my 'remember when' thread

I know I'll sound like the old guy looking back through rose colored glasses but:

Remember when the Friday after Thanksgiving was just called "The Friday After Thanksgiving"? Back before news reporters locked onto the term "black friday". I mean seriously how bad of a business are you running if you are in the red all the way up until the end of November? It really seems like a lame term to me.

Remember when stores didn't put out their Christmas stuff and put up their Christmas decorations until the "Friday after Thanksgiving"? So it was so much fun to go out and suddenly the whole world was prepped for Christmas all in one day.

Stores would run ads for their after Thanksgiving sales and most of the sales would be good right up to Christmas. It wasn't a sale flier with items that they only have a couple of and they are selling below their cost, just to try to get you in the door. And it wasn't the other items they now do at what look like discount prices but they are a different model number from the ones they usually sell and have less features so they can sell them cheaper. They actually had a lot of stuff on sale for good, reasonable prices. Prices where you get a good deal on a good product and the store still made a profit. Sales that you didn't have to beat someone up to try to get.

You'd spent the day before watching parades and sports and stuffing your face so it was time to get out and move a bit. You would wander out into this world that was suddenly filled with Christmas everywhere. It was the magic of Christmas, not a 1 in 1000 chance at a laptop at half the stores cost.

Again, show me a business that runs in the red for the first 11 months of the year and still stays afloat. It is as likely as the fact that the Monday after was the busiest online shipping day of the year. That was made up, printed on a press release and read by the brain donor media a few years ago. They may have made it busier by talking it up but of course it would be a busy shipping day, Nothing ships on Thursday through Sunday but even then it wasn't the busiest day before.

Just for fun ask someone if they are going shopping on "the Friday after Thanksgiving" and see if they look at you weird for a moment and then go "oh, you mean Black Friday". Blechhhhhhh. Death to cutesy, lame, terms for things.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I hear some kids out front and they may be getting close to my lawn.

 

Due to the fact that products are so hyper inflated, people have a false sense of satisfaction thinking they got a good deal........ I for one hate the fact that the holidays have turned into nothing more then a marketing blitz for more and more products. Do not get me wrong, I love a good deal, but they are encroaching upon family time, and the true meaning of the holiday.

As for running in the red, I agree with you INvader, what kind of business operates where they pin their hopes and dreams on the last quarter, I think its over hyped, I think its just a way too lull people into thinking " oh damn, they are really blowing this stuff out" when in reality the companies are laughing all the way to the bank. I have decided to shop american made product this year, but then realized that its almost impossible to get everything 100% american made, so now I am just patronizing small independent locally owned companies........

Hope you all have a great holiday and spend it with your family and friends stuffing your grills and watching sports..........

 

A lesser known shipping day is Saturday; they are calling it, 'Small Business Saturday'.

And who the hell shops for anyone other than their selves during Black Friday? It's all about the shopper getting deals for themselves. That bothers me.

I for one would rather avoid crowds. Saving $20 isn't worth it to me.

 

good points, they mark things up 200% the rest of the year and then give you 50% off and it is such a huge deal. In my work we make $3.20 on a $20 sale and get hounded for more discounts and nobody believes me when I say we can't give any more discount because they are so trained to wait for the half off deal.

I too like buying american made when possible but it is just so darn hard to do anymore.

I noticed the last week or so at Target in the toy department they had things 'marked down' like 2-5% in some cases. I'm curious if they are trying a new tactic to see if people just jump at the sale prices without paying attention to the actual discount. The big box toy stores crushed all the others so they don't have to have as big of sales anymore. They gave the stuff away for enough years to put the others out of business and now they only have to put "As advertised" on the tag to sell it. When all that means is it is still selling at the full price but they put that price in their latest flyer.

I've had a lot of jobs in the past where I had to work lousy hours but I really feel sorry for the workers that have to go in at 10 or 11 at night on Thanksgiving to get ready to open at midnight.

 

I hear what you guys are saying, this is actually my first Black Friday before this I neither cared or knew what it was, unless something crazy happened like the security guard incident a couple of years ago. We have our thanksgiving one month before you guys and our big shopping day is boxing day "The day after Christmas"...This year is the first time Canadian Retailers are participating in black Friday, I believe its the fact due to how easy it is to lose customers to online American retailers. I think all these "SALE" days are screwing up the retail market, people think that their helping their wallet but really their putting out work for hard working Canadians and Americans to give to other countries for 1/100th of the cost.



I hope you guys realize this is a global phenomenon, I was watching a documentary on cheap clothing the other day and you know all those used cloths we donate to charities, their packaged up and put into bails, sold to overseas Bazaar traders(usually North African countries) and are now putting out North African clothing manufactures our of business.

 

I went to dinner last night and passed a Best Buy and there were already 3 people sitting out front wearing blankets. Are these deals really that good, that you want to get pneumonia over them from being cold and rained on. What can a store have that someone feels compelled to camp outside the store so they're first.

 

I have to agree on the whole marketing blitz! It's insane, and I know because I work for a local newspaper company. The advertizers are going crazy.

