Multiple reasons why Black Friday isn’t as much of a thing anymore: 1. Online shopping becoming ubiquitous and the decline of brick and mortar shopping 2. Extended period of sales before and after Friday 3. Economic strains 4. Behavior changes as a legacy of the pandemic 5. Increased fear of large crowds due to concerns about violence, crime, mass shootings, stampedes, etc. 6. Segments of the population becoming less consumeristic/more conscious about sustainability 7. Shifts in what people consume (travel, entertainment, digital media, etc.) and fewer hot button must-haves capturing the zeitgeist (I.e Tickle Me Elmo).
This year I had my eyes on a few items more wants then needs so I wasn’t really tripping about not getting them but I then noticed on Black Friday that what a lot of stores were doing was raising the prices extremely high and then lower them back down to the original price to make it look like a “sale” I just rolled my eyes and left.
@@stud6414praying in the street is illegal since when? Even if it was illegal who would want to pray on the street lmao? Not much is illegal over here just the necessities and then some.
This video hit me a little harder than it should have because I was a Walmart employee on Black Friday of 2019 and I literally was injured because of customers kicking me while frantically trying to get to products that I was putting back out on the shelves after they had run out. Never mind on top of that that Walmart forces their employees to do a mandatory 12-hour shift on Black Friday, meaning that I had to work from 7:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving until 7:00 a.m. on Black Friday after having taken care of my kids the whole Thanksgiving Day. I no longer work at Walmart but I do still work retail and I really appreciate that more people are shopping online because the way people act whenever they do Black Friday in stores is ridiculous. Nobody should be getting into fist fights over toys, nobody should be shot for an Xbox, and poor single parents working in retail jobs shouldn't be getting hurt at work.
I never shopped Black Friday it just seemed to me that people should be home with their families, not working. I was a waitress for many years and never had holidays off I always had to work so I never wanted to be the cause of others working holidays.
I work retail too and most of the sales were online sales. Instead of manning the cashier stations, they had us doing fulfillment orders. It was mostly the elderly who came and tried to get some Christmas shopping done but they had to endure the long lines because there weren’t enough cashiers working. 🥴
I remember my parents taking us Black Friday shop ONCE. It was awful. The stores were packed beyond belief and some lady was running me over with her overflowing cart. 😂 I was like 10 and this lady kept pushing me with her cart. No remorse lol.
I'm happy Black Friday is "dead". Too many real life horror stories over the years. On the good side: It definitely helped that Black Friday sales were happening an entire week before the actual Black Friday (that spread things out) and lots of online deals. On the bad side, about 90% of the Black Friday sales were very poor compared to other years (just not low enough in most cases). On the ugly side: there is an unofficial financial crisis since A LOT of people are BROKE ("thanks" inflation).
Truth be told, greed destroyed black Friday. Stores ruined their own holiday by creeping it earlier and earlier. Now bkack Friday is just another day in a two month period of Christmas stuff.
Nope more people are catching on that its really no different from the rest of the year, stores have made it so obvious now, they were pretending at hiding the bs before.
The worst part is that companies like Walmart, and Amazon actively work against polities that protect their employees and customers. I'm sure every politician has been bought by some corporation in one way or another. Our money is being used against us.
@@sathdk79 Yes public schools are paid with city tax dollars but not all as in Colleges etc. & one point was education costs are always increasing there's no "Black Friday big savings going on now sale" 😒💸💰
I was a salesperson at a furniture store for 2 years. Hated it, but it helped me pay for college. In the days leading up to Black Friday, we would have to make a big handwritten price tag to put on every piece of furniture (of which there were hundreds) with the "sale price." Of course, we were just writing the normal price and removing the usual price tag. It was a huge waste of time and paper, strained the backs of older employees, and built distrust in the customers who weren't as stupid as management wanted to think.Then we'd open at 6 AM on Black Friday instead of the usual 9 AM, and all salespeople were required to be there, and hardly any customers would show up for hours. Then when we would finally have our turn to greet a customer (which wasn't often with every salesperson being there for the 14 hour work day), we'd get chastised when a customer noticed our bullshit tactics or something wasn't in stock (none of which we had control over). I've literally had nightmares about the experience 🙃
@eriq54321 I won't say what company, but they did go out of business at the start of the pandemic. They've since reopened some of their stores, but did not reopen the location I was at.
One of my family members worked at that Walmart and they told us what happened before it hit the news. We never participated in black Friday after that😢
You need to feel for the delivery drivers. They are overworked, many are underpaid and given the fact that delivery vehicles and drivers are being held up at gunpoint, they are working under dangerous and stressful conditions.
As someone who did Driver Helper during peak season from 2017-2020, I'm glad that I haven't done it since then but I genuinely feel bad for them during peak season.
Delivery drivers literally are a skilled workforce, they are licensed to operate dangerous vehicles that could cause harm to themselves as well as others. That really needs to be recognized in their pay, especially with the time constraints put on them. It’s one thing to deliver something safely, it’s another to ask for it fast. Y’all should unionize like the auto workers or something.
It's not that hard of the job I drive for an Amazon dsp. I've been doing it for 2 years now. They definitely could bring it a lot higher quality service if they would pay us 10-15 percent higher, but they got us for the cheap, I guess, with the whole third party delivery service. The warehouse workers have zero standards, though, and if your package is smashed up, it's not my fault. I swear I saw the dude at the warehouse chest pass the package into a metal cart.
I also think that since everyone has some sort of smart device, there’s no great rush to go out on Black Friday like there was in the early 2010’s when such items were a luxury. It’s one of those “When everyone gets one, what else is there to keep the interest up” kind of thing that has led to the decline of Black Friday. Also it’s not worth the time anymore, sometimes you’ll find the best deals in the summer and springtime when there’s a surplus of merchandise since sales slow down a little during the spring and summer months.
I used to do black friday because the stores actually stock all their sizes and put out more interesting fashion. I would always go out and look for embroidered jeans. Even online these aren't easy to find. It wasn't about savings, it was about availability. I'll admit, it was also because it felt like an exciting way to kick off the Christmas season. I stopped when they started making the "sales" begin before Thanksgiving. I wasn't able to depend on increased and refreshed stock anymore. Christmas music starts in November, stores start selling christmas merch in October, and the christmas movies take over some tv channles in September! It all stopped feeling like something to look foreward too. By trying to make Christmas a 3 month event, they caused me to stop spending as much.
@@picachugirl2036 I've seen stores start sneaking stuff in September, not even waiting for October anymore. At this rate we are going to get Christmas in July.
It definitely helped break up traffic when businesses started to run their sales the entire week leading up to Black Friday instead of Friday only. I work at Best Buy and I was terrified for my first Black Friday last year but it was VERY tame compared to the horror stories. This year had even less traffic. I’m sure covid had something to do with less traffic as well but sales all week is definitely helpful.
Not to mention the type of items being sold. Best Buy by some time next year will have all its physical media gone and those were the items people who go for at Black Friday, DVDs, blu rays, video games, CDs, consoles, etc. By next year most of those won't be around and hits hard to tackle someone over a new fridge or printer.
Same here. I can't stand crowds. The idea of going elbow to elbow with a bunch of fools chasing a very limited stock of bargain items never appealed to me. This year I went to Wal-Mart in the evening and it looked like a regular day except for the Black Friday signs by the entrance. No huge lines at all.
I’ve worked at kohls part time since I was 18, I’m 25 now. Back when I was younger there were always people lined up waiting for hours to get into kohls late on thanksgiving night. And it wasn’t just kohls, target, Walmart, Best Buy-all those stores had lines of people waiting to get in. Now that doesn’t happen. The holidays are busier than other times of year yes, but compared to previous holiday seasons things are actually pretty dead. What is different though is the increase in online orders. I work BOPUS (buy online pick up in store) for my kohls and I was significantly busier than the cashiers even. So many online orders it messed up our system multiple times. I was running around the store fulfilling online orders while the cashiers were kinda just standing around. I imagine it was crazy busy for other retailers online orders too. I enjoy the busyness of the holidays but it makes me a tiny bit sad that it’s declining. Kohls isn’t my main job so I don’t care too much, but it’s still sad to see
Your comment at 8:10 really struck me. The only Black Friday shopping I did this year was to buy shoes for my family. We all desperately needed shoes, and Black Friday was the only time we could afford new ones.
