WEBVTT - How Black Friday Works 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.800 Brought to you by the all new Toyota Corolla. Welcome 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:14.360 to Stuff you Should Know from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.880 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and with 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:20.040 me is always this Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Jerry's over there, 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:23.480 and that makes this stuff you should have. So you 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.200 just checked to make sure Jerry was there. She's very quiet. 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.360 You literally turned her head and body right, Yep, she's there. 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:32.080 I did the big foot thing like I had to 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:35.159 turn my whole the whole side of my body to 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:37.320 look over my shoulder. That's how you know that was 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.240 real footage. Well, typically when you know Jerry's here, because 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.840 you can just smell like miso soup or something emanating 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:47.600 from our right side or my right side, you're right side, 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:50.400 but it's not emanating from you. It's coming from Jerry. Yeah, 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.480 she stinks like mi so, which is actually a very 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:59.680 pleasant smell, salty and new mommy. That's right, uh so, Chuck. Yes, 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:05.160 have you ever been to a Black Friday sale? No? No, 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:09.679 And I want to say, h no. Oh yeah, well, 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.319 I mean that's not for me. That's a decent qualifier though, 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.240 because it's it's not like an average sale, and like, 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.959 if you don't go to a Black Friday sale, uh, 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.560 it's the pretty good reason why is because you're scared. 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:25.080 Well yeah, and I think this is one of those 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.840 very divisive topic. You're probably either really into going or 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:30.959 it's the last thing on earth you would rather do. 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.000 I don't know a lot of people are like, maybe 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.440 I'll go check out a doorbuster at three am. I 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.560 think there are people who who do have that kind 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.840 of that idea, but maybe not at three am. Sure, 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:46.880 there's it's almost like a multifaceted creature like it is 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.800 for some people, like just in the middle of a 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.000 normal shopping day on the Friday after Thanksgiving, they'll go 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:54.880 to a store and it's fine and there's some sales 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:58.280 or whatever. But then you know, hours earlier, these hardcore 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:00.800 people you know who would bay in the blood or 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:05.600 their fellow shoppers well sadly, yeah, um had had already 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.520 come through and gotten all the best deals. Yeah. But 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:10.400 and then there's those of us like us who are 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.160 just like going out. It is literally and I'm not 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:15.560 overstating this because people always say literally when they mean 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:18.680 figurati figuratively, but is literally one of the last things 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.079 I would ever ever do in my life. I can't 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:22.560 think of many. I'd rather go to the d m 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.840 V than go to a doorbuster the d m V 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.480 in between North Korea and South Korea. No, no, no, no, 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.000 that's the d m Z. Right, Okay, I always get 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.600 this too confused. Now, I'd rather go take the last 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.440 ticket from a the d m V and have to 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:41.720 wait all day than go to a doorbuster sale. Yeah. No, 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:43.840 I don't blame you, all right, So that's what we'll 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.600 get to. More hate spewing about this layer. But right, 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.040 and I should state my opinion. I feel like, if 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.799 this is your thing, that's awesome. Well true, true, I'm 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.799 not like cast dispurgence on people who disparaging remarks. Is 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.640 dispurgence the word? No it is now though you're like 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:03.800 your like an American dictionary the New Chucky. We should 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:06.480 make that up. I like it. Yeah, you could have 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:10.600 like five or six words already. Um. Yeah, agreed. I'm 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.040 not saying like poopooing people who do it. If you're 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.040 into it, great, as long as you conduct yourself in 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.600 a reasonable manner and you don't turn into a monster 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:20.360 like others do. Right, And but there is, Like there 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:23.040 are obvious criticisms of the day too, which we'll get into, 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.760 but I think, first, Chuck, we should explain what the 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:30.040 as you would say, h we're talking about to the 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.080 people who listen to this podcast and don't live in 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:34.560 the United States, because Black Friday is pretty much a 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.720 uniquely American experience. It is I think most people probably know, 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:42.720 but just very quickly. It is the day after Thanksgiving 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.520 now in the United States is known as Black Friday. 