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How Well Did You Fare on "Black Friday"?
Quixote asks: "''Black Friday' is about over now. Though I wasn't among the faithful
who queued up to get into the stores, I could see massive traffic jams in the local Best Buy, Target, etc. on my drive in to work. But it looks like the online offerings of some of the retailers are also pretty much slashdotted (I'm downloading a 500KB rebate form from CompUSA rebate center at the blazing speed of 800bytes/sec as I submit this story). So, how many of you avoided the long checkout lines and used the 'net instead? What are your experiences? What 'killer' deals did you get online, that you wouldn't have gotten in the store? And what are your thoughts on this whole phenomenon: why shouldn't the stores just get rid of this 'lets open the store at an unearthly hour' practice, and just move all of the 'Black Friday' sales online?"
...why the heck they do this, too. Crowds make me itch. But a lot of people *love* it -- I read about people who dropped $1000 or more on Christmas gifts, and I sure many spent more than they intended because they were spend-saving or "spaving" -- and there's probably a race to the bottom among retailers to out-do each other and pack the people in.
:)
I think the kind of shopper who gets an adrenaline rush from this kind of shopping -- and if they do, fine, so long as they don't blow apart their credit rating -- likes to touch the merchandise, and likes the shopping experience. It's entertaining. Hey, I still go to bookstores even though I can get most things cheaper at home. There's the power to browse, and the opportunity to impulse buy; the sharpest discount and greatest convenience aren't the whole thing.
Now, the whole holiday going down the materialism tube, that's a whole 'nuther debate.
I don't know about you guys, but I was at work all day. We made more money at the box office at my science center last Friday than we did all of Feburary. Everyone turned out for a day of family fun and learning after their shopping adventures.
Free messageboards and more! Your girlfriend's seen myWang
I spent the day in my jammies wrapped in a warm blanket in front of my computer. Nothing beats getting all your shopping done in one day without dealing with rude people and terrible traffic. God bless online shopping!
Wal Mart was still mostly deserted at 3AM.
Cheaply made electronics beat each other half to death to get a better deal on YOU!
Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...
I didn't buy a single thing except for groceries all four days.
... and all I got were these lousy USB adapters!
Actually, I got stocking stuffers -- "safety hammers." These are the orange, weighted hammers for smashing auto glass, with a notch protecting a blade for slicing seatbelts etc. They were on sale for $5 apiece, so I bought out the store (they only had 6 left).
However, what I *wish* I had gotten is about 20 of those stupid remote control cars, and put them all on eBay. Then I could have bought some real presents.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
One of the reasons, as proven in social psychology research: crowding acts as an arousing agent. Crowding has been shown to heighten a situational reaction, i.e., if you're going to the store to go buy things, you're more likely to do so if everyone around you is bustling about doing the same thing.
Not only that, but the crowds in the stores make customers fall for their gimmicks (buy one, get one free; buy one, get a free silver platter). They also subject the customer to huge amounts of other kinds of marketing.
Crowds HELP stores, not hurt customers.
I was perplexed, since it's only Tuesday, until I collated this with buy nothing day (more) and realized that November 29th was, in fact, on Friday. (I was out of town for Thanksgiving and wasn't going to buy anything that day anyway).
So, uh, yeah.
Robert.
[1] (Yes, every editor is Taco -- esp. the ones who go by Ed.)
Boring, I know, but cheap, *and* I could self-righteously claim to be supporting "Buy Nothing" day, completely by accident, thereby gaining kudos with my radical friends.
;-)
Yay for me.
Believe it or not -- people enjoy shoving through crowds of fellow shoppers on the ordained "buy something" day.
I mean, you couldn't pay me to set foot in a mall on that day and I've been wondering if I can put off buying some desperately needed new socks until the holidays end, but everyone isn't like that. (Although, don't people have jobs to go to on the day after Thanksgiving? Do most people really get 4 day weekends?)
No, I'm not quite ready to buy my socks online...
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
yes, let's move everything online. never mind the fact that on that one friday morning my net connection is actually fast (or something approaching fast anyway) because everyone is at the mall.
in all honesty, i suspect most people take one of two positions on the event: 1) they enjoy going out with the masses. 2) they enjoy making fun of everyone who goes out. i suspect most of the /. crowd falls in the latter.
geek friendly VPS's and free API enabled DNS : zerigo.com
When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it 'til
I satisfy my soul
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
I work for a major retailer, and our boss cautioned us that morning, before the doors opened to the customers: if we didn't sell additional items with the "doorbusters" -- those incredible discounts -- then we wouldn't make any money.
