What are your thoughts on Black Friday?

CarbideCruzer · **on:** November 27, 2019, 02:39:10 PM

Merely out of pure curiosity, I am interested in hearing from others what their perspective views on Black Friday are. Now I just want to say this does not bother me how people spend their money, time as this doesn't directly impact me and I am not one to nanny anyone.

Personally I am not interested in this as I am not a fan of in standing in lines, be it voluntarily or not. In addition, at least in the past, I've seen some rather nasty behavior from some individuals as well. No material product is worth becoming injured over or worse. This is just "stuff" and I value time with value more than I value products as family will outlast any material object.

Overall what is everyone's else's thoughts?

SteveC · **Reply #1 on:** November 27, 2019, 03:13:20 PM

I think it's a great day to carry a black oxide multitool

cody6268 · **Reply #2 on:** November 27, 2019, 03:15:26 PM

It ain't worth it, in my mind. One, there are typically better deals throughout the year anymore online. I will probably be ordering a few things online--right now, Kabar's got a 50% off sale on Black Friday; and will likely be getting a Becker.

Did it once, about 10 years ago, when my folks bought my a Nintendo Wii. Sam's Club had handled it quite well; meaning no fistfights, stampedes, etc. Everyone got a ticket for what they wanted in advance, you handed that ticket to a clerk at the customer service desk; who rung up the item, you paid for it, and left.

On a personal note, I think all stores should be closed on Thanksgiving.

SirVicaLot · **Reply #3 on:** November 27, 2019, 03:16:04 PM

Black Friday for me only happens online, if even. There is no way I am gonna be standing in line and deal with all those people. There are one or two items I want. I postponed the purchase of those to Black Friday to see if I get a good deal on them. I am not gonna buy stuff I don‘t need just because it‘s on sale though

Aloha · **Reply #4 on:** November 27, 2019, 03:21:44 PM

I've got better things to do personally than to stand on line only to be mowed over once let in. No thanks. I do know some enjoy the "excitement" of it all and good on them. There are enough "deals" online and many that extend beyond Black Friday so if inclined I can order then.

We've got rain forecasted and snow in the mountains so I am excited to go for a nice drive and enjoy.

MacGyver · **Reply #5 on:** November 28, 2019, 07:52:49 PM

"What are your thoughts on Black Friday?"

Well... from the top of my head only one word springs to mind...:

Insanity!

CarbideCruzer · **Reply #6 on:** November 28, 2019, 07:59:04 PM

Years ago, some people waited in line two days before Black Friday for some Air Jordan's or some other brand of shoes and apparently some people were rowdy. No thanks, it's not worth any the trouble.

Granted, watching some of the Black Friday "interesting" events can be considered amusing.

nate j · **Reply #7 on:** November 29, 2019, 05:21:55 AM

I’m not interested in fighting crowds, but always somewhat interested in seeing what deals are available online for Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

I do hate when stores “start Black Friday early on Thanksgiving Day”. Have a heart, close on Thanksgiving, and let your employees spend the day with their families!

Outback in Idaho · **Reply #8 on:** November 29, 2019, 05:34:52 AM

Pick pockets probably luv Black Friday crowds. Working in retail merchandising has ruined most holiday festivities. Walmart had Christmas songs going on yesterday, and bell ringers will be out tomorrow. Debating about hitting Walmart up for a pumpkin pie...

CarbideCruzer · **Reply #9 on:** November 29, 2019, 05:42:23 AM

Quote from: nate j on November 29, 2019, 05:21:55 AM

I’m not interested in fighting crowds, but always somewhat interested in seeing what deals are available online for Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

I do hate when stores “start Black Friday early on Thanksgiving Day”. Have a heart, close on Thanksgiving, and let your employees spend the day with their families!

Yeah I am not going to fight crowds either. Zoro has had some good deals this year and if the item is discontinued/vintage, eBay, some antique shops may or may not have these items.

As for the second part of your post while I agree with the sentiment, some people want to work and or they are paid more for this day as well. Additionally, Wallmart, Amazon and the other giants are going to be open no matter what, so from a financial sense this would be a loss of profits.

This being said, I strongly condemn the people destroy private property and act in a violent way during this event. That I don't support and I am not surprised some stores hired police officers to maintain order. Some people aren't thrilled about that, but common sense isn't that common anymore sadly.

Sos24 · **Reply #10 on:** November 29, 2019, 05:50:22 AM

Black Friday is a wonderful day to relax at home. I don’t plan on going anywhere near a store. If there is a nice online deal on something I want, then great. Let everyone else have the chaos out in stores.

