Black Friday, Cyber Monday
Does this matter to you?
If so, why?
Geez, I turned on CNN and was lambasted by tips for holiday bargain shopping. Check the internet, print out coupons, use smart phone discounts, haggle with vendors. If you're not saving money, you're wasting money. Made me tired just listening to the segment. The whole thing sounds desperate and frantic. Shopping, decorating, cooking and baking, entertaining, sending cards.....on your mark, get set, GO!
Ominous, you had posted about shopping on Black Friday, going thru Walmart to find deals for the kids. I used to do that, too. Years later it dawned on me that little kids don't really expect "Santa" to deliver certain things by a certain date. And I wasn't teaching them the spirit of the holiday by getting caught up in the shopping shit. If you know what I mean.....
LOL reminiscing now. My boy wanted a popular Power Ranger toy. I can't recall if it was a flying bird with white wings vehicle, or a robot transformer robot type thing, but it was very important! I ended up in a parking lot at 4am, waiting for the only store in town that carried it to open. Got it, wrapped it, was very happy that he'd be happy. Neither one of us can recall what the hell it was, years later.
I really wonder how I'm going to get my kids to not buy into the whole holiday season stuff. I wish I knew how my parents did it.
Put a huge sign with a red cross going through Santa near the baby's crib.Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Hope is the denial of reality
The deals can be really good with a little planning. A lot of lazy folks complain about the discounts not being worth their "time" or what not but Black Friday shopping, the overnight campouts, the rush...its about so much more than saving a few bucks.
I always start my hunt at bfads.net. Think the first ads started leaking around the beginning of November. Now I don't go without a game plan. I have a list of stuff I need, want, and a general idea of what could be fun or useful. A while ago I asked in one of the computer threads about hard drive performance, that was one of my preparations for Black Friday. I knew of something I needed, I researched what the current price is, and what I wanted to pay on Black Friday. Sometimes I do better than expected. I ended up using my harddrive budget to buy two 7200RPM 1TB hard drives for the price I was expecting to pay for 5900RPM models. Sometimes I'm a little early. NewEgg's Saturday deal was offering 1.5TB drives at the same speed and price
The kids don't get all their stuff from Black Friday shopping, maybe a majority, but not all. They get rewards here and there, but Brandy and I mainly hoard stuff over the course of the year. I've become a big fan of dealnews.com and its one reason I use Reddit. Target's clearance endcaps are year round and they really helped with Brent's video game wants. Christmas has always been a time of the parents appearing to go overboard, the trick is not do so financially. I don't care if they don't remember all the toys, or don't play with certain things as much as I had hoped. Its that day, seeing how they light up that morning, watching a new toy pop up everyday for the next week...its an awesome feeling knowing that its all because of you. Besides, Ocean still believes.
As for the shopping, its pretty much a tradition now. Get somewhere god awful early, link up with other PSP or DS users, or throw the football around some. Its like a LAN without the fat people smell. But I'm in Florida, its 60+ degrees here on Black Friday. I don't see how the crazy bastards do it up north in the snow and clothing thats so thick you can't move. We started at WalMart around 8pm Thanksgiving night. We only had Scarlett since Brent and Ocean were with their dad. She had a freaking blast. Isles and isles of toys, toys just stacked in the middle of the floor, new toys being rolled out every 15 minutes or so. The early people are such a totally different group of people from those that get there only an hour or less early. They are there, they are happy for being first, they played by the rules. Its the ones that don't want to wait, that got there so late that they don't possibly have a chance of getting something without pissing off someone. WalMart's sales were supposed to start at midnight, but the stuff was attacked around 11 because the late arrivals started showing up and starting shit. So Walmart gave up on protecting the displays and instead locked up the registers until midnight (the prices went live around 9:30pm.)
