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'Twas the Week Before the Week of Black Friday

Posted by timothy on from the holiday-creep dept.

theodp writes: It's almost time for America's answer to the Running of the Bulls (YouTube), kids. So, if you're dreaming of a cheap tech Christmas, it's time to peruse the 2015 Black Friday ads and make your game plan. Get lucky at Best Buy this year, and you could score a $299.99 Dell 15.6" touchscreen laptop (i3, 8GB memory, 1 TB HD), a $399.99 Microsoft 10.8" Surface 3 (Atom x7, 2GB memory, 64GB storage), $899.99 MacBook Pro 13.3" laptop (i5, 4GB memory, 500MB HD), $99 Acer 11.6" Chromebook (Celeron, 2GB memory, 16GB storage), or, for those on a tight budget, a $34.99 7" Amazon Fire tablet. Fight the crowds at Walmart, and you could snag a $199 HP 15.6" laptop (Celeron, 4GB memory, 500GB drive) or $199 iPad mini 2. And for stay-at-home shoppers, Dell's Windows 10 price-breakers include a $149.99 14" laptop (Celeron, 2GB memory, 32GB storage) and a $229 15.6" laptop (i3, 4GB memory, 500MB HD). So, in your experience, has Black Friday been like a claw machine — suckering you with big prizes, but never delivering — or have you actually walked away with a great deal?

19 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Good Lord... by morethanapapercert · · Score: 5, Informative

    This story reads like a pure ad, annoying as all get out. It makes me wish we could down-mod a story in order to save our /. sisters and brothers from exposure to it...

    --
    I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
    1. Re:Good Lord... by supremebob · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you want to see what happens when users get to choose their own stories that make the front page, check out the technology section of Reddit. A third of the "articles" are just people bitching how much Comcast sucks. No thanks.

    2. Re:Good Lord... by theskipper · · Score: 2

      Slashdot: "Let's talk about something important. Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee's for closers only. You think I'm fucking with you? I am not fucking with you. I'm here from downtown. I'm here from Dice.com. And I'm here on a mission of mercy. Your name's Timothy? You call yourself a salesman you son of a bitch?"

      Timothy: "I don't gotta sit here and listen to this shit."

      Slashdot: "You certainly don't pal, 'cause the good news is - you're fired. The bad news is - you've got, all of you've got just one week to regain your jobs starting with tonight. Starting with tonight's submissions. Oh? Have I got your attention now? Good. 'Cause we're adding a little something to this month's sales contest.

      As you all know first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired. Get the picture? You laughing now? You got Black Friday deals. Brad's Deals paid good money, get their deals to sell them, you can't close the deals you're given you can't close shit. You ARE shit. Hit the bricks, pal, and beat it 'cause you are going OUT."

      Timothy: "Brad's Deals are weak."

      Slashdot: "Brad's Deals are weak? Fucking deals are weak. You're weak. I've been in this business 15 years..."

      Timothy: "What's your name?"

      Slashdot: "Fuck you. That's my name."

    3. Re:Good Lord... by evilviper · · Score: 2

      There will be no similar Black Friday stories on Pipedot...

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  2. Fuck you /. by aaaaaaargh! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Go take your "Black Friday" and shove it up your ass!

  3. Isn't anyone bored of being a consumer yet? by MrKaos · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe we can have a 'White Friday' where people get together and hack up some really interesting thing you can only make. but not buy buy bye. It just seems like the same shit in a different bucket all the time and just a bit boring. Can we skip christmas this year - but keep the holiday?

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    1. Re:Isn't anyone bored of being a consumer yet? by MrKaos · · Score: 5, Funny

      As long as we remember to keep the official symbols of Jeebus on our coffee cups. You know, Snowflakes and snowmen.

      Like they said in Southpark 13:3 Jesus died to stimulate the economy

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  4. Stay home on Black Friday by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Brothers and sisters, grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us remember that Thanksgiving was set aside as a holiday to thank the Lord for all of our blessings as a nation. It is a time to be with our families and a time to thank Jesus for all that we have. Let us choose to remain home on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, rejecting the allure of possessions that will never bring the true joy that can only be found through a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a time for charity, giving for those who cannot repay us, and a time for generosity for those in our lives. But we need not rush out to the stores at 6 PM on Thanksgiving. Let us spend that weekend with our families in prayer and find other time during the Christmas season to find the gifts for others in our lives. May our Lord Jesus bless each and every one of you, share his infinite wisdom and blessings with you, and bring you to eternal life. God bless you.

    1. Re:Stay home on Black Friday by GrumpySteen · · Score: 2

      Let us remember that Thanksgiving was set aside as a holiday to thank the Lord for all of our blessings as a nation.

      Except that days of thanksgiving date back to the English Reformation during the 1500s and were actually part of an effort to cut down on the 95 church holidays during the year where people were required to attend church and forgo work. It wasn't so much about thanking God as it was about replacing holidays where work wasn't allowed with ones where it was.

