Black Friday shopping…yes or no

[T-ski]

Do you feel the need to go shopping at 4am or would you rather sleep off the Thanksgiving meal?

I have never felt any urge to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, and after working retail to past 14 years I never will.

For those that do, do you really believe you are getting “great” deals on anything?

[Adami]

Hell no.

[KevShmev]

Gotta save money on those mint milano cookies.

[Chino]

I stood in line at the gun store this morning for an hour at 6AM to get a $25 gift card and 12% off. I'm not typically one for Black Friday, but I had something in mind that I wanted, and I got a deal.

[King Postwhore]

Hell no.

x Infinity.

[ErHaO]

Some online sales, yes. Bought several things I wanted this week each for significant discounts. A new PS5 dualsense controller for 40 euro's instead of 75, for example. I usually track some things I have always wanted on an app and if a sale pops up I buy it.

But actual BF events in person? No, but over here it is not that bad.

[Phoenix87x]

no

[El Barto]

My TV crapped out two weeks ago. I figured "at least it happened at the right time of year." I purchased one expecting to return it and get a better deal on BF. There are none. This is further confirmation of what I figured out last year building a computer. It's all smoke and mirrors. With one or two exceptions the prices on BF will be the same as they are during the "pre-black Friday sales event!" And the same as they'll be during next week's "post-black Friday savings extravaganza!" They're just fudging the numbers a bit. Newsflash--that $800 TV was never, ever sold for $2400.

There will be some discounts, but they're carefully calculated to get you to spend a bit more than you initially would have. I want a cheap 3-500 dollar TV. They'll be sure to have an "$800" store brand TV for $550. They know what people's relative budgets are, and they set prices to get people over them.

Travel is the one area where things can sometimes work out, and scoring those deals doesn't involve having to put clothes on. 

[jammindude]

Not just no…but I planned ahead to make sure I would not have to go out today.

What is it about BF that makes everyone forget how to drive?  I can deal with bad traffic, I can deal with rush hour traffic. But the level of idiocy in BF traffic is a completely different animal.

[lonestar]

I'd rather shave my balls with a rusted cheese grater while chewing on tin-foil.

[bosk1]

Hmm...haven't tried that.

[cramx3]

Generally no.

But if there's something online that I want which has a nice discount I may bite. I'm certainly not going to a store these days on black Friday. I want nothing to do with that madness.

[romdrums]

I stood in line at the gun store this morning for an hour at 6AM to get a $25 gift card and 12% off. I'm not typically one for Black Friday, but I had something in mind that I wanted, and I got a deal.

Worth the shot in this instance.

I work in sales at a large online retailer, and Black Friday is generally easier than it is "in person."  I mean, we work hard, but there's a lot less chaos going on than at brick and mortar locations.  Makes it more manageable, that's for sure.

[pg1067]

The only thing I've EVER felt the need to do at 4am is get up to go to the airport for a 6am flight.  Before the advent of online shopping, I did go to the mall on Thanksgiving weekend, but it was always a matter whenever I got up and was ready to go.

I did order an iPad for my kid yesterday from Best Buy.  Great price, and I picked it up this morning.

I've been mulling over getting a new TV for the living room, but I just can't justify it when the current TV, while probably 10 years old, still works fine.

[Cool Chris]

Once I went to Target Thanksgiving night with one thing in mind, but did so more for the experience. It was fine, and well managed by the staff. I have always enjoyed going to the mall the weekend after Thanksgiving, but more for the atmosphere and to window shop. I am like Randal from Clerks. I hate people, but love crowds.

This is further confirmation of what I figured out last year building a computer. It's all smoke and mirrors. With one or two exceptions the prices on BF will be the same as they are during the "pre-black Friday sales event!" And the same as they'll be during next week's "post-black Friday savings extravaganza!"

We briefly touched on this in the "Who saves their cell phone box? thread." Needed to replace my TV was well. Did some research, tracked prices over the course of a couple weeks. Saw the one I was hoping for at BB at the upper limit of my budget, tagged with the $500 OFF label (which I totally fell for), and went ahead and got it. Checked back later, saw the TV up $100, then back down to where I got it at, and now listed as "Unavailable."

[MirrorMask]

The black friday mania reached also concert prices - yesterday they offered a discount for Nightwish and so I bought tickets for 40 euros rather than 57 

I don't know how it is in other parts of the world, but here in Italy ticket prices are fixed. Once it's that amount, it's that amount, nothing's gonna change that. This is the first time I hear about discounts.

[ReaperKK]

In person? No, never. I'll pick up something from an online sale from to time, often times I found software I want will be discounted.

[Lonk]

My TV crapped out two weeks ago. I figured "at least it happened at the right time of year." I purchased one expecting to return it and get a better deal on BF. There are none. This is further confirmation of what I figured out last year building a computer. It's all smoke and mirrors. With one or two exceptions the prices on BF will be the same as they are during the "pre-black Friday sales event!" And the same as they'll be during next week's "post-black Friday savings extravaganza!" They're just fudging the numbers a bit. Newsflash--that $800 TV was never, ever sold for $2400.

There will be some discounts, but they're carefully calculated to get you to spend a bit more than you initially would have. I want a cheap 3-500 dollar TV. They'll be sure to have an "$800" store brand TV for $550. They know what people's relative budgets are, and they set prices to get people over them.

Travel is the one area where things can sometimes work out, and scoring those deals doesn't involve having to put clothes on. 

As someone who worked in retail for a while, this is true. They use the MSRP to claim you are getting a deal, when in reality the product was never going to sell for that in the first place, but it makes it seem like you are getting a huge deal. However, there are some products that are discounted, but it's usually those that are hard to sell, and you have to know the products price history to really know if its a deal or not.

With that said, I stepped out on Friday midday because I needed an area rug. Found a BB&B that was closing its location, and bought a $300 rug (online price) for $79 in store, not Black Friday deal, just a store closing. Then I came home and placed an order for a TV (old one was almost 10 years old and starting to give out). Went to the store yesterday to pick it up, in and out with a new TV in 10 minutes.

[Grappler]

We do online shopping on Black Friday to take advantage of sales, but without having to deal with crowded stores.  The savings adds up - I usually buy shoes for myself for the year with all of the sale pricing.

This year, we bought a really nice stove and have been buying things for the kids for Christmas.

[Zoom E]

I’d rather pay full price for something than stand in a line-up or deal with frenzied bargain shoppers.