As an ex retail and food worker I always had major mental breakdowns before and after holiday season because I was always TERRIFIED of being over demanded by several persons for my attention 🤮 😂😅 buuut now that I’m officially off the job market forever (I became disabled after pregnancy) It was interesting too see people loose empathy for the unemployed the more they hated their job/couldn’t afford to “not work” even tho we (the jobless/unwanting/unable) are ALSO struggling. Im grateful we all spend covid alone with our thoughts and reflecting that maybe we are acting inhuman. I hope Black Friday is never a thing again.
@picachugirl2036 Getting ssdi is like a deal with the devil. It's super tempting to get that monthly check when you're truly struggling, but it can bite you back in the ass. It's sad.
Online sales is what happened. Black Friday isn’t even on Friday anymore, starts earlier in the week and then leads into Cyber Monday. I remember those chaotic Black Fridays, they were ridiculous but funny at times.
I broke my phone the day before Thanksgiving, so I had to put on a brave face and deal with Black Friday to get a new one. It definitely wasn't as many people as I expected. It was similar to like the week or two before Christmas. Glad it's dying out finally.
Glad you did a break down. I mean at this point the average Americans don't have money to buy luxury items unless it goes on credit at this point. They need to start having better deals on grocery items at this point since many are just trying to survive.
Corporate greed destroyed Black Friday. They made it so that those discounts happen throughout November & December, so there’s no need to rush out on a particular day.
It’s just better strategy. There was never a need for Christmas sales to be crammed into a few days. Black Friday was basically a gimmick of stocking 5 TVs and 5 laptops and selling them for hundreds off to make the sales flyer look better. Stores just went back to the way things used to be, but kept the “black friday” name.
Hurry and buy this bubble top before you have to pay half price in a few years. At this point, I'm still at a crossroad regarding whether or not to liquidate my $138k stock portfolio. What's the best way to take advantage of this current market?
Find quality stocks that have long term potential, and ride with those stocks. I have found it takes someone who is very familiar with the market to make such good picks.
I agree with you. I started out with investing on my own, but I lost a lot of money. I was able to pull out about $200k after the 2020 crash. I invested the money using an analyst, and in seven months, I raked in almost $673,000
There are many financial coaches who excel in their profession, but for the time being, I employ Samuel Peter Descovich because I adore his methods. You can make research and find out more.
I used to work at a major retail store for a few years and black Friday was the worst. I told myself I would not participate in it. I think people are over being led by corporations.
me and my family have never been big on black friday, we knew it was a scam and that people just go into credit card debt every year despite the "Savings" I never saw the appeal and one year I was going to go with my brother and his friend but we just ended up sleeping in and not going and from the sounds of it all the better for it since when they went the deals weren't deals, the prices were maybe 10 dollars off but still came out to like 60 bucks for a set of headphones. It was dumb. I don't know for those of you who didn't participate in black friday what do you think?
@@GOUdamnI used to be such a day after Christmas sale girlie, but i feel like those deals just aren’t as good as they used to be. Recession hitting hard.
I was in procurement for a small company, so I'd be purchasing every week. When black Friday first came to my country, I was interested, but then I noticed the toilet paper was still the same price, and I was never interested after that.
As a retail employee whose last full week was that of Thanksgiving/Black Friday (I worked both days) and started a full-time job literally the next business day, this hits hard. It feels so weird to me that I earn more money sitting at a desk and grabbing a coffee every few hours than I do working on my feet and handling money, and the existentialism of entering into a system of living with such a hyper-awareness of how broken it actually is is terrifying.
My last "Black Friday" experience was the first several weeks of March 2020. It took Walmart corporate nearly the entite month to realize that letting people stockpile toilet paper to be resold online for astronomical markups was a bad idea, and most people were going without as a result. Seriously, every single damn day. We had trucks coming three times a day, each with 3 to 5 pallets of toilet paper and paper towels, and we were STILL emptied out.
Times are a changing. It is easier to shop online. Calmer, no lines, no stampedes, no nasty people to deal with, and more likely to get your hands on items. No standing outside the store in lines before you even get in the store. Believe me, the stress relief is a Godsend! And this year black friday sales started nov.1, and the greatest sales and stores were seen as Black friday, starting the monday before it. Knocking out the lines on friday. I think it's about time stores close on Thanksgiving so families can be together! Now, close the stores on Easter and Christmas.
At least in my area most stores (walmarr, target, mcdonalds ect.) shut down completely for thanksgiving. Can't say I agree with it though, since it just made Kroger stay open later & get all the buisness that would have gone elsewhere.
@littlemanbigpersonality I used to work at Kmart for 8 yrs. Back then, Kmart was the store staying open longer. 1980's It totally sucked having to work holidays. I think the stores were ok, they had their sales up all week. Plenty of time to make their black Friday revenue.
People don’t want the things anymore. People are impoverished due to spiking housing costs, spiking car costs, spiking food costs and spiking bills. They don’t want a George Forman grill for 75% off anymore. They’ve just decided they don’t even want to attempt to buy new things until the economy gets better
In 2011 I worked at the mall and witnessed a fistfight break out in Victorias Secret and someone fell and broke their arm. It’s crazy how dead it was when I went out this year.
1. People these days are chosing to prioritize mental health instead of standing in long lines during their few (and far) days off. I used to LOVE Black Friday. But around the mid 2010s I started to simply wants to stay home. A lot of people these days are stressed out, sad, or anxious. No one wants to subject themselves to massive chaos and confused duration Black Friday 2. Online shopping is less stressful (again most people don't want added stress and trauma). They're chosing to stay home and prioritize rest and peace 3. People are getting fearful of large crowds with the rise of mass shooting
Things have changed so much since 2011. I don't give a shit anymore and so many things are not important to me as they used to be and I feel like other people feel like this too.
You nailed it. I knew this from Years ago back in the late 90's when I worked in retail. To the years after when I was stocking shelves to price changing, I knew ALL that was going on and tried to tell people but they would just laugh because I did't have that label that says im somebody or 'not rich' enough to be 'smart' (man, it was like talking to school children). It always sickened me how so many fell for this act like it's a live studio play* (what many were taught about these 'holidays' are far from accurate* but it's the fantasy land they always wanted...until they wake up* but sadly so many don't).
We were killing each other and getting pneumonia sleeping outside stores. I remember being so desperate for cheap cameras when the lady said "you can only buy 2." I lied and said "but I have 6 kids!!!". They let me have them. 😂They made my cousins children very happy.
As a young person whose family never did black friday I went for the first time last year. The mall was pretty packed but I ended up buying nothing because the sales were only 20-30% off of things. I was completely baffled; there are better sales all year. I can understand it for tech but not for literally anything else.
Robert, I've watched a couple of your videos now and am so impressed. In the era of 90-minute video essays and documentaries, it is so refreshing to see a clear, concise 10-minute video. No extra fluff, no dramatic music or graphics, just quality information and commentary. Keep up the good work!
6:28 I completely agree. Believe it or not, people have a bigger heart and conscience for others now than before. When I was a kid, NOBODY would ever think twice about the workers, manufacturers, truck drivers, etc and how they're being exploited. All people thought about was "Cheap TV, must buy". The fact that more people even considers how terrible it must be for the workers, is honestly an improvement for humanity.
In our work place we received a 20 cent raise, but wait our health insurance was increased by 30 cents 😑. We couldn't have asked for such a great deal.
