4 years ago I went out on Black Friday. There were tons of TV’s on sale (then was a bigger market than now) and there was one particular Sony Bravia, well over 1k, at a modest 35% off retail (IIRC about 20sih percent off Amazon). We showed up at noon, we got the last one.
Of course, all the cheaper end hdtv’s were gone immediately. If you want a low volume high end item, chances are good if you need it\want it and don’t mind going out later in the day that you can reasonably expect to find it.
ETA: 2nd paragraph was the explanation given by several lifer retail associates.
The item that I wanted (a new Xbox 360) was actually cheaper by $50 over the black friday weekend- but it turns out that was somewhat misleading advertising, and what I ended up paying after the weekend passed was the exact same deal being offered anyway for the 250gb xbox I wanted, as the cheaper advertised price was for the 4gb item, which is nearly useless.
AND I was forced to take two games for free, as all they had was the package left, and not just the xbox. Sucks, right?
The deals that are good are usually great, but that isn’t in my own experience- it is based on some of my coworkers who went out at 12am or three am and picked me up the same items they have gotten for extremely low prices, like the large TVs for a third of their normal price, etc. Most of my digital cameras came that way until I finally just gave up and now settle for the phone cameras, as they are more than I need for my point and snap photography.
I remember doing Black Friday one time, when I was 9. K-mart had a toy that my best friend wanted and his mom did not drive. My mother and I picked her up and were in line at 4.30 am, waiting for the store to open. There were just a few other people there. We had brought a thermos of coffee and shared it with people who shared their pastries with us…that was in 1979, not like the greedy herds of today…
I worked retail for Christmas for 3 years…that was enough to knock the spirit right out of me…
I am with you, Cat.
In fact, I worked retail for 7 years and successfully avoided working on Black Friday. 