. Coach is worthless to us. We have new never been touched coach stuff just sitting in the closet.

Other members have taken me up on the offee

I see no reason to leave the recliner Friday. It appears they've increases the college football lineup to look like a Saturday. Oh yeah, we have pie. Four strait days of multi-channel football. Come to think of it, I may have to get up to change T-shir... er napkins.

I normally skip Black Friday as well, but there's an Ace Hardware just down the block from where I live with a "50% off one item" sale that's only on Black Friday, and I need some new lights for my Christmas tree.

There's also Small Business Saturday; I was just going to go to the local comic book store, to fill in some gaps in my collection and get its 2016 wall calendar poster (which is released that day), but when I set up my new computer, I noticed that it only has a DVI video port, and my monitor only has an HDMI port, so I have to go to Fry's (hopefully it won't be as crowded on Saturday as it is on Friday) to get a video cable that connects the two.

Side note: I saw a strange pair of back-to-back commercials - one for T.J. Maxx/Marshall's explaining why they won't be open on Thanksgiving, then one for Old Navy saying that not only will it be open on Thanksgiving, but someone in line on Thanksgiving will win $1,000,000 (you have to be one of the first 500 people in line at a store after it closes at 4 PM on Thanksgiving - most stores will reopen three hours later - to be eligible).

I don't believe in holidays, especially religious ones. I'll be at a casino making money.

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

I don't believe in holidays, especially religious ones. I'll be at a casino making money.

I will also be at the casino, holidays bore
the crap out of me.

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

I don't believe in holidays, especially religious ones. I'll be at a casino making money.

I did not play on Thanksgiving or on Wednesday. Sparkles was miffed at me for losing big on Tuesday.
I did play on Black Friday, won back Wed loses plus some.
Apparently the direction the ship is sailing is the key!
Did not shop for bargains.....

<edit> Thanksgiving isn't a religious holiday is it? I guess you could celebrate it religiously......