      Thanksgiving started as a way of saying "get off your ass and get to work instead of lounging around in a church pew you lazy fuck." Going shopping so that stores will have an incentive to be open and people can work is actually right in line with the original intent.

  5. *Yawn* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who actually wastes their time on this shit?

    I'm almost 40 and have never gone shopping on Black Friday. Why? There's never any actual good deals on anything. Hurrah! I can get a shitty broke ass low-spec flat screen for a hundred bucks from a company that nobody has ever heard of that will break in a week! But only if I'm one of the first five people through the door at 4am!

    Yeah, no thanks. Black Friday is only worth it if you're extremely poor . . . (not making light of that -- it is heartbreaking to see the hurdles parents will put themselves through just to try and make sure that their kids grow up and don't have a shitty childhood full of empty holidays to look back on when they are adults . . . which sadly tens to mean buying them lots of shit).... but even then... IT STILL ISN'T WORTH IT, because good quality decent stuff is never on sale on that day . . . and if it is, only in the most minimal quantity so they can advertise it, but not have to provide it to more than the first few people in the door.

    (Also, a tip such parents who feel like they have to go into debt and wake up at 2am on Friday morning just to provide a good holiday for their kids, because they don't want to let them down or feel they shortchanged their kids . . . . . . . as a kid from a super poor family where mom worked way too hard to care for three kids and desperately try to not let them down on the holidays . . . . . YOUR KIDS ARE GOING TO GROW UP TO BE GRATEFUL FOR ANYTHING THEY HAD AS LONG AS YOU WERE THERE WITH THEM. . . . Your kids are going to grow up and feel guilty for how hard you worked to provide extra things for them. You are not going to let them down, no matter what -- so don't kill yourself trying to do something).

    1. Re:*Yawn* by PRMan · · Score: 2

      About 20 years ago, I got $2000 worth of stuff for $1000 with $600 in rebates.

      I've gotten a Brother P-Touch labeler for free, an A&D blood pressure monitor free, etc. I still use many of these products all the time.

      So yeah, back then, totally worth it. But every year the deals have gotten worse, to the point where now, it's a completely phony sale and definitely not worth getting up early for.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    2. Re:*Yawn* by evilviper · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Black Friday is only worth it if you're extremely poor . . .

      The lines outside stores on black friday are probably SHORTER than the lines outside stores when the latest iPhone comes out... Who said anything about it being "worth it"?

      good quality decent stuff is never on sale on that day

      Of course it is. I got a Samsung smartphone for half-price (just a month or so after it debuted) in a black friday sale. Of course I only bothered because the deal was good for the whole weekend, so I ordered online and picked it up before closing on Sunday. This year I see a 49" Toshiba TV going for $150 instead of $400. Amazon Fire 7" tablet for 30% off.

      There are certainly savings to be had, just as much on name brands as generic imports. I certainly wouldn't waste my Thanksgiving camping outside a store, but it might not be as much of a loss for others.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  6. REI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'll be buying something from REI this year. Specifically because they're closed on Black Friday. http://www.rei.com/black-friday

    Having worked in retail while in school. I would like to say on behalf of those still stuck in retail hell, "FUCK YOU" to everyone who goes out and shops on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. You're what's wrong with this country. (Nothing against consumerism, but the people who shop on these days are just mindless!)

  7. Re:I have what I need by damn_registrars · · Score: 3, Funny

    Except I need a PS4 of course.

    Thank you for sharing that with us. The Belgian police have been notified

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  8. Does anyone buy GIFTS on black Friday? by damn_registrars · · Score: 2

    It really seems that most people go out that day to buy something for themselves. I guess you can call it a gift to oneself, but that doesn't really seem in line with the idea of the holiday.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  9. Re:Racist! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Black Fridays Matter.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  10. Re:What the fuck by Culture20 · · Score: 2

    What the fuck is this shit

    I know parent post is a standard frist psot troll, but I came here to say something much like it. Beyond the sport of hunting a "great deal", if you're spending hours waiting in lines in freezing temperatures, possibly spending your health as well with the physical and mental stress, just to save yourself $50 then you're doing it wrong. Your job probably pays better per hour, and the other intangibles are priceless.
    If it's an event you enjoy, and your once a year hobby, go ahead, but don't let the advertisements convince you you're making a sound financial decision.

  11. I'm more than just a consumer tyvm by Morpeth · · Score: 2

    The whole 'consumers drive the economy' thing pisses me off. It's like my only value as a person in a capitalist, consumerist society is to buy shit, any shit, just buy stuff. Fuck that. Plus, it's just NOT sustainable, period.

    I tried Black Friday once many years ago, never again. For several reasons, I think blue collar people should have the day off with family friends, not stuck selling crap to the mindless horde. Also, from a purely economic standpoint, I think each year the sales are crappier and crappier (old merchandise that's really not that steeply discounted)

    --

    'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates
  12. Re:BF = Aggressive jerks by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    Other, people, use, too, many, c,o,m,m,a,s.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."