A black mood for Black Friday

Is it just me, or do a lot of my readers think it’s certifiably insane to get up at oh-dark-hundred to show up at a store that opens at an equally crazy hour in the hope to be in the proper place in line to buy some Chinese-made product sold at a cheap price that actually reflects its worth?

One reason I liked to read the Thanksgiving Day paper was to see the “race to the bottom” as retailers edged back their opening hours earlier and earlier to get the jump on the competition. (Now I just watch the football games since half the commercials talk about that same thing.) Until a few years ago, 6 a.m. was considered the limit but then someone slid it up to 5 a.m. and this year the national department store chain Kohl’s pushed it up to 4 a.m. And every year you have the easy news story of the people making it an all-nighter in front of some electronics chain to be first in line for the sort of product I refer to above. Talk about a story falling into your lap. Hey, I wonder if my cohort Joe Albero was out covering that? Haven’t checked my feed on him yet this morning.

Another disturbing trend I saw this year was KMart going to Black Thursday and opening at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving. So much for encouraging families to spend the holiday together. This brings up another point about the poor employees who draw the store opening shift and have to deal with nasty, sleep-deprived customers, particularly the ones who just miss out on the “doorbuster” loss-leader special.

I was talking to my daughter yesterday and she was telling me about her mom’s plans: Kohl’s at 4, Target at 5, and Wal-Mart at 6. My ex is not the most easy-going woman I know so pity the store associate that screws up something really bad. (That’s tempered to a degree though since she worked customer service at a grocery store for several years so she was on the receiving side of more than a few nasty customers.) Either way I think that it’s gone completely nuts.

I think the trick that encourages retailers to follow this practice is that they all know a few things about how to keep people at their store. If they all know that their competitors have a limited quantity of the real hot buys on hand (generally stores run a disclaimer on their loss leaders that items at the sale price are limited to stock at hand, no rain checks) then they know that the store with the most appealing initial item will get the most business – by the time you exit store #1 with their loss leader you’re too late to hit store #2 for theirs. Either you’ve missed out if the store opened the same time or you’re too far back in line if store #2 opens an hour later. The retailers hope you decide that going to store #2 won’t be worth it and you open your wallet a little more for items not discounted as much or buy a couple gift cards while you’re there.

And the indications seem to be that retailers have caught on to the consumer and aren’t offering the deep discounts to the last-minute shoppers anymore. These people don’t call it Black Friday for nothing, since this is the time of year they expect to build their yearly profits.

So if you’re really into getting up in the wee hours to get your Christmas shopping done, hopefully you’ll enjoy that midday nap you’ll need thanks to screwing up your sleep schedule.

Edit: I knew I liked Karen for more than being a baseball fan and good writer – here’s her take on the whole silly affair.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

2 thoughts on “A black mood for Black Friday”

  1. Michael,

    I am with you. When I was both a sophomore and junior in high school, I worked both Black Fridays at the Orange Julius in the Old Salisbury Mall.

    I vowed then that I would NEVER shop on Black Friday. It’s a vow I have not broken in those 20 years. Ever.

    Today, I took my niece and nephew (along with sister and my mom) up to Strasbourg, PA . We visited the national toy train museum ($5 /adult), ate lunch at Hershey Farm, and then hit the Choo Choo Barn ($4.50 an adult). It was a great day. And much better than fighting the “shopper tsunami” at the malls.

    One thing you left out: the outlets at Queenstown opened at midnight.

  2. Thanks Michael. I have never, ever shopped on Black Friday and never intend to. I’d rather sit back, relax and laugh while thinking about those crazy fools knocking down a door at 4am for some great deal…the same deals you’ll get the week before Christmas. LOL.

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