Black Friday: Shaking My Head ...

[Esquire]

I can't help but shake my head watching all the news coverage for Black Friday talking about how much shoppers are "saving" ...

"Saving" ...? Is that what we call it these days? I call it "spending." And (as MJ observes) wanton consumerism is the root of most servitude.

All I see are hoardes of irresponsible people unknowingly surrendering their freedom.

Thanks, but no thanks. I want no part of it.

And when I see people camping out in front of Best Buy ... I think ... how little must this person value his or her time to do that? And for what ...? To buy a big screen television? And you wonder why their time is worth so little. Piss poor decisions like that. Nuts.

The only thing I purchased today was an customizable open-source software package I can use to launch an online information marketing business. "Happy Black Friday" to me ...

Sorry for the rant. Had to get it off my chest (shaking my head) ...

 

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[Vigilante]

Great point, counselor. That is what the government tells us though, right? When we spend less than the projected spending amount, we call that "savings."

 

[andviv]

I only think of coming up with a product that have people line up for hours to buy them in mass.

 

[Vigilante]

I sold a few this year. We had a $29.99 eReader at one national retailer that blew out in a few hours, and we also hit a home run with some refurbished tablets that sold out online.

I talked with someone connected to Wal-Mart in Bentonville, AR. At their corporate office, they have a "war room" set up with 24 hour coverage by corporate executives and merchant buyers. They're studying sales results, price point response, and foot traffic and responding to store requests in real time.

That will probably last through Saturday, but my guess is they might do a scaled back version of this war room through Christmas. It's probably a very effective way to drive additional sales, and consistent with Sam's Walton's philosophy that the corporate executives should be working during the extended hours that they ask their employees ("associates" in Wal-Mart language) to work.

 

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[Esquire]

Rioting over cell phones in Walmart ???

A slowlaner's interpretation of the fastlane ...

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/11/23/watch-walmart-shoppers-fight-over-cell-phones-on-black-friday/

 

[MJ DeMarco]

"Black Friday" and "The Zombie Apocalypse" is probably one chromosome away from being identical.

 

[Vigilante]

I was really sad watching a video on Drudge about several hundred people crashing a "Pink" store in Kansas for some yoga pants. This has now morphed into something that has very little to do with Christmas.

Black Friday 2012: Rush at Victoria's Secret Pink at Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kan.

 

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[andviv]

Well, I confess. I gave in, too much temptation... bought 3 units (Buy one get two free, plus free shipping) from our own LipZen.com using a coupon she sent me through her mailing list.

I've been a bad boy.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Well, I confess. I gave in, too much temptation... bought 3 units (Buy one get two free, plus free shipping) from our own LipZen.com using a coupon she sent me through her mailing list.

OMG, this makes me smile. Did you order in your underwear? HA Ha. Thanks for supporting a fellow Fastlaner!! :eusa_clap:

 

[Vigilante]

I think .com orders are the intelligent and civilized alternative to the animals that sleep in a tent for 2 days in front of Wal-Mart to save $20 on a curling iron.

 

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[andviv]

Did you order in your underwear? HA Ha.

Are you watching me again through that webcam????

heeeee I was not scratching them... well, I was, but you see, they were reaaaally itchy....

:smxE::smxE:

 

[av1atic]

[video=youtube;8IecWRJ6ZGY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8IecWRJ6ZGY[/video]

:nonod:

 

[theag]

Just sick

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Just sick

And here I am sitting at home with a first generation iPhone and a car that is 8 years old.

 

[Warchild]

We need black friday in the UK

 

[theag]

And here I am sitting at home with a first generation iPhone and a car that is 8 years old.

Which is another extreme, at least in my opinion

 

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[1PercentStreet]

I love these savings! You want to know why?
$52.4 billion: Total money spent by shoppers over the Black Friday weekend, according to the National Retail Fund.

Do you know how much money you can make over Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
I <3 people like this.
I dabble in affiliate marketing and today is one of the biggest days to do it.

Early Xmas to me today

 

[LamboMP]

What's wrong with people seriously? It makes me worried about the future.

 

[Pinnacle]

I can't help but shake my head watching all the news coverage for Black Friday talking about how much shoppers are "saving" ...

"Saving" ...? Is that what we call it these days? I call it "spending." And (as MJ observes) wanton consumerism is the root of most servitude.

All I see are hoardes of irresponsible people unknowingly surrendering their freedom.

Thanks, but no thanks. I want no part of it.

And when I see people camping out in front of Best Buy ... I think ... how little must this person value his or her time to do that? And for what ...? To buy a big screen television? And you wonder why their time is worth so little. Piss poor decisions like that. Nuts.

The only thing I purchased today was an customizable open-source software package I can use to launch an online information marketing business. "Happy Black Friday" to me ...

Sorry for the rant. Had to get it off my chest (shaking my head) ...

As long as you own one of the stores (brick-and-mortar or online or both) that all these fanatics flock to, then Black Friday and the holiday season that follows should be a time you relish. They get up in the a$$-crack of dawn and tumble over each other in hopes that their deals are still waiting on them, while you sit back and let the sales stack up. Everyone wins. THAT is capitalism at its finest.

Slowlaners search for holiday deals; Fastlaners create them.

 

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[socaldude]

This pretty much sums up what the "Majority" is all about.

Credit card debt from consumer junk, value time at zero, "takers". Then after all the dust has settled you blame someone else.

Your gonna wait 16 hours to buy a TV and then spend 4 hours a day watching it in perpetuity? WOW. And people wonder why their lives suck; cause their choices suck.

 

[Twiki]

In my town, I saw people camped out in front of Barnes and Noble, and when the doors opened, the staff were overwhelmed by the surging mass of people eager to get their hands on copies of The Millionaire Fastlane and other educational/self-improvement titles. Also there were reports that the public libraries had to call in the police to help control the crowds that were fighting over the books and reference materials that were being offered for free (an amazing once-in-a-lifetime bargain!) When asked why they were willing to fight tooth and nail for these books, many of theese bargain hunters explained that they would do anything to provide such resources to their children.

...and then I woke up!

 

[Jamillah]

And here I am sitting at home with a first generation iPhone

I'm not alone!

 

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[Chitown]

This is pitiful!!!! Seriously.

 

[77startup]

Sets the stage for us to make money. I don't think we should fault consumers for acting this way. Kinda like biting the hand that feeds no?

 

[theDarkness]

The walmart here had people lining up at 6pm thanksgiving day . . . I'm not super gung-ho about the holidays, but that just seems wrong.

Waiting in line for hours when you should be eating turkey dinner, watching football . . . just to buy crap.

 

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[Jake]

I bought A LOT of Jack and Cokes lastnight :smx4:

Consumer mentality got the best of me.

 

[sigurdur]

Wow .. now I have a reason to come over to the US in a year ..
If I do come over to the US, I'm going to plant a chair somewhere up high in a wal-mart store with some popcorn and soda .. ;-)
This edutainment beats the hell out of the TV ;-)

 

[Steve37]

There was a news story here about a family who started camping out at best buy last Friday so they could be first in line to buy the kids a 50 inch flat screen and some tablets. Estimated savings: $200.

7 days of time to save $200? The dumber part is the mother took a week off from her job to "save" this money.

 

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[nzerinto]

"A fool and his money are soon parted" seems rather apt at this time....

 

[Kak]

I fricking hate black friady so much. Complete swarms of idiots. I do christmas shopping with less than a week left until christmas.

The only store I wemt in yesterday was the pro shop at my country club.