Happy Thanksgiving.

[The_Doc_Man]

Hope all of my USA forumites had a great Thanksgiving day, and I also hope that other members not familiar with the holiday had a great day too!

For those of you not familiar with this USA holiday, it is yet another reason to get family together. It reputedly originates from early colonial America and is for most people a day of peace as well as a chance to relax, visit family, and eat too much.

For those whom this is not a normal holiday, I offer this wish: Peace to you all, whatever your language.

 

[RuralGuy]

Right back at ya Doc Man. Peace and good will too.

 

[Tieval]

We don't have Thanksgiving here in the UK (obviously) but seem to have inherited everything that goes with it.

A couple of years ago Black Friday and Cyber Monday crept in here but have the marketing people in the States gone as mad as our people?

We have advertising like " Black Friday sale must end Monday", "Black Friday Sale - November 21st to December 3rd", and this week we have an on-line clothing company advertising "Cyber Week".

 

[Frothingslosh]

We don't have Thanksgiving here in the UK (obviously) but seem to have inherited everything that goes with it.

A couple of years ago Black Friday and Cyber Monday crept in here but have the marketing people in the States gone as mad as our people?

We have advertising like " Black Friday sale must end Monday", "Black Friday Sale - November 21st to December 3rd", and this week we have an on-line clothing company advertising "Cyber Week".

Our Black Friday sales have, for the last few years, been starting on Thanksgiving itself and running all weekend long.

This year marks the first time since 2013 that there were shopping-related killings on Black Friday. As always, however, there were quite a few injuries caused by berserk shoppers.

 

[kevlray]

I had a very good Thanksgiving. Very small gathering. My spouse, my two daughters and my grandson (who slept when the dinner was served). But then we had a second 'Thanksgiving' at my daughters boyfriend's house (his parents, a couple of their friends, minus one of my daughters and the grandson). Avoided the Black Friday shopping frenzy.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

We were lucky enough to have me, my wife, my mother-in-law, all three of my step-children (including the one now living in Florida), my step-son's two children, and one guest who otherwise would have been alone on this holiday. Then one of my wife's nephews and his new wife dropped by later. Despite the massive cleanup (which is what dishwashers are for), my dear wife was absolutely ecstatic. It was definitely a day to be thankful for having healthy family members who stay together and visit.

As to shopping frenzies, I think I saw the Christmas "previews" at the shopping malls around Halloween. That's just a leetle-bit early for my blood.

 

[scott-atkinson]

I totally avoided the Black Friday fre3nzy in the UK, it's all either rubbish stuff that they cannot sell so discount it because frenzied people buy anything, or it's items that have been 'discounted' despite being at a lower cost than the discount earlier in the year..

It's all a big con really, I avoid it like the plague...

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I can't speak about UK Black Friday, or for that matter for any other states in the USA, but in Louisiana, Black Friday has some teeth in it for the stores. The state is not ultimately a totally business-friendly place because of some inventory taxation laws. When an item is on the shelves past a certain date, it is subject to a tax. Admittedly for small items, not very big - but the more you can sell before that tax evaluation date, the less tax you pay on idle inventory. Stores would MUCH rather pay the state its cut of sales taxes (since they get revenue out of the deal) than to pay an idle inventory tax. Hence, very deep discounts.

There are also business theories about the cost of items occupying shelves as idle inventory that implicitly contribute to building overhead because of the need to have a place to KEEP that idle stuff. When there is turnover, the long-term overhead on items is a minor cost of doing business. The long-term overhead of idle merchandise, however, can in theory build up rather quickly. This is why you suddenly start seeing deep discounts on older items. The stores claim they need to sell the old crap because they need to make room for new inventory. In many cases, that's not just blowing smoke. And Black Friday is a VERY easy excuse for price-slashing.

Scott - I'm with you. The only place I went on Black Friday was a walk around my neighborhood so I could get some exercise away from the crazies who actually LIKE to go shopping in that environment.