Disclaimer: I know how people love to read the title of an article and think they know what the article is about :). I’m hoping those people at least read this disclaimer before commenting. I’m not bashing or defending Black Friday. I think to each its own if you choose to participate in it. I personally don’t plan on attending any sales event on Thanksgiving day, as someone who has lost family holiday time to a retail job with mandatory black Friday work hours. I think we can at least let them have Thanksgiving off but that’s neither here or there. This post is just the reasons why I think in the computer age people still rush to stores each year on Black Friday.
I worked in a department store for 3 years and each year we opened earlier and earlier. My last year on the employee end of the battle field I had to be at work at 3:45a.m. to open at 4:00 a.m.
Needless to say I didn’t have a very traditional Thanksgiving. I had a friend come over I baked a chicken, we had a few beers and I was in bed by 9p.m.
Each year this event has gotten more and more intense. Stores opening as early as Thanksgiving night or Black Friday Eve, depending on who you ask.
We’ve come a long way since the term Black Friday was coined in the 60s, brick and mortar stores and catalog shopping aren’t our only option.
I normally order everything but groceries and clothes online because it’s usually cheaper.
So if we can reach thousands of retailers online why do we put ourselves through the hell of Black Friday? Why do we wake up ass early before the turkey has even digested and the sun is still in bed to drive to overcrowded parking lot and fight for “deals”?
We’re impatient
If technology has had one negative effect it’s the expectation of instant gratification. If I purchase a 50 inch flat screen on black Friday I don’t want to wait for it to be shipped to my house. OH NO! I want to wheel it out to my car and set it up that night.
While online retail often offers a lower price, a lot of shoppers would rather pay slightly more to have their purchase immediately.
We need to see it to believe it
If you’re anything like me you don’t like ordering clothes online. I have curves and a size 6 in one brand might be a size 4 or 8 in another. I don’t want to order clothes online because I’m going to be super annoyed if after waiting for it to arrive it doesn’t fit correctly!
People like to see what they are buying and feel it. Make sure the product matches the picture.
Because we like feeling victorious
Shoppers have access to black Friday sales prices sometimes as early as October. A lot of major department stores have “door buster sales” offering an outrageous discount on certain items between specific hours or only a certain quantity of customers. Even though you’re paying for it, you kind of get the rush of winning a prize.
“Only the first 50 people here got this price… I’m one of them.”
To get away from our family
Spending the 4 day weekend with your family can be a bit exhausting. So if getting up at the crack of dawn to fight a bunch of strangers is a break for you then to each his own.
Thanksgivings aren’t just sitting down with your immediate family for a few hours for most people, its days of eating left over stuffing, seeing family members and family friends you only see this time of year and people who probably still see you as a 6-year-old.
Sometimes sneaking to the mall to eat food court pizza and buy yourself a sweater is sanctuary.
Not everyone 100% trusts online shopping
Our wholes lives are online, it’s how we keep in touch, how we meet our dates, how we pay our bills but some people still don’t like the idea of purchasing things online.
Weather it’s the shipping cost, fear of delay, damage upon delivery or cyber-crime a lot of people just don’t want to entrust the happiness of their love ones on Christmas morning to a computer.
It’s what we’ve always done
I remember in high school my older sister would get up every black Friday to “Hit up the sales.”
Almost every year I went with her and would return home with DVD’s from the DVD bin. Some might be for gifts but most were for my own personal collection.
While as an adult I don’t get up at the crack of dawn and head to the mall I do normally stop by in the afternoon when things are slightly calmer and see if anything catches my eye.
While some people have a hardcore plan and strategy for hitting the black Friday sales a lot are like me, they just stop in for tradition.
Because that’s what it really has become. A tradition, a holiday all its own.
I don’t know if these reasons make shopping on black Friday okay or not but from what I can tell this tradition isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Do you shop on black Friday sales? Why do you?
If you are a Black Friday Shopper to save some energy and money to go shopping Saturday Novemeber 28th and support Small Business Saturday!
