soma

Black Friday is quickly approaching. Do any of you plan to participate in this orgy of shopping?

Now, I've stayed on the sidelines for Black Friday for the past two years and am going to make a come back this year. I have my eye on one of those $400 laptops and was wondering if anyone knows approximately how early I have to show up in order to get one of these?

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Carno

I still don't know what Black Friday is...

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Xera

The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, aka Blitz day. The stores all have HUGE sales, and here in the states its considered the busiest shopping day of the year.

Where do they have $400 laptops? I haven't seen that one yet, and I NEED a new laptop. To get the good stuff I suggest showing up at least one hour before the sale begins.

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soma

One hour prior to sales is not nearly enough if you want the good stuff. My brothers and I went to Best Buy two years ago and at 6:00 the line went all around the parking lot. This is no exaggeration.

http://bfads.net/
http://www.blackfridayads.com/

Circuit City has a $400 laptop that is $300 after rebate.

Best Buy has a $380 laptop, but there black friday ad has been removed from all black friday sites.

Staples also has a $400 laptop.

I'm thinking of getting in line at 4:00 or 5:00am... Crazy? Maybe.

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Carno

Goddamn it. I always have to be out of town for shit like this. I'm going to be spending half the damn day at an airport or flying.

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soma

Ok. So I've been asking around and it seems these laptops are extremely hard to get. Some say people start waiting in line at 8pm the night before! Can you believe it? I'm starting to question whether it's worth it.

Hm...

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ShaniFaye

I boycott BF every year, no way in hell are you getting me out in that traffic and mess. I prefer to spend that day getting all my christmas decorations up

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

absorbentishe

I may spend some time out and about later in the day (missing most of the good stuff). My wife and her sisters will leave around 4:30 am to get breakfast and hit the first line. I think they're crazy, but whatever floats their boat.

Meditrina

Same here. Especially with 2 small kids. and my husband always has to work that day, so I can't go shopping without the kids. We spend the day in our pj's, setting up the fake tree and decorating the house. Christmas music blasting. It is fun and something the kids are looking forward to.

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Xera

I live in a town where ATM's are still considered innovative technology. I would have to drive, at minimum 3 hours to get to a Staples or Best Buy. If they open at 6, and I need to be there at least by 4, I would actually have to leave my house at 1am. this no longer sounds like a good deal since I can buy a laptop from my campus bookstore for $650. I just don't think $250 savings that I may or may not get are worth the aggrivation this year.

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snowy

I usually wait until later in the afternoon to go out, when the lines have died down. This year we'll be in Seattle for part of the afternoon, but just to look at the Christmas decorations.

The only place we go shopping on Black Friday is Costco, which is surprisingly quiet.

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*Nikki*

Last year was the first time ever I actually went shopping on that day and I was amazed the amount of good deals you do get, its not a lie!!

Unfortunately I am broke and being 8 months preggo will not be joining the black friday crowd this year.

hunnychile

I totally agree with Shani & Sportswidow. No way will I go shopping on Black Friday.

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maleficent

most stores that have the really good price have a very finite amount of product at that price -and once it's gone it's gone... no rain checks... camping out the night before is the only way to get the product if you really want it... Personally my time is more valuable than that...

I worked too many black fridays over the years.. i'm over it... no shopping for me

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Grasshopper Green

I've always worked on Black Friday...and after I get out of retail, I doubt I'll be a Black Friday shopper. I'm not waiting in the cold for several hours to save a few bucks, not to mention I hate mass crowds of people, especially people who think it's ok to bite or punch the person next to them so they can get the last *whatever* that is on sale.

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Kaliena

Most of the time, if I do participate, I usually go in the afternoon, when they are still having really decent sales but the masses have died down. Granted, all the SUPER AMAZING!!! stuff is gone, but most of the time, I didn't really figure I'd get it in the first place.

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StormBerlin

When I was at CompUSA it wasn't unusual to see people lining up first thing Thanksgiving morning. I guess cheap electronics are a lot more important than a yummy dinner with family. My boss would make it a point to drive by every couple of hours to make sure we didn't get robbed or something. I always thought he just hated his wife, lol.

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Redjake

To the poster that said "an hour before" :


Here in North Carolina, last year, I showed up at Best Buy to get the coveted "$400 laptops" that were the rage. At 2:30 AM, there was 700 people in line at Best Buy. 700 On Black Friday.

I went to Waffle House and showed up when they opened at 6:00 AM and got in line, given up on the laptops. All I wanted was The Shield DVDs for $20 each. By the time I got inside, every single big sale item, including The Shield DVDs, were gone.


I STRONGLY STRONGLY STRONGLY recommend either 1) Get to the store you want the NIGHT BEFORE, as in 9 PM on Thanksgiving Day, or 2) Don't even try. It's not worth it. Circuit City, Target, Staples, Office Depot, Wal-Mart, they were all the same. Anyone with a hot item, such as a $400 laptop (which turned out to be hunks of junk anyway) or other ridiculously low priced items, had 100s of people outside in the early morning after midnight. I got into Best Buy, looked for the DVDs, they were gone, and I left and went home and went back to bed. When I left Best Buy, there were around 300-400 people in line to check out, wrapping completely around the store. In 5 minutes after they opened. It was then that I decided to never go shopping early for Black Friday ever again. /tear

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Kalnaur

If I didn't have to work on that day, I wouldn't even bother getting up.

I am nigh convinced that some horrid little underworld demons thought this shopping freakout up just to screw with retail workers.

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ngdawg

I'm working it. I never shopped it. Now I know why. People are freakin nuts and they're inconsiderate.

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jth

My 1st American shopping experience besides getting food and clothing was black friday last year. Wow, I was impressed at the fact that we got to Best Buy at 4am and it was a line around the side of the building.

