Black Friday

[Cooper]

With the holidays rapidly approaching, where will you do most of your shopping? On-line or on-line in a department store? Seems Black Friday sales are starting earlier and earlier as stores opened shortly after Thanksgiving Day dessert.

 

http://hypervocal.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/black-friday.jpeg

[Bosguy]

Since I don't have lots of gifts to buy, this year I plan to support locally owned stores or non profit organizations that provide unique items to fund their goals.

 

Boston Bill

[josephga]

no real reason to go out most of the items can be bought on line. best buys had theirs up on line yesterday I picked up 5 blu ray movies total 24.57

[jawjateck]

I'm fortunate not to have to worry either way. My family and friends no longer swap gifts, so I have nothing to buy and am free of this madness.

[josephga]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y260/josephga/black-friday.jpg

[jjkrkwood]

Here's a little Secret - Theres AINT no Bargains out there. And if there IS...its NOT worth the time or effort you need to put into getting it. If people dont like to get your cards and wishes... FUCK EM !"

[josephga]

there was a kid on tv the otherday setting outside of best buys since monday and 4 other tents behind his

[+ Charlie]

I don't do any holiday shopping.

[adriano46]

I wait until all this crazy is over this weekend, and then take about a half-day to shop for small personal gifts for my secretarial staff and then for close family and friends. Since I limit the price and try to find something unique, small (portable in those gift bags as I hate gift wrapping), I can usually do this in about 3 to 4 hours in a small local mall. As for the megastores -- I get the exact same hyped discounts on-line witout all the noise and hassle, and long ago discovered that this Black Friday nonsense was 95% crazies without a real life (sorry if I offend some here who were on those lines).

[RockHard]

Bah Hum Bug on many of your houses.

 

I have nothing to buy and am free of this madness.

 

I don't "have" to purchase anything, but I want to give certain people gifts. I love giving gifts to everyone I love and cherish. Even though I'm not into bearded chubs with rotund bellies, I have always LOVED the concept of Santa Claus.

 

In the taxi coming home from a well-known actor's Thanksgiving dinner party, my son and I noticed hundreds of people in line waiting to get into Best Buy. It was 11 PM. We pondered what would possess you to do this. I've never seen Best Buy sell anything that couldn't be found for less on the internet.

 

I've never been to a Black Friday event, and I took the position that very few people (when you calculate the percentages) participate in these merchandising follies. Sure, it's good for the merchant (he gets rid of inventory), but I fail to see any reasonable cost-ratio benefit from standing in the cold for 10 hours or more.

 

My son insists that once inside, merchants offer deals that aren't advertised, giving shoppers a unique opportunity to purchase something on the fly at great savings. And given you're surrounded by the remaining discounted items, a shopper can leave with more and more items. I guess it's possible this scheme can work.

 

I'm too picky a customer for this sort of shenanigans. I don't want just any old flat-screen television, camcorder, or refrigerator. I shop with lists of research and model numbers. I think there's slim chance that I will find any savings that justifies standing in line for 10 hours.

 

I did most of my Christmas shopping in Europe this year. Their economy needs help, too. Nothing says I love you or thank you for your treasured business quite like Pierre Hermé chocolates from Paris or a trinket from Nardi in Piazza San Marco. As for everything else, I've been lucky this year: I found everything on the internet at nicely reduced prices, and everyone offered free shipping. What's not to like? Sure beats wasting my life in line somewhere, huddled with a bunch of unsavory people. I need a skin rash like I need a fist up my ass.

[bigvalboy]

For me Christmas is more about the kids now. I do all my shopping on line, but every year my friend and I take my nieces and nephews to "The Grove" in LA. They are all young enough to still be absolutely thrilled by Christmas, and it makes me happy to see them light up when they see the decorations, the trolley that runs through the property, all the stores that are decorated, of course Santa and the 'Snow Show'...We valet so there is never a hassle with parking and we just all have a nice lunch, and then just stroll around and we let them shop for their siblings. I love to see how excited they get. Me...I buy only a few select gifts for a few very special friends, other than that it is about the kids.

[+ deej]

I don't do crowds, and even if I wanted some of the crap they're discounting today I'm a more careful shopper than running in the door and grabbing frantically at anything they put out.

 

Flipping through the ads in yesterday's paper, there were some darned compelling prices. A 60" LCD TV for $300, for instance. But if you look closely, it's only 720p. Nobody in their right mind should get 720p on a 60" TV, but people will haul them off greedily for $300 and not realize the mistake of the impulse buy until later.

 

It's a good day for retailers (hopefully), and an early indication of consumer confidence, but that's about all it is to me.

 

Mother Jones has an interesting article about where the name "Black Friday" actually came from. It probably isn't what you think: blame Philly!

 

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/11/my-annual-black-friday-post

[+ Charlie]

I do remember first hearing the term in Philly in the mid-60s, because I lived downtown, and people would joke about staying inside on that day.

[josephga]

yeah most of those cheap deals on electronics are entry level models or some outlaw brand you never heard of b4 or models with very few features or bad reviews

[+ Charlie]

I don't shop for gifts at this time of year, because I have no family with whom to exchange them, and no tradition of exchanging them with friends; it would be awkward to suddenly start giving gifts to friends in apparent celebration of holidays they don't believe in. I do give generous cash gifts at the end of the year to various service persons who work for me, like my gardeners.

[Lookin]

I do give generous cash gifts at the end of the year to various service persons who work for me, like my gardeners.

 

 

Same here, although I've discovered that their idea of 'generous' is not always the same as mine. http://www.hmxgaming.com/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

 

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02283/topiary-rude_2283183k.jpg

[seeker630]

I'll buy most of my gifts online. The exceptions will be some pieces by local craftspeople & artists.

[Bosguy]

This whole thing is crazy and not necessary. Spoke to my neighbor this afternoon and she was camped out yesterday at 6:30 pm waiting for Walmart to open. Got home at 10 am am this morning. To make matters worse, she decided not to do Thanksgiving dinner to save $50 on a stupid tv!!!

 

Boston Bill

[adannyboy]

Still my favorite footage ever....

Watch right side of screen between 0:12 and 0:20...

 

[video=youtube;aeSgBL7gpAk]

[bigvalboy]

Still my favorite footage ever....

Watch right side of screen between 0:12 and 0:20...

 

 

Now that was funny...she might have got knocked down, but the girl was gettin that wig back on first....lol lol lol