The Myth of the Black Friday Deal

[snopes]

Attention Black Friday shoppers: You're probably wasting your time.

After crunching two to six years' worth of pricing data for a number of typical holiday gifts, The Wall Street Journal has turned up the best times to go deal hunting — and they almost never involve standing in the freezing cold all night.

It turns out that gifts from Barbie dolls to watches to blenders are often priced below Black Friday levels at various times throughout the year, even during the holiday season, and their prices follow different trajectories as the remaining shopping days tick down.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...772445448.html

[Dondi]

I think the point of Black friday isn't necessarily to get a good deal, but rather being the first to obtain the latest and greatest product (i.e., Iphone, Furby, Cabbage Patch Doll, Turbo-Man). Santa is driving the demand by telling the kids that they'll have their toy delivered as promised. So what's a parent to do but to wait outside in the cold all night for the morning burst of mayhem?

[Lainie]

Not all Black Friday shoppers are shopping for their kids, though.

The one woman I know who is a big Black Friday shopper seems convinced she's getting good deals; whether she's right or not I couldn't say. But she is very savvy and particular about where she goes and what she buys.

[chillas]

I definitely believe that the overall deals on Black Friday aren't that great taken as a whole, but I suspect those who, like the woman Lainie knows, are very particular about what they're buying are able to get some good deals.

[mags]

I'll admit to getting caught up with cheap flannel at JoAnn on Black Friday. It is cheaper than their sale prices the rest of the year, and they stock more of it. I have to skip it again this year because I have so much already.

The first year I went, I thought I was around the only one crazy enough to go that early in the morning to JoAnn, just for cheap flannel. Boy was I wrong, it is absolutely insane.

There definitely are deals to be had, but of course you have to have some idea of the history of prices on whatever it is, to know whether it is a good deal. Just like at any other time of the year.

[diddy]

Not to mention that Black Friday tends to be predictable - most people know they are going to be getting good deals on things and can plan better than say on June 10th when the prices on some things are going to be good.

[HelloLlama]

One thing that I've noticed happening within the past few holiday seasons is that stores no longer carry as much inventory. Even if you're not getting any better a deal on Black Friday than if you'd waited, these days if you wait, the things you want to buy might not be available at all, even if those things are not the year's hot new item.

[Singing in the Drizzle]

I generally shop for Christmas gifts all year long so that I do not need to shop during and after Black Friday. That being said, a couple of years ago I walked in to a store to see a new item in the store with that they just put on the floor. So new they still had to go to the back room to get the price tag. The price was $20 cheaper than to ad that came out the next week for Black Friday deals on the exact same item (I checked model numbers).

[HazyCosmicJive]

I suspect that for many, it's not even about getting a deal; it's about being part of the spectacle. It's a bit of a holiday unto itself at this point.

[Lainie]

For the woman I mentioned above, it's a family event -- she goes with her sister and her mother and some other relatives. The mother lives out of state, so they only see each other a couple times a year. They all go shopping early, then go out to breakfast, then they all go home and take naps.