Black Friday: The Story behind an Economic Tradition

The story behind an economic tradition such as Black Friday is indeed an interesting one.

Would the people of the United States of America believe it or not…but once upon a time there was no haphazard shopping of the variety engaged in around Black Friday. Thanksgiving was a time of gluttonous eating, television viewing of football matches and post-holiday sales. 

According to ABCnews, that was all there was. The phenomenon known as Black Friday had not congealed into a regular practice back then. But that was a long time ago and today it is a tradition of the postmodern world.

Black Friday is a shopper’s paradise alright. The retailers offer some huge discounts on a lot of retail therapy and the end result is that the economy is given an extra booster shot in the arm. 

According to lore, in the 50s and 60s there were incessant traffic jams that left roads in bottlenecks and that was the source of the name. The Friday after Thanksgiving was when the Christmas seasonal shopping began. And that is how an epithet and practice began in earnest.

In the past it was dents in wallets that got made at every purchase and nowadays it is the limit on your credit card that gets reached in no time. The people shop till they drop and the addiction and high of a shopping experience is really adrenaline-pumping in its nature.

The craze and rush for market goods and products has often resulted in everything from injuries to deaths due to the madness that ensues after the sales get underway. The previous year, shops opened on Thanksgiving while this year they are opening on Friday (that is today).

Black Friday goes by several other names as well including: Grey Thursday, Brown Thursday and Black Thursday. The shopping will occur both on an in-store basis and in an online environment as well. It is a possibility that this time around many people will choose to hit the snooze button on their side table clocks on the occasion of Black Friday though.   

Haggling is the way to even better discount deals on goods on Black Friday according to ConsumerReports. Almost 90% of shoppers get some juicy discounts on stuff via the bargaining and bickering process.The savings are pretty high. Those who purchased furniture saved up to $250 on Black Friday.

It is a sad fact though that many people who choose peace of mind over the stress of fighting for a discount end up losing quite a lot of money. This figure comprises a third of all the individuals who shop and a large percentage of this consists of women.

Among the reasons given for backing away from a little tiff were self-esteem issues, fear of appearing cheap and a mortal dread of looking poverty-stricken. Then the major issue was having to hear a firm rebuttal by some stonehearted shopkeeper.

Only the un-selfconscious among us who have a high level of self-confidence and are fully secure in their skin dare to go for the jugular when it comes to bickering and haggling. There are various tricks of the trade that are used to get leverage points and extract a bargain from a retailer.

Social skills are of the essence. A big 100 watt smile along with gentlemanly (and gentle womanly) behavior not to mention a cheerful disposition count in the end. Aggression only gets you so far. It is ultimately a psychological warfare of sorts that goes on in the minds of the buyer and seller.

The list of tools available to the serious haggler include:

• comparing the price to other lower prices,
• personal friendliness with the salesman,
• coupons and other strategies,
• saying that you deserve a bit of leniency sometimes and telling the shop owner that his goods are slightly faulty in their nature.

According to Time, paying the price at face value is for dumb people who do not know any better. Without some degree of effort at lowering the rate, you might as well forgo the very act of shopping on Black Friday. A little silence too goes a long way too and if push comes to shove you /4/as well start to leave the store and it is a sure thing that the seller will call you back in a hurry.

According to NBCNews, the richest Americans do the bulk of the holiday shopping. This is a tragic trend since it points to the frustration of the poor who do not have enough extra money to do some serious shopping of their own. Greater equality and parity ought to reign in today’s supposedly advanced economic times.