CarbideCruzer · **Reply #11 on:** November 30, 2019, 06:34:30 AM

Gerber to my surprise had a fairly decent sale today and I actually did buy myself a Gerber MP 600 Pro Scout. Even with taxes, the price was less than because the 20% off and free shipping. Ka-Bar also had a 50% off sale today, but the item I wanted to buy has been discontinued. Gerber has as of this year discontinued the MP1 series, so I am glad I managed to buy a MP1 Maintenance Pro before "collector's market pricing" sets in.

No thanks to the chaos in the stores, paying even 50% or more wouldn't be worth it given the chaos.

spudley112 · **Reply #12 on:** November 30, 2019, 11:40:50 AM

I did my shopping online.

I worked for the Walmart home office years ago and I remember the Black Friday on Long Island when a crowd pushed their way into a Walmart and killed an employee in the stampede. Sickening!

The next year, as part of the settlement, Walmart had to put tons of safety precautions in place to prevent this happening again. All I could think is that several people thought getting a good deal was more important than a human life. Sadly, after stomping the man to death, the people went on shopping and left him laying there. I watched the video of the event and I was pleased to see one man who acted with honor, a child fell in the midst of that madness and a rather large gentleman forced the crowd out of the way so he could save the child.

Mechanickal · **Reply #13 on:** November 30, 2019, 01:18:35 PM

No stampedes here, since Black Friday only reached Europe about 5-6 years ago for the first time.

Black Friday already evolved to Black Weekend, Black Week and this year it even lasts 10 days in some stores.

Discounts rarely pass 25%, and are usually between 10-20%.

Downside is that with all the invented reasons to being allowed to give discounts (we don't even have Thanksgiving here, so why Black Friday??

) it's starting to feel as if you got conned if you buy anything outside of a sales periods...

Gerhard Gerber · **Reply #14 on:** December 04, 2019, 11:12:43 AM

I have some rather strong feelings on the subject.......

We have a joke about some of our town that can be applied to the while country....basically goes something like "so behind the times we received 10mm during the Great Flood"

Well, roughly 3 years ago Black Friday became a thing in my country. One shop got the bright idea, there was a video of the stampede that ensued, and that was it......

My standard response to anything black friday is "we are not Americans", no offence to Americans.

No cyber monday yet because in essence we are just badly indebted 3rd worlders fighting an exchange rate in a tanked economy..

Pacu · **Reply #15 on:** December 07, 2019, 02:10:01 AM

I left retail 4 years ago after 25 years in it.

Target, Hastings and Sam's Club was awesome, it was fun.
Best Buy cured me of that illusion. Talk about the scum of humanity in force. Newsflash, 199 dollar computer isn't worth getting out of bed for.

greenbear · **Reply #16 on:** December 07, 2019, 08:16:59 AM

I find Black Friday rather depressing. I went to the local mall with my daughter on Black Friday...by mistake....neither knew it was that day. So many people milling about etc.

Something that emerged in the UK from a watchdog group was that less than 20% of the alleged bargain were actually and cheaper than their normal, everyday, price.

Does anybody know the origins of the name Black Friday?

nate j · **Reply #17 on:** December 08, 2019, 06:43:50 AM

Quote from: greenbear on December 07, 2019, 08:16:59 AM

Does anybody know the origins of the name Black Friday?

There are a couple of competing (though perhaps not mutually exclusive) theories. Briefly, the two most credible are that (1) it began as a somewhat sarcastic, negative reference to the crowds and traffic associated with the start of Christmas shopping season, and (2) it represented, at least in theory, the day on which many retailers went from operating at loss for the year ("in the red") to making a profit ("in the black").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)#Origin_of_the_term

comis · **Reply #18 on:** December 08, 2019, 10:42:38 AM

Quote from: spudley112 on November 30, 2019, 11:40:50 AM

I did my shopping online.

I worked for the Walmart home office years ago and I remember the Black Friday on Long Island when a crowd pushed their way into a Walmart and killed an employee in the stampede. Sickening!

The next year, as part of the settlement, Walmart had to put tons of safety precautions in place to prevent this happening again. All I could think is that several people thought getting a good deal was more important than a human life. Sadly, after stomping the man to death, the people went on shopping and left him laying there. I watched the video of the event and I was pleased to see one man who acted with honor, a child fell in the midst of that madness and a rather large gentleman forced the crowd out of the way so he could save the child.

I can't agree more with what said, no amount of discount should ever worth risking a human life, let alone causing one(luckily that child's life was saved). It is just pure greed and selfishness, and bring out the worst of human nature during holiday season.

I think this whole Black friday and Cyber Monday really needs some rethinking, how about promoting further rebate and discount, or some form of incentive program, if folks shop online instead of going to stores?

