Your alarm screeches at 5am during your Thanksgiving break. You slump into your car and drive to the mall only to wait in traffic. People are scrambling for a parking spot and racing to get in line at their favorite stores.
It’s Black Friday, one of the most anticipated shopping days of the year, and it’s not worth it. Black Friday can be violent, inaccurate, and unnecessary.
Black Friday poses a danger to any serious shopper. According to Daily Mail, “Last year in the US at least four people were seriously injured in store parking lots… another man was shot and killed over a parking spot.”
A couple cheap items is not worth the safety threat involved on this crazed day. According to Newsday, “A tragedy at the Walmart store in Valley Stream made national news in 2008, when a rush of Black Friday customers fatally trampled an employee.” Would you rather see the sales or stay safe?
If you are insistent on getting the shopping center experience during Black Friday, you must know your size ahead of time. The lines and the extreme amount of people do not make any trying on process easy; Black Friday shopping is not a good choice if you want new clothing. You must gamble on the size of your items during the mad dash to get what you want. This results in an inaccurate clothing hunt.
Black Friday is also not necessary. The deals may be similar on other days with less chaos. American Eagle had the same 40% off sale on Thanksgiving as they did on the Friday after.
You can easily shop for most of your items with the same sales on the store website. I participated in online shopping and physical shopping and the prices were similar.
In the store, jeans were marked down the same as they were online. Plus, most stores will offer some sort of free shipping during the holidays. Prices can be met from the comfort and safety of your own home and you will bypass any inconvenience. Black Friday is not all it is cracked up to be, participating is simply a waste of energy and time.
Taylor Means, Online Editor
