When Black Friday Deals Are Not Deals at All

If I had to choose just one activity I could freely give up and not have to do ever again, I’d ponder over “doing the dishes”, but I’d more realistically choose “shopping”. Shopping on occasion can be enjoyable, but as the days pass, I’m finding it harder and harder to ever find a minuscule gleam of joy from it. So, it’s a chore. I’m sure a lot of people agree with me, but most of those same people wouldn’t think twice about waking up ultra-early to take advantage of Black Friday deals, which is humorous as it offers the worst shopping experience ever.

As great as Black Friday deals can be, I’m still not willing to get up and inconvenience myself to save even a decent amount on an item. Most often, if you pay close enough attention, you can get great deals throughout the year on pretty much anything, so is it really worth being trampled over to save a couple of bucks? According to some reports, it’s looking like it’s going to be even less worth it this holiday season, as retailers are becoming just a bit sneakier.

I mentioned in our news a few weeks ago that retailers might be shooting themselves in the foot with current pricing, and it’s for the same reason that Black Friday this year is likely to be considered a flop compared to previous events. Because of the economy, stores have been offering great prices on a wide-range of merchandise for a while, so just how low could they possibly go for Black Friday?

There’s also the sneakiness factor that I mentioned above. It seems that some retailers are offering incredible deals in their fliers, but the fine print will reveal that they’ll have very low inventory. As an example, Sears will be offering a nice Samsung 40″ 1080p television for $599. That sounds great, until you realize that they’re likely to have only three on-hand. This is of course done to get people in the store, and if the item’s sold, the company rides on the fact that the person might buy something else in its place. Apparently this is a common practice, so if you are looking for the best Black Friday deals this year, make sure you read the fine print, because you might be wasting your time. Unless you are super dedicated of course.

I have to directly quote the author of the news article, because I couldn’t agree more: “Why can’t some of them use Black Friday as the first day of their new authenticity? It just might engender a little loyalty and a little trust. You know, for those other 364 days of the year.“

Why don’t stores offer a couple of truthful ads? Something like this: “Look, we’ve got three Samsung 40-inchers for $599.99. We won’t make any money on them. But we’re advertising them so that you can get excited. We promise there will be three of them and we’ll sell them to the first person who comes in and guesses the middle name of our handsome salesman, Brad. We think that’s fairer than having y’all fight, bite and claw outside our front door. Life is random. So are our deals.”