The Black Friday Scam

Black Friday has became a major thing over the past few years. Who thinks of waking up to go shopping at Midnight, the day after celebrating being thankful for what you have? I don't think about it, because I will be working! Yes, I work in retail and I am here to tell you that Black Friday is a hoax.

In reality, you're paying higher prices on Black Friday.

It is a known fact in the retail industry that prices are cheapest in the month of October and prior. The month of November, requires thousands of item's of merchandise being marked UP. That's right, prices are raised! That way when Black Friday comes around, they can cut the price back to the original price and you think that you are getting a great deal! No one at our store, (of 50+ employees), buys anything on Black Friday. Why you ask? Prices are inflated! We know to wait until the Black Friday hoopla is over, and we make our purchases in December.

Smart Shopper's Note*- Prices will drop the closer we get to Christmas, due to retailers wanting to get rid of their excess Christmas stock.

The Switch and Bait

Retailers do have to have "discounts" to get people to line up at their door! How they achieve this, is by "marking down"(big emphasis on the quotations) a few big ticket items, and having everything else regular price with a huge sale sign on it! (You don't think they're just giving away profit do you?)

A Retailer's Dream

Black Friday is a retailer's dream. Where I work, in a small town, we are projected to do over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars. Yes 100,00 in one day! It's insane to me, to think of every store in our town making that kind of money in one day! Believe me, they're laughing all the way to the bank!

Bargain shopper's will tell you to wait to shop for all the real deals!

The Bottom Line

I'm not sure if it's just the area that I live in, but last year fights broke out at Wal-Mart over a crock pot! And people were pulling knives on people to front them in line! It's ridiculous to subject yourself to that. Every sales associate that you will come across on Black Friday is thinking, "How sad that you bought into it! You are NOT saving money, but just creating an unnecessary headache for yourself." What is wrong with shopping anytime before or after Black Friday and you won't have to worry as much about crowd's? If you don't believe me, ask anyone who work's in any retail setting, and they will tell you that Black Friday is a gimmick.

The Exception

So yes, if you are to go into a store to get a half priced TV, and you walk out with ONLY the TV. Then, congrats, you are a smart shopper. They brought you in, but did not hook you into spending frivolously.