Black Friday Creep

[Carol]

A subject that came up at Thanksgiving Dinner was Black Friday "creep".

Personally I am not a big fan of Black Friday. I have been out on Black Friday before, but what made it enjoyable wasn't gettin' cheap stuff, it was spending time with family members. I'm seeing now that some retailers are opening Thanksgiving evening, and others are opening around Friday Midnight.

I understand capitalism and the free market, yada yada yada. I also understand that Thanksgiving is a time that many people are out and about. I was driving through a small town on my way to my destination and traffic snarled to a stop because of a local football game. However, this to me is a bit over the top.

What do you think?

 

[jks9199]

I despise it. When I worked in the retail world -- Black Friday was EVERYTHING. A good Christmas season was make-or-break, even for a diverse department store. And it ended up dominating Thanksgiving for employees because you KNEW you had to work on Friday, and you KNEW it was going to be a madhouse. It's only gotten worse in the 20 or so years since I got out of the retail world.

Much of the business world figured out that enough employees end up taking the day after Thanksgiving off that they've found ways to give an employee a day off. But it seems that the retail world has determined to eat that day -- and to go even further now, and steal even more time from their employees.

 

[arnisador]

It works--and indeed, Xmas is often a way disproportionate part of the year's profits. Once everyone else starts doing it, you have to fall in line or lose out on profits. So I agree, but what can you do?

 

[Xue Sheng]

A subject that came up at Thanksgiving Dinner was Black Friday "creep".

Personally I am not a big fan of Black Friday. I have been out on Black Friday before, but what made it enjoyable wasn't gettin' cheap stuff, it was spending time with family members. I'm seeing now that some retailers are opening Thanksgiving evening, and others are opening around Friday Midnight.

I understand capitalism and the free market, yada yada yada. I also understand that Thanksgiving is a time that many people are out and about. I was driving through a small town on my way to my destination and traffic snarled to a stop because of a local football game. However, this to me is a bit over the top.

What do you think?

Goes right along with Christmas creep....never saw christmas decorations before Thanksgiving when I was little.... now I have seen them in October.

 

[Makalakumu]

Black Friday, after America has given thanks for it's good fortune, we exchange it for cheap foreign goods. I'll take this over exchanging other things of the exploding type.

If it creeps into Thanksgiving, it's not such a bad thing when you consider the bigger picture.

 

[MJS]

A subject that came up at Thanksgiving Dinner was Black Friday "creep".

Personally I am not a big fan of Black Friday. I have been out on Black Friday before, but what made it enjoyable wasn't gettin' cheap stuff, it was spending time with family members. I'm seeing now that some retailers are opening Thanksgiving evening, and others are opening around Friday Midnight.

I understand capitalism and the free market, yada yada yada. I also understand that Thanksgiving is a time that many people are out and about. I was driving through a small town on my way to my destination and traffic snarled to a stop because of a local football game. However, this to me is a bit over the top.

What do you think?

Once, quite a few years ago, my wife and I got up bright and early and stood in line at some unGodly hour, with the rest of the crazies! LOL! And yes, it was crazy! I still go out on Black Friday, but nowadays, I'll wait until some of the crazyness calms down. Hey, if I miss out, then I miss out. I was watching the news today, and they showed a clip of a WalMart store, down south, I believe. Total chaos! People fighting and acting like complete *******s! Sorry, but IMO, stuff like that, totally takes away from the holiday spirit.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Two people were shot at a Walmart in FL over a parking space disagreement.

I'll continue to do my shopping online, thanks very much.

 

[WC_lun]

My wife works in retail and a very large part of her store's profit is Black Friday. Kinda sad that they rely on it so heavily.

As for myself, I really dislike rude people and from previous experiences with Black friday there are a lot of those out. I'll stay at home, maybe do a little shopping online, and keep both my frustration and blood pressure levels down

 

[arnisador]

My wife works in retail and a very large part of her store's profit is Black Friday. Kinda sad that they rely on it so heavily.

This reality makes it very hard for other stores to opt-out, unfortunately.

 

[sfs982000]

I hate Black Friday with a passion, as a customer there is aboslutely nothing that I need to have that bad to drag me out into that madness. After working retail security for almost 10 years dealing the a-holes on Black Friday just wasn't worth it. I actually had to break up a fist fight over a Furby when they first came out. Now that left me just shaking my head.

 

[crushing]

I don't worry much about it. Just enough for me to read this thread and post this.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Grey Thursday

Every year there’s a lot of hand-wringing about capitalism’s intrusion into what we’d thought was a safe space, a day when the usual rules were suspended and we could have a guilt-free meal at home with our families, but every year the stores seem to open earlier