It’s that time of the year again: Thanksgiving, the day we give thanks for all that we have. But, what a lot of people look forward to coming along with Turkey Day is Black Friday. People are ready to go days in advance for this annual horror story. On Thanksgiving night, the intensity heightens. People are planning where they will hunt first starting in the wee hours of the early morning. But not me. I will never go shopping on Black Friday ever again and neither should you. Here are five reasons why Black Friday sucks.
1. First and foremost, danger.
Black Friday is madness, and the people are crazed. It just has dangerous written all over it. The stampedes of people and the crowded stores are pure chaos. There is a website called www.blackfridaydeathcount.com where it lists all the deaths and injuries that have occurred on Black Friday. There are currently 10 Black Friday related deaths and 111 injuries recorded since 2010. If you go to that website, it will tell you where and when and all the details of the incidents. Let’s see what that number changes to this year. If this reason alone isn’t good enough not to go Black Friday shopping, I don’t know what could beat it.
2. Cyber Monday is way better and just days away from Black Friday.
People tend to forget that all the deals aren’t going to just banish once the clock strikes midnight on Black Friday. Cyber Monday is a million times better than Black Friday. You just have to hope you have those quick fingers and click checkout before the other person trying to snag the same items in your cart. You can get those same Black Friday, if not better, deals from the comfort of your own home — heck, your own bed. When Cyber Monday exists, it’s hard to comprehend why humans even participate in Black Friday.
3. The best brands aren’t even on sale.
The prices during Black Friday are cheap, but often times so are the products you are buying for such an “incredible deal.” If it weren’t Black Friday, people probably wouldn’t buy a large majority of the items at any other point in the year. Expensive stores that carry name brands do not have many discounts available. Most of the Black Friday hype comes from bargain stores.
4. This dreadful day encourages overspending.
What’s funny about this is that most people plan to shop on Black Friday because of the awesome deals, therefore they intend to save money. But these sales have the tendency to make people impulse buy. Coming across such spectacular deals is very tempting for most shoppers, so that they just buy it to buy it. Not because they need it or planned to get it or really want it, but because the deal was so crazy they felt like they had to. People don’t even stop to compare prices or check out some consumer reviews before swiping their card on a pointless item.
5. Last, but most certainly not least, Black Friday makes people crazy during a time they should be giving thanks.
I get it, not everybody has the most peaceful Thanksgiving. Families can be crazy stressful on their own, so why add to that stress by putting yourself in the situation of Black Friday? Some people focus more on the day after Thanksgiving than they do on Thanksgiving itself. People get so caught up in the commotion of Black Friday with all the promotions, commercials, posts and media coverage that it takes away from the meaning of Thanksgiving: a time to give thanks with your family and friends and take some time off from school or work. Let’s not forget that now.