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:47.840 And we'll get into the pretty interesting history of it. 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.080 But um, it's the biggest shopping day of the year, 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:53.000 and there are all these crazy specials that they run, 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.480 and we'll get into that as well, but quite simply, 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:57.520 it is the busiest shopping day of the year, day 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.920 after Thanksgiving, right, and um, it's it's origins. Well, the 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.320 origin of the term Black Friday goes back kind of 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:09.520 a ways, apparently to the the mid twentieth century, but 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.320 the idea of going shopping, starting your Christmas shopping on 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:16.159 the day after Thanksgiving actually goes back to the late 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:21.280 nineteenth century early twentieth century. Um, thanks to the department 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.440 stores like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and as a 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:29.479 part of those parades. Accident Macy's Parade, right exactly, you know, yeah, 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.719 it's still a good parade though, Um, have you ever been, No, 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.120 I haven't. Yeah, I've never been to the parade, but 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:36.960 a couple of times, Emily, I've gone to the day 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.640 before when they blow up the which is really neat, 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.480 very cool. You mean, I have a friend who's actually 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:46.280 holding one of the floats the balloons. Yeah, it's it's 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.480 fun to do. Although we did it like eight or 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:51.680 nine years ago and it was it was really neat 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:53.880 and sort of crowded, and then we did it a 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.960 couple of years ago and it is nuts. Now it's Yeah, 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.680 it's kind of gone overboard. The word got out. I 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.440 think I saw, Yeah, I saw something last year in 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.240 the news. Yeah, it's not a place to go if 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:08.159 you don't like strollers. Let's just say that. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:12.960 strollers with altering entires um. So, but the the idea 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:16.320 of going starting your Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:19.880 came from those parades, and they came from those parades 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.640 because all of those parades, pretty much to a parade 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.560 featured Santa Claus. Yeah, and usually at the end kind 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.479 of like bringing up the rear, and that means we're 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:33.279 kicking it off. That's the official start of the holiday season. 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.560 That's right, Santa Claus has made his first public appearance. 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:39.320 So Um, from the association of those two came going 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.880 holiday shopping the day after Thanksgiving. That was in the 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:48.920 late nineteenth century, in the fifties they think, or early sixties. Uh, well, 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.840 the fifties, calling the day after Thanksgiving black Friday came about, 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.040 but it didn't necessarily have anything to do with shopping 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:58.400 by then. It was from factory owners who apparently coined 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:02.200 the term. Yeah, and there's also the other competing theory 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.560 that it was the day that uh stores would go 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.920 into the black meaning start to show profit. But um, 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.839 that's not quite right as it No, So that's actually 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:15.920 a well, it's a made up fallacy to gloss over 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.640 the original meaning of black Friday. Um. And it came 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.159 out of Philadelphia in the sixties, and the cops and 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:26.200 the bus drivers and the city workers who worked downtown 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.880 came up with calling that day black Friday because apparently 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:33.680 tons of out of towners would leave their homes on 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:37.760 Thanksgiving converge on Philadelphia to watch the army Navy games 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.400 on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but they had a day 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:42.719 to kill, so they all started doing their Christmas shopping 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:45.360 because there were sales in downtown Philly every year, and 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.479 the place would be nuts. Uh. And this was where 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:53.320 black Friday came from. Apparently the police department wanted to 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.720 basically keep people away, so they'd be like, well, you 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.560 don't want to go to downtown Philly, it's black Friday. 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.799 And uh. That was the original um reason or origin 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:04.960 of the term. Yeah, I see you saw in here 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:08.240 article from the AP in nineteen five, a sales manager 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:12.200 at Gimbal's um was quoted as saying, that's why bus 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.800 drivers and cab drivers call today black Friday. Uh. They 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.320 think in terms of the headaches that it gives them. 