That's the truth in retail, anyway. Often things are sold at deep discounts, knowing the add-on sales will bring in the bucks. That cheap digital camera? Let me sell you some batteries and photo paper and an additional memory card. A free-after-rebate printer? Cable and ink and paper.
This is true, for retailers like mine, ESPECIALLY on a day like black Friday. We wouldn't have gotten our bonuses if we hadn't gotten those attachments... and people are going to need them anyway, aren't they?
(for the record: I would never suggestion an add-on sale that was pointless, or continue to push if the customer said no)
I now work the day after Thanksgiving (the fed doesn't sleep) and completely skip the crowds. Online, however, buy early and ignore the hype.
...we are from the government - we are here to help...
Black Friday has been over for over 72 hours. You must be new to Slashdot, stories rarely are posted the same day they happen.
Why, do you ask? Because not everyone has or uses a computer; regardless of the statistics. I have a couple for work and play but my neighbors? None. Well, maybe one person up the street has one. Some people like to browse; and other people make lists of specifics, get them, and go. I sometimes browse but other days I get the list from my wife and get done (that's what I loaded shopping list software on my Palm for!)
I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.
http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd/
I spent friday in a lovely little town in Canada, sitting by a roaring fire with friends and family, eating a modest homecooked meal.
I read a book (Stanislaw Lem's, "The Futurological Congress), went out for a walk in the snow with my wife.
Did you enjoy your shopping?
What were you expecting?
So, out of curiousity, do the sales of said additions/attachments go up on "Black Friday" on correspondance to the sale items which go down?
Sounds like a good way to wring a few bucks out of the simpleminder. Hey, this printer is only $45, oh, but don't forget you'll need this USB cable (at $25), and maybe some extra ink (at $30)...
My wife had planned to go out on Black Friday and spend somewhere in the ballpark of $400-500 all said and done. I wasn't pleased. I know that she's saving lots and lots of money--but I just can't afford to save any more! We've been living off my grad-student's income and her unemployment since her layoff a couple months back.
Anyway, she ended up not going (thankfully); but she instead blessed me with our first child being born. Now--don't get me wrong... I love this little guy and I'm incredibly happy he's finally here. I'm just starting to think that a few hundred dollars and coping with insane crowds was getting off easy ;)
Long, cute, or funny Sigs are just another form of over compensation, used by geeks, nerdz, etc.
I just bought this printer with a $30 rebate. I thought my wife had already sent the rebate out so I threw away the box with the proof of purchase UPC on it, but she hadn't. So no rebate. Oh, well , i only paid $60 for the damn thing anyway.
Mom thought it'd be a great idea if she and her "girls" went shopping all day on Black Friday. So Mom, my sisters (ages 23 and 20), my niece (age 2 mo) and I bundled into the car at 7:30 am, trucked it 2 hours to the outlet mall, and went Shopping.
;-)
:-)
First we had to stop at the bank, though, for Mom to get money. The ATM was broken so she had to go use a teller. She came back to the car chuckling. The teller had asked Mom if she was going shopping, so Mom said, "Yep, just me and my girls!" The teller told her that it was going to be really crowded out, so my mom really ought to think about getting some of those "straps" for us.
We enjoyed the image of the three of us straining against our toddler leashes.
So anyway, the mall was in fact insanely crowded, but it was sort of fun anyway. I mean, I love Christmas so it was cool to get into the spirit a little. But one day of it was plenty. I can guarantee you that the rest of my shopping will be online!
Sarah
Call them back and say "Fraud, civil lawsuit, treble damages" and see if you can't get some better response.
I don't see this mania for shopping. I buy stuff in bulk, and when it runs out, I order some more. Shopping occupies a few hours a month, tops. Life is too short to be wasted in retail outlets.
by the whole phenomenon. What is the appeal of shopping on this particular day? I understand there are sales, but they will continue until well past Christmas.
This day is about nothing more than spending money. Blatent consumerism at its worst. It's a shame there isn't a universally recognised day of the year in which people strive to help someone in need, or do their part to reduce pollution (walk or ride with someone else). If there was, we would certainly be better off.
FWIW, I didn't spend a dime on black friday.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.