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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?"
"I read about people who dropped $1000 or more on Christmas gifts"
I had to return something that I purchased a few days earlier on Friday, and I was stuck behind a couple who were purchasing decent matching PCs with 17" flat panel monitors and a laptop. Oh yeah, and a VCR (which oddly seemed the man's primary concern). The total that I saw was somewhere in the area of $6,000.
I'm not sure how I felt after seeing that as I returned some washer hoses to get my 30 bucks back, but I'm sure it wasn't good...
The most interesting thing I saw out of the whole day was a pair of police officers putting big bright orange warnings on cars telling the owners that they were likely candidates to be broken in to. I asked one officer about it and he said, "If we see anything in plain site - electronics, purses, movies or CDs - we put this note on the car to alert them to the fact they could be a target for a car break-in." When I pointed out to him that putting big bright orange notes on windshields might make the cars slightly bigger targets, he scratched his head and just stood there, silent.
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...
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.
Scene at CmdrTaco's house, Christmas Day:
CmdrTaco excitedly grabs a large, hastily-wrapped box. He reads the tag aloud to all those nearby:
"From Timothy. Hi Rob, sorry I couldn't make it to the party. Here's something to take with you on the go; these can be really handy at times. I bought the last one the store had. Open the box to find out. Enjoy!"
CmdrTaco tries to guess what it is.
"Maybe it's a new Jornada! Or, one of those slick CD/MP3 players, or even an Archos!"
*shakes box vigorously*
"I bet it could be a new handheld GPS! Or maybe just a really good travel mug, I'd be happy with that!"
CmdrTaco rips into the box, unraveling layer after layer of bubble wrap and tissue paper. Finally he grabs something heavy, and plastic, and...orange. Pulling it out of the box, CmdrTaco sits staring at the "Safe-T-Hammer" in his hands, turning it over and over, reading the poorly translated description of its life-saving abilities.
CmdrTaco then remembers the last time he clicked on a Timothy article.
CmdrTaco lays the outrageously orange hammer on the couch next to him, places his head in his hands, and weeps silently.
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