No 400 dollar laptop for me

I dunno if I am going to get down on it or not this year... I might just to pick up Xmas gifts for my family and friends back home... but the maddness... I dunno if it'll be worth it or not.

But a nice portable Harddrive might be in order

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cyrnel

The stupid-cheap laptops should be well below $400 this year.

Google Black Friday. There are plenty of leaked ad sites. You'll also find online sales have become big the last couple years to attract people who refuse to participate in the insanity They'll start opening those sales TG day or over the weekend with some waiting until Monday. Some excellent deals, more of them, and you get to shop in the buff without being arrested.

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Lady Sage

Guy I work with used to work at Best Buy. People start getting in line at midnight.

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ShaniFaye

This is a website some of you might be interested in

http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/

its supposed to list tons of major retailers and what will be onsale and includes if its a rebated price, an early bird price or an online price. It’s constantly updated and can be searched categorically or by store.

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

Sage

Wow... black friday... I've never been shopping on BF and I certianlly won't be going this year because we're spending Thanksgiving with my husband's family and the nearest major shopping center is in Cary NC. And helll no I don't wanna go to Cary on BF. Hopefully my Father In Law will take us skeet shooting again

On a related note, you can check out slickdeals.com every day of the year for ridiculous crazy cheap stuff, and go to newegg.com for all your cheap computer needs. And yeah, cheapdeals.com works- myself and like, eight of my friends got somewhere in the range of $5000 worth of FREE RAM from Best Buy because they'd printed a coupon wrong and were still honoring it.

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kutulu

You know those video clips that show people getting trampled when the store opens its doors? That is black friday.

analog

I've worked them for many years when I was in retail sales... it was a good day for commission, but still a major pain in the ass. I will not be doing any shopping on that day. It's nuts.

eribrav

This whole thread just leaves me with a sad feeling deep down inside.

If people were going hungry, and food were being handed out at 0400 hours, I would understand the intense need to be a part of the handout.

Are American so addicted to mostly irrelevent material objects that saving a few dollars is a driving passion in life? Would any of these people get up and stand out in the cold at 0400 to help their fellow man?

Manic_Skafe

Word to the wise: I'll be at the Best Buy in either Green Acres or Rego Park (Queens) and if you're in my way - old lady or not, I will knock you down.

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Zeraph

I hope youre kidding, if you're not I hope karma finds you flattened beneath a setpic tank.


I've never shopped BFs. Not worth the hassle.

zed wolf

I haven't decided yet. Sometimes I do but not always. I might actually have some money this time too, maybe I will go.....

Jove

I am going to avoid the lines and annoying stupid people, by shopping online. That day should be fantastic for sweet online deals, right?

Philangicality

My Christmas shopping is already done.

Fallon

My wife and I are going. Last year when we went, it wasn't bad at all, just long lines and a fair amount of people. Most of the people we were around were quite considerate, even reminding us to pick up DVD+R's for our new DVD burner. All depends on the area I guess. It is kind of funny though to sit back and watch all the people including us. I think we're going to end up going to the city around 4:30ish.
We haven't had a bad experience with it just yet. Depending on how it goes this friday, we may or may not do it again.

Lasereth

If you want to get one of the magnificent piece of shit laptops for $400, you'll need to get in line on Thanksgiving Day. It didn't used to be this bad, but in the past 5 years it's degraded to the point of rioting on Black Friday. If you wake up at 4 AM and think you'll cruise on in and be the first one there, you got another thing coming. Bust out the tents if you want a <I>chance</I> at the big deals. Keep in mind that most of the big deals have around 10 items per store, so 490 people that want one won't get one, and 10 will. It's seriously simply not worth it, no matter how absurdly good the deals may seem.

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abaya

Y'know, the only time I've ever found it worth it to camp out before a big sale was when the REI flagship store in Seattle has its Garage Sales. Back in the day, it was just once a year... probably more often these days, but I wouldn't be surprised if people still camp out now.

When I was in college, we staked out our tents pretty early the night before, all around the store on the sidewalks (it was packed). And believe me, camping out for an REI sale was an entirely apropos activity. There was a kind of circus atmosphere to the whole thing, and it was pretty orderly once the doors opened... they only allowed a certain number of members in at each time (oh yeah, you had to be a member to even go in to the sale), so you just bided your time according to what time you set up camp.

Of course, everything was used/returned/floor models, but man I got some nice deals back then. $100 climbing shoes for $10 was probably the best I did. $70 Thermarest for $30 wasn't bad, either. Now THAT was worth camping out for. Of course, we were also on the crew team, waking up at 4:30am anyway... so "all night" was really just half the night.

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cyrnel

If you're desperate enough to do it, and it's a chain, find the least populated version of the store convenient. Staples in Timbuktu would be perfect. Hit the place a day or two ahead of time and ask the mgr where they're dispensing things. Last time I was crazy enough to fight through Black Friday the sale-day-temps misdirected people like the best gas station attendants.

Unless sales are your hobby, take Lasereth's advice and save the heart attack. Adopt my silicon valley sig:

Team Telecommute: On the job in our underwear.

"Bob, mind if we do this conference without the vid?"

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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

Telluride

I'm staying the hell away from the stores on Friday.

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thingstodo

This is the day I go to work and get a great deal done in peace. I also take my managers that work that day to a long lunch. It turns into a fun day without all the shopping crap everyone else is engaged in!

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Fallon

We got there last year at 3:30, and lined up around 4:30ish. At a Staples, in the middle of New Hampshire. If we don't get nearly everything we want, that's fine. We're supposed to try for a laptop, but that's not the only reason we're going. It all depends on how populated the area around you is. If you're in the middle of a large city, you bet you're ass you're going to need to be in line like now.