WEBVTT - Selects: How Black Friday Works 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:03.080 Hey, everyone, it's been quite a few years since we 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:06.640 dusted off our classic episode on the insanity that is 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:09.239 Black Friday, so we thought we put it out there 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:12.360 for you again. I'm glad we made this episode when 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.319 we did, because Black Friday's nearly gone away since then, 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.480 so we kind of inadvertently came up with a document 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:23.000 on a fading cultural phenomenon, and I assume historians of 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:26.520 the future will rely heavily on this. In the meantime, 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:28.280 I hope you enjoy this episode. 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:41.280 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know Fromhoustuffworks dot com. 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:43.960 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:46.879 with me as always as Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Jerry's 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.120 over there, and that makes this stuff you should have. 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:52.600 That's you just checked to make sure Jerry was there. 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:53.560 She's very quiet. 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.639 You literally turned her head and body right, Yep, she's there. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.600 I did the bigfoot thing like I had to turn 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.480 my whole the whole side of my body. Yeah, to 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:04.640 look over my shoulder. That's how you know that was 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:05.479 real footage. 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:07.759 Well, typically when you know Jerry's here, because you can 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:11.600 just smell like miso soup or something emanating from our 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:13.399 right side, yeah, or my right. 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.039 Side, your right side, but it's not emanating from you, 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:21.080 it's coming from Jerry. Yeah. She stinks like miso, which 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.240 is actually a very pleasant smell, salty and new mommy. 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:29.240 That's right, So Chuck, Yes, have you ever been to 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:31.600 a Black Friday sale? 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.039 No? No, And I want to say, h no. 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.360 Oh yeah, Well, I mean that's not for me. That's 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:41.679 a decent qualifier though, because it's not like an average sale, 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:45.320 and like, if you don't go to a Black Friday sale, 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.840 it's a pretty good reason. Why is because you're scared. 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.360 Well yeah, and I think this is one of those 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.279 a very divisive topic. You're probably either really into going 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:58.240 or it's the last thing on earth you would rather do. 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.320 I don't know a lot of people are like, maybe 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.640 I'll go check out a Doorbuster at three am. 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.840 I think there are people who do have that kind 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:09.240 of that idea, but maybe not at three am. Sure, 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:14.160 there's it's almost like a multifaceted creature like it is 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.080 for some people, like just in the middle of a 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.280 normal shopping day on the Friday after Thanksgiving, they'll go 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:22.160 to a store and it's fine, and there's some sales 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.560 or whatever. But then you know hours earlier, these hardcore 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.079 people you know who had bathed in the blood or 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.480 their fellow shoppers well sadly, yeah, yeah, we'll see had 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.840 already come through and gotten all the best deals. 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:35.680 Yeah. 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:37.520 But and then there's those of us like us who 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:39.200 are just like going out. 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:41.680 It is literally, and I'm not overstating this because people 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:44.160 always say literally when they mean figured it figuratively. But 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:46.320 it is literally one of the last things I would 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.560 ever ever do in my life. Yeah. I can't think 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:51.080 of many. I'd rather go to the DMV than go 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:51.880 to a doorbuster. 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:56.720 The DMV, yeah, in between North Korea and South Korea. 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.160 No, no, no, no, that's the DMZ. 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:02.079 Right. I always get this too confused. 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.360 Now, I'd rather go take the last ticket from at 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.520 the DMV and have to wait all day than go 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:08.560 to a doorbuster sale. 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:10.600 Yeah no, I don't blame you, all right. 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.920 So that's what we'll get to more hate spewing about 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:14.560 this layer but. 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.160 Right, and I should state my opinion. I feel like, 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:18.600 if this is your thing, that's awesome. 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:22.160 Well true, true, I'm not like cast dispergence on people 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.919 who disparaging remarks is dispurgence a word. 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:27.600 Nope, it is no though you're like your own like 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.560 an American dictionary, the New Chuck Dictionary. 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:31.760 We should make that up. 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.239 I like it. Yeah, you get had like five or 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:35.920 six words already chuckisms. 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:39.840 Yeah, agreed. I'm not saying like poopooing people who do it. 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:41.920 If you're into it, great, as long as you conduct 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.360 yourself in a reasonable manner and you don't turn into 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:45.680 a monster like others do. 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.080 Right, But there is like there are obvious criticisms of 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.920 the day too, which we'll get into. But I think first, Chuck, 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.800 we should explain what the as you would say, h 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.360 we're talking about to the people who listen to this 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.680 podcasts and don't live in the United States, because Black 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.800 Friday is pretty much a uniquely American experience. 