Black Death, I mean Friday

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Black Friday. Arguable the biggest sale of the year, but what is it really saving you? Are you saving the $100s of dollars they save in the commercials? or is it just a ploy to get you to recklessly spend $100s, maybe $1000s of dollars? Maybe it really does save you money, but would you put those sales over your life? In 2008 at a New York Wal-Mart, a man was trampled to death as people poured into the store, no one checked on the man to see if he was ok, and on the same day in California, two people were shot at Toys ‘r Us. I mean really? Toys ‘r Us? shot over a freaking toy. Even as recent as 2013, officers had to shoot a suspect who was dragging a cop behind his truck over in Romeoville, IL. Ok, back to the subject of sales, Does Black Friday really save you money? If you think yes, then you may need to greatly reconsider. Ok fine, maybe there will be the odd deal out there where you really do get an awesome deal, but generally, you get crap for the dirt cheap prices. According to Caleb Denison on DigitalTrends.com, Black Friday isn’t worth your time. He says that usually, if you're getting electronics, you get broken electronics, or something that will break really quickly. He gave an example where he bought two Blu-ray players, from a notable brand, as gifts and within four months, he got calls from both of the recipients that they were broken or it has started having a lot of issues. He compares Black Friday shopping to gambling in vegas, “It’s like gambling in Vegas. The cards are stacked against you.”. Amanda C. Haury of Investopedia.com says that you can be easily tempted to purchase many items, so even if its a good deal, you end up paying a lot because you get a lot. Even though everything is on sale, you end up buying many items you don’t exactly need, so you waste tons of money. She mentions how many people go into a ‘shopping frenzy’ due to many people rushing and competing to get the last items on the shelf. “Black Friday has the tendency to get consumers very excited, and consumers go into a sort of shopping frenzy on the day. Overexcitement mixed with adrenaline and a credit card is not a good combination for keeping a budget intact.”, Haury talks about how over-excited people with credit cards on Black Friday is never a good thing because you may binge buy items and usually, you can’t return many of the items you get. My next post will just sum up what I’ve learned overall.