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'Black Friday Is Dying' (fastcompany.com)
A reader shares a report: For years, Black Friday signaled the beginning of Christmas shopping. The day after Thanksgiving was a frantic day of driving to the store at the crack of dawn to fight off other shoppers for great deals. For people who truly hated the ritual, I have some good news for you: Black Friday is going away. That's according to data from GPShopper, which tracks consumer behavior. It turns out, customers are really not into Black Friday. A full 81% of us feel stress surrounding the notion of Black Friday, and 45% of us believe it is the most stressful time of the year. And with online shopping, consumers are increasingly realizing they don't need to do all their shopping on one day. The majority would prefer to shop in the second week of December. Weirdly, a full 12% of consumers would prefer to shop after Christmas, to capitalize on the post-holiday sales, even though their recipients would get their presents a little late.
on January 6. Problem solved.
Black Friday was never a majority event. It was always a dedicated minority who were either looking for great deals or just had nothing better to do that day. I think most people always hated it. Online shopping just gave them another way to shop, instead of just avoiding the mall that day.
>Weirdly, a full 12% of consumers would prefer to shop after Christmas, to capitalize on the post-holiday sales, even though their recipients would get their presents a little late.
That's not weird. The whole thing is stupidly inefficient - the stores have to stock up and get temporary workers for a month or so, customers have to cram into those stores during that month, and a premium is put on everything to cover the extra expenses plus the whole 'this could be it until next December' mentality.
On the other hand, I'm pretty much done with the whole 'consume consume consume' thing. Neither I nor any of my family or friends NEED anything, and we have everything we could reasonably want. None of us are starving. None of us lack a book to read or a game to play.
A gift is something I have to find space for in my house. A gift is something I'm going to think about how wasteful it was to have produced, shipped, and eventually recycled (or thrown in the dump).
At best (or worst?) I just want to get a little token trinket for someone, and fighting traffic and a crowded mall just to pay a premium for one doesn't appeal. And all the stores around here do 'Boxing Week' sales, with big bargain-hunting crowds pretty much fading in the first day. Damn right I'm going shopping after Christmas, at least for those I won't see until January anyway.
It's clear to me that the very wrong time to shop is the time that they *think* you are shopping. The real key to get good deals is to follow your own pattern and not the pattern set up by corporations.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Why would we stand in line to spend money in person when we can spend less online for the same stuff three days later?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I'm pretty certain he meant uninformed tight-arses, not a specific race.
The kind of people who don't realise two things.
1. There is a time cost. Spending 6 hours to save 20% often isn't worth it. Not to mention the cost of fuel.
2. Prices are raised in preparation for the holiday sales, then dropped less than that amount for black Friday.
Savvy people buy this stuff off peak when meaningful discounts are offered to keep stock moving (January or just before the end of the financial year in your nation). Many of us have just given up on stores entirely because we get better prices online. Especially for stuff that goes into stupid prices around Christmas like toys and games, what little of this I had to buy for relatives, I bought months ago.
Fairly certain a savvy black or Latino would have done the same thing. I'm not smart because I'm white, I'm smart because I actually thought about things and planned ahead.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
And nothing of value was lost.
#BlackFridaysMatter
It's sensible.
Who in their right mind would WANT to go buy stuff at the same time everyone else does? Whether that's Black Friday or Christmas in general. If anything, online shopping will do, but I will certainly NOT spend my time in a warehouse around this time of the year.
First, the obvious: It's a surefire way to get sick. And I'm not even talking about the thousands of people who can't be assed to cover their snouts when sneezing or coughing. It's the insane temperature differences that kill me. Outside it's freezing. So you dress appropriately. But shops feel that compelling urge to turn their sales floor into a Finnish sauna. So you're sweating like a pig. Only to go back outside to be frozen solid. Abso-fucking-lutely great for your health.
Then a billion people pushing carts and throwing stuff about. with at least as many tripping hazards in tow called children. But dare to punt one of those little pests out of the way. Loud, obnoxious and, not least for the aforementioned sweating, smelling like a rotten egg sandwich.
And finally, when you think you ALMOST made it to the end, the inevitable line before the cashiers. A million people lined up in front of ONE SINGLE DAMN checkout booth. Staffed with the trainee, of course, so you have plenty of time to decide you absolutely need one of the impulse buy items, accompanied by the sweet sound of whistle buys that throw tantrums because their parents refuse to buy said impulse items.
You really want to know why we are fed up with this? Are you seriously asking?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
There is no room to slash prices anymore. Competition is so stiff that the margins are already razor thin. In the pre-internet times stores could easily afford slashing 20% because of their 40% profit margins, but today?
Which is GOOD. Instead of being gouged the whole year, you get a better price now all year long.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
When you use the term "dedicated minority", are you referring to African Americans and Hispanic Americans?
No, we're referring to the dedicated idiots living in tent city outside a Best Buy for a week to get $150 off a TV. That kind of stupidity is not bound by race.
It's also rather disrespectful for you to say that they "have nothing better to do that day". They most likely would rather be working one or more of their multiple jobs, trying desperately to make ends meet.
Really? Most of the shit I see the Black Friday dedicated idiots standing in line for is not what poverty would define as "essential", so spare me the rhetoric about making ends meet. If they were that desperate, they wouldn't be giving up 3 days worth of income to stand in line for a fucking video game console.
Poverty means you're shopping at the second-hand store, garage sales, or goodwill, which will always beat the shit out of any store sale, and certainly doesn't require anyone to wait for Black Friday.