My first time black Friday shopping was in 2013. I was violently stoned, and we just went to Walmart for fun because it was one of the firsr years they started on Thanksgiving. I went into the bathroom and when I came out 2 women were shoving each and wrestling over something(didn't even see what it was) and then the husbands stepped in and got into a literal fist fight. Within seconds they were swarmed by a crowd. I barely made it out of the frenzy before it got crazy. I didn't go again until 2015, and by then things had already began to change drastically. It was more like a busy day at the mall than a crazed stampede. Haven't been in years and probably won't go ever again, but it's so strange to see the change. Seeing my first one in 2013 vs this most recent one is mind boggling.
I remember many years ago when during Black Friday, the department stores did incredible sales and employees got rewarded for making it go as smoothly as possible. Now it is not what it was. Companies will pretend and say, look at the record sales we made. That couldn't be further from the truth.
I went to Walmart on Friday midmorning (not for Black Friday shopping, just needed TP and cereal) and it was about as busy as it typically is on a weekday evening. Very manageable. And there were actually employees around, including at the registers, which was nice. Walmart clearly expected a crowd, bet they're gonna be disappointed with this year's sales.
this happened at the store i work at too, we were only slightly busier than we usually are on an average saturday. i don't think we even made it halfway to our sales goal.
There was a great article at like Business insider or something that talked about how retailers shot themselves in the foot by stretching Black Friday to a so-called “gray month” and lost any semblance of hype
Another reason I'm glad to see this trend wither away, is how in-store hours crept earlier and earlier, basically wiping out Thanksgiving. You could shop the best deals or celebrate the holiday -- not both. The idea originally was you've got a long weekend and you're with family, it's a great time to start holiday shopping as you know what everyone wants. But the stores whittled that down, going from opening at 6am Friday, to 3am, to midnight, to 6pm Thursday, to noon. Banquet turkey TV dinners for everyone!
It is interesting though, because the ever expanding cooperate blob seeks year after year, quarter after quarter growth. Now we have Black Friday week, Cyber Monday week because those investors must HAVE that growth. So they expand the sales, the promos, and the likes year after year. Nowadays Walmart even does "Black Friday discounts!" on certain items throughout the year. Capitalism created the monstrosity of Black Friday only to consume it and destroy it in the way they always destroy things: infinite growth. Ironic and kinda funny.
No one cares about shopping or movies anymore. The costs of everything rose and our wages didnt, and the response that 'you need marketable skills' is BS they use to excuse the fact that they keep moving the goal posts
I was getting early black friday emails from online shops I use almost a month ago. The whole of november. Amazon had their prime weekend sale last month too. Some of the deals in the lead up to black friday were better than the ones on the actual day.
I don't see it as a "decline" at all. The past Black Friday retail combat that Walmart encouraged was insane. I see Walmart and consumers as being more reasonable.
What retailers count on is psychology. Once they got you in the door, it feels like a defeat or a waste of time to walk out empty handed even if you didn’t get the deal you were looking for. It takes awareness and mental distance to just walk out and not settling for a lesser buy so that you can have the satisfaction of saying you bought something
As a former Black Friday Die Hard (I had to be within the top five of the line by being there the night before and we had a warming vehicle waiting), my life changed no more little kids (they grew up and woukd rather have a bill paid than a toy) and no more long lists of parents, grandparents , inlaws to biuy for now I am donating all my past gifts to them from their houses we inherited.
Thankfully Black Friday isn't just on one day anymore, I've been seeing online sales the whole month, there's "early Black Friday", "Black Friday," and "Cyber Monday". I just ordered online and got what I needed. If I go into a store it's only for food nowadays.
Subscribing because you are giving me nostaglia in the best way possible. Your video was a 20/20 segment vibes. Keep it up and when I have a little coin hopefully I can join your Patreon.
You will not believe this, I'm from India and brands are hyping up Black Friday. I'm talking about big billboards and ads shoving down our throats. It's so irritating
I was at the mall yesterday (honestly forgot it was black Friday until I was halfway there lmao) and it was quite busy but it was, like, manageably busy? People everywhere but no dense throngs or anything. Tbf, this was in Canada, so it's not like it was a school break or anything.
Oh. Wow. I watched this video to see what perspective a member of the younger generation may hold. This young person is a rarity; not an utterance of their own 1st world issues. The presentation is fluid and concise with a broad cultural reach. Thank you!
Black Friday was a social event! Family and friends loved getting together and go into "battle" with one another in trying to score something free or greatly reduced He talks about the extremes, when mostly it was a fun time for many, like a treasure hunt, and people would stuff themselves with leftovers and go out and burn it off at the sales. It actually was fun to do Another example of how society is becoming more isolated
Yeah, all fun and games for you. Try being an employee during black Friday where you're literally treated like you're not human at all. And missing out on holiday time with your family. People like you are beyond selfish.
With the ridiculous prices & cheap quality I’m getting a sewing machine and going to make my own clothes for me and my toddler. It just doesn’t seem worth it to buy clothes from stores I used to frequent.
I think that's a pretty awesome thing to do actually, I've also gotten into sewing my clothes and I'm making myself my own winter parka and spray pants this year. I also made myself my own ribbon skirt this summer and it was quite fun. One of the things I really like about sewing my own clothing is I get to pick out the materials and weed out any potential allergens, I'm allergic to acrylic yarn and other synthetic textiles so shopping is honestly quite hard and really expensive for me. So being able to make my own has been significantly cheaper compared to trying to find wool cotton or blended cotton and viscose and has been healthier for me as I don't break out in hives so often now. Since there's deals on sewing machines especially the computerized and heavy duty ones I think I can justify splurging money on my own for accessibility reasons as a disabled person, I have limited mobility so using a manual sewing machine has honestly proven to be rather difficult and exhausting to me so it made me stick with hand sewing for awhile. The bells and whistles would just be nice and make things easier and speed up my work flow. I also have sewing tools and notions I inherited from my great grandmother so I'm also excited to use those more :)
When I saw my local Walmart empty on black Friday I just laughed, I worked for Walmart in 2002/2003 and they treated me like crap, most evil company I ever worked for so the heck with em! I hope they go out of business one day! I'm glad Amazon, Dollar stores and all their competition is cutting in on their monopoly...but their real biggest foe is shoplifters as they have caused Walmarts to actually close in big cities...have a good day ya'll
Great video! I agree that it's starting to show that slowly but surely people are becoming more selective on what and where they spend their money. If retail stores want people to come in and spend money on Black Friday deals then they are going to have to come up with some REAL deals because the ones advertised today just aren't enough.
Another of the things that has changed in 2000 the average American was 30 in 2020 the Average American was 38. The older we get the less consumer goods we purchase.
The extended Black Friday sales before the actual Black Friday, that might have something to do with it. When stores get last minute shoppers before Christmas, that will resemble what has been normal with the big crowds.
I've always done a lot of shopping on the evening of December 23rd. Have for years and years. The malls are almost empty and you can sit down and enjoy a decent meal with a couple of drinks.(I suppose the crowds explode on Christmas Eve morning. Enough is enough.)
I went to the mall this year for Black Friday. The parking lot was barely half full, when even a normal Saturday would fill the whole lot. Macy’s was on strike, with unionizers chanting outside the locked doors. Most stores had almost nothing on sale. I bought one half off jacket, a discounted lotion, and full price makeup remover. I was hungry so I went to the food court to grab lunch. One burger and fries cost $22. I was mortified.
Back in the day Black Friday was just that - Friday. Then it started opening at 7:00 am, then 6:00 am, then 5:00 am, then 4:00 am, then at midnight the night before, then at 4:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day and before you knew it there was no more black Friday. So glad. I used to hate when family members whom I would only see a couple times each year had to 'leave early' so they could go to some stupid sale, or see the next movie coming out that just had to open on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas. That one is still a pet peeve.
