24 replies to this topic

[Pasidon]

Amazing story... It's Black Friday... 8:00 PM. Waited in line for a 40' TV for 4 hours then 1.5 hours at the check out. But that's not the half of it... met a 57 year old man named Don Cloud. His mother was Irish and his father was Indian apparently... the man and his wife talked to us for the entire time, and these people were the most psychotic people I have ever met. Don Cloud has the most ridiculous stories you've ever heard, plus he kept telling us creative ways to kill people with the kitchen appliances we stood next to the whole time. But we helped each-other get stuff and get out, but we almost lost it at the check out since some new guy / dip-tard cashier that looked like Dwight from The Office kept talking to people and screwing things up. Don Cloud and us got up to the front of the line, and the retarded guy did't know how to break change right and needed me to give him smaller bills... so no wonder that line took so long. We also bought 3 games, and that idiot didn't swipe one right, so we got it for free. I'm surprised the alarm didn't sound at the front door. But Pasidon got Bioshock 2, Gears of War 3 and Arkham City for 40 bucks... heck yes, sir.

Oh, then I went to McDonald's only to find a line of cars so massive, cars were next to each-other in the drive-through. Freaking half an hour to get my crap... and it's mega late now, so I dunno why I'm still up.

[duke_Qa]

My workday just started

hell, macdonalds, probably much worse than crazy indian-irish people. Although he sort of reminded me of my friend's family. I dunno why people would put themselves out into 4+1.5 hours of collective group shopping. Discounts I guess?

[Vortigern]

Why not just go shopping next Monday instead? Or is it constant 'Black' days from here until Christmas? Alternatively, I can only assume, Pasidon, that you are aware of the internet and its ability to get shopping delivered on your behalf?

[duke_Qa]

I just heard that there might be some steam sales though, which is a bit more global in nature. Should be interesting to see what we have there.

[Pasidon]

Well Dukie, the group shopping just sort of happens on Black Friday as a survival move. It's dangerous in stores at midnight... I had my friend pick up my games in a separate line while I waited for the TV. He originally got Arkham City, Gears of War 3 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations... but on his way back to me, someone rammed into him and swiped Revelations. Seriously. There's boxes being ripped down and people swiping stuff from others at midnight... that crazy old coon and us teamed up for the sake of my entertainment and to help each other. I got them a game, helped his wife by getting her a chair, and we got to use their cart to hull the TV. Good people... just nuts.

And no, Vort. Black Friday is a one day event. You'll see sales 'till Christmas, but Black Friday is crazy good sales, and some deals aren't as simple as walking in during the day. That's why people wait in lines for hours in the middle of night. The 40' TV I got was 400 bucks, originally from 900, and the line for them reached to the end of the store and nearly lapped itself. People get tickets that guarantee them a TV, but that's a limited supply. Go during the day today and you'll see 40' TVs, but probably with 100 bucks cut from the 900. And those 3 games I got... two of them were fairly new and would usually be at 60 each, and the full price I should have paid for all three was 70 with the dip-tard not swiping Arkham Asylum right and giving it to me for free. They were selling 360s for 120 bucks, and that would be a great deal compared to the 200 you pay during the day. I think Wii's went for 100 bucks each... that's just crazy.

But if you want to know the definition of insanity, Best Buy had a line of people out their doors and around the back of the store, actually lapping itself. People in the WAAAAY back of the line stood next to people by the doors. It was 20 degrees out, and some people even had tents set up 2 days ago in line. Well, Best Buy had 80' TVs for 1000 bucks with 4000 bucks cut off from the original price. They only had 30 of them, so some people were probably uber disappointed. Last year some people were trampled to death... literally... so I say this year turned out better in terms of man-slaughter.

[Beowulf]

PROTIP: Black Friday is bogus. Most shoppers save no money, deals are misadvertised and it's a clusterfuck of stupid. Cyber Monday is the shit. Also, fuck lines and crowds.

[Pasidon]

Cyber Monday? Not sure I've heard of it. It's the internet, so I'm sure it's a global thing... probably should research that. Sounds like I'll be fighting Hungarians for fireworks, or something...

And Black Friday isn't quite a Valentine's Day scam. In the end, it does make stores and companies lots of profits, but that's because of the mass of customers that flock for the sake of shopping during the night and day. I really did buy a TV for less than it was manufactured and I could sell it on E-Bay and make a profit like some people do. I saw an algorithm associated with how Black Friday makes profits from underselling that I should probably find again.

Edited by {IP}Pasidon, 25 November 2011 - 10:08 PM.

[some_weirdGuy]

The behaviour I hear about it is pretty disgusting actually:
http://www.escapistm...-for-Videogames

That's this years shenanigans, but nothing really tops the despicable behaviour of 2008, where shoppers killed a man and injured others, and just plain didn't give a damn.

[Pasidon]

Yea, I remember reading about that. And speaking of injuries, apparently a guy got stabbed last night in the exact Walmart I was in an hour after I left. There was also a BF stabbing in California, but that's a common occurrence.

Someone posted some footage of the Walmart I was in a long while before the lines started:



Notice the 'Doorbusters' in the middle of the store that are properly named since they are the best deals that are unwrapped out of their plastic coffins at 12:00.

[Beowulf]

http://www.cracked.c...to-believe.html
Nothing about Black Friday is particularly real. It's all a load of myths designed to sell a shitty news story.

[Pasidon]

I could believe most of that if it didn't seem so biased, but I still got hundreds of dollars taken off of the TV I wanted and games I didn't think I would ever get this year while meeting new people and getting out to see the madness. You can't always get quite the bargain and experiences on Cyber Monday. Sure, it's probably a scam, but I still befitted. I think I would have paid money to meet Don Cloud anyway.

