A few years ago, a Wal-Mart worker was killed in a stampede on the treacherous day after Thanksgiving. As the management prepared to open the store doors at 5 a.m., the employee was pushed to the ground and then trampled to death as shoppers surged through the entrance to get to the deals. Dozens of people are injured each year by the crazed crowds who are too eager to get popular items. Common injuries include bruises, sprained ankles, broken bones, and sometimes even concussions. The government has passed regulations for improved Black Friday safety, such as starting the line farther from the door and removing items that can be used as battering rams, but the unruly crowds and often-freezing temperatures seem like enough reason to call off the holiday altogether.You can't even mention Rebecca Black and Friday in the same sentence without getting the maddening song "Friday" stuck in your head. Maybe Kohl's is hoping that the song will also get the idea of shopping Kohl's sales engrained in shoppers' brains by using the viral tune in their Black Friday ads. We could've gone the rest of our lives without hearing that song again, but Kohl's just had to bring it back. Many of the deals are also extended beyond the one Monday so shoppers have more time to save (and less stress). Though store employees might be thankful for clocking more hours on the job, they aren't so happy about those hours cutting into their Thanksgiving celebrations. Many stores participating in Black Friday tried to appeal to more customers this year by starting their post-Thanksgiving blowout earlier than ever before. Some retailers, like Target, Best Buy, and Macy's, opened at midnight, while Wal-Mart let consumers rush in at 10 p.m. Thursday. This means that the employees of these stores had to cut their time with family short to be at work at the end of the day. Thousands of people petitioned stores to push back the opening time, but retailers say they are catering to consumer demands. If the practice of Black Friday is going to continue, we should at least make sure it doesn't spill over into Thanksgiving. Some of the best deals you'll find during Black Friday are on electronics, like TVs and laptops, kitchen appliances, and clothing. The only problem is that they typically aren't brands you would consider buying any other time of the year. The TVs you might find on sale, for example, are brands like Dynex, Seiki, and Element, not the top-of-the-line brands you dream about. The prices are cheap, but the products often are, too. Kitchen appliances on sale are often more poorly made than the full-price versions and are items you won't use frequently, like donut makers and low-grade blenders. In terms of clothing, there's a reason you hear the most Black Friday chatter from bargain stores; expensive stores that carry name brands don't offer many discounts. You'll be buying items on sale that were cheaper to begin with. More deals on big-brand products can usually be found online, eliminating the need for facing Black Friday crowds.After reading through the advertisements for Black Friday deals, you're probably drawn to some of the bigger items. If you can save $300 on a TV, why wouldn't you face the crowds to buy it? Those ads normally have some fine print, though, that can make all the difference. One trick of the Black Friday retailers is that the item is offered in "limited quantities" with no rain check available. These quantities are so limited in some cases, that the stores are only required to have three or four in stock, even though they expect thousands of customers to show up. If you are fifth in line for that discounted TV, you're out of luck. Black Friday allows stores to lure in customers with false promises, a practice that wouldn't be acceptable any other day of the year.It kind of defeats the purpose of trying to save money by shopping Black Friday sales when you actually end up making a lot of impulse buys. The smartest post-Thanksgiving shoppers have an organized, strategic plan for the day. They know exactly what they want and prioritize the stores they're visiting. But for less focused individuals, the deals they stumble upon can be too enticing to pass up. The problem with these impulse buys is that you don't always know if they're actually good deals or not. You haven't compared prices, read reviews, or thought about whether you really want the item.
