Long-time readers of my blog will remember some of my previous Black Friday reviews (clicking here will take you back to 2006 - I can’t seem to find the one from last year). This year I ventured only to a few stores on Black Friday, but I did make some observations that I’d like to share…
First, while the stores were filled with shoppers there was still room to move around (except Wal-Mart - more on that later). In previous years I remember going to some stores and being jammed into the shopping areas literally standing shoulder to shoulder with other shoppers. With that memory in mind, I was somewhat relieved that I had room to move around the stores and do some shopping without having to worry about bumping into people or tripping over product.
Second, the roads were less congested for the entire extended weekend starting on Wednesday. I drove everyday from Wednesday through today and I was never caught in anything other than normal traffic. That’s not bad!
Third, retailers did put out some significant deals. A few weeks ago I wrote about how I was gearing up for Black Friday and using a certain website to find out what the big deals would be for the day. That website combined with the various flyers which came in the Thanksgiving Day newspaper showed a retail industry that wanted to attract buyers into their stores this year. The big item this year seemed to be bargain basement prices on high definition LCD and plasma screen televisions. In terms of comparison to previous years…well some four years ago I had a comment or two about the lack of deals at retailers.
Fourth, Circuit City employees tried to overcompensate for the company’s current financial position - to their detriment. I went into Circuit City yesterday and I was amazed at how bad of a shopping experience I had at the store. In almost every aisle that I walked down, an associate asked me if I needed any help. The first two times that someone asks you this, it’s very respectable. The second two times, it becomes a bother. By the fifth and sixth time a different employee asks you if you need any help you wonder what’s going on and why these people won’t let you shop. Frankly, I felt like I was being tracked by one of the employees as though I was going to steal something - it makes for a very unpleasant shopping experience. I was going to buy something at Circuit City, but thanks to the overzealous sales staff I got out of there as quickly as possible.
On top of that, Circuit City had rows and rows of videos games out in buckets (buckets are the traditional sign of “sale on these items”). As I was browsing through the buckets some kid who works at hte store was trailing me and putting the items back as soon as I picked them up (at one point taking the items out of my hands). Then I asked him if any of these games were on sale. He said they were not, but were selling for regular retail prices between $50 and $60. Yeah…that will get people to purchase the product. Dummies…
Finally, the level of common courtesy towards fellow shoppers was somewhat high in all stores except for Wal-Mart (on Black Friday - Wal-Mart was okay on Saturday). I have a million pet peeves about bad shoppers and they were all on display at Wal-Mart on Friday: people standing at the end of the aisles talking to a friend and blocking passage out of the aisle, children running wild through the store with no parental supervision, shoppers putting their cart on one side of the aisle and standing in the other side of the aisle creating a roadblock, and consumers stopping short in the flow of traffic and turning around thus creating the “trout jumping upstream” effect. It was enough for me to get the hell out of Wal-Mart almost as soon as I got in there. But hey - at least I didn’t get trampled by a mad mob (more about that coming up in a future post).
All in all, it was a decent Black Friday and most of the retailers stepped up to the plate in an attempt to get their balance sheets in the black as well as shoppers through their doors. If you have any crazy Black Friday stories, I’d love to hear them in the comments section below.
Did you hear the latest about the New York Giants’ Plaxico Burress? Apparently this dope shot himself in the leg. This idiot brings an unregistered gun to a nightclub and shoots himself in the thigh with it. What the hell type of moron is this? Some commentary from the opinion article linked above:
Burress now finds himself on the same side of the line that Jeremy Shockey ultimately found himself last year without ever pulling the trigger of a gun. Ultimately, your presence will be tolerated until your insolence is greater than your usefulness.
Maybe the Giants should have learned from other teams’ lessons. Latrell Sprewell was a soul worth saving for the Knicks until he ultimately became a cancer in his own clubhouse. There are similarities aplenty between Sprewell and Burress, right down to this: ultimately, keeping Sprewell would have meant losing something much deeper, much greater. It was one of the last smart things the Knicks did until recently.
Given the recent history of the Cowboys, why not let Plaxico out to pasture so they can snatch him up in Dallas? I’m sure the combination of an egomaniac like Terrell Owens, a punk like Plaxico Burress, an overrated quarterback like Tony Romo, and a troubled cornerback like Pacman Jones is all that the Cowboys need to return to their former prominence! Ha ha ha!!!
Yes, I understand that recycling programs are huge all over the nation. And I would be the first to argue that Americans and some American companies are on the leading edge of recycling, reusing, and repurposing garbage. You can see it all over the place from your local recycling program to upstart companies like TerraCycle. Still, David over at The Good Human writes a good article talking about how recycling is not what it used to be. From the article:
We replace perfectly fine household electronics because ours is not the “new” kind, we buy new cell phones every few months, we only keep cars for a few years (which I have certainly been guilty of!), and we are sold so many single-use items that I don’t even know if anyone knows how to use a washable mop/sponge/diaper anymore. We buy cheap clothing by the bundle and it only lasts a few months before it is either out of style or torn to shreds. Products are bought, used for a short time, and thrown away.
David is right on point. Think about how many times you’ve throw away or gotten rid of a pair of jeans or a t-shirt because it wasn’t considered in style any more. Or how many times have you purchased a new item when you had a similar item at home that worked perfectly fine? Believe it or not, I think that the current economic downturn is helping to lessen this phenomenon. Not many people have the disposable cash any more to go out and purchase another pair of jeans or another can opener or another set of tupperware containers, etc. You get the picture.
The Good Human also talks about how we buy new cell phones and other electronic consumer goods every few years. This is where a good group like TerraCycle comes in and actually recycles this waste into usable products. They’ve created a trash can that is made of broken up consumer electronics. They’ve even mashed together old newspapers to create pencils. Very impressive. A better solution, though, might be to reduce the fickleness of the American consumer so that they aren’t going crazy to buy the latest and greatest cell phones every few years…
One of the small ways that I’ve dramatically reduced my inclination to be the typical American consumer and buy, buy, buy is to look around my “stuff” for items that can still be used. The two examples that pop into my mind are with writing implements and notebook paper. A few years ago I took a small pitcher and began putting my writing implements in it. Every time I found a pen or pencil in a drawer or in a box, I’d throw it in the pitcher. Now the thing is full and I haven’t purchased any new pens or pencils in years. I use my writing implements until they run dry and then I recycle them (if possible - pencil stubs I usually throw in the fire). When I began as an adjunct professor a few years ago, I went through my old college files and found literally reams of notebook paper just sitting there, unused in old notebooks. Instead of letting this paper sit there and rot, I began collecting it and having students use it to write out their essays on their midterm and final exams. Why use up blue books or new paper if there is perfectly good paper just sitting in the closet?
Anyway, just something to consider the next time you’re out at the store and wondering whether or not you want to buy that extra mousepad when you have three old ones at home or another pack of pens when you probably have dozens of loose pens snuck away in different areas of your house.
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