Anyone camp out for Black Friday?

[Art Vandelay]

Am I the only one that thought the term "Black Friday" was way overused this year? I literally never heard that term until this year and suddenly every media outlet was beating us over the head with it.

Even dumber: "Cyber Monday".

None can hold a flame to "Whiskey Wednesday" though.

Cyber Monday is a myth.

Black Friday is legit. You save a lot of money. It's a total pain in the ass, but you can save A LOT of money.

The myth is that you save money. You CAN NOT save money by spending money. What you're doing is spending a lot of money...but slightly less than you would have if the items weren't on sale.

[Phatferd]

Am I the only one that thought the term "Black Friday" was way overused this year? I literally never heard that term until this year and suddenly every media outlet was beating us over the head with it.

Even dumber: "Cyber Monday".

None can hold a flame to "Whiskey Wednesday" though.

Cyber Monday is a myth.

Black Friday is legit. You save a lot of money. It's a total pain in the ass, but you can save A LOT of money.

The myth is that you save money. You CAN NOT save money by spending money. What you're doing is spending a lot of money...but slightly less than you would have if the items weren't on sale.

If I am going to buy a laptop (which I was) I would rather get it for $400 and not $800, case in point.

I saved money and not slightly less.

[Art Vandelay]

Am I the only one that thought the term "Black Friday" was way overused this year? I literally never heard that term until this year and suddenly every media outlet was beating us over the head with it.

Even dumber: "Cyber Monday".

None can hold a flame to "Whiskey Wednesday" though.

Cyber Monday is a myth.

Black Friday is legit. You save a lot of money. It's a total pain in the ass, but you can save A LOT of money.

The myth is that you save money. You CAN NOT save money by spending money. What you're doing is spending a lot of money...but slightly less than you would have if the items weren't on sale.

If I am going to buy a laptop (which I was) I would rather get it for $400 and not $800, case in point.

I saved money and not slightly less.

Of course you would. But you didn't "save" any money...you spent $400.

[Phatferd]

Am I the only one that thought the term "Black Friday" was way overused this year? I literally never heard that term until this year and suddenly every media outlet was beating us over the head with it.

Even dumber: "Cyber Monday".

None can hold a flame to "Whiskey Wednesday" though.

Cyber Monday is a myth.

Black Friday is legit. You save a lot of money. It's a total pain in the ass, but you can save A LOT of money.

The myth is that you save money. You CAN NOT save money by spending money. What you're doing is spending a lot of money...but slightly less than you would have if the items weren't on sale.

If I am going to buy a laptop (which I was) I would rather get it for $400 and not $800, case in point.

I saved money and not slightly less.

Of course you would. But you didn't "save" any money...you spent $400.

Are you going to be this big of a tool, to argue over semantics? You act like you just learned something from the teacher and have to run over to your mom to tell her what you learned.

Like there is no such thing as saving money because you have to spend money to purchase something.

I guess I don't save money, when a product is $800 for 8756 hours out of the year and $400 4 hours out of the year and I buy it for the later?

I don't save $400? Its all semactics, you can "save" 400 as you spend it. It's a catch-22.

[Art Vandelay]

It's not semantics. Their marketing has worked. Millions of people think they are saving money by running out and buying things on a certain day every year. Call it semantics if you want, but what has happened is they (Madison Avenue) have been able to practically change the very definition of the word "save" in people's minds. It's nothing more than a marketing ploy and it has worked to fool millions. Spending $400 is not saving no matter how you slice it.

[Phatferd]

It's not semantics. Their marketing has worked. Millions of people think they are saving money by running out and buying things on a certain day every year. Call it semantics if you want, but what has happened is they (Madison Avenue) have been able to practically change the very definition of the word "save" in people's minds. It's nothing more than a marketing ploy and it has worked to fool millions. Spending $400 is not saving no matter how you slice it.

Attention everyone, don't buy a single thing! You are just falling into the trap of buying things, which is what the bad people are trying to do! They are tricking us into spending our money. Don't buy anything, they are tricking us to buy things.

Don't buy that loaf of bread for $1.49, Wonder Bread brainwashed us to spend our $1.49, and heaven forbiid you use that $.50 coupon, it's all a trick!

[Madison]

It's not semantics. Their marketing has worked. Millions of people think they are saving money by running out and buying things on a certain day every year. Call it semantics if you want, but what has happened is they (Madison Avenue) have been able to practically change the very definition of the word "save" in people's minds. It's nothing more than a marketing ploy and it has worked to fool millions. Spending $400 is not saving no matter how you slice it.

Call it value then. If I decide I want a 60 inch Plasma HDTV, and the best price I can find all year is $3,000, but on Black Friday, I see one for $2,000, then I just got better value for my money than I could any other day of the year.

I actually agree with you if you're referring only to those people who bought something they normally wouldn't, due to a price slash on Black Friday. I did it last year myself. I bought a 1,000 watt DVD Surround Sound System for my television. Don't remember what I paid for it ($199 and it was $500+ the rest of the year if memory serves correct), so no, I didn't save $301+, I spent $199 that I wouldn't have normally spent. I did it because I felt I got solid value for my money at the time.

However, what you're saying does not hold true if someone was going to buy the product anyway. Waiting to get it on sale, is saving money if it's a product someone's going to purchase regardless of price. Case in point, Phatferd's laptop. He was going to spend $800 on a laptop, but chose to purchase it on Black Friday for $400. He did in fact save $400 since he was going to purchase it at $800 regardless.

Saving versus extra spending all depends on if the product was going to be purchased anyway. If it was bought simply due to price, you're right, no one technically saved any money, but if it was a product that was going to be purchased regardless of price, then it does count as saving money if they got it cheaper on Black Friday.