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:06.440 It is I think most people probably know, but just 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.240 very quickly. It is the day after Thanksgiving now in 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:13.040 the United States is known as Black Friday, and we'll 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.120 get into the pretty interesting history of it. But it's 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:18.360 the biggest shopping day of the year, and there are 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:20.800 all these crazy specials that they run, and we'll get 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.120 into that as well, but quite simply, it is the 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.160 busiest shopping day of the year, day after Thanksgiving. 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.120 Right, and it's origin, well, the origin of the term 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:32.960 black Friday goes back kind of a waste apparently, to 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:38.480 the mid twentieth century, but the idea of going shopping, 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.279 starting your Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving actually 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.719 goes back to the late nineteenth century early twentieth century, 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:50.960 thanks to department stores like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Yeah, 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:53.240 and as a part of those parades. 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.719 No accident, it's a Macy's parade. 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.839 Right exactly, you know. Yeah, it's still a good parade. 0:04:57.839 --> 0:04:59.680 Though. Have you ever been. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:00.640 I haven't. 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:02.760 Yeah, I've never been to the parade, but a couple 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:04.520 of times, Emily, and I've gone to the day before 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:05.440 when they blow up the. 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:07.600 Oh yeah, which is really neat, very cool. You mean, 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:09.520 I have a friend who's actually holding one of the 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:11.680 floats the balloons. 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:12.200 Oh cool. 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:12.520 Here. 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.160 Yeah, yeah, it's it's fun to do. Although we did 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.040 it like eight or nine years ago and it was 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.680 it was really neat and sort of crowded, and then 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:22.200 we did it a couple of years ago and it 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.680 is nuts now, is it. It's yeah, it's kind of 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:25.360 gone overboard. 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:25.840 Gotcha. 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:26.640 The word got out. 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.680 I think I saw yeah, I saw something last year 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:30.240 in the news. 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:32.640 Yeah. Yeah, it's not a place to go if you 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.480 don't like strollers. Let's just say that. 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:38.920 Oh yeah, oh yeah, strollers with alternating tires. Yeah. So, 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.360 but the idea of going starting your Christmas shopping the 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:46.480 day after Thanksgiving came from those parades, and they came 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:48.960 from those parades because all of those parades, pretty much 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.800 to a parade featured Santa Claus. 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:54.479 Yeah, and usually at the end kind of like bringing 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.560 up the rear, and that means we're kicking it off. 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:01.440 That's the official start of the holiday season. Santa Claus 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.919 has made his first public appearance. So from the association 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:08.920 of those two came going holiday shopping the day after Thanksgiving. 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.000 That was in the late nineteenth century, in the fifties 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:17.640 they think, or early sixties, well the fifties, calling the 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.679 day after Thanksgiving Black Friday came about, but it didn't 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.240 necessarily have anything to do with shopping by then. It 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.120 was from factory owners who apparently coined the term. 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.960 Yeah, and there's also the other competing theory that it 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:33.480 was the day that stores would go into the black 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:37.480 meaning start to show profit. But that's not quite right 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:39.440 as it No, so that's fallacy. 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.520 That's actually a well, it's a made up fallacy to 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:46.760 gloss over the original meaning of black Friday. And it 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.360 came out of Philadelphia in the sixties and the cops 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.960 and the bus drivers and the city workers who worked 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:57.640 downtown came up with calling that day black Friday because 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.880 apparently tons of out of towners would leave their homes 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:04.360 on Thanksgiving, Yeah, converge on Philadelphia to watch the Army 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.240 Navy game. Sure, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but they 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:09.160 had a day to kill, so they all started doing 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.720 their Christmas shopping because there was sales in downtown Philly 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:16.120 every year, and the place would be nuts. And this 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:19.600 was where black Friday came from. Apparently the police department 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.000 wanted to basically keep people away, so they'd be like, well, 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.400 you don't want to go to downtown Philly, it's black Friday. 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:31.000 And that was the original reason or origin of the term. 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.240 Yeah, I see you saw in here. An article from 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.680 the AP in nineteen seventy five, a sales manager at 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:40.160 Gimbals was quoted of saying, that's why bus drivers and 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:43.400 cab drivers call today black Friday. Yeah, they think in 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:47.200 terms of the headaches that it gives them. So I 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:49.320 learned something new when I read this. Yeah, and then 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:50.280 had no idea. 