Christina Clawson
Lol. This is so true! Thanks for the laugh this morning, so needed it! <3
Faye
I hate Black Friday shopping – unless it’s virtual. I get that it is a tradition for some, but there is simply nothing enjoyable about it to me at all. Thank goodness for the internet instead! I do it all online.
stumbler
Very useful and interesting…I always wondered why anyone would want to fight those crowds! I may give it a try this year (again).
Kathryn With Going Zero Waste
I’ve never participated in Black Friday. I never plan on participating in black on Friday. I try not to buy anything at major retailers. I’d much rather try and find it locally. I am so glad small business Saturday is a thing! I probably won’t even go shopping on SBS, but I’m happy more people are looking local! The local economy is so much more important than megacorp.
Dia
Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Dia
Yes Cyber monday all the way lol
I don’t mind going to stores on black Friday once it’s calmed down but that over crowed fight club I can pass.
Dia
I say unless there is a certain item you want just wait till it gets calmer. When the morning deals are over or when people take a lunch break.
Dia
Haha megacorp! I think the past few years Small business Saturday has been a great way to raise awareness of smaller businesses in the community. Plus more and more people are going into business for themselves now that they can do so with less overhead expensises online without a brick and mortar location.
Shann Eva
I totally agree. I like to see the actual things I’m buying, get away from the family for a little bit, and I also feel like it’s part of the tradition.
Jessie @ Utah Mom Connection
Haha! The only way I love Black Friday is from the comfort of my home with my hot chocolate and comfy pj’s! To each their own, I can see how people like the rush and the tradition.
Dia
It totally is, you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn or fight people for Air Jordans to casually enjoy it.
Dia
Jessie that sounds lovely!
Brittany
Great post! I admit some of these are true for me. For the past few years, though I have been going less and less to the door-buster openings because it gets earlier and earlier and into Thanksgiving now! I’ll admit though, going through those black friday ads makes me want to go early!
Dia
Lol very true. It’s just so early! And I’m in Texas so this is when it starts getting really cold for us (we aren’t used to tempatures in the 40s) so it’s hard to leave a warm bed for a cold car and a long walk lol
Rachel G
I’m not shopping on Black Friday this year and I didn’t go last year, but only because I’ve been out of the country! I actually did publish a post on my blog last week about why I love Black Friday–and it boils down to the fact that it’s always been such fun family time. For me, we would typically go between 12-8 a.m. Friday morning (otherwise, we would have been sleeping, so shopping meant we were spending MORE time together!), and it was just plain old fun to be outside in the wee hours, giggling with my aunt and parents and sisters. I guess I’d say we went for the experience. Also, my uncle, who’s one of those “never met a stranger” type, always talked to everyone else in line and it tended to feel like a little community get-together or party. We were shopping in a relatively small town, so I think the Black Friday stampedes you hear about in the news weren’t possible just because of lack of people.
My husband loved working Thanksgiving Day, in part because it helped him get Christmas off, and in part because of “time and a half”. He’s so practical, haha. I can imagine how “time and half” wouldn’t be worth skipping a holiday for some people. The husband was always fine with leftovers when I came home on Friday night or Saturday. But then, working in a hospital on a holiday is MUCH easier than working in retail, I would imagine (I’ve never worked in either), because there’s no such thing as a holiday rush. In fact, they try to avoid scheduling big procedures on holidays for obvious reasons.
Dia
See the experience is really what it’s about. I think the earliest I’ve ever gone as a shooper was 5 am but for us we lived in a small outskirt town so it meant getting up at 4, getting ready and then a 30 minute drive to the store.
I get the trading Thanksgiving for Christmas especially if it’s a hospital, super smart.
With retail we were always closed on Christmas so Black Friday was mandatory and if you did get time and a half it was because your shift was extended 🙁
I’m just so glad to be free of it all lol especially this year, my grandma passed in August so I want to be there for my mom and they live out of town.
Thanks for stopping by!
November 2016 Goals - All The Things I Do
[…] How did your October go? Did you do anything for Halloween? Any big Thanksgiving plans? Are you a Black Friday Shopper? Excited about anything this month? Tell me in the […]