A possible contributor this year in particular would be the boycotts of large businesses that support Israel. I saw a lot of buzz about it but not sure how many people went through with the boycott
My wife and i are in our 30s, struggling to pay our mortgage and eat right now. No debt other than the mortgage and we're working 4 jobs. We didn't participate in black Friday shopping because we had to work. Anybody else out there struggling?
For the past few years I've had a tradition of going to my local mall on Black Friday to people watch. When I went to my neighborhood Mall a couple days ago the food court and the movie theater seemed crowded but it didn't seem like there were as many people in the shops as there was in previous years. Most people seem to be eating out and going to movies.
Honestly, I was one of the few employees that enjoyed Black Friday. I felt like I worked a 12 hour shift that went by fast because there’s so many people to talk to and sell to back in Best Buy. But this was 2013 when things were slowing down.
I mostly like Black Friday because it's one day to get the bulk of my shopping done and over with. Going alone, getting a nice lunch, and going at my own pace turns it into a pretty relaxing time
My first and last foray into Black Friday had me in a Walmart lot between 3:00-4:00 am, waiting to buy a bicycle that was marked down from $125 to like $50. The gag was, they had advertised those bikes all week, knowing damn well they only had about 4-5 in the store. I managed to get one, but only because Walmart pulled some last minute in-store PlayStation/flatscreen TV stunt causing people to lose their freaking minds, thus redirecting them. As I stood in line, I vowed to myself, never again. I Unfortunately it was revisited upon me about 8 years later when my then teens, were retail employees at the absolute height of Black Friday madness. I recall all of us just fuming in the car 😡 while I drove them to their retail outlet jobs at 7:00-9:00 pm every Thanksgiving evening. I gave them the green light to quit, but they hung in there until college.
i work retail. this year's black friday was crazy slow. it was barely busier than any normal weekend for us. there was no one waiting outside when we opened. there was barely anyone in the mall when we opened. i wasn't exactly looking forward to the chaos but i can't help being a little disappointed about the lack of customers this year.
And Amazon, and multiple streaming services, and app purchases, and mall clothes, and 2021 model year cars, and video games, and DoorDash, and 300 dollar Nike shoes....
In Australia we have the same thing on Boxing Day. Many of us have never understood why you would spoil the Christmas break with this horrendous ordeal just to save a few dollars (if any at all).
the only way i would participate in black friday is if it was for groceries or other essential goods! cuz baby i cannot afford and do not need new clothes or electronics. also if stores paid their workers better that would help… i don’t wanna add to those workers already loaded days.
A very well done, insightful, and concise analysis. First time viewer, subscribed.. I've never heard of this put into a larger economic framework, just as you said - framed as bad people.. Sadly now, people are actually using Black Friday sales to get discounts on food rather than TV's. Agree; our system is unsustainable and is about to capsize.
Lol…I run the gun counter at a sporting goods store. I don’t know how many background checks I ran Friday, but it was a LOT! I guess everybody decided target wasn’t that important, and they decided to buy a firearm.
People seem to think Black Friday started in the 2000's. It didn't, it just went insane then. When I was a kid in the 1960's, there was Black Friday. Stores opened the day after Thanksgiving at their normal times, and were packed. There was no reason for stores to stay open 24 hours during holidays, people shopped anyway when they did open. I remember when the first store (other than a convenience stores) in my area, a KMart, was open on Thanksgiving, in the 1970's. People were angry. What reason could there be to make the employees work on the holiday? This is a made-up holiday that reached it's infamous nadir in the 2000's, I remember my daughter's high-school boyfriend, whose parents were recent immigrants, insisting that going to the mall when it opened at midnight on Thanksgiving to fight crowds for cheap stuff was an "American tradition." No, it's not, unless you know nothing about American traditions.
Actually it is an American tradition. I get that you’re old but traditions like Black Friday have been around since I was born (2001). Americans have been punching each other for 60% off tablets since I can remember. Kicking a grandma for a 50% off flatscreen is an American tradition like thanksgiving or like the 4th of July
@@LucasFernandez-fk8se Does 23 years - or in your case more like 10 years, since you had little, if any, autonomy before that and none legally for the following 5 years - make a tradition? Traditions are passed down from generation to generation. I suppose you've passed down the "tradition" of fighting over cheap tv's to your offspring?
Multiple reasons why Black Friday isn’t as much of a thing anymore:
1. Online shopping becoming ubiquitous and the decline of brick and mortar shopping
2. Extended period of sales before and after Friday
3. Economic strains
4. Behavior changes as a legacy of the pandemic
5. Increased fear of large crowds due to concerns about violence, crime, mass shootings, stampedes, etc.
6. Segments of the population becoming less consumeristic/more conscious about sustainability
7. Shifts in what people consume (travel, entertainment, digital media, etc.) and fewer hot button must-haves capturing the zeitgeist (I.e Tickle Me Elmo).
You nailed it on #5. This is why I don't go.
@@skatetoexplorevideos2477no reason to be scared of that no more, there not doing that much no more
This comment is dead on.
8. 'Discounts' being only a few % lower than retail.
Bingo!!! I hope more people see your comment.
Turns out that if you don't pay your workers, they can't afford to participate in the consumer economy. Who could have predicted this?
Resturants and UberEats/DoorDash is next.
Right, it’s like I wanna buy ridiculous shit, but I can’t
Wait whooaaa
Whyd that just click something for me
Marx
@@joe6185 you should look into socialism, this stuff isn't news it's been predicted forever
This year I had my eyes on a few items more wants then needs so I wasn’t really tripping about not getting them but I then noticed on Black Friday that what a lot of stores were doing was raising the prices extremely high and then lower them back down to the original price to make it look like a “sale” I just rolled my eyes and left.
Thankfully that's illegal where I live (UK)
I've noticed that in general this is what sales tend to be, but yeah particularly during this time of year it's so bad.
@@WeatherInOrlando what isn't illegal in the UK? I hear flying the flag and praying in the street is illegal.
@@stud6414praying in the street is illegal since when? Even if it was illegal who would want to pray on the street lmao? Not much is illegal over here just the necessities and then some.
@@stud6414 Tell me you've never left your home country without telling me you've never left your home country.
This video hit me a little harder than it should have because I was a Walmart employee on Black Friday of 2019 and I literally was injured because of customers kicking me while frantically trying to get to products that I was putting back out on the shelves after they had run out. Never mind on top of that that Walmart forces their employees to do a mandatory 12-hour shift on Black Friday, meaning that I had to work from 7:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving until 7:00 a.m. on Black Friday after having taken care of my kids the whole Thanksgiving Day. I no longer work at Walmart but I do still work retail and I really appreciate that more people are shopping online because the way people act whenever they do Black Friday in stores is ridiculous. Nobody should be getting into fist fights over toys, nobody should be shot for an Xbox, and poor single parents working in retail jobs shouldn't be getting hurt at work.
I never shopped Black Friday it just seemed to me that people should be home with their families, not working. I was a waitress for many years and never had holidays off I always had to work so I never wanted to be the cause of others working holidays.
The Walmart I work at was sending people home early and sales was crappy.
I'm sorry that happened to you, that really sucks.
I work retail too and most of the sales were online sales. Instead of manning the cashier stations, they had us doing fulfillment orders. It was mostly the elderly who came and tried to get some Christmas shopping done but they had to endure the long lines because there weren’t enough cashiers working. 🥴
I remember my parents taking us Black Friday shop ONCE. It was awful. The stores were packed beyond belief and some lady was running me over with her overflowing cart. 😂 I was like 10 and this lady kept pushing me with her cart. No remorse lol.
I'm happy Black Friday is "dead". Too many real life horror stories over the years. On the good side: It definitely helped that Black Friday sales were happening an entire week before the actual Black Friday (that spread things out) and lots of online deals. On the bad side, about 90% of the Black Friday sales were very poor compared to other years (just not low enough in most cases). On the ugly side: there is an unofficial financial crisis since A LOT of people are BROKE ("thanks" inflation).
