Black Friday Experiences

I guess they're too soft in Utah.

I didn't do any shopping on Black Friday. I might see if there's anything of note on sale tomorrow, but not holding my breath. My main desired purchase - a new computer - is typically cheapest in December, not some silly set date in November.

I don't see the point in Black Friday deals. It's just decent deals on all the cheap/mid-grade at best products. Ohh, laptop for $300! Oh wait, it's an old A6, or Pentium, or at best an i3. Hooray?

I went to Wal-Mart, looked at the deals, and didn't buy anything. I was in there for something else, but wanted to have a look anyway, but nothing caught my attention. I guess I'm just at the age where nothing looks like a great deal, haha, or it's because I literally have everything already.

Eh, ordered a new SanDisk SDHC 32gb card from Best Buy yesterday. That was it.

No need to fight the crowds since many of the Black Friday sales are on-line now.

utahman130 said:

• I did not get trampled
• I did not fight over anything
• I did not see any fights or trouble
• I did not lose faith in humanity

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Watch some of the videos online form Friday...your mind may change. People literally punching each other over a waffle maker.

I went to bed after Thanksgiving dinner and slept late on Friday because Black Friday is a huge joke.

Went to Target with a couple friends who were going for the $147 TV. Mostly just for sport. Got there 2 hours early and made some friends in line and dumped Gatorade on some pricks that were driving up and down the line honking at everyone. The rush to get in was comical, but civilized. I ended up going to the electronics and snagging myself the Xbox Kinect $200 for my own use lol. I did get one present for someone else. Copy of Bridesmaids for $8.

My friend's car got towed and they couldn't get the car back because the person who had the car registered on their name didn't have their license with them (other person was driving).

Just get a ride home and get the license, right? Nope. They didn't have a house key on them either, they were just using the garage opener in the car that was towed. So they had to get a locksmith to open the other car on the driveway to get the garage opener.

All said and done, took about 6 hours, plus whatever money was spent.

My experience, got to the gym at 8:30 after sleeping in a bit. Left gym around 10:30. (my trainer kept me long) Then went home, did a few things, ate some leftovers for lunch, did a few more things at home and had a lovely day

It was awesome. I avoided retail zones by 5 miles (min.) and retained my sanity and Turkey buzz.

I went to Lowes to get some lights for some trees in my backyard. The store was busy, but not too bad.

Went to the mall w/ the gf on Friday at 8 am. Got some clothes. Express was 50% off everything. Nothing worth lining up before midnight for and even if there was I wouldn't have done it anyway. Honestly if my gf hadn't dragged me out of bed I'm pretty sure I would've slept in.

Also got on TV Wed night - news was doing a report on the Black Friday-ers that were gonna spend Thanksgiving in tents next to Best Buy. Asked me if I would do it, I was like hell no

Priorities changes. I use to be one of those "trample the slow and weak" between me an my "Must have Christmas fad/toy." I remember handing out a couple of Irish sunglasses to a few parents who grabbed the same Tickle Me Elmo as me. My nephew wanted a Tickle Me Elmo and come hell or high water, the boy is gonna get one. 4 of use laid claimed to Elmo, each holding a limb. After the ensuing brawl, we noticed that the prize was nowhere to be seen. Some smarmy mom swooped in and snagged Elmo while we are giving each other shiners and new dental work. I took a beating for nothing. After that I swore off the whole Black Friday thing.

I went to Lowe's and brought a miter and a table saw to help with the home repair. Went to Home Depot for an pneumatic framer and a bench grinder. Didn't have to fight anybody for those items.

Big screen TV? iPads? Laptops? Not worth the trampled fingers, IMO.

I went to a local WalMart in one of the upscale neighborhood near my place. The people were behaved compared to an another local WalMart that I went to wherein there were people who were shouting, pushing and there are thrashes everywhere.

I didn't buy anything. I just want to see how people behaves during this crazy sales event. (Creepy)

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wordoflife said:

My friend's car got towed and they couldn't get the car back because the person who had the car registered on their name didn't have their license with them (other person was driving).

Just get a ride home and get the license, right? Nope. They didn't have a house key on them either, they were just using the garage opener in the car that was towed. So they had to get a locksmith to open the other car on the driveway to get the garage opener.

