Please explain "Black Friday" to a limey

[Snograt]

Thing is, Black Friday is no longer a purely retail thing. All the major etailers have got in on the act and that means it's spreading across the pond. Get used to Black Friday, Brits - it's going to get bigger and bigger over here.

Mind you, I didn't notice my PS4 being any damn cheaper when it arrived today

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I feel a little lazy not just Googling or Wikipedia-ing this, but what is Black Friday? I gather it's something to do with sales?

Okay, here it is: the History of Black Friday.

Years ago, Black Friday wasn't technically a thing. However, people - particularly those working retail - noticed a pattern. One of the busiest shopping days of the year was the day after Thanksgiving.

Why? Because, typically, people get both Thursday and Friday off from work and school for Thanksgiving. Any days before Thursday are spent getting ready for travel and family. Thursday itself is spent on food and family. And then, on Friday, everyone went to do Christmas shopping because they the day off.

So, people working in Retail started calling it "Black Friday" because it was the worst day to work retail each year due to how busy it was.

Since it was busy, retailers started doing special deals to get even more people to come out and shop. They also started opening early.

And then a vicious cycle started. It used to be that stores opened at 9 AM on Black Friday. Then 8 AM. Then 6 AM. Then 5 AM. 4AM. 3AM. 2AM. Midnight. And now they're opening Thursday evening at 6 PM. The sales got crazier and the crowds got bigger.

The old retail name stuck - and became more and more appropriate.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Troll

You might already know this, but you've got to be really careful outright calling people trolls on this site. The act alone is almost reason enough to flag a post. Just so you know.

Anyway...

Sadly I have personally seen the people in motorized wheelchairs/carts use them as battering rams during black friday, disgusts me quite a bit.

And it's behavior like that that causes Black Friday to make me queesy. Call me naive, but an event that just inspires such terrible behavior just because you can now get an Xbox One at a great deal is screwed up to me. Don't get me wrong, I like stuff, we all do, there's nothing wrong with liking stuff. It's just that around Black Friday, 'stuff' seems to become part of a twisted dogma to some people, and I just think it's disturbing.

I don't think it is exclusive to black friday; the people who do that kind of stuff are just selfish ignorant assholes to begin with. I've been to disneyworld and universal studios(islands of adventure) 3-4 times (we have family down there) and every time I go there I see the same thing happen, and it's a bloody amusement park for christs sake.

 

[lord.jeff]

It's a day for us to sit back and consider the horror of capitalism and its negative effects on the unfortunate consumer, the say "what can we do to alleviate this?"

Or we can just sneer cynically, judgmentally diagnosing a problem w/out doing anything to treat it.

So, what have you done to alleviate us of this problem?

 

[option1soul]

He's a troll, son. Let it go.

Wasn't talking to you..? Let it go.

 

[Queen Michael]

Also, isn't it a bit of a weird name for a day, given that the US is so politically-charged that you have to call a blackboard a "chalkboard" to avoid being racist?

Where I live, it's more that the blackboards just aren't black; they're clearly green.

 

[Ken_J]

Is there any kind of cultural significance to the event, i.e. the date or the name? Is it just coincidence that it's near Thanksgiving? Seems to me the shops would want to hike up the prices ahead of Christmas...

Okay here is an Honest answer to you're question rather than a bunch of people who don't understand basic economics, sneering at capitalism

The name "Black Friday" comes from an accounting term. If your books in the "Red" you're loosing money. If they are in the "Black" you're making money. The name comes from the fact that due to sales volume the Friday after US thanksgiving is the best time of year to get you're books in the black for the quarter.

Also if you think that it's the best time to hike prices than you don't understand one of the most important concepts of Capitalism. The Invisible Hand of Competition.
Black Friday is all about sales volume, getting people in stores to buy things, and sales are the best way to do that. If Alice is selling Widgets for £5 and Bob is selling them for £3 where do you shop. So stores offer the outright best sales of the year to entice shoppers to come to their stores rather than their competition. On Black Friday it is not uncommon to see things on sale for something like %80 off.

 

[lord.jeff]

It's a day for us to sit back and consider the horror of capitalism and its negative effects on the unfortunate consumer, the say "what can we do to alleviate this?"

Or we can just sneer cynically, judgmentally diagnosing a problem w/out doing anything to treat it.

So, what have you done to alleviate us of this problem?

Why are you asking that?

Because usually if someone calls out people for not doing anything you'd expect that person to be doing something about it themselves. Open discussion for finding a solution don't just call out the problem.

 

[Ken_J]

just watch the newest south park episodes to get the idea.

sales are comming.

Eventually. We pushed it back a week. But trust me they're coming, they're going to be amazing. In the mean time let's talk about wieners. But only if their flaccid or gay, less threatening that way.

 

[Snograt]

Incidentally, is the term "Limey" still in use? Just curious - I know we are still guilty of misusing "yankee" to denote anyone from either side of the Mason-Dixon line.

 

[lord.jeff]

It's a day for us to sit back and consider the horror of capitalism and its negative effects on the unfortunate consumer, the say "what can we do to alleviate this?"

Or we can just sneer cynically, judgmentally diagnosing a problem w/out doing anything to treat it.

So, what have you done to alleviate us of this problem?

Why are you asking that?

Because usually if someone calls out people for not doing anything you'd expect that person to be doing something about it themselves. Open discussion for finding a solution don't just call out the problem.

I don't simply diagnose, I try to open discussions, and I partake in activism/organizations in real life. I just don't understand why your reaction to me has aggression in it.

Mostly because your original post comes off as hostile as well but lets put put that aside. I agree with you more then just boycotts and complaining needs to be done.

 

[Unsilenced]

It's just kind of an excuse for a day of massive sales. Sort of an unwritten agreement thing, that everyone will have sales that day and that everyone will be shopping. The whole "stampedes of people trampling eachother" thing is exaggerated, and incidents of violence in stores are statistically similar to any other day.

Is there any kind of cultural significance to the event, i.e. the date or the name? Is it just coincidence that it's near Thanksgiving? Seems to me the shops would want to hike up the prices ahead of Christmas...

They're intentionally close together. Black Friday is actually defined as the day after Thanksgiving, and the actual date of Thanksgiving has been changed in order to yield a better Black Friday. That probably tells you a lot about American culture. :v

 

[SirDeadly]

Black Friday, not to be confused with Black Saturday which we Aussies know all too well about.

 

[SuperScrub]

It's a historical holiday in which all black people group up, hunt and eat the white people's flesh in a desperate attempt to become white people.

The government allows it because it racist. So board your windows and lock your doors, kids!

I know you're joking but that comment was so butt numbingly awful I feel the need to slap you across your face.

*slaps you across your face*

OT: Yea Black Friday, lost off sales going on before the Granddaddy of all Holidays comes (Christmas) and basically people flock to Big Box Marts in order to get there hands on the sales. Whether or not people get trampled to death depends on how sale obsessed people are.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Think of it like a Steam sale, but it's for physical merchandise and numbers are limited.