3 words.....Thank you,Amazon!
Truth be told, greed destroyed black Friday. Stores ruined their own holiday by creeping it earlier and earlier. Now bkack Friday is just another day in a two month period of Christmas stuff.
You spread the sales out over a month + online shopping + no killer "must have" item = Why bother going out on one day?
Nope more people are catching on that its really no different from the rest of the year, stores have made it so obvious now, they were pretending at hiding the bs before.
Yep. They really should just wait to have the sale on one day.
Capitalism destroyed Black Friday, I confirm that.
@@kharimarquettecrony capitalism destroys everything it touches
The best Truth Be Told line was at the end when he said "I doubt that housing, health care and education will go on sale anytime soon" 🥺🤨
The worst part is that companies like Walmart, and Amazon actively work against polities that protect their employees and customers. I'm sure every politician has been bought by some corporation in one way or another. Our money is being used against us.
Education is already free to the public.
@@sathdk79 Yes public schools are paid with city tax dollars but not all as in Colleges etc. & one point was education costs are always increasing there's no "Black Friday big savings going on now sale" 😒💸💰
@@sathdk79In the USA, anything past high school is not free for the vast majority of people.
@@sathdk79no it’s not.
I was a salesperson at a furniture store for 2 years. Hated it, but it helped me pay for college. In the days leading up to Black Friday, we would have to make a big handwritten price tag to put on every piece of furniture (of which there were hundreds) with the "sale price." Of course, we were just writing the normal price and removing the usual price tag. It was a huge waste of time and paper, strained the backs of older employees, and built distrust in the customers who weren't as stupid as management wanted to think.Then we'd open at 6 AM on Black Friday instead of the usual 9 AM, and all salespeople were required to be there, and hardly any customers would show up for hours. Then when we would finally have our turn to greet a customer (which wasn't often with every salesperson being there for the 14 hour work day), we'd get chastised when a customer noticed our bullshit tactics or something wasn't in stock (none of which we had control over). I've literally had nightmares about the experience 🙃
That's awful
i need you so bad
I wonder if they are still in business
@eriq54321 I won't say what company, but they did go out of business at the start of the pandemic. They've since reopened some of their stores, but did not reopen the location I was at.
I would feel guilty to have to work that. The company deserves to go out.
the man being trampled to death reduced frequency of the phrase "doorbuster" in walmart ads
damn that's sad and really dystopian
@@waterlily7075 Sad? Yeah. Dystopian? No.
One of my family members worked at that Walmart and they told us what happened before it hit the news. We never participated in black Friday after that😢
You need to feel for the delivery drivers. They are overworked, many are underpaid and given the fact that delivery vehicles and drivers are being held up at gunpoint, they are working under dangerous and stressful conditions.
As someone who did Driver Helper during peak season from 2017-2020, I'm glad that I haven't done it since then but I genuinely feel bad for them during peak season.
Delivery drivers literally are a skilled workforce, they are licensed to operate dangerous vehicles that could cause harm to themselves as well as others. That really needs to be recognized in their pay, especially with the time constraints put on them. It’s one thing to deliver something safely, it’s another to ask for it fast. Y’all should unionize like the auto workers or something.
Why is it when something good comes along, say, home delivery very cheap, the parasites screw it up for everyone?
The amazon workers are always in my thoughts and prayers during any holiday sale 😂 I can’t imagine the pressure
It's not that hard of the job I drive for an Amazon dsp. I've been doing it for 2 years now. They definitely could bring it a lot higher quality service if they would pay us 10-15 percent higher, but they got us for the cheap, I guess, with the whole third party delivery service. The warehouse workers have zero standards, though, and if your package is smashed up, it's not my fault. I swear I saw the dude at the warehouse chest pass the package into a metal cart.
I also think that since everyone has some sort of smart device, there’s no great rush to go out on Black Friday like there was in the early 2010’s when such items were a luxury. It’s one of those “When everyone gets one, what else is there to keep the interest up” kind of thing that has led to the decline of Black Friday. Also it’s not worth the time anymore, sometimes you’ll find the best deals in the summer and springtime when there’s a surplus of merchandise since sales slow down a little during the spring and summer months.
According to my mom, the best deals are usually after Christmas
I used to do black friday because the stores actually stock all their sizes and put out more interesting fashion. I would always go out and look for embroidered jeans. Even online these aren't easy to find. It wasn't about savings, it was about availability.
I'll admit, it was also because it felt like an exciting way to kick off the Christmas season.
I stopped when they started making the "sales" begin before Thanksgiving. I wasn't able to depend on increased and refreshed stock anymore. Christmas music starts in November, stores start selling christmas merch in October, and the christmas movies take over some tv channles in September! It all stopped feeling like something to look foreward too.
By trying to make Christmas a 3 month event, they caused me to stop spending as much.
@@picachugirl2036 I've seen stores start sneaking stuff in September, not even waiting for October anymore. At this rate we are going to get Christmas in July.
Same with Halloween, although it worked
@@Excalibur-Sonicthey already have their back to school sales in may when the school year hasn’t ended yet 🙄. Stores are trippin
@@Excalibur-SonicChristmas in July was actually a thing by at least one retailer back in the '70's but it certainly didn't last long.
I think there are embroidered jeans in the Roamans or Catherine’s catalog and website.
Id say its a W if people arent dying from black friday anymore
seriously, it breaks my heart that workers just trying to support their families died for the greed of corporations and shoppers
Same
It definitely helped break up traffic when businesses started to run their sales the entire week leading up to Black Friday instead of Friday only. I work at Best Buy and I was terrified for my first Black Friday last year but it was VERY tame compared to the horror stories. This year had even less traffic. I’m sure covid had something to do with less traffic as well but sales all week is definitely helpful.
Not to mention the type of items being sold. Best Buy by some time next year will have all its physical media gone and those were the items people who go for at Black Friday, DVDs, blu rays, video games, CDs, consoles, etc. By next year most of those won't be around and hits hard to tackle someone over a new fridge or printer.
I'm proud to say that I have never participated in this nonsense.
Same here 👍
Me either. Those people had mental problems. And we're unkownling been exploited.
Same here. I can't stand crowds. The idea of going elbow to elbow with a bunch of fools chasing a very limited stock of bargain items never appealed to me. This year I went to Wal-Mart in the evening and it looked like a regular day except for the Black Friday signs by the entrance. No huge lines at all.
Me too
I worked in retail for over a decade. I've had to work many Black Fridays. I absolutely refuse to shop it.
I’ve worked at kohls part time since I was 18, I’m 25 now. Back when I was younger there were always people lined up waiting for hours to get into kohls late on thanksgiving night. And it wasn’t just kohls, target, Walmart, Best Buy-all those stores had lines of people waiting to get in. Now that doesn’t happen. The holidays are busier than other times of year yes, but compared to previous holiday seasons things are actually pretty dead. What is different though is the increase in online orders. I work BOPUS (buy online pick up in store) for my kohls and I was significantly busier than the cashiers even. So many online orders it messed up our system multiple times. I was running around the store fulfilling online orders while the cashiers were kinda just standing around. I imagine it was crazy busy for other retailers online orders too. I enjoy the busyness of the holidays but it makes me a tiny bit sad that it’s declining. Kohls isn’t my main job so I don’t care too much, but it’s still sad to see
It doesn't sound like sales are declining, just a new type of shopping is overtaking it.
Your comment at 8:10 really struck me. The only Black Friday shopping I did this year was to buy shoes for my family. We all desperately needed shoes, and Black Friday was the only time we could afford new ones.
As an ex retail and food worker I always had major mental breakdowns before and after holiday season because I was always TERRIFIED of being over demanded by several persons for my attention 🤮 😂😅 buuut now that I’m officially off the job market forever (I became disabled after pregnancy) It was interesting too see people loose empathy for the unemployed the more they hated their job/couldn’t afford to “not work” even tho we (the jobless/unwanting/unable) are ALSO struggling. Im grateful we all spend covid alone with our thoughts and reflecting that maybe we are acting inhuman. I hope Black Friday is never a thing again.