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:53.560 It spread out of Philly, And then years later the 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.440 retail lobbies and retailers themselves said, we got to come 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:01.160 up with a better origin story this because we want 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:02.720 this to be a day that people want to get 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:04.240 out of their house and go shopping. You know. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.280 But we should point out even though it is not 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.320 the day that companies go into the black as it were, 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.160 which by the way, comes from when they did accounting 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:14.160 by hand. You'd write in red ink or black ink, 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:16.720 depending up that you were ahead with money or behind. 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.320 Red ink meant you were in the hole. Yeah, black 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:20.840 meant everything's. 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.840 Good, exactly, even though it does not mean that. The 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.360 holiday shopping season is when stores make up between twenty 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:31.160 and forty percent of their retail profits. So it's a lot. Yeah, 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:35.559 I mean, even Emily's small business, like the I don't 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.000 know about majority, but a large percentage of her yearly 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.520 sales or you know, a couple of months, yeah, you know. 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:45.160 And it's not just her. Apparently. In twenty thirteen, the 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:51.439 National Retail Federation is predicting that Americans just in November 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.000 and December. Chuck, are you ready for this? Yeah, Americans 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:58.280 are going to spend six hundred and two billion dollars 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:03.360 in November and December. That'skray, that's a lot of cash. Yeah, 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:04.400 in two months. 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.680 Yeah. I don't spend like I used to on Christmas. 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:13.240 Emily and I sometimes will spend on gifts on each 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.480 other or do that like a couple things where you like, 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:18.439 go in and just do something nice for your house. 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:21.520 And then like the adults on my side of the family, 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:23.280 we don't exchange gifts anymore. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:25.160 Just dirty looks. 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:27.960 Yeah, you exchanged dirty looks now, Like my brother my 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:30.160 sister will chip in usually and get my mom something 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:34.840 kind of nice or give her offer her a service, 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:38.560 like last year we replaced her fireplace with like a 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.920 gas fireplace nice or build her a garden fence or 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:43.600 tile her kitchen like something like that. 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.199 Wow, your mom's got it. Yeah, she's an easy street 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:47.040 is what you call that. 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.760 Yeah, but Emily's family they all still exchange gifts, So 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.760 I still have my Christmas gift swapping. Joan satisfied. 0:09:54.679 --> 0:10:00.760 You know, yes, you get your Christmas present on Yeah, okay, Chuck. 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:07.880 So the idea of shopping after Thanksgiving and then Black Friday, 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:09.719 that day being called Black Friday, it's been around for 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.800 a while and it's a really valuable day. Yeah, you know, 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.000 it kicks off that two month period where six hundred 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:19.360 and two billion dollars is going to be spent on stuff. 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:24.439 But it was created like Valentine's Day, it was literally created, 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.200 and then the myth kind of became reality. Yeah, just 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.800 because they said everyone's going to shop the day, it's 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:31.080 the busiest day, and it became that. 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:35.199 Yeah, it wasn't until two thousand and four. Yeah, usually 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:39.120 the Saturday before Christmas was actually the busiest shopping day 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.760 of the year thanks to me. But the Retail Federation 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.880 and all the retailers were like, well, we can't just 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:48.199 we can't tout that is the busiest shopping day of 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:50.640 the year. We want to like get people spending over 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:52.679 the course of a couple of months, not the Saturday 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:57.880 before Christmas. So they basically said Black Friday's the day. Yeah, 0:10:57.920 --> 0:10:59.839 and it, like you said, it just kind of be 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.360 came true just from people saying it over time. 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:06.480 I'm surprised that they haven't come up with a catchy 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:11.080 name for like Procrastinator's Day or something to like pump 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:13.040 up that last Saturday again or something. 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:14.679 Or to keep you from it. So they call it 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:18.320 like Shame of the Nation Day something like that, to 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:23.640 make you like go go do Black Friday Friday Saturday. Yeah. So, 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:28.800 and there's this website called Black Friday Archive dot com. 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.840 It's actually like kind of cool if you like nostalgic 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:34.560 ads or whatever, nostalgia going back to two thousand and seven, 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.440 I should say, but it's just like scans of Black 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.200 Friday print ads from those years, which are kind of neat. 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.200 If you're totally bored out of your mind, go check 0:11:43.200 --> 0:12:05.520 out Black Friday Archive dot com. So Black Friday became 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:08.120 a smashing success, like two thousand and four, two thousand 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.000 and five. It's a relatively recent thing that it became 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.880 what it is today here in the States, which is 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:18.840 an out of controlled juggernaut shopping and consumeristic frenzy. Right. 