Happy Black Friday – Please Don’t Trample Me
written by John Chow on November 23rd, 2007
One of the things I hate doing is waiting in line. To me, time is money and time spent waiting in line is time wasted that could be going to generating income or spending with family members. It truly amazes me that people would line up for hours on end to save a few bucks on some DVDs or trample over each other for a box of chocolate.
If you’re a retailer, you’re loving it. The Thanksgiving weekend can make up as much as 10 percent of all holiday sales, according to retail analyst Dana Telsey of Telsey Advisory Group, while the 10 days before Christmas can account for 40 percent of the total. Here’s a video taken outside a Best Buy just as the doors open.
And this is how the employees inside the Best Buy see things.
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I love how people that aren’t even in line just go to the front and go in without having to wait in the blistering cold. Those are definitely the smart ones!
I did that last year. No one knows the difference.
While running in right before store opens is easy and no one can tell, there is an advantage to waiting outside although I am not saying it’s smart because those people do wait for several hours in the cold, etc.
However from of the line (especially those that travel in groups) get an advantage of getting store vouchers for certain items such as laptops (guaranteed to get one). I know that recently Circuit City for example had a 15.4″ laptop with a 1GB ram, 80GB HDD, along with Printer, Router, and Anti-Virus for $299.96 after rebates which is a steal of a deal. It would save at least $300+ off the tag. And if you have multiple people, they have the advantage.
Next, if you’re buying more than one item such as say you’re getting a HDTV (everything is in limited quantity), during Black Friday, they can be almost 50% some of the high def 1080p LCD. That’s another savings of like over $1,000 not to mention items such as digi cams, etc etc.
While waiting isn’t always smart, I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re only doing it to save $20
That really does make sense, a pitty here in Italy we don’t have at least a grey Friday.
That was tho a great “flood” of people entering in the store
, i would really want to see the face expression of someone that is not familiar with Black Friday and its his/her first day working at Best buy (as example)…hah, hilarious
Some camped out the entire Thanksgiving day at my Best Buy… wow.
Hahaha… Yea. Good point. No waiting needed…
I worked in retail for 3 years and it is a fun but SCARY time for employees in retail
Yikes!
I can just imagine your face looking at all those people entering the store at once Waaaa!
damn john you beat me too it with the videos – maybe because I time stamped mine =P
The time thing is right on the head. Why would I wait in the cold for a few hours to save $20? good videos btw
I had the shame of actually queuing outside a shop this morning before it opened.
Not something I normally do (or have ever done) but I needed a new pair of trousers.
It’s crazy to think that so many people will actually queue up.
People are so worried about saving money that they will do the weirdest of things. Me? I have never gone out on Black Friday and I really doubt I ever will. It seems really…pointless. But hey! It makes us all money, right?
What? Wait in line to get $2 off a CD or DVD and spend $4 in gas to get there and have to get up at 4:00 am, no thanks. I’ll buy online. So will millions of others! Yahoo!
Yeah people can be so dumb… waiting in line to save a few bucks at 4 in the morning.. i wonder if those best buy employees will get fired for calling their customers “whackos”
Perhaps. I’ve worked retail before… the customers on Black friday literally do go whacko.
It’s hilarious…
Meh… Best Buy had a nice laptop/printer combo for just $229, usually. And somewhere else had a nice LCD tv for $200. A lot more savings than just $20 can be found..
Thank God for online purchases. Amazon had some good stuff.
Thanks!
Crazy. I stopped going for Black Friday deals years ago. Too much hassle for too little savings. I mean seriously. What’s your time worth? If you’re in college ok, but if you’re making good money at what you do, do you want to marginalize your time to save a few hundred bucks?
By the way John, I don’t know if it is just my computer, but your 125×125 ads aren’t displaying correctly.
Check the screenshot I took to see what I mean. There should be 8 ads from what I can tell, but there are many blank areas. Perhaps the Ad rotator is malfunctioning?
http://www.daxdesai.com/OPE/johnchow_scshot.JPG
The 125×125 ads do the same on my desktop, but not on my laptop… I figured it was something with my computer that was wrong.
Why not just order online from our own Affiliate links? Not a bad discount that we can get.
Most affiliate agreements forbid buying from your own links or anyone in the same household as the registered affiliate.
There weren’t really any good deals. I mean, you can still find better deals online. Prices are going down any way.
its the dumbest thing in the world to do.
I second man,
Amazing. Absolutely amazing.
The funny thing about Black Friday is that I don’t know anybody who waits in line for these things or ventures out to face the mobs, yet somehow there are always thousands of people who do it. Who are all these people? How come I don’t know any of them, or know anybody who knows any of them.
The only time I’ve ever waited in line to buy anything was when I woke up at 5 AM to go stand in 20 degree weather for 4 hours outside of Circuit City to get a Nintendo Wii. I’d rather pay someone to do the standing for me next time.
Why wait in line when you can win stuff online? PS3 is up for grabs.
Ahhhh I went today
Tons of people even though I didn’t line up the night before. For kicks, we drive by a Best Buy the night before at 9:00 and there were about 500 people lining up already. 
just got back from black friday. what a mob, but i picked up a few things. i thought you are allowed to buy from your own links? im pretty sure you can! correct me if im wrong though.