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.760 So I learned something new when I read this. Yeah, 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.000 and then I had no idea it spread out of Philly. 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:28.520 And then years later the retail lobbies and retailers themselves said, 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.040 we've got to come up with a better, a better 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.240 origin story for this, because we want this to be 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:35.800 a day that people want to get out of their 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:37.840 house and go shopping, you know. But we should point 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.720 out even though it is not the day that companies 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.080 go into the black as it were, which by the way, 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.640 comes from when they did accounting by hand. You're write 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:47.800 in red ink or black ink, depending on you were 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:50.440 ahead with money or behind red ink. Men, you were 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:54.360 in the hole. Yeah, black man, everything's good exactly, even 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.360 though it does not mean that. Um. The holiday shopping 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:02.320 season is when stores make up between of their retail profits. 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.480 So it's a lot. Yeah. I mean even Emily small 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:09.280 business like the I don't know about majority, but a 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:11.800 large percentage of her yearly sales or you know a 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.240 couple of months, you know. Uh, and it's not just 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:18.720 her apparently. Um. In two thousand thirteen, the National Retail 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:24.880 Federation is predicting that Americans just in November and December, Chuck, 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.560 are you ready for this? Americans are going to spend 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:33.640 six and two billion dollars in November and December. That's cray, 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.800 that's a lot of cash. Yeah, in two months. Yeah. 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:42.280 I don't spend like I used to on Christmas. Um. 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.960 Emily and I sometimes will spend on gifts on each 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:48.880 other or do that like a couple of things where 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:50.640 you like go in and just do something nice for 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.559 your house. Uh, and then like the adults on my 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.800 side of the family. You don't exchange gifts anymore, Um, 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:00.520 just dirty looks. Yeah, exchange dirty looks. Like my brother 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:02.480 my sister will chip in usually and get my mom 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:07.520 something kind of nice or give her offer her a service, 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:11.280 like last year we replaced her fireplace with like a 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:14.920 gas fireplace, or build her a garden fence, or tile 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.760 her kitchen like something like that. Why your mom's got it. Yeah, 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.120 she's an easy street is what you call that. But 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:22.560 Emily's family that they all still exchange gifts, So I 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:28.040 still have my Christmas gift swapping Joan satisfied. You know, yes, 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:35.000 you get your Christmas present on Yeah, okay, chuck. So um. 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:40.640 The the idea of shopping after Thanksgiving and then Black Friday, 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:42.400 that day being called Black Friday. It's been around for 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.360 a while. Um, and it's a really valuable day. Yeah, 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:49.160 you know, it kicks off that two month period where 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.080 siwo billion dollars is going to be spent on stuff. 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:56.559 But it was created like Valentine's Day, It was literally 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.840 created and then the myth kind of became reality just 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.880 because they said everyone's gonna shop today. It's the busiest 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:06.160 day and it became that. Yeah, it wasn't until two 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:10.679 thousand four. Usually the Saturday before Christmas was actually the 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.160 busiest shopping day of the year thanks to me. But 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.840 the Retail Federation and all the retailers were like, well, 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.320 we can't just we can't tout that is the busiest 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:22.160 shopping day of the year. We want to like get 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.439 people spending over the course of a couple of months, 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.800 not the Saturday before Christmas. So they basically said Black 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:32.120 Fridays the day. And it's, like you said, it just 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.040 kind of became true just from people saying it over time. 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:39.199 I'm surprised that they haven't come up with a catchy 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:43.760 name for like Procrastinator's Day or something to like pump 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:46.320 up that last Saturday again or something, or to keep 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:48.360 you from it. So they call it like Shame of 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.520 the Nation Day something like that to make you like 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:57.000 go go to Black Friday Saturday. Yeah. Um so, and 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:01.880 there's this website called, um Black Friday archive dot com. 