The Black Friday experience

[Adam]

So, colour me intrigued as to this Black Friday tradition.

Every year there comes tales of death and destruction from across the sea.
Bargain fueled riots that leave the participants maimed and trampled while still clutching that cheaply priced product in their cold dead hands.

Many years ago I remember reading (b4 te internetz) of a lady who lost her arm due to the pitch battle fought for a CabbagePatch doll.



Some bargain hunters, yesterday.


Madness! you say? Well I want to know more!

Seeing as Australia has managed to fight off this rampant consumerism so far*, please could you tell me your experiences of this Friday painted in black?

What bargains have you gained? Yesterday or years gone by?

Enquiring minds want to know!



Best regards,

Adam.

*Not totally true, I have been keeping my eye on the digital sales.
I picked up Enemy Front for 5 bucks yesterday. bargain!

[Mr.Burns]

Unfortunately this unpleasant syndrome seems to have caught on with some individuals over here in middle earth (aka England). I know an acquaintance of mine works in such a store and was dreading going in today as she would have to deal with the rudeness and lack of self respect of some customers.
Now if I could only get an SSG sent to her we could restore a bit of civility [a la evil dead style]

[damage_inc]

Never shopped a Black Friday in my life. The sheople on the other hand, are easy to herd!

[Adam]

@Mr B. I heard that that Blighty was getting this. Is it because stores like Asda are owned by Walmart or are all the stores just using it as a way to boost sales?
Also, I hope they are queueing in an orderly fashion!

@D. inc. I guess you would know being the Master of Puppets?

I do wonder if the participants do it to just re-sell on Ebay.

[PrimalLove]

To properly discuss Black Friday and some of the misconceptions about it you need a bit of history on the topic. It really begins with Abraham Lincoln. It was President Lincoln who made Thanksgiving a national holiday during the Civil War. It was established as the final Thursday in November. This tradition lasted something like 70+ years.

Now the start of the holiday advertising season in America has some interesting beginnings. The tradition of starting official holiday shopping advertising began with the advent of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York and America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit that started in 1924. This parade is when many top retail stores, including Macy's department stores would use the parade to mark the beginning of the holiday advertising season. If you were one of the parade contributors you got an extra day of unofficial advertising in a way because you would have a float or similar in the parade. However, it became an unwritten but well followed tradition to beginning Christmas advertising the day after the parade. With of course the exception being if you were a supporter of the parade.

One of the downfalls? of having Thanksgiving fall on the last Thursday in November is sometimes it would fall on say November 30th. This was an issue for some retail stores. They wanted more days in the holiday advertising season (remember this is during the time just after the Great Depression) but didn't want to break the unwritten tradition of advertising the day after the parade. So it is widely believed that the major retail chains pushed Franklin D. Roosevelt to change the date. Because we were still coming out of the Great Depression and FDR was trying to stimulate the economy it is believed this was the motivation for his decision to change it to the fourth Thursday of November when Congress passed a law proposed by FDR on December 26th 1941.

Now why is it called Black Friday? Well, it is often believed it is because it is the time of the year that retailers come out of 'the red'. Meaning it is the time of the year they begin making profit. Thus going into black. This is not the case. It is widely believed the name came from news reports in the mid 1960's when police in Philadelphia began to refer to the day as Black Friday because of the increased traffic jams and large amounts of pedestrian traffic in the city’s shopping district. it may surprise you to know that Black Friday has only recently become the biggest shopping day of the year. In fact, it ranked something like 4th or 5th and sometimes higher in terms of the biggest shopping day of the year. The biggest were Valentine's day, Mother's days and the King of them was the day before Christmas. Is it any wonder why? So when did Black Friday become the big day it is now? The statistics tell us in 2002. Now I am not clear on exactly what sparked it. But this is the year it took the crown from the day before Christmas as the most shopped holiday in terms of spending.

Now does this holiday point to rampant consumerism? Hardly. It is often reported in the media that our (USA) consumer spending is 70% of GDP. This is misleading and incorrect information. And might lead one to believe we are simply a consumerist economy. But nothing is further from the truth. But even if you took the 70% of GDP consumer spending at face value you might find it interesting to note that the United Kingdom also has a similar percentage of consumer spending. Last time I checked Australia was also pretty high. But none of this is to say anything bad about any of those countries. In fact, it just goes to show how misleading that information is when it includes things like health-care spending and other factors that do not give a clear picture of the true consumer spending.

The real reason behind all the crazy shopping on Black Friday has little to do with rampant consumerism and more to do with clever and urgent advertising campaigns that hit at the heart of human psychology. These days are not only promoted by the big retailers, but also by the media. In fact, I'd say they push Black Friday more than the retailers do. The reason for all the hype is the great deals. And yes, if you are willing to sit out in the cold, in long lines, with little sleep you can indeed make out like a bandit. In fact, it isn't surprising so many people love this shopping day and even get excited about the idea of waiting in those long lines, in the freezing cold. If you think about it, its just human psychology at work here.