Or offer only a mild discount to all retail store, and only big discount for online order pickup? That way they have already gotten their stuff and don't have to fight their way in.

greenbear · **Reply #19 on:** December 08, 2019, 10:55:38 AM

Quote from: nate j on December 08, 2019, 06:43:50 AM

There are a couple of competing (though perhaps not mutually exclusive) theories. Briefly, the two most credible are that (1) it began as a somewhat sarcastic, negative reference to the crowds and traffic associated with the start of Christmas shopping season, and (2) it represented, at least in theory, the day on which many retailers went from operating at loss for the year ("in the red") to making a profit ("in the black").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)#Origin_of_the_term

Thank you, that makes sense

greenbear · **Reply #20 on:** December 08, 2019, 10:57:15 AM

Quote from: comis on December 08, 2019, 10:42:38 AM

I can't agree more with what said, no amount of discount should ever worth risking a human life, let alone causing one(luckily that child's life was saved). It is just pure greed and selfishness, and bring out the worst of human nature during holiday season.

I agree - it is greed at its worst

CarbideCruzer · **Reply #21 on:** December 08, 2019, 06:05:52 PM

Children should never be brought to Black Friday events or any events where it's obvious there is a high likelihood of violence. These parent's that bring their kids to these events know what they are getting into and while this doesn't excuse the behavior of anyone, they aren't entirely innocent themselves. If some people will do these for disposable products, imagine what they'll do should their ever be a food shortage.

Don't get me wrong, I bought myself a Gerber Pro Scout via Gerber's website on Black Friday, but in my case I am supporting American manufacturing, didn't spend money I don't have nor did negatively impact anyone. Sure it's the individual's responsibility to be fiscally responsible, so that is not the fault of any corporation or holiday.

This is comical to me some people were complaining on various social media platforms about the police presence at some stores and especially Wallmart. Given the behavior's exhibited, I am not surprised in the least and if people aren't capable of behaving, expect the powers that be force you to do so.

Ultimate kicker with Black Friday is with exception of those already standing in line, the day before is Thanksgiving. Clearly the meaning of Thanksgiving is long over with some people and instead of spending time with family and friends, it's about materialism. Now I am entirely in favor of capitalism, so I am glad people are spending money, but I am not going to spend money for the sake of spending money.

BadMechanic · **Reply #22 on:** December 08, 2019, 06:08:49 PM

I online shop. So standing in lines was not a thing. Never made sense to me to do it.
Deals are becoming less and less each year. So, just another day.

Steve said it best. Good day to carry a BO multitool

CarbideCruzer · **Reply #23 on:** December 08, 2019, 06:19:25 PM

You are certainly correct that mainline stores in my personal opinion didn't really have any great deals. Some online distributors had some decent deals, but nothing truly outstanding. Zoro has had better deals throughout the year and had a better deal on cyber Monday.

Black Friday was seemingly much worse a decade ago though. Especially in Wallmart, but then again, Wallmart has for many decades always had issues no matter what day this is.

tosh · **Reply #24 on:** December 10, 2019, 01:26:17 PM

I quite literally can’t remember the last time I bought something new. I got my car, camera, tools, tv, lawn mower etc etc off eBay - most is less than a year old (not the car) and cost a fraction of what buying new would’ve been - the bonus is I can resell and recoup my money ...which often turns out to be more...LOL
win win

ToolJoe · **Reply #25 on:** December 11, 2019, 01:49:13 AM

I drove through a shopping center at lunch time on Black Friday and that was taking your life in your hands. However, I did go clothes shopping Black Friday night and it was very calm compared to earlier in the day.

CarbideCruzer · **Reply #26 on:** December 11, 2019, 01:58:53 AM

There are some products I don't mind buying used, but this is case by case. Buying used power tools, even if the are vintage is a guessing game as with very few exceptions, every used power tool I've bought in some shape or another I've had to put work into it to either make it work or clean it up.

Syncop8r · **Reply #27 on:** December 31, 2019, 07:39:13 AM

They (retailers) are trying to bring it in here. It's meaning/origin means nothing to us.

greenbear · **Reply #28 on:** December 31, 2019, 10:05:57 AM

Quote from: Syncop8r on December 31, 2019, 07:39:13 AM

They (retailers) are trying to bring it in here. It's meaning/origin means nothing to us.

This is what has happened in the UK. It has not been particularly successful, so we now have some outlets offering "black week" deals. The UK press has now reported a survey showing a 10.6% reduction sale in the Boxing Day sales (the traditional UK sales day). Seems like we are swapping one lot of sales for another with no real gain anywhere

On the upside there were some good SAK deals to be had online

ToolJoe · **Reply #29 on:** January 04, 2020, 03:38:18 PM

I just got new glasses from a place in our local mall and the worker said that Black Friday at that mall seemed like a normal Friday and it wasn't anymore packed because of it being Black Friday.

Hello Lurker! Remove this ad and much more by logging in.

What are your thoughts on Black Friday?

Donations

Community Links