I donât know if youâve heard, but today (at the time of writing) is Black Friday. Iâm being a little facetious here, I for one have seen a bombardment of advertising in a variety of formats, so if youâve avoided it, well done.
I've seen a lot of comments over the past week about the mixed emotions involved about this occasion, which was born in the USA. As I've [mentioned previously](https://choice.community/t/black-friday-cyber-monday-and-sale-ends-soon-shopping-tips/19282/7?u=brendanmays), this alone tends to generate mixed emotions due to our own connotations.
From the point of view of working at an organisation responsible for a vast array of expert led, science focused product testing, Black Friday tends to make us nervous. Rather than choosing the âbestâ product for their need, the concern is that people will adjust purchasing habits to take advantage of a special, but end up with a poorer quality item in the long run (or an item that doesnât make the long run).
Itâs a bit of a retailer frenzy, timed perfectly to capture Christmas shoppers midst wish list. It raises other, bigger points about our relationships with products and consumerism. Recently, this has given rise to concepts such as Green Friday.
We havenât even got to the part about overcrowded shopping centres yet either.
However, Iâll stop there because Iâd like to hand it over to the CHOICE Community. This is your chance to vent about all the things you HATE about the sales season (we can include Boxing Day if you like).
Conversely, you might be thinking, itâs not all bad. And in that case, the yang to this yin can be found here - in this thread about what you love about the sales.
We mostly only purchase something when it is genuinely needed. There are always one or two items on the nice to have one day list. If an item is on sale at the time we set out to make a purchase all the better. More by accident considering most retail options are typically 25-50km travel each way.
Is there anything to hate about sales season. Only if you canât defer a purchase to avoid it.
Yep. Iâm with you. What I hate about Black Friday is the name. Totally inappropriate for Australia. Almost disrespectful to the many who lost their lives and the massive property damage - and drawing attention to the many, more recent major bushfires that Australia has experienced. I get it that the name has just been imported from the US. Surely we can come up with our own name for it e.g. Super Sale Friday or e.g. Super Friday.
Me too. I have been tempted to put in a mail handling rule that just outright rejects as spam any email that has âblack fridayâ in its subject. Maybe next year I will âŠ
Youâve got my vote.
I can vaguely remember âPre-Christmas Salesâ and get in early slogans way back. Not all retail sectors and perhaps a little random. Is my memory not quite reliable on that one?
It could be âSuper Fridayâ,
or âKangaroo Fridayâ where the retailers promise to kick back to you the customer heavy discounts as they forgo their margins. All in the spirit of giving for Christmas.
The more âcornâ in the marketing concept the greater the capture - supposedly? The one fact about successful marketing is to exclude as much fact as possible.
The adverts are enough to drive anyone crazy. Cannot believe some replay same ad 2 times maybe someone forgot to stop replay. I always wonder if they are, selling things canât be sold. I would be interested if people who want to return goods in this sales period imagine excuses given out if returns were warranted. I could believe shops saying no refund. Interested if one buys disused or floor stock warranty returns still able if fails.
What is all the hooha about Black Friday - yesterday was not Friday 13th and I have to idea why we have to follow the US and have these ridiculous sales for no reason at all. Itâs just a grab for peoplesâ money! And now theyâve got something else stupid - Cyber Monday - so whatâs so special???
I hate the constant stream of sms and email messages about the sales. I find it overwhelming and avoid the shops completely. If I need to buy something, I will do my own searching for a good price after consulting the Choice site to see which items are recommended.
If it were ONLY 1 day, the Friday and thatâs it! People who are struggling with cost of living and rising interest rates going for âbargainsâ they are putting on pay later schemes or credit so close to Xmas. I avoid the shops as it is too tempting to buy what I donât need because it is âa dealâ.
I am rather disappointed in the tenor of many of the comments made about the âsalesâ season. It almost sounds politically motivated. When I see a sales catalogue or pass a store that advertises a sale, I simply look to see if there any items I have been thinking about buying soon, or are among my current needs, or would be good to put away for a future birthday or Christmas present, are on sale at a genuinely reduced price.
If so, I may buy it.
This, in fact, is exactly what my wife and I did in this yearâs Christmas shopping for the family, and for each other. By examining sales, in store and online, we obtained many products we wanted at considerably reduced prices.
For example, I needed some smart plugs to control my Christmas lights. The brand and unit I wanted were on sale a very reduced sales price, so I stocked up.
I canât see why some people are making this into some sort of conspiracy theory or âevilâ capitalist plot. Just use your common sense and stop the anti American hysteria and, who knows, you might save some money.
So is the evil cabal the ones who organise the movement against these sales or the ones who organise the sales?
I doubt it is either. My reading is that many readers here shop selectively the way that you describe and get involved if there is something they want that looks good. Those people often stay well clear of the hustle and bustle of queuing at the door and rushing to get the bait before the switch, etc The two are not incompatible.
All good though. There are two topics ⊠âwhat do you hate?â and âwhat do you love?â ⊠and people are just freely expressing their opinions.