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.520 It's actually like kind of cool if you like nostalgic 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.280 ads or whatever. Nostalgic going back to two thousand and seven, 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:10.120 I should say, but it's just like scans of black 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.880 Friday print ads from those years, which you're kind of neat. 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:15.839 If you're totally bored out of your mind, go check 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.800 out Black Friday archive dot com. But um, so Black 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.920 Friday became a smashing success, like two thousand and four, 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:26.240 two five, it's a relatively recent thing that it became 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.079 what it is today here in the States, which is 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:35.439 an out of controlled juggernaut shopping in consumeristic frenzy. Right. Um. 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:41.320 But so it was so successful overnight that um, the 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.760 retailer said, well, let's figure out ways to extend this 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.480 whole week. So they came up with cyber Monday in 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.640 two thousand five. Ye, that's pretty recent and it uh 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:54.560 is the online shopping version of Black Friday. Uh, the 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.400 Monday after Thanksgiving. And that was another thing they just 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.920 made up, another self fulfilling myth. It Um, they said, 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.640 that's the the workers go back to their computer after 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:08.440 Thanksgiving on Monday and they do all their online shopping. Well, 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:10.920 that wasn't really true, but now it is because the 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.760 retailer said it was in the meeting reported uh. And 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.680 not to be outdone, in two thousand and ten, American 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:20.360 Express invented Small Business Saturday, which is when you go 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.320 out and support small businesses with your money, especially ones 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:27.840 that take American Express exactly. Uh. So, there's it's interesting 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:32.360 that literally creating days to tell people basically, if you're 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:36.040 not shopping the day, you're missing out on really good deals, 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:40.439 right exactly. Um. And the more days the better as 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.200 far as retailers are concerned. Um. But there's only so 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:49.840 many days after Thanksgiving. So they started to think recently, like, well, 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:51.760 what if we pushed in the other direction rather from 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:55.520 Friday on what's behind Friday? Oh, yeah, Thanksgiving? We can't 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.959 touch that for shame, Well, it's starting in two thousand 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:03.240 and twelve, they started touching it. Walmart actually UM opened 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:07.920 at eight pm on Thanksgiving in two thous twelve, UM, 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.680 and there was there was a general strike called that 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.679 we'll talk about later because of that, because these stores 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.719 are not supposed to be open on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:19.800 its own day. It's a day of being with family 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.760 and celebrating and giving up. Until two thousand and twelve, 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.880 it was Sacro SANCD. Yeah. This year, Macy's and J. C. 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:29.760 Penny for the first time are opening on Thanksgiving, and 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:34.280 Sears and Toys r Us as well. Thanksgiving evening. Uh. 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:39.079 And Kmart is opening at six am on Thanksgiving, basically 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:45.440 extending Black Friday through the weekends. That's not a day. 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:47.520 That's how long Kmart is going to be open. Black 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:52.240 Friday at Kmart last forty one hours. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Uh. 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.000 And at shopping malls, um, you're gonna have some smaller 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:59.840 stores doing the same thing. And estimated will be open 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.280 at eight pm on Thanksgiving Day and two thirds will 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:08.360 open at midnight. So essentially what's happening is Thanksgiving evening 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:14.839 is being ruined by retail you know. Yeah. I think 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.960 the retailers would say, well, you know, we don't We've 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.640 seen that people, right, We've seen that people start lining 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.720 up Thanksgiving afternoon, Thanksgiving evening to wait for us to 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.760 open like that, you know, the next morning, So why 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:30.440 don't we just open? So, I mean, I think it's 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:32.920 kind of um, it goes both ways, but I pretty 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.680 much see where you're coming from. Yeah, well, this year 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:39.400 it's a little trickier two because Thanksgiving comes on November 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:44.920 twenty eight, which is the latest to spend in eleven years. Yeah, 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:51.360 is that right? Uh? Yeah, so weirdly because they still 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.360 sort of have to enforce Black Friday. They're actually shortening 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.200 their own shopping season a little bit this year, which 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.120 is probably why some of them are opening on Thanksgiving. 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:03.880 That's exactly, it's it's six days shorter than usual this year. Um. 