These must be Nikon users

They started this yesterday. This photo was taken about two hours ago (Wednesday at about 4pm).

Three days of waiting to save, what, fifty bucks?

I never understand this ritual. Don't these people consider their time to be worth anything?

One of my employees explained this well recently. He was at Best Buy on Friday morning after Thanksgiving. He had no problem getting in and finding his item, a device that normally retails for $45 selling at $15.

Then he reached the 2 hour line to check out. He put the item down and left. Simply put, his time is worth more than $15/hour, especially his holiday time.

Now think about camping out for days on end and you need to be 'saving' literially thousands of dollars to make this worth while.

That's what I was thinking. ^^^

What if they said the first ten people in the door would get a free 200 dollar item. People might camp for several days, but you can earn that much in two or three days by working, even if it's just a minimum wage type of job.

But they aren't even getting 200 bucks in store credit. I'd be surprised if they saved 200 bucks on whatever it is they are buying.

Last year I drove up and asked them, "Why are you waiting in line?"

They all gave me a dirty look and one said, "for a laptop." But I had seen the ad, and it was literally a 250-dollar laptop that they were selling for 199.

It just defies logic.

Unless.......... Could it be a marketing ploy? Pay a few employees to hype up the sale? I would do what they are doing if they paid me 15-20 an hour and let me sit around and play with my ipad or what not.

I hate lines.

I avoid even leaving the house on Black Friday... Let alone wait at any store.

Ill just Amazon what I want thank you... They bring it TO ME!

JeffreyG wrote in post #15273832
I never understand this ritual. Don't these people consider their time to be worth anything?

One of my employees explained this well recently. He was at Best Buy on Friday morning after Thanksgiving. He had no problem getting in and finding his item, a device that normally retails for $45 selling at $15.

Then he reached the 2 hour line to check out. He put the item down and left. Simply put, his time is worth more than $15/hour, especially his holiday time.

Now think about camping out for days on end and you need to be 'saving' literially thousands of dollars to make this worth while.

The "doorbusters" tend to save you a lot more than a few bucks. Add to that the fact that some people will save a spot and be shopping for a whole group and the saving start to become worth it. Granted it's no different than people lining up to be the first to get an iWhatever
While it's not something I'd ever do, I can tell you from doing "Black Friday" in Orlando one too many times that people make it worth their while. I've seen people come to the US for black friday, and they will literally rent an extended van and fill it up. They're buying for a lot more than just their immediate family. In Orlando it's not unusual to see people buy a suitcase, fill it, put it in the car, buy another one, fill it...rinse and repeat......

I live next to a huge mall with a Best Buy. Some of those clowns were already camped out on Sunday.

Most of them have to be jobless college students home on break. Anyone with an actual job where they could be earning money is not going to choose to sleep on a sidewalk breathing car exhaust for 5 days to save $300.

I went to black Friday once in 2007 and I'll never go again. Some people do it just for the rush.

I have a neighbor who calls himself a Black Friday shopper. He makes a plan for where to go to buy crap he doesn't need. I don't get it.

Looks like a tent display to me.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #15274025
The "doorbusters" tend to save you a lot more than a few bucks. Add to that the fact that some people will save a spot and be shopping for a whole group and the saving start to become worth it. Granted it's no different than people lining up to be the first to get an iWhatever
While it's not something I'd ever do, I can tell you from doing "Black Friday" in Orlando one too many times that people make it worth their while. I've seen people come to the US for black friday, and they will literally rent an extended van and fill it up. They're buying for a lot more than just their immediate family. In Orlando it's not unusual to see people buy a suitcase, fill it, put it in the car, buy another one, fill it...rinse and repeat......

Fair enough. And to be honest I need to be careful in my judgement. I'm pretty comfortable economically so it is easy for me to value my time off on a Friday over putting in a lot of effort to save a few bucks.

For some folks that are not so comfortable, perhaps this time and effort is not a bad investment. Still, there must be a range. Too rich and the time invested is too expensive. Too poor and the stuff you are buying (even on sale) is more than you can afford to spend.

We have the same thing here; tents up since last Saturday in front of Best Buy.

Last year I got in line at 5:30 (store opened at 6) at Office Depot to save a couple hundred on a laptop. I think it was a great deal, and worth the half hour wait. After I left that store I went by a Walmart and Bestbuy in the same parking lot. There was a line to get into the parking lot. No way was I stopping.

I find Home Depot, Sports Authority, and Big 5 good places to shop on Black Friday. Not too busy, and good deals on door busters that you didnt know you needed haha

my first Black Friday in the US, last year me and my wife made our way at 5:00am at Fry's Santa Clara to catch up on good deals - though some of the items were indeed cheaper by 20 USD say on a 150 USD item (though most were sold out) - i still do not understand the concept of doing this.

Rather put up a wishlist on Amazon - prices fluctuate and take the best shot whenever you want. I have never seen a deal in the last 2 years that worth investing standing 4-5 hours of your time in long lines.

I ordered some stuff this AM from RRS, and then a couple of hours later got an email from them with their Black Friday ad offering a deal if I'd waited until Friday. Dropped them an email telling them if I'd known I'd have waited - they responded with we already put it in your box.
Its not a big deal, but is something I can use (a BH-55 bag, I left mine in a hotel in Hawaii a couple of years ago).
Nice company to do business with...

Off topic, but what is Black Friday? I'm not asking about the shopping frenzy, but the naming of the day. It's the day after thanksgiving, right? Why is it called black Friday?