Black Friday Scam Day

Most assuredly Black Friday will be different this year.

This is not what the holiday season is about.

First of all... there is no such day as "Black Friday." This is merely industry jargon that originated with the American department stores, from the accounting phrase "in the black," meaning turning a profit. The "After Thanksgiving Sales" (the proper designation for these events) would draw in large crowds because a lot of workplaces gave people that day off. For these big retailers it was "Profit Friday."

Sometime during the 1990s the media got wind of the term and began publishing it, and its usage spread to the rest of the population. The retailers and the ad industry now had a new buzzword with which to dupe the gullible public. Never mind the fact that there were sales being conducted all throughout the year with much better savings than this one. A big con game was now set in motion.

The sad thing is that it's now crossed the border into Canada, and recently to some European countries. It's a spreading cancer that needs to be stopped.

The holiday season is supposed to be a special time of year, a time to step back and take a much-needed break from the daily grind. It's not a time to shove and trample one another in a contest to see who can fill a shopping cart the highest with a bunch of shoddy imported junk merchandise. Just watch some of the YouTube videos and see the animalistic behavior in the stores. It's disgraceful.

We need to take back the holidays. There are so few of them remaining. A good start would be to remove the term "Black Friday" from the lexicon. In the U.S. it's the day after Thanksgiving. In the rest of the world it's just another day in November.

Save the holiday season.

The OP clearly has no idea of what margins are in retail.

I understand that margin in schmatta (clothing) is huge, but the margin on a TV at full retail is, at most, 30 percent. The margin on the accessories to make it work—cables, surge protectors, extended warranty—is where the profit is.

Door buster specials are sold below cost. If you’re willing to camp out on filthy sidewalk for a couple days and relieve yourself in the local foliage, you CAN snag a deal. The ads for the Door busters CLEARLY state there is limited availability, e.g., “at least 5 per store,” so the OP whining about a limited supply is a boogie man.

Black Friday is a terrible, soul-sucking experience, the antithesis of “peace on earth, goodwill toward humankind.” People will run roughshod over their Grandma to get the X Box X or whatever. Black Friday is a child of the Anti-Christ, an elevation of Mammon over over My Lord God, and I revile and despise it. But it is not illegal and the retail industry provides consumers with very clear conditions and disclosures. Caveat emptor, consumers.

But why are you consuming at all on the birthday of Jesus Christ?

Yeah, lots of places jack up the prices and then put up big "50% OFF" signs.

Stay home, the pandemic is about to explode, and it's all a ripoff anyway.

#BLACKFRIDAYSMATTER 😉

I saved a few bucks.