@picachugirl2036 Getting ssdi is like a deal with the devil. It's super tempting to get that monthly check when you're truly struggling, but it can bite you back in the ass. It's sad.
Online sales is what happened. Black Friday isn’t even on Friday anymore, starts earlier in the week and then leads into Cyber Monday. I remember those chaotic Black Fridays, they were ridiculous but funny at times.
I broke my phone the day before Thanksgiving, so I had to put on a brave face and deal with Black Friday to get a new one. It definitely wasn't as many people as I expected. It was similar to like the week or two before Christmas. Glad it's dying out finally.
Glad you did a break down. I mean at this point the average Americans don't have money to buy luxury items unless it goes on credit at this point. They need to start having better deals on grocery items at this point since many are just trying to survive.
I’m glad the consumer has more control over how we get our stuff and when.
Nah consumers are still not smart. They still shop online and waste a ton of money. Now it's just easier to waste cash nowadays
Corporate greed destroyed Black Friday. They made it so that those discounts happen throughout November & December, so there’s no need to rush out on a particular day.
TIL that "corporate greed" entails that "they made it so that those discounts happen throughout November & December, so there’s no need to rush".
I don't think this falls under corporate greed lol. Unless you just hate all big box stores I guess.
It’s just better strategy. There was never a need for Christmas sales to be crammed into a few days. Black Friday was basically a gimmick of stocking 5 TVs and 5 laptops and selling them for hundreds off to make the sales flyer look better. Stores just went back to the way things used to be, but kept the “black friday” name.
People who never owned anything always talking about greed
Hurry and buy this bubble top before you have to pay half price in a few years. At this point, I'm still at a crossroad regarding whether or not to liquidate my $138k stock portfolio. What's the best way to take advantage of this current market?
Find quality stocks that have long term potential, and ride with those stocks. I have found it takes someone who is very familiar with the market to make such good picks.
I agree with you. I started out with investing on my own, but I lost a lot of money. I was able to pull out about $200k after the 2020 crash. I invested the money using an analyst, and in seven months, I raked in almost $673,000
Mind if I ask you to recommend this particular coach you using their service?
There are many financial coaches who excel in their profession, but for the time being, I employ Samuel Peter Descovich because I adore his methods.
You can make research and find out more.
He appears to be well-educated and well-read. I ran a Google search on his name and came across his website;
thank you for sharing.
I used to work at a major retail store for a few years and black Friday was the worst. I told myself I would not participate in it. I think people are over being led by corporations.
me and my family have never been big on black friday, we knew it was a scam and that people just go into credit card debt every year despite the "Savings"
I never saw the appeal and one year I was going to go with my brother and his friend but we just ended up sleeping in and not going and from the sounds of it all the better for it since when they went the deals weren't deals, the prices were maybe 10 dollars off but still came out to like 60 bucks for a set of headphones. It was dumb.
I don't know for those of you who didn't participate in black friday what do you think?
I find it crazy that Black Friday has become a thing in countries like mine outside the USA when we don't do Thanksgiving Day.
Yup is pretty much the same here in Chile. The only discount you can get is after holidays
@@GOUdamnI used to be such a day after Christmas sale girlie, but i feel like those deals just aren’t as good as they used to be. Recession hitting hard.
I was in procurement for a small company, so I'd be purchasing every week. When black Friday first came to my country, I was interested, but then I noticed the toilet paper was still the same price, and I was never interested after that.
I celebrate it as "buy nothing day".
As a retail employee whose last full week was that of Thanksgiving/Black Friday (I worked both days) and started a full-time job literally the next business day, this hits hard. It feels so weird to me that I earn more money sitting at a desk and grabbing a coffee every few hours than I do working on my feet and handling money, and the existentialism of entering into a system of living with such a hyper-awareness of how broken it actually is is terrifying.
oh no we can't participate in rampant consumerism in person anymore whatever will we doooooooooo
My last "Black Friday" experience was the first several weeks of March 2020. It took Walmart corporate nearly the entite month to realize that letting people stockpile toilet paper to be resold online for astronomical markups was a bad idea, and most people were going without as a result.
Seriously, every single damn day. We had trucks coming three times a day, each with 3 to 5 pallets of toilet paper and paper towels, and we were STILL emptied out.
Covid taught me that I didnt need as much stuff as Id been buying, I only spend on basics now, my spending has decreased dramatically since 2020 😊
Times are a changing. It is easier to shop online. Calmer, no lines, no stampedes, no nasty people to deal with, and more likely to get your hands on items. No standing outside the store in lines before you even get in the store. Believe me, the stress relief is a Godsend! And this year black friday sales started nov.1, and the greatest sales and stores were seen as Black friday, starting the monday before it. Knocking out the lines on friday. I think it's about time stores close on Thanksgiving so families can be together! Now, close the stores on Easter and Christmas.
At least in my area most stores (walmarr, target, mcdonalds ect.) shut down completely for thanksgiving.
Can't say I agree with it though, since it just made Kroger stay open later & get all the buisness that would have gone elsewhere.
@littlemanbigpersonality I used to work at Kmart for 8 yrs. Back then, Kmart was the store staying open longer. 1980's It totally sucked having to work holidays. I think the stores were ok, they had their sales up all week. Plenty of time to make their black Friday revenue.
People don’t want the things anymore. People are impoverished due to spiking housing costs, spiking car costs, spiking food costs and spiking bills. They don’t want a George Forman grill for 75% off anymore. They’ve just decided they don’t even want to attempt to buy new things until the economy gets better
Shows you how they can easily lose control of us when we stand together
In 2011 I worked at the mall and witnessed a fistfight break out in Victorias Secret and someone fell and broke their arm. It’s crazy how dead it was when I went out this year.
1. People these days are chosing to prioritize mental health instead of standing in long lines during their few (and far) days off. I used to LOVE Black Friday. But around the mid 2010s I started to simply wants to stay home. A lot of people these days are stressed out, sad, or anxious. No one wants to subject themselves to massive chaos and confused duration Black Friday
2. Online shopping is less stressful (again most people don't want added stress and trauma). They're chosing to stay home and prioritize rest and peace
3. People are getting fearful of large crowds with the rise of mass shooting
"Black Friday is dead" GOOD.
😂😂😂
Things have changed so much since 2011. I don't give a shit anymore and so many things are not important to me as they used to be and I feel like other people feel like this too.
Black Fridays should be illegal. Going to and working at a store on black Friday can be very dangerous.
Oh please. Dramatic much?
Huh? How?
Black friday is dead
She is right though. Their was always multiple people killed. People trampled. People stabbed. People shot. It was madness.
@@laraantipova389 And that would be the situation at a lot of rap concerts.
Should those also "be illegal" too?
You nailed it. I knew this from Years ago back in the late 90's when I worked in retail. To the years after when I was stocking shelves to price changing, I knew ALL that was going on and tried to tell people but they would just laugh because I did't have that label that says im somebody or 'not rich' enough to be 'smart' (man, it was like talking to school children). It always sickened me how so many fell for this act like it's a live studio play* (what many were taught about these 'holidays' are far from accurate* but it's the fantasy land they always wanted...until they wake up* but sadly so many don't).
We were killing each other and getting pneumonia sleeping outside stores. I remember being so desperate for cheap cameras when the lady said "you can only buy 2." I lied and said "but I have 6 kids!!!". They let me have them. 😂They made my cousins children very happy.
As a young person whose family never did black friday I went for the first time last year. The mall was pretty packed but I ended up buying nothing because the sales were only 20-30% off of things. I was completely baffled; there are better sales all year. I can understand it for tech but not for literally anything else.