Scarlett didn't fall asleep until we left Walmart, and she was so good about it. She loves people, and there were so many people in that store by the time I figured she should be getting sleepy. Got to Target around 1am, maybe 20th in line. Target's doorbuster was a 40" TV and we didn't need that, so line placement was fine. We mapped out Target right before they closed on Wednesday so we knew where the doorbusters would be, that helps in navigating towards what you want, and avoiding the problem items. Target put their 40" TVs maybe 20' from the front entrance, such a rookie and stupid mistake for them. Walmart spreads their stuff out, they had one video game case in front of electronics, and another in front of the frozen TV dinners.
After that it was the Mall. The mall is odd because the sales aren't that great, maybe one or two really good items at JCPennys or Sears. A few knowledgeable shoppers knowing what they want, but most of the crowd is there just to be there. They know that its Black Friday, that today is the day to shop, they have an idea of what they want, but they don't know where to go, what prices to look for....its just crazy. Think Sears had the only item I wanted this year but didn't get there in time to pick up, a Foosball table.
As for the cyber aspect...not a fan.
Sure, the deals are really good, and everyone is doing free shipping, but it feels so impersonal, so blah. Guess I'm just used to finding the deals years round online. Amazon did some really good Black Friday Week long sales, but I didn't get anything, BestBuy put some of their Black Friday games online, got one of those. Walmarts and Kmarts however, I'd seen most of them before. Will admit I've already made 2 purchases over 4 days from Steams' give a gift sales. Now obviously Cyber Monday isn't here yet, but the weekend is a good indicator, and online stores know the "bring them into the store, upsell everything" mindset doesn't work on online shoppers.
Last edited by Ominous Gamer; 11-28-2010 at 03:29 PM.
Wow, that was a long post from OG!
I think you enjoy shopping and finding deals, even if it's not for little kids at holiday time. You like buying stuff and getting a good deal. You post pictures of the knick knacks on your shelves.
I hate shopping, most times. Can't stand the big box places like Walmart, the lights and smells give me a headache, make me feel dizzy and close to puking. Smaller places like Target are easier, but not by much. The only reason I can shop longer there is because their merchandise is more attractive.
We were at an upscale mall outside Philly over the weekend, the best part was the outdoor fireplace with carols on the speakers, and Santa sitting there with tots in line. Some person was walking around dressed as a Christmas tree.I bought a pair of shoes at Easy Spirit, because I needed new shoes. My sisters proceeded to go in most every store, I felt like the husband that falls asleep in the department store chair, waiting. We were supposed to go to King of Prussia the next day, but I just couldn't do it.
THere's no way in hell I'd go out in that crazy mess. There are too many people around here that would shove you out of the way for a cheap piece of crap. Almost every year there is a story of a bunch of ghetto people shoving an old lady or a pregnant woman into an end cap and breaking a leg/hip/arm/etc.
Now, I may change my tune in a few years when Kaitlyn wants some ridiculous toy that I can't get any other way....I'm hoping not, though.
But, I get the whole tradition thing. My cousins and aunt have been going for years. And they are much more organized than I, so they have all of their Christmas shopping done as of Friday. I have only Kaitlyn's stuff done, but she is a baby and I already found some great deals on her toys before Black Friday.
Cyber Monday is sometimes helpful to me.
Honestly, I didn't really see any deals on items I actually want or want to give to people.
We were told of a shopper stampede and some people being trampled when doors opened at the crack of dawn, at a Best Buy or Penney's, or something. How insane is that?
Doesn't that happen every year?
Yes. People are savages when it comes to saving a few dollars off their cheaply made Chinese imports.
Using what you've learned in video games to survive Black Friday...
That was pretty funny
Black Friday spread to a lot of European countries this year too (although not the spree). I ordered a discounted SSD online. Haven't ever heard about Cyber Monday to be honest.
Tomorrow is like an empty canvas that extends endlessly, what should I sketch on it?
I find the whole holiday season to be BS. If you buy into it, then you've been manipulated into it by marketers.
yet...
I honestly think they're fucking with us.
. . .
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