Black Friday used to be batshit insane. It was synonymous with massive lines and frenzied crowds and vicious, bloody struggles for the last 75” TV. Stores would stir the frenzy with promises of insane, not-to-be-missed deals that would only be available for that 24-hour period. Oh, the times. How they have changed.
Black Friday has gone from a day of chaos-inducing sales to a month of lackluster promotions culminating in...nothing. I mean, nothing! My dad bought a pair of shoes for 20% off. That is not a Black Friday sale; it’s a slap in the face. To be fair, people have literally died from Black Friday chaos, so maybe it’s for the best that stores are tempering that fury. But all the same, I’m confused. Where has the passion gone, the energy? I’m no capitalist, and boy do I hate hyperconsumerism, but I’ve still always been enthralled by the intensity of a single day in which the masses hit the sales floor to get. Shit. Done. Things, however, are not as they once were. I mean, when’s the last time anyone you know “went” Black Friday shopping? A few years ago everyone was “waiting for Cyber Monday,” and now we don’t even wait—you can take advantage of sales online whenever you want. So what happened?
For one thing, retailers have caught on to just how many of us are spending our Novembers waiting to shop. In 2018, November sales were down 18.58%, while December sales grew by 13%. Why would I buy anything at any point in November when I know the sales are gonna go crazy at the end of the month? Well, this is an issue for sellers, since that hyper-concentrated shopping activity makes it a lot harder for them to replenish stock. Therefore, they’ve tried to curb the explosion by meting out deals throughout the month, overwhelming our inboxes with coupon after coupon.
I never indulged, partially because of my, you know, lack of money, but also because I was waiting on the big deals to roll out on the actual Holy Day. This was a mistake. Well, not a mistake, exactly, but boy, was I underwhelmed. The landscape has totally changed. Black Friday is no longer a single day, it’s a whole ‘nother season before the Christmas season. Retailers no longer feel the need to bother with saving the good shit for right after Thanksgiving, not when they’ve been drawing in a steady stream of consumption throughout November. It’s a disgrace. A buy one get one half off sale is not a Black Friday sale. A buy two get one free sale is not a Black Friday sale. These are pittances, and they’ve pissed me off.
From a sustainable mindset of mindful consumption, however, this really isn’t such a bad thing. It takes some of the pressure off me to have perfectly curated list of all the things I want and where best to buy them, giving me the freedom to spread my shopping out across the month. But I only wanted one thing this year—the goddamn cropped faux leather moto jacket from Urban Outfitters—and I don’t have an extra $100 to spare on another item to round out the BOGO half off “deal” they were offering. And since I’m not the type to talk myself into buying something extra to take advantage of a sale, I guess I’m “abstaining” and “saving my coin.” But I’m not happy about it.
This post has been a bit rantier than I planned, but really, I’d say this shift is something of a net positive. As frustrating as it is to have Black Friday decrease in intensity right when we’ve gotten used to storming the aisles for 70% off everything, it’s nice to see a shift—albeit a forced one—to more of a grazing structure, taking advantage of deals as they come. Hopefully, this change also incentivizes people to not cut Thanksgiving short in favor of rushing to Best Buy to get more stuff to be thankful for. I mean, I’m a little bit of a Luddite, but this is the future. With such a dramatic shift to online retail, companies have good reason to offer online deals all month and rake in all our money. But what does it mean for us, the consumers?
For starters, it’s pretty important to remember that corporations are not our friends. They don’t like you. They don’t even know you. Every ad I’ve seen this season has been telling me to “treat myself” because I “deserve it,” which is hilarious, because no the hell I do not. You know how many bad decisions I’ve made this week ALONE?! We don’t need to worry about all that. Another point: more and more brands are raising prices so they can put items on “sale” without losing a dime, the bastards. Forget about whether or not something is on sale—is it currently at a price you’d be willing to pay at any other time of year? No? Then keep scrolling. God, it feels good to take advantage of a good deal, but your wallet doesn’t know how much you “saved.” It only knows how much you spent.
Realistically, there’s not much point anymore in saving big shopping for this time of year. There are deals, but it gets too easy to categorize everything as ~holiday spending~ and justify it as a necessary splurge. Not hating on indulgence—big indulgence gal here—but as a person who enjoys having some money and would like to someday have a little more of it, I’ve got to keep myself in check. Now that Black Friday has waned into an event unlike any other, I see that there’s no reason to ignore sales on things I want in favor of bigger, better, potential sales that will never come. I might as well check things off the bucket list ASAP, before they go from concrete desires to that nebulous realm of Things I’ve Wanted For So Long They Feel Extravagant And I Might As Well Go Crazy When I Buy Them.
Or maybe not. Maybe we should buy everything, all the time, and even more on Black Friday. I don’t know. I’m still bitter about that damn jacket.
LØTA