Black Friday is Stupid
As much as I love Thanksgiving, it is sandwiched by two of the worst days of the year. If the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the laziest work day of the year, the Friday after Thanksgiving is the stupidest day of the year.
Lets see, yesterday was a day about love, friends, family, selflessness, and charity. So how do we follow up my favorite day of the year? With Black Friday.
The blame for Black Friday lies equally with consumers and stores. If stores didn't offer 30% off on their crappiest DVD player, people wouldn't wake up at 4 am and wait in line for two hours to get that $49.99 DVD player that will break before Memorial Day. Of course, if people weren't willing to line up outside of Best Buy at 5 AM stores would stop opening so early and stop offering their specials.
From a consumer standpoint, I understand the desire to save money, but in most cases it isn't worth it. While they spend three hours in shopping hell before the sun rises, I comparison shop online and usually come up with a price as good as or better. With the rise of eBay, I am tempted to make the statement that every single item for sale between 4 AM and Noon on Black Friday can be found cheaper online. Even if it is 5% or even 10% more expensive, isn't it worth being able to buy it in five minutes from the comfort of your home rather than having to fight off hundreds of other people to get it. Not to mention the hour you spend in line waiting to pay.
Maybe with the rise of the internet we will be talking about Cyber Monday instead of Black Friday in a few years. And you know what, I am okay with that. Of course I am not okay with the commercialization of the holiday season, but at least now people that want no part of the holiday aren't forced into it like they are now. I am going to spend today on my couch because traffic is ridiculous. There's no point in trying to go anywhere. Poor high school and college kids that work at these stores had to cut their Thanksgiving short to wake up at 3 AM to get to work by 4 AM to work the dreaded 4 AM to Noon shift. At least Cyber Monday would fix those problems. I'll can settle for that.
Thanksgiving deserves better than being followed up with Black Friday. Like I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post, I think we all would agree that the world would be a better place if we embraced the values of Thanksgiving. No sooner than a day later do we blow it. It's like a switch goes off in peoples heads and the greed of the holiday season kicks in. Unbelievable.
Ok, I think I am done with my ranting for now. I promise to get back to entrepreneur related posts in my next post.
Lets see, yesterday was a day about love, friends, family, selflessness, and charity. So how do we follow up my favorite day of the year? With Black Friday.
The blame for Black Friday lies equally with consumers and stores. If stores didn't offer 30% off on their crappiest DVD player, people wouldn't wake up at 4 am and wait in line for two hours to get that $49.99 DVD player that will break before Memorial Day. Of course, if people weren't willing to line up outside of Best Buy at 5 AM stores would stop opening so early and stop offering their specials.
From a consumer standpoint, I understand the desire to save money, but in most cases it isn't worth it. While they spend three hours in shopping hell before the sun rises, I comparison shop online and usually come up with a price as good as or better. With the rise of eBay, I am tempted to make the statement that every single item for sale between 4 AM and Noon on Black Friday can be found cheaper online. Even if it is 5% or even 10% more expensive, isn't it worth being able to buy it in five minutes from the comfort of your home rather than having to fight off hundreds of other people to get it. Not to mention the hour you spend in line waiting to pay.
Maybe with the rise of the internet we will be talking about Cyber Monday instead of Black Friday in a few years. And you know what, I am okay with that. Of course I am not okay with the commercialization of the holiday season, but at least now people that want no part of the holiday aren't forced into it like they are now. I am going to spend today on my couch because traffic is ridiculous. There's no point in trying to go anywhere. Poor high school and college kids that work at these stores had to cut their Thanksgiving short to wake up at 3 AM to get to work by 4 AM to work the dreaded 4 AM to Noon shift. At least Cyber Monday would fix those problems. I'll can settle for that.
Thanksgiving deserves better than being followed up with Black Friday. Like I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post, I think we all would agree that the world would be a better place if we embraced the values of Thanksgiving. No sooner than a day later do we blow it. It's like a switch goes off in peoples heads and the greed of the holiday season kicks in. Unbelievable.
Ok, I think I am done with my ranting for now. I promise to get back to entrepreneur related posts in my next post.
posted by Adam McFarland at
11/25/2005 01:56:00 PM
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