Dear greedy American consumers, it truly pains me to inform you, but many Black Friday deals are actually not much of a deal at all.
Sure, there are plenty of good sales on scarves and fuzzy earmuffs you totally do not need, but unless your 52-inch widescreen TV at home suddenly explodes, I do not recommend buying a brand new TV because it’s a deal you simply cannot miss.
To an extent, I get why people love Black Friday shopping.
I know a good deal when I see one, trust me.
But the mentality of it all is a little frightening.
As an avid BCBG Maxazria supporter, I subscribe to the clothing company’s email list. All through Thanksgiving weekend, I received a bombardment of emails from it informing me of its limited-time, winter must-haves sale.
I was immediately hooked.
I found myself online, frantically scrolling through the jewelry until I found a gold necklace, the perfect gold necklace. Full price, it costs $108.
If I spent $200, I would get $50 off. So in total, I’d only be spending $150.
And then I realized I’d gone insane. I fell for the trap.
I would never, in my right mind, spend that much money for a single necklace that I had no business buying in the first place.
I was only shopping because the sale presented itself to me, not because I actually needed to buy ?something.
Black Friday is a day full of frenzied American shoppers flooding shopping malls in search of amazing deals so they can save money. It can be fun, extremely crowded, slightly dangerous and probably a little sweaty. It’s certainly not my cup of tea.
However, unless you are actually in dire need of a high-definition flat screen TV, don’t spend hundreds of dollars on a new one just because it’s on sale. You’d be saving a whole lot more money by not buying anything at all.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t go Black Friday shopping whatsoever. I am saying there is such a thing as smart shopping, but it does not seem to fit with the whole Black Friday mentality of spend, spend, spend. People seem to lose their common sense when so many sales are thrown at them for only a limited amount of time.
Trust me, I love shopping and I love finding a good deal. But if that means waking up at the crack of dawn, surrounding myself with hoards of frenzied consumers, waiting in lines for hours or having to fight someone for that last pair of boots, then I’ll pass.
nrowthor@indiana.edu