If you have ever spoken with anyone who has mastered Black Friday shopping you will find a person who is motivated by challenge. By the hunt. It is very interesting to watch and not at all surprising behavior given the conditions. But it also brings other types of human nature. The more violent and territorial nature. :/ This leads to some tragic outcomes in some cases tho I would say that the number of injuries is actually pretty low although in 2008 there was a death that was directly caused by a Black Friday mob.

I personally don't support the holiday shopping event as I avoid all of them. The reality is this day already had a tradition behind it even before it was called Black Friday. The problem is advertisers took this tradition and really made it into something that it never should have been. When you push for urgency and make deals that you can only get one day a year and people are limited on budget and plan out to the finest detail how to get those deals nothing I've seen so far is strange behavior. In reality they shouldn't advertise like this. Retailers have this strange belief that they have to make as much sales as possible during these crucial holiday events. And to be fair, this was actually the case during and following the Great Depression where a lot of the traditions in shopping came from. But this is old thinking and the reality is actually much different. Statistical analysis and studies have made it pretty clear that indeed retailers do not need to lump sales into these few days per year. In truth, its likely they could make the same or more sales if they simply had more sales deals per year. But, like many traditions, they adhere to his mantra and not much changes.

Consumers have many alternatives tho. Cyber Monday is a good example if you want to avoid these crazy shopping days from the comfort of your own home and a small shipping fee. Unless you have Amazon Prime . So I usually only participate in those sales. It is also worth nothing that not all retailers target these types of days as vigorously as some major retailers and they still manage to make great yearly numbers. An example you may be familiar with is Steam. It is true they have sales on holidays like others do. But they have them all year round. Spreading it out thorough the year hasn't hurt Steam much tho admittedly they still follow similar sales patterns of other major retailers. Also to be fair to Black Friday some retailers are 'leaking' their store Black Friday sales earlier and also opening earlier on Thursday to help curb some of the negative effects of the holiday shopping day. For instance Staples opened at 6pm to 10 pm on Thursday instead of 2 or 4am in the morning. Then opened up again at 6am. You may think releasing the fliers early isn't much help. But, it does one very important thing. It allows people to plan. Planning means better organization and less chaos. Means you can plan which store you need to go to, which to avoid, best route to and from that location and what time to be there. Hopefully the effect will be to mitigate some of the disasters we have seen from past Black Friday's.

I have no problem with consumers. It is indeed how we keep the economy going. I just don't see the necessity to have it crowded into a limited number of days per year that create conditions of artificial scarcity, an immediate sense of urgency and make conditions that are prime for showing the worse side of human nature. :/ Tho to be fair it also shows some good. And what is worse is the empirical evidence doesn't support it either.

Hope this helps to clear up some things about Black Friday. Happy shopping!

I do wonder if the participants do it to just re-sell on Ebay.

I am sure some of this goes on. This is something that happens often with new console releases. I remember one year my parents paid 600 for a playstation 2 on ebay because they were sold out in stores. :/

[wicked_lord]

No, I have never and will never shop on black friday. I believe all stores should be closed. I was in a hotel on Thanksgiving night and could see people pitching tents in front of toys r us in 20°weather. I had my Thanksgiving at TGIFridays. I disgreed with any of them having to work but I went in with my wife and we spent $167.50 on 2 meals and the rest drinks and a $50.00 tip to the server for being as kind as he was and had a smile on his face which brightend my night seeing him happy to take care of my wife and I.

[Adam]

@Primal, Thanks for the history. I had no idea it was that steeped in it.

@WL, I don't partake in such events myself. I don't think we have similar sales here, maybe Boxing day sales but I have never been.

I have a weakness for the Steam sales tho' I was tempted by The Enemy Within for around 20 bucks but I didn't bite. I am waiting for Borderlands PS & Farcry4 to drop in price.

[Mr.Burns]

Hi Adam

@Mr B. I heard that that Blighty was getting this. Is it because stores like Asda are owned by Walmart or are all the stores just using it as a way to boost sales?

Like many in this thread I never succumb to this sort of temptation, but I believe it started in the fashion/clothing type of shops and now other retailers (Argos, etc) see it as an opportunity to boost their sales too.

Also, I hope they are queueing in an orderly fashion!.

Apparently, if the BBC news is to be believed the police have been called to a number of stores due to the behaviour of some of the shoppers. From a law enforcement point of view I would imagine the officers feel they could be put to better use instead dealing with people who should know better but don't seem to be able to conduct themselves properly.

Ahh well, such is life

Kind regards

Monty

[RL Clown]

No, I have never and will never shop on black friday. I believe all stores should be closed.

Me too, I think that all stores should be closed. The people deserve a day off. The people should recharge their batteries. Just in case you people didn't know this, Canada has also adopted the Black Friday holiday. I just don't think that it's a big deal, to be honest. It's not a horrible day, but I think that Boxing Day has fragged Black Friday.

[TehChozenTwo]

I spent Black Friday with the lady far far away from any retail stores. It was a glorious unstressful time

[Adam]

Eurogamer - Developer sells bullsh!t online for black friday.

=)

People bought it too! Real poop for 6 bucks.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Wow I've flushed at least 24 bucks away today alone hah