Black Friday

I don't know if it's completely safe to say this yet, but it's where I'm going to start anyway: The world managed to get past Black Friday without any deaths this year.  That may seem like a silly way to start an opinion piece about the "Biggest shopping day of the year," but it's valid when you consider just how seriously people take their holiday shopping. There are often stories about fights that break out over a pair of discounted socks or the last Gameboy DSi that's a part of the $10-off sale. There are even stories about people who tripped while making their way into the store and were trampled to death by the crowd that followed them.

So with all the dangers involved with Black Friday, why are so many people rushing out for extremely early openings and lots of deals they probably don't really want? Well, in an attempt to bolster sales figures, stores put on huge sales to draw in customers and keep the American economy from collapsing. Does it work? Most years it does. Customers run out in waves to pick up the latest and greatest (or just cheapest) in everything. Are there great deals to be had out there? Absolutely, but does it really justify all of the insanity?

Here's a crazy thought, how much money could customers save if all of these big Black Friday sales were canceled and prices were lowered to the average sales price? No sales, just lower prices. Would people be more inclined to buy on a regular basis? Would there be less rush to crowd into stores to fight over that big sale? My guess is the answer is yes. Will it ever happen. Probably not.

So that's my thoughts on the topic of Black Friday. You can do with it what you want. If you have any thoughts, feel free to leave a comment. Also feel free to suggest a topic, and I'll try to get to it as soon as possible.