All said and done, took about 6 hours, plus whatever money was spent.

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This is what I call - "The Craziest Black Friday Experience evah!!!!"

It's a day with a few good deals here and there but in the end its a scam used by retailers to lure consumer into spending way more than they can afford and putting them in debt with credit cards and finance deals. In the end - they win!!

I slept!

My wife and I go Black Friday shopping every year. We go around 7am-8am, and work our way through our shopping list. We usually get good deals, and save some money. We hardly ever get the doorbuster specials, because they are almost always gone, and often on things we don't want.

For us, it's a great way to get our shopping done, and even though we could get everything done online, we have a good time shopping. Anything we don't get in the store we order online.

Like the OP said, we have never been trampled, or had a negative experience, other than some long lines at the check out. Even that isn't much of an issue, since they store open up on Thanksgiving now.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are relatively new to Canada. We've had Boxing Day shopping for quite a few years, which is essentially the same thing except the day after Christmas instead of the day after Thanksgiving. We're now also getting Black Friday as Canadian retailers try to cash in on the hype (and keep Canadian dollars from heading south of the border).

Last night Best Buy's Cyber Monday sale started, and I logged in and put a couple of things in my cart including an LCD TV. Then I hit "check out" and waited... and waited... and waited. The pages kept erroring out and I kept having to hit refresh, but eventually I got through the Shopping Cart and all of the checkout screens. It took about 40 minutes to slog through the checkout "line".

Then, as I was about to hit "Confirm Order", I realized that I already have way too much "stuff" and don't really need more. So I closed the window and went to bed!

yg17 said:

I went to bed after Thanksgiving dinner and slept late on Friday because Black Friday is a huge joke.

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This. I kept near the couch, watched some movies, snacked on leftovers and smoked some hashish. It was an outstanding day.

In my small resort town without a Target or Wal Mart, it was actually slower than usual. Of course the bigger cities nearby with those stores were packed and I avoided them. It's as if most people from my region flocked to the big box stores and avoided the mom and pops.

leenak said:

My experience, got to the gym at 8:30 after sleeping in a bit. Left gym around 10:30.

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Does not compute...

Mousse said:

Priorities changes. I use to be one of those "trample the slow and weak" between me an my "Must have Christmas fad/toy." I remember handing out a couple of Irish sunglasses to a few parents who grabbed the same Tickle Me Elmo as me. My nephew wanted a Tickle Me Elmo and come hell or high water, the boy is gonna get one. 4 of use laid claimed to Elmo, each holding a limb. After the ensuing brawl, we noticed that the prize was nowhere to be seen. Some smarmy mom swooped in and snagged Elmo while we are giving each other shiners and new dental work. I took a beating for nothing. After that I swore off the whole Black Friday thing.

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This is what I just don't get. What gets people into such a furor that they will literally start punching people over a stuffed animal, or even steal it from someone else who already has it? Or a waffle maker...

samiwas said:

Does not compute...

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Usually I'm at the gym by 7/7:30 so getting there by 8:30 is sleeping in

Black Friday was the only reason why I would opt to not take the day off work.

I didn't because where my office is, is 1 building down from Best Buy, OfficeMax, and BevMo, across the street from Target and Barnes and Noble, across the other street from WalMart, Office Depot, and Home Depot, and 1/2 a mile from Fry's.

Security will not let shoppers park in our lot, so we have access to parking, so I would normally come in, put my things down at my desk, and walk over to shop. Pick up what I need, bring it back to my desk. Look at something more in the ads, run back downstairs, pick it up, and bring it back. I'd normally be done with what I'd need by the time my boss made it in.

This year, most of mine was done online, so by that Thursday around 7pm, I was already done. Slept in this year, and played with the kids. best Black Friday I've had in a very long time.

BL.

samiwas said:

This is what I just don't get. What gets people into such a furor that they will literally start punching people over a stuffed animal, or even steal it from someone else who already has it? Or a waffle maker...

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Probably the same instinct that causes people to way overbid for things at auctions. The time is limited, there are other people competing... you turn on some sort of "fight to survive" mode and do whatever you can to protect whatever resource it is that you want.

Then when the dust settles and you realize what you just did, you feel like an idiot.