I used to work with a guy who braved this mess every year to buy as many hot electronics items as he could on Black Friday to flip on eBay in the coming weeks. He usually makes between $3000-5000 every December doing this.
hey what happened to cashQuest, they havent’ posted for a while. well, i guess john chow is back to #1.
You didn’t hear? The site was sold for $15,000.
Only $15.000, what a discount
Everyone should record their own videos
-Mike
I went out last year to save $20 on a hard drive.
Never again.
make more money so you don’t have to wait in line on a night when you’re suppose to be spending time with your family . . . . those are just my thoughts
hahaha lool! this weekend is great for all americans…but i think that friday at night there will be nothing on the shops
Here’s how I spend my Black Fridays:
Wake up at 11AM, order pizza and log on.
Spend 10 minutes reading John Chow’s latest posts.
Log on to eBay and NewEgg, spend five minutes purchasing goods. Christmas shopping is done.
Go out and point and laugh at all the schmucks stuck in hour long lines at Best Buy.
I love Black Fridays.
you got it all planned out dont ya. good that you’re smart.
Gosh I had no idea it was such a feeding frenzy on Black Fridays.
It was just crazy in saving money.
On a very sombre note, does anyone know that yesterday was Black Friday for reasons other than these, in another part of the world. The north Indian state of UP was targeted by terrorist bombs that went off simultaneously in several cities, all of which were aimed at the heart of civil society: the law courts.
wow, that is dark…
Yeah the whole saving money thing is crazy… I mean, saving money is good but at what expense?
I’m not a rich person but I realized I was spending too much of my time into work without personal time so I started hiring a house cleaner, and I never cook at home so I don’t waste time on cooking and cleaning. I eat out 3 meals a day.
It’s a perfect way to achieve balance. That way I have time for my personal stuff and I get my work done, at a relatively small cost.
Same applies for shopping and such – to go far to save money is ludacris for me unless we’re talking about a big ticket item like a car, or some really heavy sound equipment. Shopping around for me is limited to online, and even then the distance is a factor for me to decide where to shop.
I see people going cross-border shopping to save money with the weak US dollars. If you have to drive an hour or more to go save money on buying clothes, your time is worthless.
You don’t have to be rich to appreciate the fact that time is money. Why on earth should you wait hours in the freezing cold to save a few bucks on something you don’t need. Instead you can be reading sites like John Chow or my own to figure out ways you can be making money with that time, rather than wasting money.
You have got it right brother. There are other saner ways to save money and more importantly, make it. This is sheer madness.
Geez…not worth it. Better to just buy online.
Yes, the camera man made the most appropriate comment – This is insanity. What on earth for? Just to save a few bucks? I would not do this if my life depended on it.
oh man.. weird ppl oversea
Hi John,
I hate waiting in lines, too. That’s why I am shopping mostly online!
Regards,
William
I hate to wait in line too. If I have to wait, I’d rather take taxi instead. But sometimes taxi is slow too. Under such condition, I have no idea what to do.
I just watched a bit of the video, and it’s not smart at all to call those who are customers “stupid”. Then again, explains why this person is working on sales at BB when some of his counterparts are setting up the next Web2.0 spaces.
Put it was the funniest part of the video.
I am actually surprised if some of these people don’t get in trouble from Best Buy or fired. I’ve seen the Best Buy employee video posted a few places, and calling your customers stupid is not the way to win customer loyalty. You can be sure if someone high up the Best Buy food chain sees this video,and chances are they will, someone is going to get canned.
Bad employee attitudes are exactly why I don’t like shopping at big box stores like Best Buy.
I have found bad employee experiences at all sorts of stores. I try not to let a few bad examples taint my view of all employees at a given store. Some chains are better than others, just depends on how they treat their employees, corporate culture, etc.
In order to survive Black Friday you need to map out the store and know exactly where the items you are interested in are situated, but you must have some helping hands and they will go straight to their designated area when the doors open. If you miss this year wait until the next one to try this strategy it works for me every time.
I think the one thing that would have really annoyed me about Black Friday would have been the line cutting by others. Can’t believe how many people cut into the line in one of those video clips
I was in line an hour early last year and still would have gotten everything I wanted had I came on time. Only those computers that they have a very limited supply were hard to get. I went a few hours late this year and got everything.
That’s funny… the best buy here is a ghost town. Fry’s Electronics is where it’s at. Line loops around the entire store which is like 2 best buy’s combined.
I noticed the exact same thing at my Best Buy, and wrote about it on my blog. I wonder if it is a good time to short Best Buy! Odd though, they had some OK deals there. I didn’t buy anything, since I detest shopping this weekend, but I was a little stunned at the lack of a line.
i waited in line for the laptop and printer for 229 combo. of course i couldn’t get it. i did get some nice sansa mp3s and a hd dvd player
Black Fridays really rox, love it!
I hate lines too, although you can never escape them
I wanted the $229 laptop too! I wonder what time you have to start lining up to get it!
It is hyped just out of proportion and the retailers know how to make good use of this hype for their advantage.
I went out at 6am! Got some pretty good deals, but the lines were crazy! Love the blog!
Cyber Monday… now this is MY kind of holiday! I spent way too much money today.
Did u make a lot of sales in black friday?