Black Friday — One Weird Day in The USA

41 replies on:
Black Friday — One Weird Day in The USA

1. I understand people wanting a great deal & to save money . . . but, for the life of me I do not understand why on earth anyone would stand in line for hours/days to then risk being trampled and harmed when everything being sold in all the retail stores can be found online at the same exact prices, and typically even cheaper, with no sales tax.

   Seriously, do these people know there’s this thing called the internet 😉 I’m not joking, I would love to ask them why they don’t just shop online.

   For instance, look at this “riot” that took place in a Walmart over smartphones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDpAkjD3wXo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

   I would love to ask these individuals did they not realize all those phones were on sale online at the same exact cost? . . . actually let me take that back, for less then Walmart was selling them.

   For example, All the retailers were selling the Sprint & AT&T versions of the Samsung Galaxy S3 for about $50 in store (like at BestBuy). In fact, even BestBuy offered the same price online with free shipping (so you didn’t have to wait in line). But here is the kicker, no retailer offered the Verizon equivalent . . . only at full price. However, on Black Friday Amazon.com sold the Galaxy S3 (Verizon) for $59 frree shipping & no sales tax. Thus you could get the same deals online + better deals that local retailers would not offer themselves.

   SO why on earth would someone fight over a new smartphone in Walmart on Black Friday when they were just as cheap and better online? I honestly don’t get it, it’s insane, and sort of stupid to be frank.

   P.S. Anon, if they shopped online they would save more money . . . and the time spent waiting in line could be spent with their kids or working to earn more money, i.e. one has to factor in their gas & time spent to determine their “savings”.

2. Hi Chase,

   Interesting post but I do have to say I’m somewhat conflicted with your attitude towards Black Friday. It’s easy for a man with a lot of money to make a statement you did about the Black Friday frenzy.

   The truth is, many Americans live on the poverty line and this is the once chance in a year for them to get the items they want, and perhaps great Christmas gifts?

   100$ isn’t much for you and me, but for a Mother with two kids working full time at a minimum wage job, it’s a lot.

   1. I am going to respond to this not to start an argument but to show a different side of being broke… I am a married mother of two whose husband can’t work due to a brain injury sustained when hit by a car on his bicycle…I work at a Walmart in Canada I work 4 graveyard shifts a week despite a $20,000 education for a career that didn’t quite go the way it was supposed to lol such is life sometimes, but needless to say we are low income. You would never in a million years catch me at a Black Friday mob scene or even a boxing day mob scene…cuz that’s what they are, not sales…mob scenes. Hubby and I are doing our best to raise our children to understand that “stuff” is not nearly as important as people, memories, love, support, self respect, and decency. We are teaching them to find happiness with what you have. $100 is a LOT in my world but it’s not worth it if I have to choose to behave like a crazed animal to get it. My self respect is worth far more than any dollar amount I could save on something not needed to sustain my life or my families lives. Yeah as an amateur photog I would LOVE to have a higher grade Nikon than my used D80 and the 3 lenses I have managed to acquire used to go with…but I’m not about to beat someone in order to get it, I enjoy the equipment I have now and don’t really spend a whole lot of time thinking about what I could do if I had bettter stuff…cuz I don’t believe the equipment is gonna improve my photography anymore than I think an iPhone, iPad, Xbox, bla bla bla are going to improve the lives of my children Acting like a lunatic to save $$ to get your kids the latest and greatest merely teaches them greed and that it’s ok to physically harm a person to get what you want…not values I want my kids to have. The behaviour i see on Black Friday is a choice those people make to be like that using the excuse of wanting to make their children happy…that’s CRAP!!!! You want happy kids-spend QUALITY time with them, take an interest in what they enjoy. Ask them how their day was and really listen when they tell you. Kids don’t need all the crap that the media would have us believe they do, and neither do we need the newest, flashiest, most expensive whatever…just my opinion. 🙂

      1. Nicely put Elizabeth. Children learn by example. What’s the lesson here?

3. Everybody loves a deal, and Black Friday is testimony to that.

4. crisis? What crisis?

5. For all us Europeans out here: could someone explain what a Blitz line is? Is that basically like a free-for-all shopping moshpit? Thanks for sharing Chase, America sure is fascinating 🙂

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