What Has Two Thumbs and Doesn’t Care About Black Friday? This Guy!
15 Nov
Next week, virtually every major retailer is having an event.
It’s an event that happens every year, and has become a major part of our culture. Millions of Americans participate in it every year, including a former version of myself several times in the past.
I am of course talking about Black Friday sales. Stores open at absurd hours and have crazy deals on all sorts of products. You can get your hand on more televisions and laptops and kitchen appliances and clothing and children’s toys and telescopes and and and…… than you could ever need, all for huge discounts! All you have to do is sacrifice a little bit of your time to go out and stand in lines.
Meanwhile, I will be enjoying a good night’s sleep, my stomach way more full of turkey than I ever intended, laughing in my dreams about all the people wasting away their precious dollars and time on crap they don’t even need.
If you ask people what defines Black Friday here in America, they would likely say something along the lines of “stores opening really early and customers getting really good bargains on their holiday shopping”.
In my words, that would be “A very clever marketing technique by major US retailers to further convince Americans to waste their hard-earned money on useless crap”.
People often justify spending lots of money on Black Friday sales because they think they would have bought the stuff anyway, so they may as well get the discounts. Let’s examine that claim.
First off, remember that stores are still making a profit during Black Friday, even with the crazy discounts. Now you may think it is because of the increase in the volume of sales, and you would be partially right. But that isn’t the entire truth. If the stores discounted products so much that they weren’t making a profit on them, the more they sold the more money they would lose. So obviously the sales aren’t THAT great. And then there is the school of thought that stores take a loss on some items and make more of a profit on others on Black Friday. The increase in customers helps sell more items than just what is on sale, so they make money on those other product sales. There is a lot of that happening on Black Friday too, but people just brush it off. They think they’ll be smart and only buy what is on sale. Now that may be true for some, but seeing as stores make a huge amount of money on Black Friday, it isn’t the average. The fact is that when you’re stuck in a store waiting for hours just to buy one item, you will shop around for more. Whether this is to justify the time spent or because of more clever marketing magic doesn’t matter. The fact is that the average person who shops on Black Friday still is giving stores lots of money for stuff they don’t need.
Second, if my above statement is correct, you may not have bought some of the things you get on Black Friday if it wasn’t for being in the stores for the sales. If you’ve ever been to Walmart during one of these sales, you’ve no doubt seen people with multiple shopping carts, full of things you didn’t even know existed. I have an easier time believing in Sasquatch than the notion that people who shop on Black Friday (at least on average) do so deliberately and with limitations.
So clearly consumers aren’t winning pocketbook wise when it comes to Black Friday, at least not most of them. But that isn’t the only drawback to Black Friday. Another big one is the timing. Every year, the sales start slightly earlier. The stores seem to be competing to see who can open the earliest. Last year, I was disgusted when the sales in many stores began at midnight. But this year, Walmart has stooped to a new low. They are beginning some of their sales at 8pm on THANKSGIVING DAY. I mean come on now. Why on earth would you go to Walmart to buy cheap electronics at a mild discount instead of enjoying Thanksgiving dinner? That’s just insane, and you can’t tell me that that will bring you fullness and satisfaction in life.
Yet another drawback to the madness of Black Friday sales is the crowds. People literally die because of them every year. No joke, pretty much every year someone gets trampled to death on the way into a store on Black Friday. And if the risk of death isn’t enough of a reason to avoid the crowds, how about those two-hour long waits at the checkout with nothing to comfort you but the latest celebrity gossip you don’t care about in the magazine stands.
Sure, there are some deals on Black Friday that are good, but they are few and far between. And the effort that is required to obtain these bargains is so great it isn’t nearly worth it in my opinion. For the aspiring Life Rich, satisfaction is gained through minimalism, not getting consumer crap for 20% off. I may venture out to get some of the sales later in the day once things have settled down. I happen to need a coat at the moment, and if the thrift stores continue to fail me this weekend then I’m going to have no choice but to go out to the mall and hope to find a bargain. Hopefully I can avoid that, and Black Friday sales as a whole.
So are you with me in avoiding the Black Friday nonsense? Click here to proclaim it on Twitter!
I’ve never gone shopping on Black Friday and I never intend to. Honestly, shopper annoy me a lot, and shopping in general bothers me, so I’m glad I can avoid the whole fiasco!
I think I’ve shopped once on Black Friday and that was more than enough for me. While people are fighting the crowds I’ll get my shopping done online and spend the day with the family and watching football.
