When did people start losing their minds over Christmas shopping? Maybe it was a gradual process. Thirty years ago, shopping centers promoted Black Friday as a good day to get your Christmas shopping done, and a lot of folks listened. Here are a couple of news reports from WLOX, on Thanksgiving Day and then on Black Friday in 1983. The money quote: “It gets a little crowded.” People were happily enduring the crowds, and indeed, at least one shopper just wanted to join the crowds for holiday cheer.
Compare that with what we’ve seen in the past few years, as shopping has become a competition to see who can score one of those “limited supply” electronic gadgets at half price. Here’s a supercut uploaded last year.
The money saved on items we really don’t need does not justify the time, hassle, and danger of injury to oneself or others involved in the modern version of Black Friday. There’s still a month left to shop, smaller stores to visit, online sales that involve no hassle at all, and one’s sanity to consider. -via Uproxx
Meanwhile, the big-shots and managers who came up with the extended shopping hours are safe at home all weekend, enjoying a vacation.