There is one phrase that strikes fear in to the heart of retail employees, from veterans to newcomers. It isn’t “mandatory meeting” or “payroll taxes.” It’s something far worse Black Friday.
This shopping sensation is quickly sweeping the world. The advertising and notoriety of Black Friday are at a record high. Even European countries have started adopting this random discount insanity day. As a retail veteran of five Black Fridays, I have to say this is an evil, evil day that needs to be stopped.
But someone might ask, “What’s so wrong with this day?” Not to worry, I’ve compiled a list of reasons.
Sales: While it might seem like the sales are one of the best things about Black Friday, they are far from it. This really breaks down in two directions.
The first is the fact that the sales really aren’t there anymore. Black Friday has become such a social event that people don’t notice the lack of good deals. Looking over the world of social media, no one I know commented about amazing deals. Everyone was talking about catching up with Becky at Marshalls at 3 a.m. or finally living out a secret fantasy of shoe shopping at 4 a.m.
The second is that Black Friday screws over small businesses. Wal-Mart can afford to offer Furbys at just a few percent over cost because it will sell millions of them. However, there is no profit to be made for a small business that will only sell 100.
Crowds: This is less of a problem in Macomb, but in a major metropolitan area, the crowds can be quite intense — not to mention the several thousand people trying to get the best possible parking spot.
People are trampled every year trying to rush through the doors to get a new 50-inch TV — because let’s face it — that 46-inch you have at home just isn’t giving you the best possible picture for watching “A Christmas Story” eight times on Christmas Day.
Lines: I remember my first Black Friday and the horror of the lines I discovered just an hour after we opened. With all registers open, the line wrapped around the inside of the store. As a new employee, I was tasked with trying to sell the customers in line last-minute impulse items. Talking to those waiting, I was informed it was roughly an hour and a half to check out. To this day I still can’t fathom how saving 10 percent on a CD would justify waiting in that line.
Violence: Every year on Black Friday, the evening news has the same breaking story — “Woman trampled trying to save three percent on a PS2” and “man pulls gun on fellow customer who tried to cut in line.”
Can’t this violence be saved for something a little more productive than Black Friday sales? Perhaps we tell the American shoppers that North Korea has great deals on the new Justin Bieber perfume and see if they can’t defuse that situation.
Family: When I worked my first Black Friday, we opened painfully early at 4 a.m. Now, sales are starting at midnight, 8 p.m. — or even 8 a.m. — on Thanksgiving.
Working in retail, I might have to work when I could be spending time with my family on Thanksgiving. By missing Thanksgiving, I won’t be able to see my Uncle Marvin, and I will have to go over to his house this holiday season without the buffer of the rest of my family. So, instead of spending 15 minutes hearing about his collection of country records before throwing my sister under the bus, I will have to go to his house and listen to them for a few hours.
At the rate things are going, Black Friday sales are just going to keep starting earlier and earlier. I hope that the world can get this shopping bug out of its system before the entire month of November becomes a 24-hour-a-day, nonstop shopping extravaganza.
With all the evils of Black Friday, though, it could be worse. The Friday after Thanksgiving could be Nickelback Appreciation Day.
http://www.westerncourier.com/opinions/top-reasons-black-friday-sucks/article_3cef333a-3804-11e2-bc82-001a4bcf6878.html
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