Robert, I've watched a couple of your videos now and am so impressed. In the era of 90-minute video essays and documentaries, it is so refreshing to see a clear, concise 10-minute video. No extra fluff, no dramatic music or graphics, just quality information and commentary. Keep up the good work!
6:28 I completely agree. Believe it or not, people have a bigger heart and conscience for others now than before. When I was a kid, NOBODY would ever think twice about the workers, manufacturers, truck drivers, etc and how they're being exploited. All people thought about was "Cheap TV, must buy". The fact that more people even considers how terrible it must be for the workers, is honestly an improvement for humanity.
In our work place we received a 20 cent raise, but wait our health insurance was increased by 30 cents 😑. We couldn't have asked for such a great deal.
My first time black Friday shopping was in 2013. I was violently stoned, and we just went to Walmart for fun because it was one of the firsr years they started on Thanksgiving. I went into the bathroom and when I came out 2 women were shoving each and wrestling over something(didn't even see what it was) and then the husbands stepped in and got into a literal fist fight. Within seconds they were swarmed by a crowd. I barely made it out of the frenzy before it got crazy. I didn't go again until 2015, and by then things had already began to change drastically. It was more like a busy day at the mall than a crazed stampede. Haven't been in years and probably won't go ever again, but it's so strange to see the change. Seeing my first one in 2013 vs this most recent one is mind boggling.
I remember many years ago when during Black Friday, the department stores did incredible sales and employees got rewarded for making it go as smoothly as possible. Now it is not what it was. Companies will pretend and say, look at the record sales we made. That couldn't be further from the truth.
Omg the transition from thumbnail to video (once I clicked this video) was almost impeccable
I went to Walmart on Friday midmorning (not for Black Friday shopping, just needed TP and cereal) and it was about as busy as it typically is on a weekday evening. Very manageable. And there were actually employees around, including at the registers, which was nice. Walmart clearly expected a crowd, bet they're gonna be disappointed with this year's sales.
this happened at the store i work at too, we were only slightly busier than we usually are on an average saturday. i don't think we even made it halfway to our sales goal.
What about Walmart online sales?
There was a great article at like Business insider or something that talked about how retailers shot themselves in the foot by stretching Black Friday to a so-called “gray month” and lost any semblance of hype
Another reason I'm glad to see this trend wither away, is how in-store hours crept earlier and earlier, basically wiping out Thanksgiving. You could shop the best deals or celebrate the holiday -- not both.
The idea originally was you've got a long weekend and you're with family, it's a great time to start holiday shopping as you know what everyone wants. But the stores whittled that down, going from opening at 6am Friday, to 3am, to midnight, to 6pm Thursday, to noon. Banquet turkey TV dinners for everyone!
Something something capitalism
Something something capitalism something something
It is interesting though, because the ever expanding cooperate blob seeks year after year, quarter after quarter growth. Now we have Black Friday week, Cyber Monday week because those investors must HAVE that growth. So they expand the sales, the promos, and the likes year after year. Nowadays Walmart even does "Black Friday discounts!" on certain items throughout the year. Capitalism created the monstrosity of Black Friday only to consume it and destroy it in the way they always destroy things: infinite growth. Ironic and kinda funny.
And boy do I love me some capitalism.
Retailers had record profits, and they no longer have any incentive to give shoppers deals! That’s what’s going on 🤬
No one cares about shopping or movies anymore. The costs of everything rose and our wages didnt, and the response that 'you need marketable skills' is BS they use to excuse the fact that they keep moving the goal posts
I was getting early black friday emails from online shops I use almost a month ago. The whole of november. Amazon had their prime weekend sale last month too. Some of the deals in the lead up to black friday were better than the ones on the actual day.
I don't see it as a "decline" at all. The past Black Friday retail combat that Walmart encouraged was insane. I see Walmart and consumers as being more reasonable.
Stores are opening much later on Friday and not on thanksgiving, that is an objective decline.
I got my jaw broke on a black friday in 2001. All over a parking space at the mall. Didnt even make it in to shop. So dumb.
Thanks Robert for the very nuanced and easy to follow video's! Iv'e started to miss this more down to earth style of commentary on youtube.
What retailers count on is psychology. Once they got you in the door, it feels like a defeat or a waste of time to walk out empty handed even if you didn’t get the deal you were looking for. It takes awareness and mental distance to just walk out and not settling for a lesser buy so that you can have the satisfaction of saying you bought something
As a former Black Friday Die Hard (I had to be within the top five of the line by being there the night before and we had a warming vehicle waiting), my life changed no more little kids (they grew up and woukd rather have a bill paid than a toy) and no more long lists of parents, grandparents , inlaws to biuy for now I am donating all my past gifts to them from their houses we inherited.
Thankfully Black Friday isn't just on one day anymore, I've been seeing online sales the whole month, there's "early Black Friday", "Black Friday," and "Cyber Monday". I just ordered online and got what I needed. If I go into a store it's only for food nowadays.
Subscribing because you are giving me nostaglia in the best way possible. Your video was a 20/20 segment vibes. Keep it up and when I have a little coin hopefully I can join your Patreon.
You will not believe this, I'm from India and brands are hyping up Black Friday.
I'm talking about big billboards and ads shoving down our throats. It's so irritating
Oh please don't bother with it. I'm a Desi who's been living in America and I have to say India does not need to follow in America's footsteps lol
@@amethystdream8251 I completely agree with you. Brands are creating fomo for something sooo unnecessary. Peak capitalism
my anxiety and depression LOVE your voice. I LOVE your voice. keep up the amazing work!!!!
I was at the mall yesterday (honestly forgot it was black Friday until I was halfway there lmao) and it was quite busy but it was, like, manageably busy? People everywhere but no dense throngs or anything. Tbf, this was in Canada, so it's not like it was a school break or anything.
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the US. Canada celebrates at a different date.
@@Ou8y2k2We celebrate thanksgiving on a different day but black friday sales are happening this weekend in canada
@@Ou8y2k2 I... know that?? I'm Canadian. Stores here still do Black Friday sales though.
Oh. Wow. I watched this video to see what perspective a member of the younger generation may hold.
This young person is a rarity; not an utterance of their own 1st world issues.
The presentation is fluid and concise with a broad cultural reach. Thank you!
They need a Black Friday sale on groceries.
Got $80 jeans with $10 off. Corporations have lost their damn mind.
Black Friday was a social event! Family and friends loved getting together and go into "battle" with one another in trying to score something free or greatly reduced
He talks about the extremes, when mostly it was a fun time for many, like a treasure hunt, and people would stuff themselves with leftovers and go out and burn it off at the sales. It actually was fun to do
Another example of how society is becoming more isolated
Yeah, all fun and games for you. Try being an employee during black Friday where you're literally treated like you're not human at all. And missing out on holiday time with your family. People like you are beyond selfish.
This is the first video I've ever seen from you and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Subscribed!
With the ridiculous prices & cheap quality I’m getting a sewing machine and going to make my own clothes for me and my toddler. It just doesn’t seem worth it to buy clothes from stores I used to frequent.
I think that's a pretty awesome thing to do actually, I've also gotten into sewing my clothes and I'm making myself my own winter parka and spray pants this year. I also made myself my own ribbon skirt this summer and it was quite fun. One of the things I really like about sewing my own clothing is I get to pick out the materials and weed out any potential allergens, I'm allergic to acrylic yarn and other synthetic textiles so shopping is honestly quite hard and really expensive for me. So being able to make my own has been significantly cheaper compared to trying to find wool cotton or blended cotton and viscose and has been healthier for me as I don't break out in hives so often now. Since there's deals on sewing machines especially the computerized and heavy duty ones I think I can justify splurging money on my own for accessibility reasons as a disabled person, I have limited mobility so using a manual sewing machine has honestly proven to be rather difficult and exhausting to me so it made me stick with hand sewing for awhile. The bells and whistles would just be nice and make things easier and speed up my work flow. I also have sewing tools and notions I inherited from my great grandmother so I'm also excited to use those more :)
Sounds like a great skill to have that will save you thousands.
