Black Friday
By now the shoppers have returned with their treasures and sore, tired feet to find hiding places for the gifts to be given with pride in four weeks and feeling they got the best deal ever. Just wait until they see their credit card bills... Did they realize how much that bag full of miscellaneous gift items that don't have an intended recipient yet but seemed like such a good deal they just couldn't pass it up will really cost? Probably not. Do they think about the opportunity cost of their time and energy and other things they could have been doing instead of waiting outside in the cold so they could be one of the first to walk through the door and get one of that store's "door buster" deals? Perhaps they're not aware that many of those so called "deals" are last year's merchandise or second rate items without full features that are loss leader intended to draw traffic so they could push the other, regularly priced items? No, probably not.
And even if they did know, would they really care? I think part of the appeal of getting up in the middle of the night and driving to a Toys 'R Us or Best Buy at 1 or 2am is to participate in a group ritual. It's become a tradition for some, almost a rite of passage for others, to be able to say they were there when the doors first opened and the dreary eyed clerks waited to ring up their many purchases, feeling they had won some secret lottery because they were willing to get up early. The rest of us enjoyed those extra hours of sleep and spent the morning with our families or friends because we don't really care about getting the same presents as everyone else. In fact, we've been doing our shopping through the year already as we find things that would be perfect for those special people in our lives for whom we purchase gifts. And sometimes we don't wait until Xmas to give them because we just can't wait to see the delight in their eyes when they open something that's obviously meant only for them.
And even if they did know, would they really care? I think part of the appeal of getting up in the middle of the night and driving to a Toys 'R Us or Best Buy at 1 or 2am is to participate in a group ritual. It's become a tradition for some, almost a rite of passage for others, to be able to say they were there when the doors first opened and the dreary eyed clerks waited to ring up their many purchases, feeling they had won some secret lottery because they were willing to get up early. The rest of us enjoyed those extra hours of sleep and spent the morning with our families or friends because we don't really care about getting the same presents as everyone else. In fact, we've been doing our shopping through the year already as we find things that would be perfect for those special people in our lives for whom we purchase gifts. And sometimes we don't wait until Xmas to give them because we just can't wait to see the delight in their eyes when they open something that's obviously meant only for them.
Posted by Common Sense Idiot at 28 Nov 2009 
Categories: Retail,Shopping,Products
Tags: merchandise shopping door buster deals gifts credit card christmas Black Friday products retail
Categories: Retail,Shopping,Products
Tags: merchandise shopping door buster deals gifts credit card christmas Black Friday products retail
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