Report on the way about the events of last years Black Friday.

[HelenaDove]

referring to the safety of shop workers and some of the incidents that occured. Usdaws verdict.

www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/22/black-friday-safety-fears-harassed-shopworkers-usdaw-union?CMP=twt_gu

This black friday business really bothers me. It's a pointless American import which does not seem to produce that many great bargains, and encourages people to behave like twats, scrambling to buy. And it's dangerous for the shop assistants.
It's not even really one "friday" because the "pre sales" have already started for it.
I know for some people it's the only chance they have to get a product at an affordable price but I really wish we could all just not engage with this concept, and they'd just stop pushing it.

I don't know why they don't just hold the Black Friday sales online only.

They should just lock everyone out the shop show the item and have a buzzer system or something rather than the hunger games!

It makes me very uncomfortable too. The scenes last year were appalling. There is no way a shop assistant should end up with a broken wrist or a head injury simply by going to work.

The store owners owe them a duty of care.

I thought the shops said last year it hurt their profits in the end because all their stuff sold that day and they hardly sold anything afterwards. Was kind of hoping we wouldn't have a repeat. It's not something I'd go for anyway.

Yeah, we were snickering a bit here in America after all the "Only in America" comments we got year after year from you guys.

In the USA we have our moments of dickishness on Black Friday, but there is an unspoken etiquette we follow. Most of it is a fun sport to see what you can grab before everyone else, and most people are gracious about the game. Believe it or not I'd say 9/10 shoppers I've run into are pretty chill about the whole thing, provided you don't shove too hard. For the most part, it's not too different than shopping a few days before Christmas in a packed shopping mall.

If you compare the number of actual incidents to the number of stores we have it's actually quite small.

It did get pretty bad during the recession during 2007-2011 at Walmart because that was the only time people could afford anything for Christmas. But we have better measures in place now.

I think once you guys get better crowd control measures in place, you'll do fine.

^^ you've normalised the need for crowd control in order for employees / public to be safe. That is chilling.

It's a sale scheduled to fit between Thanksgiving and Christmas, isn't it?

We don't have Thanksgiving

Completely agree sighing

"So long as you don't shove too hard" ?????

I also think it should be online only

@ strawberry

We don't have thanksgiving yet

It's ridiculous.

I believe Asda (or rather their owner Walmart) are doing it this year.

Which is odd because Argos and John Lewis said there was no way they could drop the Black Friday sales as everyone does it.

Another annual round of turkey and cranberry sauce is something I could get behind. More so than extra imported sales scrums, anyway.

There's another article in the Guardian about how Asda are stepping away from it. Last year did nothing for them financially and made them look bad. We may have seen the end of it, or at least the end of it on that scale.

John Lewis said they'd have to do it because of their "never knowingly undersold" promise so they have to match other shops' prices.

Asda said it hurt their Christmas profits too much. It's bonkers to have a big sale during the busiest shopping time of the year.

In teresting. Maybe I'll cook a Thanksgiving meal this year. Family would love it!

sighing chumbler Well, when you grow up with it, it's normal.

Sort of like you guys and your beans on soggy toast thing you have going on. -shudder-

You can't be in an area that crowded without bumping into people and you can't get anywhere without pushing past, and you can't stand anywhere without getting in the way. It's just how it is. You put your personal space issues aside and get on with it. If you're not ok with it you stay in and wait until the afternoon times when the crowd has died down if you want to chance all the good stuff being gone.

But the reason it probably works here and not in UK is because we have a long established tradition, so we get tons of shoppers in on that day to put all the retail outlets back in the black. The sales vs the sheer volume of them generate the most profitable business day of the year over here for every place involved.

John Lewis have done it for years through the price match, but kept very quiet.
I bought a MacBook through them about 5 years ago as they were price matching the Apple sales.

"You can't be in an area that crowded without bumping into people."

We're British. We don't bump, traditionally we queue and tut quietly.

I'm not into all this adopting US customs. Like Halloween, why are we making such a big deal of it now?!

The Tube. It's that crowded. Everyday. Injury is rare.
There's another dynamic going on. I've no idea what.
Personally shops that make a massive deal out of their sales are worth a swerve anyway.

Some people go crazy over Stuff. DH used to work for Boots and he got cuts on his hand when he was shelving the No7 Serum on the day it was released because women were literally clawing at him

Not that it's anywhere near as bad as all the Asda stuff obviously I just don't get it. I can't be smug about being unmaterialistic (if that's a word) because I love a bargain, I love choosing presents and get a lovely fuzzy feeling when I get something new, but violence over stuff is just insanity.

Beans on toast is lovely though :o especially with cheddar on top.

fuzzpig if you're making breakfast beans on toast would be lovely, thanks.

Make shops pay for any policing required, and any hospital treatment. Or double VAT for the day unless online sales.

Problem solved I would expect.

There's no way I'd go to an actual shop for Black Friday; sounds awful!

I will however look online - well, on the apple website anyway - just to see if Dd's Christmas present is reduced. Else I'll buy it afterwards online at normal price.

The added risk of terrorist acts this year could make it even worse.
Hopefully it was such a financial disaster (for the stores) last year that not many will join in this year.

We could always try red 23rd April. Or is that not American enough?

Or we could just all stay at home and avoid the whole thing.