My Black Friday realizations...

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

In high school we went for fun. Got into line @ Frys at like 5am (back when 6am was the opening time), bought a couple of those cheap HDs and stuff. We looked at the families with walkie talkies buying like 5 cheap desktops with amazement. I never understood how intense people made it. Then I realized that the stuff we bought was stuff Fry's usually has on sale anyway... the cheap HDs you can resell on eBay and the sales run from Fri - Tues as usual, and they restock during the weekend. None of the stuff we got was ever a doorbuster or would run out. The few times people decided they wanted a TV last minute they all ran out because none of us really targeted items.

Then in college I realized that my Black Friday friends from HS were not hardcore enough. We never really shot for doorbusters or had a "game plan." Well this time, they ditched me in line at Best Buy, and this was my first time going the night before lining up for a doorbuster. Me and my other friend snagged the laptops and cheap HDTVs. I was happy I got the deals. A bunch of my other college friends made it to the doorbusters at other locations too. We celebrated later that weekend at our achievements.

Yesterday I realized that I don't ever keep a doorbuster, and that I sell them for profit. I also realized that nothing I want is EVER a doorbuster. I look at products that are "good." So I don't eye the cheapest Tom Tom GPS, I eye the Garmin 765T (or last year I eyed the 265WT). These things don't go on crazy sale for BF. The new greatest models NEVER go on sale. When our family wanted a Sony Bravia XBR series TV (top of the line), it was never really on sale for BF. The cheaper L or S or V series went on sale, but NEVER the XBR line. So I decided to sleep in today and let my friends run for the $59 Tom Tom @ Walmart. I bought my $187 Garmin 765T online via Slickdeals. The stuff I want simply isn't a 6AM item--Core i7, Gigabyte P55 motherboard, low timing RAM, Seasonic PSUs.... yeah.

But on the other hand, clothes work out well for Black Friday. I hit up the mall today and there were some good deals.

So I think my plan in the future will be just to hit up the mall at a reasonable time like 10am or something.

END RANT.

 

[zerocool84]

I've never waited for a Black Friday Deal, movie, or game. My time is worth more than a couple bucks ,or getting a game early, or seeing a movie right when it comes out.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Good summation...

 

[RESmonkey]

black friday goods usually suck/are old. those tv models are just downgraded versions of their normal counterparts. it's not worth getting line for a cheap ass laptop; those laptops are old/slow/odd brand.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Link

This really is completely obvious. I don't even get reselling, as you're not going to bank much on the deal. Clothes aren't really stellar either, as if you shop around you can probably get close enough to not waste your time. The appeal isn't the deal, as there's about a hundred million other ways to save money without any real hassle. Its the event. People like doing shit, and need almost no reason to do it. Its escapism.

 

[darkswordsman17]

WTF double post.

 

[TallBill]

I don't go to the store to shop anyways.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

black friday goods usually suck/are old. those tv models are just downgraded versions of their normal counterparts. it's not worth getting line for a cheap ass laptop; those laptops are old/slow/odd brand.

For tech junkies like us, we're not usually into the CHEAPEST lowest end products, so yeah, I don't see the appeal. My friend has repeatedly bought those $250 laptops and for his GF too. I know people have bought those cheapo 22" LCDs also (ugh TN panel?). Sorry if I sound like an elitist, but if you get me crap like that I would slap you... hah.

I mean if money is an issue, and to you there's no difference between an old P4 laptop versus a new Core2Duo or i7 laptop, then yeah, go for it. Same if you don't know that 22" panels are all TN and thus have bleh colors compared to S-PVA counterparts. If it doesn't matter, I suppose it all works out.

I suppose if you think money-wise, it might be ok. Even if I chuck one of those BF laptops out EVERY YEAR, I'd have to use my MacBook Pro for like 4-5 years before I've broken even. And who knows at what point the el cheapo laptops will have surpassed my MBP in terms of performance. Certainly not yet I hope.

