# Anyone else hate the idea of black friday? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895 "2015-11-18T16:21:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/21 "2015-11-18T17:51:43Z")
I have to 'fess up. I used to love Black Friday, even with all the crowds and related issues. I’d get together with a group of girlfriends, have a super early breakfast at a nearby Dennys, plan out our ‘strategy’ and then off we’d go to the marts of trade. By dividing up the duties (one of would go to Target, one to the department store, one to the toy store, etc) we could capture most of the actual deals. When it was all over, we’d meet for lunch and divvy up the spoils. I actually used to look forward to it. Hangs head. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/22 "2015-11-18T18:16:44Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > I have to 'fess up. I used to love Black Friday, even with all the crowds and related issues. I’d get together with a group of girlfriends, have a super early breakfast at a nearby Dennys, plan out our ‘strategy’ and then off we’d go to the marts of trade. By dividing up the duties (one of would go to Target, one to the department store, one to the toy store, etc) we could capture most of the actual deals. When it was all over, we’d meet for lunch and divvy up the spoils. I actually used to look forward to it. Hangs head. My sister used to love Black Friday for similar reasons. It was an event, they could get coffee and chat. Maybe get a few good deals and get some Christmas shopping done. I can’t blame her, it was something fun for her to do on her day off and on the whole was cheaper then taking up fishing or some other hobby. They ruined it when they moved to Thanksgiving evening. It took away from the event and made people have to choose between shopping and their families. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/23 "2015-11-18T18:29:25Z")
I used to enjoy Black Friday since I was used to getting up early for work I’d just get dressed and grab a set of head phones. I’d blast christmas music and get to hang out with other happy people. Now I never seem to find deals as good or I have trouble waking up its been about 5 years since I’ve gone. Of course I never went to the malls normally it was home depot or best buy and most years there would be coffee and donuts put out by the store and everyone stood around talking about christmas plans and laughed at the people in line at target or wallmart. I think the secret is going to higher end stores so you don’t get 50 people willing to beat you up for 50% off a $6 toy and instead find aa place where you can buy something on sale that still costs $150+ there are less people interested in spending that kind of money so there is no compitition and everyone is friendly. Also I never went to more then two stores so I would only have to deal with parking once really since the early morning one has tons of spots. I’d normally be home by 10 and then still get to enjoy my day off. ---
**Author:** ![inedible\_knapsack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/49beb7/32.png) [@inedible\_knapsack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inedible_knapsack)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/24 "2015-11-18T18:35:35Z")
I think that most people hate it, even if they take advantage of it. Face it, it’s a manufactured retail holiday intended to incentivize people through low low prices and peer pressure to participate in rabid consumerism in order to keep our economy trucking along. I would argue that it was never intended to be enjoyed. HOWEVER, I can see how a certain type of person (high income + extrovert + Christmas-phile + shopping-phile) could actually enjoy it. The number of people who hit all of those categories must be very low, because virtually everyone I’ve ever met hate it. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/25 "2015-11-18T18:46:47Z")
I’ve gone a couple times with MIL and SILs, mostly to pick up a few things on their list and watch the chaotic madness and go have lunch. We were in Wal-Mart (shudder) and they had pallets ready to be unwrapped when the clock struck 6am. It was like chum. We lurked well out of the way and saw other employees ducking into the garden section. I don’t need an HDTV that bad. ---
**Author:** ![FightMyIgnorance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71e660/32.png) [@FightMyIgnorance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FightMyIgnorance)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/26 "2015-11-18T18:57:24Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Even if I was on a tight budget, I can’t think of anything I’d want a little cheaper that would motivate me to participate in this craziness. I think, however, many people enjoy the “event.” It’s _something to do_ that’s _different_. There’s a goal, and some social aspects if you go with family and friends. Like a treasure hunt, perhaps. > > It’s not for me, but it’s pretty easy to avoid if you have Tivo and don’t go near the stores between October 31 and Christmas. This is my logic as well. I’m gonna put myself out there and say that I’ve gone Black Friday shopping every year for the past several years, and I’m intending to do it again this year. I acknowledge it’s simple vapid consumerism, but much of the reason I go isn’t for any deals, it’s simply more for the event itself. As for why, see above. I don’t even buy much of anything, but it’s something fun to do with a few friends, you know? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/27 "2015-11-18T19:06:15Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > They ruined it when they moved to Thanksgiving evening. It took away from the event and made people have to choose between shopping and their families. Choose between one hell and another! 🙂 Seriously I know I blaspheme when I say I honestly don’t even like Tgiving that much. A holiday just to sit around and get fat and argue with your relatives? How perfectly American. Not to mention the guilt and pressure to always go visiting. We just visit my dad, who is only two hours away. Inlaws get Xmas, and they are 3.5 hours away. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/28 "2015-11-18T19:13:05Z")
You couldn’t pay me to go anywhere near a store on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The news reports over the inevitable stampedes always make me feel sad for everyone involved. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/29 "2015-11-18T19:18:46Z")
