Willow Glen Resident

Letters & Opinions

Black Friday frenzy is definitely overhyped

By Moryt Milo

Faster than a speeding bulletin, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap through cyberspace with a single stroke of the keypad, it's the Internet shoppers jamming the websites the day after Thanksgiving.

Within 29 seconds, 1,000 deeply discounted Xbox 360s were gone on Amazon.com. Other websites such as Wal-Mart and Disney were also clogged with consumer traffic, and these were the folks at home. Then there was the low-tech crowd camping out or setting their alarms to hit the early-bird specials at 5 a.m.

The day after Thanksgiving sales hype seemed to be turned up a notch this holiday season. I'm not sure why, and I don't recall it being marketed as "Black Friday" in prior years. It made the entire day sound rather ominous. My mind keep equating it with the Black Death, the bubonic plague that swept across Europe in 1347, and Black Friday that swept across the stock market triggering the 1929 crash. It had that Stephen King feel to it, which only added to my conviction about steering clear of the whole retail frenzy experience.

It was an easy choice when I have so few days to sleep in. There was no way I would consider getting up before the crack of dawn, whether it's online or in line and hunt for bargains, wrangle with a crowd of people or discover that what I wanted was sold out because there were only 10 available at the advertised price.

The hoopla that surrounds the kickoff of holiday shopping reminds me of a program that aired in New York in the late 1960s called Supermarket Sweep. Two contestants with shopping carts readied themselves like track stars at the front of a supermarket. A bell went off and the shoppers had a certain amount of time to cram everything they could into as many carts as possible. The game even had a clock visible to the TV viewer that showed the final seconds ticking off. The shopper who spent the most continued on to the next round. What sticks in my mind about the show was the method some contestants employed. There was always an individual who raced to the meat section and shoved as much meat and chicken into the cart as possible before heading over to the frozen food section of the market. Quality made little difference; it was quantity that mattered. The contestant just dumped stuff in the cart. Of course, these were the most expensive items in the market, so whoever had the lion's share usually won. I watched the show if I was home sick from school. People went crazy, screaming and yelling at family members to keep going. Even though I was just a kid, turning the need to eat into a sport struck me as odd.

Black Friday isn't far from that mindset, as a rush of people descend on the stores buying as much as they can in a few hours. The process turns gift-giving into a sport.

OK, I know a lot of shoppers enjoy the thrill of a great deal. I love a great find too; who wouldn't? It's the get-it-now or forget it process that's disturbing. Retailers are creating a "Gold Rush" mentality that screams, "If you don't get it today, you'll miss out forever."

That may be true for this year's impossible-to-get toy or electronic gaming gift, but do we have to buy into that? I really hope this time of year represents more than putting Wal-Mart, Target, Macys and Disney in the black.

Besides for all of us who slept in on Friday, the sales will still be there, especially the week before Christmas, when according to consumer reports the best deals are waiting.

Moryt Milo is the editor of the Willow Glen Resident. She can be reached at 408.200.1051 or via email at mmilo@community-newspapers.com.