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:26.959 But so it was so successful overnight that the retailer said, well, 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.600 let's figure out ways to extend this whole week. Yeah, 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:31.760 so they came up a cyber Monday in two thousand 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:32.120 and five. 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:36.480 Yep, that's pretty recent and it is the online shopping 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:40.599 version of Black Friday, the Monday after Thanksgiving. 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.520 And that was another thing they just made up, another 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:47.920 self fulfilling myth that they said, that's the the workers 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:50.840 go back to their computer after Thanksgiving on Monday and 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.319 they do all their online shopping. Well that wasn't really true, 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:56.720 but now it is because the retailer said it was 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:58.000 and the media reported it. 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:02.920 And not to be outdone in American Express invented Small 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.920 Business Saturday, which is when you go out and support 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:07.640 small businesses with your money. 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:10.120 Especially ones that take American Express exactly. 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:16.800 So there's it's interesting literally creating days to tell people basically, 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.360 if you're not shopping to day, you're missing out on 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:21.240 really good deals. 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:25.320 Right exactly. And the more days the better as far 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:29.760 as retailers are concerned. But there's only so many days 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:34.600 after Thanksgiving. So they started to think recently, like, well, 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:36.559 what if we pushed in the other direction rather from 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.319 Friday on what's behind Friday? Oh yeah, Thanksgiving? We can't 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:44.680 touch that for shame. Well, starting in twenty twelve, they 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:49.320 started touching it. Walmart actually opened at eight pm on 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:53.960 Thanksgiving in twenty twelve, and there was there was a 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.320 general strike called that we'll talk about later. Yeah, because 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.600 of that, because these stores are not supposed to be 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.280 open on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is its own day. It's a 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.760 day of being with family and celebrating and giving thanks 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:09.640 Up until twenty twelve, it was sacrisanct. 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.240 Yeah. This year, Macy's and J. C. Penny for the 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:15.600 first time are opening on Thanksgiving, and Sears and Toys 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:20.000 r Us as well on Thanksgiving evening, and Kmart is 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:26.200 opening at six am on Thanksgiving, basically extending Black Friday 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:27.960 through the weekend. 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:29.239 Forty one hours. 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:30.200 That's not a day. 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.600 That's how long Kmart's going to be open. Black Friday 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:36.520 at Camart lasts forty one hours. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.760 And at shopping malls you're going to have some smaller 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.480 stores doing the same thing. And estimated twenty to twenty 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:46.040 five percent will be open at eight pm on Thanksgiving 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:49.880 Day and two thirds will open at midnight. So essentially 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:57.480 what's happening is Thanksgiving Evening is being ruined by retail. 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:01.080 Yeah, you know, yeah, I think the retail would say, well, 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:04.360 you know, we've seen that people, right, We've seen that 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:09.000 people start lining up Thanksgiving afternoon Thanksgiving evening to wait 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.680 for us to open like that, you know, the next morning, 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:14.840 So why don't we just open? So, I mean, I 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.320 think it's kind of it goes both ways, but I 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:19.360 pretty much see where you're coming from. 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:21.840 Yeah, Well, this year it's a little trickier too, because 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:26.040 Thanksgiving comes on November twenty eighth, which is the latest 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:28.440 suspend in eleven years. 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.480 Yeah, is that right? Yeah, two thousand and two. Yep. 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:37.120 So weirdly, because they still sort of have to enforce 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.760 Black Friday, they're actually shortening their own shopping season a 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:42.600 little bit this year, right, which is probably why some 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:43.880 I am are opening on Thanksgiving. 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:47.760 That's exactly why it's six days shorter than usual this year. 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:53.480 So just by the very existence by making up Black Friday. 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:54.880 They've screwed themselves this year a little bit. 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.040 They have by a week, yeah, because there's in other 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:03.440 countries like Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, countries that observe 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:07.640 the Christmas holidays like we do in America, meaning everybody 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:09.920 gives everybody else presents and things like that, and they 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:14.680 spend money. But those countries don't have a Black Friday, 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.880 a day that officially kicks off the holiday shopping season. 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.600 Those countries spend more over the course of the holiday 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.800 season because they have a longer period of time to shop. 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:31.560 So without Black Friday in America, the retailers would possibly 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:34.080 make more money. So they've definitely painted themselves into a 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.840 corner by making Black Friday such a thing. And this 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.600 year it's really kind of pointing out, like, we may 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:41.720 be shooting ourselves in the foot here, so what can 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.360 we do well. Their solution has been, well, we'll just 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.520 take over Thanksgiving too, but that's not necessarily sustainable, and 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:49.440 there's a lot of people who are saying Black Friday 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:50.880 is going to go the way of the dinosaur. 