We haven’t shopped on Black Friday before but it seems to be no different than the Boxing day Frenzy which we don’t often head out to. We have taken advantage to price match a Cyber Monday Deal for our SMART TV which we literally saved almost 50% on.. so that was worth it for us especially since we saved to pay for it in cash. Not everyone has the frenzy bug but for those that do I hope they find what they are looking for at a good price. Mr.CBB
Do you guys make a big deal out of Boxing Day or is Black Friday kind of your standin?
I don’t know anything about Boxing Day, but Black Friday is our big sale day.
I’ve been reading a few of your blog entries and I’ve noticed that you don’t research a single thing you write about.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/black-friday-deaths-and-disasters-show-1452562
http://www.crashstuff.com/driving-or-flying-plane-vs-car-accident-statistics/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)
People don’t die from being trampled “nearly every year”, it happened once, in 2008. Two people also shot each other over an argument at a store on this same day in 2008. There have been no other fatal incidents in the recent history of black Friday.
By comparison, with 247 Million shoppers, and an assume 3 miles driven each way, there will be about 1.5 billion miles driven. Even if the ride is split 4 ways, you’re looking at 370MM vehicle miles at a death rate of 1.47 per 100MM. 5.439 people (on average) will die driving to or from black Friday every year.
I’m sure it’s a lot of fun to just write whatever comes to mind, but your content is lacking not only in depth, but in research and proper analysis as well. You should fix this.
Thank you for your feedback, but I think you are a little bit off on what you’ve said. First off, my statement about deaths on Black Friday was mere hyperbole. The main point of the article in fact had nothing to do with that, but with spending money on unnecessary crap. If you’re going to criticize my writing, at least read my articles first. I do in fact do a lot of research for my articles, and if you read a few of them you’ll see I cite sources. In the cases where I don’t (like the above), it will likely be something I inserted for effect or to stress an example, and isn’t related to my main point.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, I do appreciate the feedback, even if it was little misinformed and purposefully negative.
Hyperbole is terrible. If what you write is non-informative and poorly descriptive, it shouldn’t be written. (At least if you want to be taken seriously as a writer that provides useful information).
You almost never cite sources, unless it references to your own articles, which in turn cite no sources.
http://thisiscommoncents.com/2012/12/couponing-the-time-consuming-way-to-increase-your-spending/
http://thisiscommoncents.com/2012/11/run-your-life-like-a-business/
http://thisiscommoncents.com/2012/11/the-high-risk-investment-portfolio/
When you reference something, it’s usually some inflated statistic in a poor attempt to “prove” some sort of point.
http://thisiscommoncents.com/2012/10/commuting-the-fools-way-of-wasting-away-money-and-life/
In this article you reference the IRS rate for BUSINESS mileage. This is a different value from true cost, since business mileage can include (and almost always does) light trucks and service vans, also calculating for loss of use when it breaks. A more appropriate number would be the AAA number, which in turn is also inflated in a number of ways I can elaborate on if you really don’t believe it.
When presented with a counterpoint within your own article (specifically this one), you just dismiss it by saying “I doubt it”. You cite your own experience by finding a place close to CAMPUS, which depending on your school is completely different from a job in a downtown metropolis.
http://www.trulia.com/home_prices/Oregon/Portland-heat_map/
Every major city is like this. To live within a mile or two of work I would need to purchase a house twice the price of one in Gresham. These houses are also older, smaller, and have less land. They are also subject to greater property taxation. An extra $200,000 at 8% per year is $16,000 saved, or $80/hour TAX FREE. At the 25% bracket under 2013 tax law, I would earn an effective $120/hour while driving. Even with a spouse, or a socially unheard of two family home, you’re still looking at an added cost of $30/hr.
Your article are full of terrible assumptions and no research. You often admit that you don’t like something and just avoid it entirely, without actually properly researching it. If you did the proper research into Black Friday, you would know that Kohl’s and amazon were offering $25/$50 in groceries at Safeway/Vons locations on a $150 gift card purchase, in addition you got 2.5% cashback on a credit card and $15 in gas rewards (60 cents on 25 gallons). For Black Friday you got clearance prices at 20% off with $15 in Kohl’s cash for every $50 spent. When stacked with price matching at Kohl’s at a brick and mortar location, or 10% more cash back through the chase portal, the offers were absolutely amazing.
On $150 in gift cards you got:
$25 in groceries
$15 in gas
$3.75 in Cash back on the gift card purchase
$27 in cash value for kohl’s cash 30% in kohl’s cash, or about 18% true value
$15 in Chase rewards (cash value, it coverts to airline miles at 1.77x face value).
