Posted on 11/21/2012 5:40:34 AM PST by ExxonPatrolUs
Retailers -- Web-based and real-world -- have trained consumers to demand a bargain, and now they're living with the results.
MINYANVILLE ORIGINAL A couple of guys are camped out in the parking lot of a mall outside Pittsburgh, having arrived last Friday in order to be first in line when Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) opens its doors for Black Friday sales. They had hoped to set a nationwide record, but have since learned that some people showed up even earlier at one of the stores in California. They feel that this is cheating, since winter camping is a lot easier on California’s early-bird shoppers.
They have clearly bought into the concept of Black Friday as a competitive sport, but it’s worth asking exactly what Best Buy or any other retailer hopes to get out of the ever-spiraling competition for Black Friday sales. By the way, those “Black Friday” sales started on Monday, Nov. 19, on the Web, and in the real world will begin as early as 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
After four dismal years of recession, a number of prognosticators have at least a modest degree of optimism about the holiday season ahead. But one reason expectations are modest is that retailers have conditioned consumers to respond to deals. Few will respond as enthusiastically as those guys camping out in Pittsburgh, but we sure have gotten the message that full retail is for suckers.
(Excerpt) Read more at minyanville.com ...
Good point. I guess it is just my own personal bias on behalf of my relatives. I don’t have problem celebrating Veterans Day with the living, but a thought, a prayer and a toast to the deceased should also be in order. Thank you for your service.
Your post bothers me at the end. I advocate for freedom, not an oppressive government that could force stores to stay closed.
And if you needed to go out for Christmas dinner, there was always a Chinese restaurant nearby. ;)
It used to be the bargains were loss leaders, you drew them in for one thing really cheap and they’d buy other stuff. Now in the internet age people look up their prices before hand, they buy the other stuff as a bargain somewhere else. Lazy people like me seem to be the only ones keeping retail going, I refuse to work harder spending my money than I did making it, and in the software industry I don’t work that hard making it.
“But what I’m seeing (and disliking) more and more, is Veteran’s Day being “celebrated” as the somber, dark day of mourning complete with Taps, wreath laying and sad speeches.
... I always thought Veterans Day was more to honor the living vets, and Memorial Day was to honor the dead. “
Glad I am not the only one who has noticed this.
You are correct, 100%.
At some point the public will become so oversaturated that the entire meaning of Christmas and the season will be lost to commercial interests
Speed limits ok as long as done at local level. Store hours -never.
Families can still do this; it only takes a little effort.
Camping out on a sidewalk for days, fighting each other, going for days without sleep. If only they put this much effort into finding a job.
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