NEWS
EVENTS
10 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Buy Things on Black Friday
1. You don’t have the money.
Realistically, you don’t have the money. Have you paid all your debts yet? Are you thinking of putting all this shopping on a credit card?
Let’s not kid ourselves. Unless you’re one of those strategic buyers that spends all year saving and waiting for that one price reduction on that one thing you couldn’t justify buying at full price, then you’re really only buying things because they're on sale. It’s kind of like going to the sale rack in Forever 21, and buying something with a cringe-worthy phrase bedazzled on the front just because you could get it for under a fiver.
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You’re going to end up buying more than you intended, things that may not even be on sale.
I used to work in a department store, and while we didn’t actually have any Black Friday sales, we still opened at the peak of dawn to trick all those eager buyers. Many people bought things from our normal sale section believing that was our Black Friday sale, and others bought things simply because we were open and they were already in the money spending mood.
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If you really want it you would have already bought it.
If it’s something you can’t justify buying unless it’s on sale, then more than likely it’s something you don’t need. If you really really wanted that item, or even needed it, it would already be sitting at home.
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It’s going to go on sale anyway.
If something is reduced on Black Friday, doesn’t that mean it can be reduced on every other excuse for a sale? I.e. pretty much every holiday and every end of a season.
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You have to wake up at an ungodly hour.
Let’s not forget that unless you’re an online shopper you’ll be waking up at the buttcrack of dawn for the sake of sales. This probably helps stores, because in your tired, hazy stupor you may end up making some unwise purchases.
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You might get hurt.
Almost every Black Friday you hear of some unfortunate situation leading to injuries or death. It’s crazy that shopping can lead to such tragedies. We can only hope that this year people second guess the trampling, pushing, and violence and show a bit of humanity and sanity. Don’t let consumerism control you.
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Not every price advertised is actually a deal.
Like mentioned above, some stores that are open don’t even put on deals. That’s not the worst of it though, some still advertise products like it is a Black Friday deal. One store last year sold a Samsung Galaxy Tab above the normal retail price on Black Friday.
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You could be doing a lot better things with your Friday
Rather than spending your Friday on a capitalistic battlefield, you could be doing other more productive things that don’t drain your bank account. Like going on a free trip to the park and enjoying the sunshine. Enjoying the fluorescent lights of a shopping centre isn’t quite the same thing.
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You could be giving back.
Yes, handing your money over to corporations does, in some semblance, mean giving back to the workers working the hellish day, but I’m talking about giving to those who can’t even fathom buying the shit bought on Black Friday. The people who don’t have a home to go play a new Xbox in. Maybe do some ethical shopping and buy a gift for someone selling the Big Issue.
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You’re supporting corporatism and wage slavery.
Whether or not any of the above reasons drive you to rethink Black Friday, the most important thing to keep in mind if you are buying on the day, is that you’re supporting the plague of corporatism. Clearly corporations have, in some ways, made our lives in the western world easier, and provided us with widespread accessibility to different commodities, but let’s not forget how corporatism discourages independent businesses and promotes wage slavery in other less privileged countries. How are independent businesses expected to thrive and compete with corporations when you have days like Black Friday? More importantly, days like Black Friday support wage slavery and harsh conditions for factory workers. One of the biggest known culprits is Apple. Just something to keep in mind when you’re 3am alarm goes off on November 27th.