 

[evident]

i had a great black friday ordering stuff online. got my gf $250 1ct diamond earings and my sister a very slick $400 laptop on newegg. all w/o even having to get trampled..

some of the TV deals were ok, but like you said, i noticed that many were off brands / lower end units. many products are bottom of the barrel type crap, but there are a few gems few and far between.

 

[0roo0roo]

didnt have to roll out of bed for a buncha wicked cheap logitech(v550 $9.99 mx1100 ~$15) spin wheel nano mice, ergo ms kb from online stores not compromise products, and good deal.

 

[DaWhim]

a few years back, i remembered my soon to be brother in law to to circuit city for the black city around 2am in the morning. i was staying home. by 5am when the store opened, everything they have on the store also available on their website. i was calling him to let him know what he should grab at the store while i was ordering the same thing on the web.

 

[Exterous]

Having worked at Circuit City for a few years (back when they had stores) I realized early on that the door busters pretty much always suck and that you can get everything for around the same price if you just watch for holiday sales.

I also noticed there always seems to be a lull around ~8:30-11am so I did my usual roll out of bed at 8:30 and went to Home Depot/Menards. Menards was crazy when I walked in but by the time I found the stuff I wanted there was about 2 min waiting in line

Home Depot was dead. It was less busy than a normal Saturday morning although I heard several employees describing how insane it was in the morning

Moral of the story - if you are going out do it between 830 and 11. I was able to get 7 of the 8 things I wanted (but then I didn't want the crappy slow laptops or the crappy TVs) with very little waiting

 

[sivart]

I walked into Target at 4PM (PM, not AM) yesterday and was able to buy one of their deals (TomTom GPS for $97) right off of the front page of their ad. Didn't stand in line, did wait to check out. In and out in less than 5 minutes.

Not that many people left in the afternoon.

 

[moshquerade]

can get just as good of deals online. fools wait in line on Black Friday.

 

[FoBoT]

shopping online is awesome, thanks algore for inventoring the internets

 

[moshquerade]

shopping online is awesome, thanks algore for inventoring the internets

i like you.

 

[DrPizza]

Just happened to stop by staples because my wife needed some photocopies of a lease for our tenant. Around 3pm. We purchased about 8 of the "door busters." Just stuff that we more or less needed - a wireless mouse for her thinkpad, one of those cheap picture frame things as a gift for the inlaws, a couple of memory sticks, I was out of blank CDs, etc.

 

[KGB]

We used to do our Christmas shopping out of the Sears catalog.

 

[nageov3t]

I scored some pretty good black friday deals on clothes ($9 tshirts at threadless.com, 50-70% off at aeropostal), but electronic deals seemed pretty meh unless you're willing to settle for z-list brands of questionable quality.

 

[alphatarget1]

I pretty much have everything I want/need. This year I stopped by Fry's for a cheap BluRay drive (there were none) at about 7am, the one on sale for 75 bucks was still there and had a ton of them. Then I went to REI to get my gift card and there was hardly a line. Got a $5 gift card (lame), bought something and left. Finished the day off at JC Penney for some new clothes and all the doorbusters were still there.

 

[Eli]

Fiancee and I were all into it, we wanted a new TV. Didn't like the features of the 32" Emerson at Wal-Mart. The Westinghouse 32" at Target seems like a POS based on reviews. Were going to maybe try for the Bravia or VIZIO 32" at K-Mart/Sears for ~350-380$.

Then we went to Sam's Club. On Wednesday, they had the VIZIO 32" 720p for 338$ - regular price.

We went well, fuck the 2am bullshit and just picked it up. We're happy, and we didn't have to deal with lines.

The only other stuff we got was some of the Black and Decker shelving/storage cabinets and a tool box from Lowes.

Oh yeah, picked up the RCA 5.1 home theater system from Sears on Wednesday too. It was already 99$ on their website, so they pricematched. I'm sure it's a piece of garbage, but better than nothing.