BUY NOTHING DAY - Nov 28

[SandraMort]

For the record, the walmart where the man was trampled was in the suburbs, not in NYC. Also, later articles in the day said that the mother was hospitalized but did not, in fact, lose the baby. TG.

As for me, I don't really get the point of buy nothing day. If you need something and go without it for one day, I don't think anyone will notice. And as sevceral other people mentioned, there are times the marked dwn prices are so drastically different, that it doesn't make sense to wait. On the other hand, to go just to go also doesn't make much sense.

Last year, I did the overnight wait on line thing for the first time. It wasn't pleasant but it was the only way I was going to be able to afford a GPS with a screen large enough for my middle aged mother to comfortably read. I also got a camcorder that I would have been unable to afford otherwise, important since we were about to have a baby.

This year, I stopped by Joann Fabric in the afternoon and picked up some stuff I needed to make holiday gifts, but it could have been tomorrow or the day after. I just happened to have a 50% off coupon good for today.

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[debilorrah]

Oh I am so glad she didn't lose the baby!! Everything I read said she had, so that is good news. I will never understand why people go so berserk!!!

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

I cannot imagine having to live with myself knowing I was part of a crowd that killed someone over a sale!!

When I heard that story I was SO shocked and saddened. This was not people escaping some threat to their lives. This was not even some people lost in a religious fervor.

I just caught myself. It actually was, wasn't it? People get so caught up in the competition of the "I gotta get there before everybody else or I will lose out: mentality.

A group of Americans, who have so much, killed some one so they could get something cheaper or before some one else did.......

People say all the time that America's competitive drive is what makes us great, but I think we've taken it so far we're self destructing.

 

[jacyjones]

This thread is incredibly scary! We do not have anything similar over her in the UK - there are queues for things like the latest X box or game for it and stuff like that but it does not seem to get out of hand. People queue for tickets for wimbledon and concerts but they all have tents and seem pretty civilised. I hate to think we would experience what you all seem to have to put up with - we do seem to follow trends that start in America over here! Is it only in November that this happens?

 

[fowltemptress]

Having experienced my first Black Friday I'm now not sure what is being protested . . . it seems most people were out getting what they'd eventually buy anyway, but for a lot cheaper and with a ton more jostling involved. I'm having trouble finding fault with cheaper stuff . . . not sure why everyone thinks they have to wake up at midnight to deal with this, though. Someone should hold a protest just to get the stores to open later so annoying SO's wanting table saws don't wake their poor partners out of a sound sleep at 4 in the morning.

 

[Possumpoint]

Years ago, I was the manager of a store in a shopping mall. Black Friday was alway's a nightmare! I swore I would never willingly put myself into a crazy crowd of people like that again. People totally go nuts! I got slapped in the face one year trying to break up a fight between two women in my store over a stupid Boyd's bear. I was trying to explain to them that I had more in the back, but the one woman was beyond reason and slapped me right across the face. Oh yeah, it was on then and my employee's and a mall guard had to pull me off the stupid heifer, LOL.

 

[ncCHICKS]

We didn't even leave the house. My SIL lives beside Walmart and said she was ready to kill people. Why so crowded? And I can't believer people get up at 3 to shop!

 

[ginbart]

For the record, I didn't say NYC, I said New York. And I did read in todays paper that the lady didn't lose the baby either.

But you know we are all talking about the crazy people that go out on Black Friday but what about the stores. They are the ones that have the sales. They make it so there are only say 10 of one item you want and when 100 people want that item it's a mad house trying to get it. I think they would make more money if they have more of the items and stopped having these sales on Friday.

 

[chickiebaby]

Jessup family, I LOVED that Croation video. My husband's an animator, and I know he'll love it too.

btw, if you look at the OP (from me, yup) you'll see that Buy Nothing day isnt just about not going shopping the day after Thanksgiving, tho that's a nice side-benefit. Its protest against the rampant consumerism that is destroying our sense of fun, dignity and selfhood, our family life, and maybe our planet.

Watch Jessup Family's arty video, or read about Buy Nothing Day on the original post.

Love y'all. Stay safe and warm.