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:08.560 So just by the very existence by making up Black Friday, 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:10.520 they screwed themselves this year a little bit. They have 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.360 a week yeah, because there's um in other countries like Canada, 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:19.200 the UK, the Netherlands, countries, um that that observed the 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:23.120 Christmas holidays like we do in America, meaning everybody gives 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.800 everybody else presents and things like that, and they spend money. Um, 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.320 but those countries don't have a Black Friday, a day 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:34.520 that officially kicks off the holiday shopping season. Um. Those 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:38.200 countries spend more over the course of the holiday season 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:42.000 because they have a longer period of time to shop. Um. 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:46.800 So without Black Friday in America, the retailers would possibly 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.320 make more money. So they've definitely painted themselves into a 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.120 corner by making Black Friday such a thing. And this 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:54.840 year it's really kind of pointing out like we may 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:56.960 be shooting ourselves in the foot here, so what can 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:59.560 we do? Well. Their solution has been well, we'll just 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.760 take over Thanksgiving to but that's not necessarily sustainable, and 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:04.760 there's a lot of people are saying Black Friday is 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:06.640 going to go the way of the dinosaur. Yeah. I 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.560 read an interesting article in the New Yorker this morning, 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.360 finance article. I think it was New Yorker, it might 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.480 have been New York Times. But this financial analyst is 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:20.080 basically analyzing how the sales go and sort of saying 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:24.480 that it's really not financially the smartest approach to take 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.960 forever shoppers or the retail for the retailers to offer 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.960 these huge, deep discounts and sort of blow it out 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.680 in one day. A better, smarter financial approach would be 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:38.680 to elongate the seas shopping season at a and not 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:43.680 even discount things, maybe even raise prices. And his contention 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:46.240 is that they're shooting themselves in the foot, But um, 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.080 I think he's right. He probably is. But at the 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.520 same time, if you were one of those people like um, 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.000 like me frankly, who went to the mall the day 0:16:56.120 --> 0:17:00.640 after Halloween and saw that the lights were the garland 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.520 was out, Santa's workshop was ready to go like the 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.920 November one. The place was totally decked out for Christmas 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.920 with Christmas carols piping through. See that's that's ridiculous. But 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.600 see without but that was the great thing about Black Friday. 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:16.280 It's like you, you you know, you had a month of 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:19.719 just kind of chilling out everything getting ready between between 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:22.919 Halloween and Thanksgiving. Then you had Thanksgiving and in the 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:26.440 holiday season started without Black Friday. It's kind of like this, 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:31.920 um this damn that's holding back the holiday season from 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:36.520 spilling into basically October. But with retailers figuring out that 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.920 it's an impedence to them making money, it probably won't 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.720 start the official season any longer. It'll probably be further 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.080 back from now on. Yeah, well I think we're in 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:49.160 I don't know, but well, technically slightly in the minority. 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:55.080 Um In two thousand of the population of American adults 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:59.119 said they will shop on Black Friday, So fifty that 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:01.600 puts us in the noority by a bit and two 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.840 thousand eleven A hundred and fifty two Americans, uh millions, 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:10.440 just a hundred, but they spent five hundred billion dollars. Yeah, 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:15.040 two really rich Americans. A hundred fifty two million shopped 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.280 on that day for an average of three hours at 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:23.120 a time, which is uh, not too long, but that's 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:27.320 I mean, three hours is like ever. But I saw 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.680 a woman who did sixteen though, like a sixteen hour 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.600 stretch of shopping. She better have gotten it all done 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:37.240 at least, I hope. So you know, yeah, like if 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:39.679 she shopped for sixteen hours and only got like three gifts, 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.960 it's not time a well spent um. There's also evidence, 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:47.000 uh that the internet is basically knocking on Black Friday's door. 