Black Friday sales | organised castle

I do not generally participate in the madness that are the Black Friday sales. This phenomenon which began in the USA as the shopping day after Thanksgiving has infiltrated retailing in other parts of the world, including Australia. I find it more than a little ironic that this shopping mayhem follows the day which is supposedly about gratitude and togetherness.

Black Friday and the extension which has become Cyber Monday are just more opportunities for retailers to bombard us with their consumerist messages.

However, these year I actually inadvertently shopped during the Black Friday sales. They were things I was planning to buy anyway so picking them up at a reduced price was nothing more than good luck.

The first was the exciting purchase of 5kg of laundry pre-soak. It comes in 2.5kg bulk packs which I will decant into an original container which I have had for a number of years.

The other buy was another glass preserving jar which GMan uses for his sourdough starter. He had one and really needed a second jar. When I received a Black Friday sale email I checked for the specific size and shape of jar and decided that it was a good time to buy. I also found these cute wooden lids which will transform some of my smaller preserving jars which have been mostly gathering dust on a top shelf.

They are now useful small canisters as the wooden lids have a rubber ring which creates an airtight seal.

All of this cost me less than $100 and are things that I needed and will use. The fact that I bought them during the Black Friday sales was a bonus.

In a retail shopping context, Black Friday refers to the Friday after Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November) in the United States.

Although Thanksgiving is not a traditional celebration in Australia the last 10 years has seen a steady rise in Black Friday sales. This has been strongly driven by online retailers but everyone seems to be keen to get in on the act. What was originally one day of concentrated sales hype has now been extended to include Cyber Monday.

The avalanche of Black Friday emails is astounding. The first one arrived on 3rd November – a full 3 weeks before the traditional Black Friday sales. At first it was a trickle of emails but in the past week has become an absolute flood. They all just go straight to the trash folder as soon as I see them but if I was interested I could have bought anything and everything from travel insurance, stationery, books, ink cartridges, cruises, phones, electronics, holidays, wine, fabrics, magazines, flights, overseas currency, menswear, outdoor equipment, magazines, event tickets, personal care and food.

Anyway, they can send as many emails as they like, Black Friday or otherwise, but we spend our money when and where we choose and not as a result of mega-amounts of advertising about what we supposedly need to make our lives complete.

The ‘cost of living crisis’ is headline news almost every day but I wonder how many will succumb to the Black Friday sales pitch for stuff that they almost certainly do not need to be buying.

Here is a timely reminder from an old blog post – almost 9 years ago. As relevant as ever.