I never understood it. Then again, I hate shopping. So glad all my holiday shopping is done (Thanks Amazon!). I don’t understand why people do it for crappy deals. I would pay MORE for items just to avoid the crowds and the lines. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/30 "2015-11-18T19:22:57Z")
> [@inedible\_knapsack](#): > > …HOWEVER, I can see how a certain type of person (high income + extrovert + Christmas-phile + shopping-phile) could actually enjoy it… Maybe I’m wrong, but I always associated with lower income shoppers desperate for a deal. I figure higher income shoppers pay a premium to avoid things like black friday. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/31 "2015-11-18T19:24:15Z")
> [@inedible\_knapsack](#): > > I think that most people hate it, even if they take advantage of it. It’s not the _shoppers_ who are taking advantage. > [@ivylass](#): > > I don’t need an HDTV that bad. If you do need an HDTV, [a Black Friday “sale” model isn’t what you want](http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/11/26/dont-buy-tv-black-friday/). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/32 "2015-11-18T19:30:08Z")
I don’t hate it, for the simple reason that I don’t care about it. I have no interest in getting up at 5 AM to join a human stampede, and so I don’t. It doesn’t affect me, and so I blissfully ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/33 "2015-11-18T19:32:16Z")
Let’s see: I can either sleep in, have a nice brunch, hang out with the family, maybe catch a movie OR I can get up extra early, push and shove with strangers, and spend a bunch of money on crap. Decisions, decisions… Personally, I think online shopping is the best thing since air conditioning and antibiotics. ---
**Author:** ![Abner\_Ravenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Abner\_Ravenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abner_Ravenwood)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/34 "2015-11-18T19:45:03Z")
Black Friday doesn’t bother any. I’m too busy recovering from my self-induced food coma to go out shopping, and if everybody else is out keeping the wheels of commerce going, all the better. ---
**Author:** ![Abner\_Ravenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Abner\_Ravenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abner_Ravenwood)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/35 "2015-11-18T19:49:00Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > A day off of work? > > I used to work on the day after thanksgiving. One year my employees approached me asking if we could try closing that day. There was some item they all wanted a chance at buying. I agreed, but it became permanent, somehow. In high school and college I waited tables at a restaurant across the street from the biggest mall in the county, and I made a point to work a double every Black Friday because of the insane amount of money I’d make. It was second only to Mother’s Day in the busiest day of the year. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/36 "2015-11-18T20:18:49Z")
I don’t “hate” it exactly. I think it fulfills a retail niche that is probably sociologically interesting, in that people are willing to go to drastic extremes on either the off chance that they may get a great deal on something like a TV, or to save _some_ money on a few loss-leader items. My time and sanity’s more valuable to me than saving $200 off a HDTV or something silly like that, but for those who value that $200 more, then more power to them. I’d rather watch college football, hang out with my family and eat leftovers! I wouldn’t be surprised at all if places like Wal-Mart, Target, etc… probably mark up other stuff in the store beyond normal retail prices (over a period of time, not overnight), and then do “not-really-a-sale” sales, where they take something that retails normally for $5 in say… July, raise the price over the course of the time between say… Labor Day and Thanksgiving, to more like $5.50, and then mark it down to $5.25 and sell it as a “Sale” item with a big display and lots of visibility. It’s what I’d do, anyway. Combine that stuff with the usual loss-leader items, and you stand to make serious cash off of unaware mooks. ---
**Author:** ![pidgeon92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@pidgeon92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pidgeon92)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/37 "2015-11-18T20:39:15Z")
I used to enjoy it. This was before there were stores open on Thanksgiving and lines going around the block. I don’t have patience for that, and I have enough stuff. Everybody I know has enough stuff. We focus mostly on food and experiences now. The kids in the family get cash. It’s less stressful for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/38 "2015-11-18T20:41:02Z")
Black Friday is that random day where stuff is cheaper online, right? What’s not to like? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/39 "2015-11-18T21:01:52Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Choose between one hell and another! 🙂 Seriously I know I blaspheme when I say I honestly don’t even like Tgiving that much. A holiday just to sit around and get fat and argue with your relatives? How perfectly American. If this is what you think Tgiving is about then no wonder you don’t like it. I wouldn’t either but that’s not what Tgiving means to me. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895/40 "2015-11-18T21:05:46Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > If this is what you think Tgiving is about then no wonder you don’t like it. I wouldn’t either but that’s not what Tgiving means to me. Well, for several years, I have made Tgiving to be just me and my SO, and we have had a perfectly wonderful time. People feel sorry for me, but I love it. Unfortunately that is changing again, as we will be visiting my dad. I mean, I don’t want dad to be alone, but at the same time, his English is really not very good, and my poor SO gets really bored. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-the-idea-of-black-friday/737895.md?page=3)