Sure it generates revenue for the paper, because more advertizers wanting ads in our paper means more money, which helps keep us afloat, because some papers in some cities have gone the way of the dodo.

I always bitch about Christmas stuff coming out too early. Seems like it is getting earlier every year. I noticed in Target one day, before Halloween was over, that it the far back corner of the store they had already started putting out christmas stuff.

Like seriously??? WTF??

What ever happened to thanksgiving? People used to decorate for that holiday. I know the decorations would not be crazy, but simple, and remember that thanksgiving was about being with friends and family, eating, resting, and eating more

My wife always wonders why I hate this time of year. It's just a frenzy anymore. It's not like when I was a kid. BAck then it was more fun and enjoyable.

For pete's sake, my father-in-law has a $h!t-ton of decorations out front of his house like a week after halloween.
Thanksgiving weekend was when the decorationg used to start.

.....End Rant...

So ywah, I maybe be only 36, but I understand the rant. So now you don't have to feel so old

 

yeah, same here....... we drove by best buy, WTF are these loosers sitting wasting time for? a free TV that is worth about 100?


Ever notice how they have a clearance end cap at target which they just basically throw stuff on? well 99.9% of it is not marked down at all, its psychological. By haphazardly tossing shit there it "LOOKS' like its a deal when its more strategic placement.......think about it.

Costco is another example, yes there are some damn good deals so many times its a wash, BUT, when they run their coupons, its a known fact they mark the products up a week before, and buying in bulk plays to the emotions of getting more for less...... but in reality if you look at the difference in price versus a traditional store many times its not a huge difference.

You are 100% more likely to get better deals, values and discounts by joining email alerts and subscribing to the retailers perks programs, it creates a relationship if you do not mind them data mining your information and buying habits, but in return you can get some sick deals. But as always value is subjective to the buyer.



anyway, BlackFriday is less about you, its more about the retailer......... and if you buy into that, well that is who they created this whole marketing blitz for.

sorry, this is my Marketing degree spilling out all over the place LOL

One thing that makes me angry is how stores are opening earlier and earlier on thanksgiving, I too have become someone who hates the holidays for what they have become....... its flat out disgusting. The so called "99%" complain about corporate greed, but they are just as culpable for creating the greed that has created days like "black friday" or any sale for that matter.

 

All has pretty much been said, so I'll just add my anecdote about last year's Boxing Day sale.

Early in December last year, I went and bought myself my first "big" TV. A 37" LG LCD. It was $499 + taxes regular price. When boxing day came around, I wanted to see if I could get a better deal/a slight reimbursement on my total price. To my shock and aw, the "40% Discount" price was $599. A TV I bought before the big day had doubled in "regular" price so it could be on "special" for Boxing day. Funny thing is they ran out of that TV that day...when I bought mine, they had 20 in stock.

It's ridiculous how gullible people can be.

 

Is starbucks open? LOL

 

Isn't capitalism great but then it was "commercialism" in the movie "Miracle of 34th Street" made in 1947! What has changed is that in years back you had to engage the world by going out,.now with all the always connected technology, the world is coming to you whether you like it or not.

If someone wants to hang out at Best Buy to save a few hundred dollars, let them do it. It is their life.

 

That is so true.......

Yeah, I suppose, it is their life........ not something I would choose to do, and I know for some its the "experience" of it all.


Maybe I am far more traditional as I get older.

 

Yes Starbucks is open

Dan F

 

I was looking at some reviews on some tools that are supposed to be "good deals" tomorrow, and one individual mentioned the price he paid on November 1st. It was a large savings over the Black Friday sale price. Lol.

 

Ahh yes the good old days when a store had a fair price for it's goods 300 days out of a year and that was only because they were closed on Sundays and Holidays!!

 

I just got a dell black friday insert, the same monitor I paid 150.00 shipped is on sale for blackfriday for 170.00........

the leather desk chair I just got at office max is onsale for 39.99........ I paid 15.00 for it a month ago with my rewards, a coupon and free shipping....


what is black friday? LOL

 

Didn't actually know what Black Friday meant until now.

I never really understood lining up outside for something. I recently did it for some store's grand opening because there was actually something interesting I wanted to get. Plus being in Canada, there isn't really Black Friday for us. Boxing day yeah... but I don't participate in that kind of madness anyways.

 

Agree with eveything thats been said, I just laugh when I see all the people in the stores. @ Kilo6_one I totally understand were you're coming from since I'm a business major

 

It makes me think those days are long gone with retailers in every industry willing to whore out everything in an effort to gain market share of the type of clients no one really wants. If your business plan is to sell things as cheaply as possible and do volume, your business is always on shaky ground as you will never retain loyal clients. The type of clients who shop price will be gone in a second when a cheaper price is available somewhere else.

 

Yes. ( ! ! !) and even more so when you look at the non-essential stuff or extras or "hobby" type of goods. If you don't need it, there is a good chance you probably don't value what it is, much less the "worth" of it on the price. As soon as someone undercuts, your legs are bleeding and the rug is yanked out..

I love you Ken, in a brotherly way.