$85.75 off in money saved. For $64.25 I got $150 in clearance priced merchandise. It’s also important to note that many items had rebates. There were a set of knives at $99.99 with a $50 rebate. Once cashback was considered, I got them free and made about $7 per set. (6 sets bought, had friends with me and I was able to use their addresses). Other stores offered items free after rebate, or just outright free (Like the new super mario brothers U title at Old Navy).
If a free set of knives for every single person you know is not worth your time to find, then I commend you on your observation; You clearly aren’t (currently) skilled enough to find a good value AT ALL, and anyone changing their lifestyle based on your suggestions should reconsider.
Never overlook an opportunity, there are more ways to be prosperous than being a minimalist who retires and dies with a bunch of money that he’ll never want to spend.
Finally, almost all your articles have an air of snobbery to them. This one isn’t as bad, but this one: http://thisiscommoncents.com/2012/10/let-someone-else-cook-for-me-nonsense/
is completely silly.
“To them, it’s a daunting challenge. “How could I ever be a good enough cook to satisfy my taste buds?” I then bust out laughing when the people who let such nonsense come from their mouths eat at fast food restaurants. I mean really?” You’re channeling speech from someone who doesn’t exist, saying something in a manner only an aspie would, then you say that you burst out laughing at these people. It’s rude, insulting, and considering that a very large sector of the population eats fast food in some quantity, you’re isolating a lot of readers right off the bat.
If you’re going to be a jerk, go all out. Attract that niche of holier than thou people who think they’re some sort of financial messiah because they earn $40,000 per year and manage to save 5% of it in an employer matched 401k. Your blog will be more successful this way.
“Hyperbole is terrible”. I laughed a little bit when I read that. But I digress
You’ll notice the articles you claim I don’t cite articles in are those that are my own opinions and suggestions. For instance the coupon article you mentioned, I do cite coupons.com, showing some of the items they have deals on. But beyond that of course I didn’t cite sources, because what I wrote was based in my own experiences, opinions, and suggestions. If all I did was compile a bunch of sources into a boring list of facts, this blog would effectively be a textbook and show none of my own experiences and opinions, which is the exact opposite of what I’ve built it to be.
I think that using the IRS rate is an excellent way to look at driving costs. That is what the government says it costs to drive, and I would call them a pretty reliable source. You’re right, that rate does reflect costs for light trucks and service vans, but if you haven’t noticed, a lot of people drive such overly large and expensive vehicles for personal use. And calculating for loss of use when it breaks, as you say, is also part of the expense of driving.
When it comes to the living cost thing, you’re right, I did talk about my place close to campus. But I specifically engineered my choosing to go here based on the cost of living in Boise, which is relatively low. You’ll see that in another article here about education costs. It is my opinion that if you choose to work in a place that has low cost of living and affordable housing nearby, you’ll be able to save a ton of money and build wealth much more quickly. I doubt you can argue with that.
I have done the proper research into Black Friday. Like I said, I used to hit the sales every year. Thing is, I realized that the vast majority of the stuff they sell is just that, stuff. Sure, you can list all of the “free gift cards” you got, but we both know they weren’t free. You had to buy something to get them. I didn’t get any free gift cards on Black Friday this year, but I also didn’t spend any money on consumer crap I don’t need or want.
Just to be clear, I in no way advocate avoiding getting deals. If there is something you need and can game the system to get a better deal on, go for it. But what I can’t advocate is hitting up sales just to hit up sales.
And “being a minimalist who retires and dies with a bunch of money that he’ll never want to spend” is in no way what I advocate. Quite the opposite in fact. I advocate reaching financial independence through frugality and using minimalistic principles. And when you have money to spare, I suggest doing things to better your community and world. Giving to charities. Helping put your kids and grand kids through school. Things that really make a difference in people’s lives. Sure, your friends may have some cheap knives that a store was willing to give away (which should tell you something right there). But don’t you think there are other things you could do to impact the world in a more profound, positive way?
If you’re offended by the way I write (which you sure seem to be for some reason), then by all means, don’t feel obligated to keep reading. The beauty of the internet is that anyone can share their opinions, so if you don’t like mine, find someone’s who you do agree with.
It’s a shame you have to block other people’s opinions. It’s the internet, what are you afraid of? Just turn off “Leave a Comment” in whole if you don’t want to read counterpoints to your opinions.
Sincerely,
Someone Else’s friend.
Actually, I allow comments because I DO want to hear other people’s opinions. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have taken the time to reply to this anonymous person or you, I would have simply allowed your comments to go to spam. I enjoy getting feedback on my writing, and debating its merits with others. So thank you for providing that feedback.