[duke_Qa]

It is usually because once you are out there you get stuck with something you needed which isn't on sale, and those few that never really buy anything any other day of the year. Probably others too but I'm no marketing expert.

the group shopping just sort of happens on Black Friday as a survival move. It's dangerous in stores at midnight... I had my friend pick up my games in a separate line while I waited for the TV. He originally got Arkham City, Gears of War 3 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations... but on his way back to me, someone rammed into him and swiped Revelations. Seriously. There's boxes being ripped down and people swiping stuff from others at midnight... that crazy old coon and us teamed up for the sake of my entertainment and to help each other. I got them a game, helped his wife by getting her a chair, and we got to use their cart to hull the TV. Good people... just nuts.

Jeebus, lord of the flies much? Does these items get nabbed before of after they're paid? if its before I guess its more of a time-saving trolling-event than anything else. Can imagine there's tons of kids that have a big adrenaline rush raiding other people in a big shop. This sort of sounds very American though, people gathering up for a modern "fight for survival", cowboy style.

Edited by duke_Qa, 28 November 2011 - 03:54 PM.

[Vortigern]

So... It's a collective decision to sell at ridiculously low prices that every year leads to stories of people getting trampled to death and pepper-sprayed and whatnot? Is it just me or does that seem wildly socially irresponsible?

[Ganon]

Stores make big profits through mass sales, and customers save a lot through big "sales". It's a win-win. What more is there to say?

I don't understand why people refuse to believe it's a legitimate event. Sure a lot of people may end up buying some things at full price, but then they would at any other time of the year.

However, if you know the normal price of something you want to buy, you have the most potential to save money. I've spoken to people who bought large 50"+ HD TV's for less than 50% of the usual price. I also saw PS3's bundled with games for less than the price of only a PS3 on a normal day.

That's just scratching the surface. I could go on and on.

Edited by Ganon, 29 November 2011 - 12:37 AM.

[Pasidon]

Yea, no need to argue against discounts. And it is a collective decision, Vort. If one store did it on a random day, you wouldn't get as good of business when an entire continent is doing it on the same day. As a holiday, it ensures more people will go out shopping, and a store will try to gain the masses. With the mass of shopping in one location greater than another, mad profits are to be gotten in that location, no matter how much money they loose on some products.

Does these items get nabbed before of after they're paid?

You get the stuff then you pay for it later. But you can't just go back in line and demand another since the lines are there to ensure some people get a product before they're gone.

[Puppeteer]

I don't understand why people refuse to believe it's a legitimate event. Sure a lot of people may end up buying some things at full price, but then they would at any other time of the year.

That's the point - they wouldn't. It's 'holidays' such as these which creates an ethos of consumer culture, whereby customers are made to think that they want something, and therefore these truly become bargains. At full price and without such ridiculous homages to materialism, how do you know that you would still want something enough to pay otherwise full price?
You don't.
You are not making a saving. You just think you are. With the knowledge that 'Black Friday' is coming around, you intend to spend money on 'deals'. Thus the original price doesn't matter. The fact that it's lower doesn't mean that you've made a saving and have somehow exploited a company. Companies know that most extant stock on this day will be sold. The original price was placeholder; the Black Friday price was what it was always intended to be sold at. At the end of the day, you're still out of pocket, and companies are still in the black.

Yea, no need to argue against discounts. And it is a collective decision, Vort.

This type of surface-thinking and appeals to 'group-mentality' are irrational, and yet are the foundations of the study of economics.

Clearly I think this is a poor reflection on both companies and, even more so, society.

Edited by Puppeteer, 29 November 2011 - 08:34 AM.

[Beowulf]

So... It's a collective decision to sell at ridiculously low prices that every year leads to stories of people getting trampled to death and pepper-sprayed and whatnot? Is it just me or does that seem wildly socially irresponsible?

Unfortunately, this really isn't the case. Black Friday is hyped up bullshit where deals are actually very sparse. There are door busters and super deals, but they're limited or may not even be running at the fucking store at all. Secondly, the incidents that you see on the news outlets are not actually indicative of the day as a whole. Because it's Black Friday, the news day is slower than other days so stupid, random chaotic events make the headlines. Worse shit happens more often than one might think but never gets seen on any major news network because... why the fuck would they report it? Don't let three news stories skew your perceptions of reality. The same shit happens in your countries on the 24th and 26th of December so... it's not just the US.

[Ganon]

Clearly I think this is a poor reflection on both companies and, even more so, society.

Lighten up, gezus.


Also, you can't just group everyone together and claim that they all spend money on things they wouldn't have otherwise bought.
Many people now days are on a budget, and know before-hand how much they want to spend on Christmas. They see Black Friday as a time to get the most bang for their buck. As the prices on many things go right back up afterward.

We sell newspapers at the place I work, and every Thanksgiving we get a huge shipment of really fat ones, full of ads and what-not. People buy these papers to look where to find what they want to buy at the best price, the following day. You might be surprised just how much work goes into it all.

And it isn't just consumer garbage that goes on sale. Many home improvement/hardware stores also have these sales.

[Pasidon]

Not sure where some of these dark shots about Black Friday came from, but it doesn't hurt to read the Wiki page on it first:

http://en.wikipedia....riday_(shopping)

Sure there's some negative things people don;t figure, but ultimately it's just a day to stimulate the economy through mass mercantile commerce. The Great Chain and so forth...

[duke_Qa]

Like Halloween, 4th of July, valentine, and Christmas I guess. But its a thanksgiving-event, so we Europeans don't see the need