My dumbass went to Black Friday thinking I could stock up on toilet paper for cheap. Obviously, it was the same price
Lol
When I saw my local Walmart empty on black Friday I just laughed, I worked for Walmart in 2002/2003 and they treated me like crap, most evil company I ever worked for so the heck with em! I hope they go out of business one day! I'm glad Amazon, Dollar stores and all their competition is cutting in on their monopoly...but their real biggest foe is shoplifters as they have caused Walmarts to actually close in big cities...have a good day ya'll
off topic but I love your clear tone and explanations! awesome execution of this video!!
I saw a video at Target where the Black Friday price was the same as the regular price. They didn't remove the regular price tag off. 😂
Great video! I agree that it's starting to show that slowly but surely people are becoming more selective on what and where they spend their money. If retail stores want people to come in and spend money on Black Friday deals then they are going to have to come up with some REAL deals because the ones advertised today just aren't enough.
Trust us, we know that corporations didn’t choose to scale back Black Friday hours because they care about the workers.
Another of the things that has changed in 2000 the average American was 30 in 2020 the Average American was 38. The older we get the less consumer goods we purchase.
The extended Black Friday sales before the actual Black Friday, that might have something to do with it. When stores get last minute shoppers before Christmas, that will resemble what has been normal with the big crowds.
yup I worked Black Friday and the sales we had started the Sunday before lmao
I've always done a lot of shopping on the evening of December 23rd. Have for years and years. The malls are almost empty and you can sit down and enjoy a decent meal with a couple of drinks.(I suppose the crowds explode on Christmas Eve morning. Enough is enough.)
Well, when you gut the middle class and make it so the VAST majority of people do not have disposable income, they tend to smarten up!
I went to the mall this year for Black Friday. The parking lot was barely half full, when even a normal Saturday would fill the whole lot. Macy’s was on strike, with unionizers chanting outside the locked doors. Most stores had almost nothing on sale. I bought one half off jacket, a discounted lotion, and full price makeup remover. I was hungry so I went to the food court to grab lunch. One burger and fries cost $22. I was mortified.
Back in the day Black Friday was just that - Friday. Then it started opening at 7:00 am, then 6:00 am, then 5:00 am, then 4:00 am, then at midnight the night before, then at 4:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day and before you knew it there was no more black Friday. So glad. I used to hate when family members whom I would only see a couple times each year had to 'leave early' so they could go to some stupid sale, or see the next movie coming out that just had to open on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas. That one is still a pet peeve.
My black friday was buying a bunch of oversized blankets on sale from freaking Kohls. 😂 forgot Kohls even existed, but I needed blankets.
from a discount point of view, black friday is disappointing now. only 20% of most items which you could find throughout the year, it used to be 50%+
A possible contributor this year in particular would be the boycotts of large businesses that support Israel. I saw a lot of buzz about it but not sure how many people went through with the boycott
I hate it when you Islamofascists tell me why I don't patronize capitalist corporations. Not everyone hates Jews as much as you do.
Lol thats so cringe imagine boycotting 😂😂😂 ill gladly support a company that supports Israel!!!
My wife and i are in our 30s, struggling to pay our mortgage and eat right now. No debt other than the mortgage and we're working 4 jobs. We didn't participate in black Friday shopping because we had to work. Anybody else out there struggling?
For the past few years I've had a tradition of going to my local mall on Black Friday to people watch. When I went to my neighborhood Mall a couple days ago the food court and the movie theater seemed crowded but it didn't seem like there were as many people in the shops as there was in previous years. Most people seem to be eating out and going to movies.
Honestly, I was one of the few employees that enjoyed Black Friday. I felt like I worked a 12 hour shift that went by fast because there’s so many people to talk to and sell to back in Best Buy. But this was 2013 when things were slowing down.
I mostly like Black Friday because it's one day to get the bulk of my shopping done and over with. Going alone, getting a nice lunch, and going at my own pace turns it into a pretty relaxing time
My first and last foray into Black Friday had me in a Walmart lot between 3:00-4:00 am, waiting to buy a bicycle that was marked down from $125 to like $50. The gag was, they had advertised those bikes all week, knowing damn well they only had about 4-5 in the store. I managed to get one, but only because Walmart pulled some last minute in-store PlayStation/flatscreen TV stunt causing people to lose their freaking minds, thus redirecting them. As I stood in line, I vowed to myself, never again. I Unfortunately it was revisited upon me about 8 years later when my then teens, were retail employees at the absolute height of Black Friday madness. I recall all of us just fuming in the car 😡 while I drove them to their retail outlet jobs at 7:00-9:00 pm every Thanksgiving evening. I gave them the green light to quit, but they hung in there until college.
Really really great video, Robert!
i work retail. this year's black friday was crazy slow. it was barely busier than any normal weekend for us. there was no one waiting outside when we opened. there was barely anyone in the mall when we opened. i wasn't exactly looking forward to the chaos but i can't help being a little disappointed about the lack of customers this year.
Its dead cause everything is so expensive now, espescially with food. So no ones interested
Everyone is realizing they already have enough creature comforts and is only focused on food and survival.
And Amazon, and multiple streaming services, and app purchases, and mall clothes, and 2021 model year cars, and video games, and DoorDash, and 300 dollar Nike shoes....
In Australia we have the same thing on Boxing Day. Many of us have never understood why you would spoil the Christmas break with this horrendous ordeal just to save a few dollars (if any at all).
Really good content and delivery. Thanks for taking the time.
the only way i would participate in black friday is if it was for groceries or other essential goods! cuz baby i cannot afford and do not need new clothes or electronics. also if stores paid their workers better that would help… i don’t wanna add to those workers already loaded days.
source: i work at walmart 😎
A very well done, insightful, and concise analysis. First time viewer, subscribed.. I've never heard of this put into a larger economic framework, just as you said - framed as bad people.. Sadly now, people are actually using Black Friday sales to get discounts on food rather than TV's. Agree; our system is unsustainable and is about to capsize.
Lol…I run the gun counter at a sporting goods store.
I don’t know how many background checks I ran Friday, but it was a LOT!
I guess everybody decided target wasn’t that important, and they decided to buy a firearm.
I'm a non-American who just watched Eli Roth's "Thanksgiving" and now I realize that it's a documentary of pre-COVID Thanksgiving.
People seem to think Black Friday started in the 2000's. It didn't, it just went insane then. When I was a kid in the 1960's, there was Black Friday. Stores opened the day after Thanksgiving at their normal times, and were packed. There was no reason for stores to stay open 24 hours during holidays, people shopped anyway when they did open. I remember when the first store (other than a convenience stores) in my area, a KMart, was open on Thanksgiving, in the 1970's. People were angry. What reason could there be to make the employees work on the holiday? This is a made-up holiday that reached it's infamous nadir in the 2000's,
I remember my daughter's high-school boyfriend, whose parents were recent immigrants, insisting that going to the mall when it opened at midnight on Thanksgiving to fight crowds for cheap stuff was an "American tradition." No, it's not, unless you know nothing about American traditions.
Actually it is an American tradition. I get that you’re old but traditions like Black Friday have been around since I was born (2001). Americans have been punching each other for 60% off tablets since I can remember. Kicking a grandma for a 50% off flatscreen is an American tradition like thanksgiving or like the 4th of July
@@LucasFernandez-fk8seI think I’ll listen to the older person rather than someone born in 2001…
You know nothing about America if you where born in 2001. Take a seat kiddo
@@LucasFernandez-fk8se Does 23 years - or in your case more like 10 years, since you had little, if any, autonomy before that and none legally for the following 5 years - make a tradition? Traditions are passed down from generation to generation. I suppose you've passed down the "tradition" of fighting over cheap tv's to your offspring?
1. lay offs 2. these sales are shitty! 3. we are shopping mainly online even though we cry about shipping fees and porch pirates!