Antidote to Black Friday

[in4]

On this day of global consumer madness I thought I'd spread a little sanity amongst those of us who's parsimony is close to legendary. With all the usual caveates in place: I popped into Aldi last night and bought a pair of winter, padded tights for ( drumroll!) £2.50. Originally marked at £20.00 they were tagged at £4.99 but at the checkout you get 50% off that. Result! Check your local Aldi out as you peruse the malts, hams and brandy!

[jags]

yeah result i like those kinda bargains.

jags.

[Danneaux]

Ian,

It'd be worth the USD$1,100 in round-trip airfare for a bargain like that!  

I'm still lovin' on the Lidl cycling shorts I paid the equivalent of USD$8 for in Croatia. Good stuff!

Attached is a photo of yesterday's local newspaper, the _Eugene Register-Guard_. Something seems a bit lopsided here...
Newspaper on top.
American Thanksgiving holiday/pre-Christmas Black Friday sales flyers below.

All the best,

Dan. (...who is one of perhaps three 'Merkins who isn't buying anything on Black Friday)

[geocycle]

Can anyone enlighten me about Black Friday? What's it all about? This is the first year I have heard of it.

[ipswichcycler]

Just another sale? A chance to shift old stock and get rid of it before new stock comes in.... In other words a load of old fluff and a chance to sell you 101 things you never really needed or knew you needed. 

[JimK]

I expect that Black Friday is a peculiar American institution. With any luck it won't spread.

Thanksgiving is on Thursday late in November... I forget the exact rule! The day after Thanksgiving, people will often start shopping for Christmas presents. So the stores have sales to encourage the shopping. By now it has gotten absurd!

I actually went out today and braved the crowds. I bought an 8 foot 2x4 and a 5/16 drill bit. I then drilled a pilot hole in the 2x4 and screwed in a big bike hanging hook that came in the mail today. I then laid the 2x4 over the joists in the car port outside and tied it down. Hooray, the Fearless Nomad can now get some shelter from the weather! With any luck, it'll be out of the way of the cars, too!

Yeah, put the studded tires on, changed the Rohloff oil. It was a bike maintenance day!

[John Saxby]

Jim, Dan -- We could help out, y'know.  We do Thanksgiving around mid-October (2nd Monday thereof), that being the harvest festival, for climatic/ecological reasons.  Far as I know, nobody flips out and goes shopping on the preceding Saturday or following Tuesday.  So, you're more than welcome to celebrate then (I know it's Columbus Day, chez vous, but really...)

The "Black Friday" thing seems to be creeping north of the 49th parallel: partly, it's US retailers advertising their wares to Canajans living close to the border (i.e., most of us), partly, it's the Seeping Cultural Hegemoney (sic, deliberately) Thing, with Canadian retailers following the lead of their reference points further south, flogging stuff that no-one needs.

I did notice that bicycle retailers joined the rush, such as the Bike Touring News folks in Boise, and Arkel in Sherbrooke.

PS:  Interesting flip engineered by the advertising industry, isn't it?  To think that "Black Friday" once referred to the start of the catastrophic depression in 1929...

[Danneaux]

Hi Geo'!

"Black Friday" in this context refers to the pre-Christmss sales that take place in America on the day (Friday) after the Thanksgiving holiday.

In recent years, the sales have expanded to cover the week before and after Thanksgiving. The Monday after (Thanksgiving on Thursday, Black Friday on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for football, then next day...) is now known as Cyber Monday, the online version of Black Friday, though it now seems to be a week long event as well.

Originally (also in this context) black ink was historically used in company ledgers to record profits ("In the black" became synonymous with profitability), while red ink meant a loss (no business wanted to be "in the red"). The term Black Friday was applied here because it is generally recognized as the most profitable sales day in the entire year for American businesses. It has become a day of rampant, rabid consumerism here in 'Merka, not all of it pretty. People will camp on store sidewalks awaiting pre-dawn openings in hopes of finding their preferred Christmas gifts at bargain rates.  A favorite on YouTube, video shows people going berserk and fights and riots have broken out as supplies dwindle. For examples of the basest nature of Man, Google "YouTube Black Friday riot".

The ironic thing is, many of the Black Friday sales prices aren't that good, a fact evident if you chart sale prices throughout the year as I do. Some retail prices are actually raised in the weeks before Black Friday so the "deep discounts" are artificial.

You won't catch me near the stores on Black Friday, and I only buy on Cyber Monday if there is a genuine sale on something I truly need /desire I had planned to buy anyway. To compete in person is a blood sport that doesn't appeal to me.

Best,

Dan.

[Andre Jute]

Forsake all hope. Black Friday has spread to the Far East already. Bangood and MiniInTheBox, my gadget pushers, both have Black Friday sales.

I agree with Dan: better not to get involved. It's just incidental that yesterday I ordered a new cycling jacket, from a store that isn't doing Black Friday.

[geocycle]

Thanks Guys, most illuminating.  The queues portrayed on the BBC news suggest it hasalready  lept the pond, largely due to Amazon et al.  Personally, I'm looking forward to 'buy nothing day', or 'appreciate what you have because you don't need another TV day'.  That said, maybe Thorn should have a 'black bike day' with half price on everything in my favourite colour!

[John Saxby]

I talk about it as Bleak Friday, but I expect that puns get lost in the noise 'n' hype...

[Slammin Sammy]

Around here (and, I expect, in most places), the best time to buy Xmas gifts is in the January sales. You still have to put up with the sales mob, though.

Several years ago, my wife and I took a seven day Caribean cruise out of Ft Lauderdale Florida, which happened to put in to several free ports along the way (St Thomas, St Martin, etc.)

On board the (very nice) ship were numerous Floridians, which really surprised me. Why on earth would someone who lives in south Florida need to take a holiday with all of the northern snowbirds fleeing winter! Answer: Booze, cigarettes and maybe some jewelry or perfume, at tax and duty free prices. They'd book "steerage" cabins at rock bottom prices, just so they could shop in the free ports.

[martinf]

I expect that Black Friday is a peculiar American institution. With any luck it won't spread.

I am currently in Spain (without bikes), Black Friday is advertised here as well (in English)