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:52.040 Thanksgiving days the fastest growing online shopping day. Um. And 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.520 I think like seventy of the people who said that 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:56.439 they're going to shop on Black Friday said they'll do 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:01.040 some or most of it online. Um. So the internet 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:03.880 still there for retailers to make money. But the idea 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:09.200 of Black Friday in store sales going extinct is probably 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:13.199 not going to happen because it's its own thing. Like 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:17.720 there's this one consumer psychologist or consumer analysts I think 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.800 uh pointed out that it's it's a tradition number one, 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:24.479 uh and number two, there's a certain element of like 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.520 sport to it. It's it's more than just getting a 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:32.400 good deal. It's like you know, throwing a fist at 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:34.760 somebody while you get a good dealers something to it 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:38.600 that that transcends the whole thing. So we mentioned door Busters. 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:42.760 It's a central part of the cog that is Black Friday, 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:45.399 and it goes back in print, believe it or not, 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:51.639 to the year nineteen seventeen in anecdotally, where in a 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.960 retailer will basically say, you know what, we have one 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:58.520 item or usually it's a few now, but some really deep, 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.680 deep and really super great deals on just a few 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.840 select items, so like, for example, a good laptop for 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:09.280 a hundred and eighty dollars, and like deals like that, 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:13.359 iPods for half off, for a TV for like really 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.840 really like you said, very good discounts. But here's the deal. 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:20.480 It's a scam people. It's a bait and switch. It's 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:22.879 it's a bait and switch. They they've only got a 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:26.679 very limited amount of these select items, which is why 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.639 the violence happens, which we'll get to in a minute. Uh. 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:31.400 And then after that they're hoping you get in there. 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.040 You don't get that laptop, but you're like, screw it. 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.600 I'm at Walmart at five am. I might as well 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:43.280 buy some stuff regular priced or slightly discounted items. Um. 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:45.520 And you know that's how they get you in the store. 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:47.720 That's how they get you. It is, um, and it 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:51.159 is It's true that there these items do exist and 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:55.480 they are for that deal. There there there for that price, 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:59.080 I should say, um, But there's only like ten and 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.960 in the fine print and it's like one person and 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:04.800 that deals is for in stock only, like you can't 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.240 get a rain check or anything like that. But the 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.359 the concept that these deals do exist for those items 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:15.040 that are in the store, coupled with whoever physically gets 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:19.760 their hands on that item first gets that deal, um, 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:25.960 leads to doors actually being busted. It's called recipe for disaster. Yeah. Um. 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.639 All right, So before we get to the dark days 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:31.600 and the bad stuff that can happen, truly, Uh, let's 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:39.720 do a little message break. All right, Let's go back 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:43.240 a little bit to two thousand eight, and probably the 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:45.640 well House could say the darkest incident, but I think 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:47.560 the Toys r US may be darker. I think this 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.560 one's darker because the people were involved. Yeah, yeah, that's true, 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:54.600 all right, two thousand eight in Valley Stream, Long Island. Uh, 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:57.480 it was at a Walmart and it was five pm 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:03.440 on Thanksgiving, So basically people there the day before. Um 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:04.880 it wasn't one of those days where it was open 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:08.040 on Thanksgiving, so they're there to wait until five am. 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:09.920 So at least twelve hours ahead of time, there were 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:13.880 about a thousand people already set up there. Some people 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.760 are camping out intents, they're waiting, they got their coffee, 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:21.080 they're probably slugging some jim Beam to warm the belly. 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:23.200 And uh so the police came out and said, you 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:26.280 know what, let's set up a buffer zone a barricade, 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.520 which worked till about two am when that was breached 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:32.119 and the cops basically said, we're out of here. This 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:34.959 isn't part of our job. Yeah, the crowd had turned angry. 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:39.320 Um a little bit after that. Um so one of 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:41.959 the store employees had some family members come and like 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:44.880 they took them out of the line and took them 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:47.240 in the store. Not a good idea. Yeah, But even 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:49.879 even if, even if everyone in the crowd would have 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:51.560 been cool with it, I don't think everybody in the 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:54.040