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:53.320 Yeah. I read an interesting article in the New Yorker 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.560 this morning, finance article. I think it was New Yorker, 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.680 it might have been New York Times, but this financial 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:04.400 analy was basically analyzing how the sales go and sort 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:08.840 of saying that it's really not financially the smartest approach 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.800 to take for the over shoppers or the retail for 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:15.160 the retailers to offer these huge, deep discounts and sort 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.359 of blow it out in one day. A better, smarter 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:22.080 financial approach would be to elongate the Sea's shopping season 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.640 at a and not even discount things, maybe even raise prices. 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.800 And his contention is that they're shooting themselves in the. 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:32.360 Foot, right, But I think he's right. 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:33.280 He probably is. 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:34.960 But at the same time, if you were one of 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:40.360 those people like me Frankly who went to the mall 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:44.520 the day after Halloween, yeah, and saw that the lights 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:47.040 were up, the garland was out, Santa's workshop was ready 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.959 to go, like Halloween November one, Wow, the place was 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.480 totally decked out for Christmas with Christmas carols piping through. 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:56.600 Yeah. See that's that's ridiculous. 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:58.680 But see without but that was the great thing about 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.000 Black Friday. It's like, you, you know, you had a month 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.640 of just kind of chilling out everything getting ready between 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.600 between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Then you had Thanksgiving, and then 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:10.840 the holiday season started. Without Black Friday, It's kind of 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:15.959 like this this dam that's holding back the holiday season 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:21.160 from spilling into basically October. But with retailers figuring out 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:25.320 that it's an impedance to them making money, it probably 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.159 won't start the official season any longer. It'll probably be 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:29.439 further back from now on. 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:32.400 Yeah, well, I think we're in I don't know about well, 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:36.960 technically slightly in the minority. In twenty thirteen, fifty three 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:40.400 percent of the population of American adults said they will 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:41.640 shop on Black Friday. 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:43.560 So fifty three percent. 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:45.520 Yeah, that puts us in the minority by a bit. 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:46.000 Yeah. 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:49.879 And in twenty eleven, one hundred and fifty two Americans. 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:53.280 Fifty two million. Oh yeah, just one hundred, but they 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:54.840 spent five hundred billion dollars. 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:58.240 Yeah, one hundred and fifty two. Really rich Americans. One 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:00.879 hundred and fifty two million shopped on that day for 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:04.320 an average of three hours at a time, which is 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.040 not too long, but that's I mean, three hours is 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:11.119 like it's longer weever. 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:14.399 But I saw a woman who did sixteen though, like 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:16.720 a sixteen hour stretch of shopping. 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:20.120 She better have gotten it all done at least, I hope, 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.879 so you know, yeah, like if she shopped for sixteen 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:25.199 hours and only got like three gifts, yeah, it's not 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:25.959 time we'll spend. 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:30.720 There's also evidence that the Internet is basically knocking on 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:35.120 Black Friday's door. Thanksgiving Day is the fastest growing online 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:38.520 shopping day. Yeah, and I think like seventy percent of 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:40.080 the people who said that they're going to shop on 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:42.879 Black Friday, said they'll do some or most of it online. 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:47.600 So the Internet's still there for retailers to make money. 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:52.159 But the idea of Black Friday in store sales going 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:57.080 extinct is probably not going to happen because it's its 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:01.560 own thing. Like there's this one consumer psychologists or consumer 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:05.359 analysts i think pointed out that it's a tradition number 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:09.080 one nowadays and number two, there's a certain element of 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:13.320 like sport to it. It's more than just getting a 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:17.120 good deal. It's like, you know, throwing a fist at 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:19.560 somebody while you're getting a good Dealer's something to it 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:21.200 that transcends the whole thing. 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:25.359 So we mentioned Doorbusters. It's a central part of the 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:29.520 cog that is Black Friday, and it goes back in print, 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:33.119 believe it or not, to the You're nineteen seventeen and 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:37.120 anecdotally to eighteen ninety five, where in a retailer will 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.600 basically say, you know what, we have one item or 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.600 usually it's a few now, but some really deep, deep 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:47.240 and really super great deals on just a few select items. 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.240 So like, for example, a good laptop for one hundred 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:54.760 and eighty dollars. Yes, then like deals like that iPods 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:57.639 for half off or a TV for yeah, like two hundred, 0:20:57.720 --> 0:20:59.919