5 Reasons to Boycott Black Friday

Anyone else think Black Friday is the worst? At the risk of sounding self-righteous, Black Friday represents everything the holidays shouldn’t be: frenzied, commercialized, and exhausting.

Here are five reasons to skip the sales this year:

1. Let’s be thankful for more than 24 hours. Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate what we have. Isn’t it a little ironic that mere hours later we’re stampeding through Best Buy to buy more?


2. There are more deals coming. I spent years working in ecommerce, and I can promise you that most retailers have promotional calendars full of deals and discounts all the way through December (including the After Christmas sales). Black Friday deals are often product-specific, while later in the season you’re more likely to get broad discounts like a percentage off an item or order.


3. The more frenzied we get about Black Friday, the more likely retailers will be to start the deals even earlier, leading to reason #3: Black Friday creep. Now many stores open their doors on Thanksgiving evening, when we should be kicking back with family after stuffing ourselves with stuffing. Let’s send a message that we want everyone--including store employees--to have a chance to honor the Thanksgiving tradition. Here’s a great article from The Guardian on this very thing.


4. You’ll spend more money than you meant to. Retailers are geniuses at getting you to spend more. Way back in June, they were planning ways to up their “average order size” on Black Friday with add-ons, product placement tricks, and limited edition doorbusters. By skipping the insanity, you’re more likely to stay on budget. You might not get as much, but you’ll get what you need.


5. It’s hard to buy meaningful gifts. Maybe you’re better than me, but I just can’t pick out the right thing with hordes of crazed shoppers, particularly knowing I may be trampled or knifed in the process. Yes, it happens.

Oh, and one more...the only reason I’m ever getting up at 3 am is to feed a baby or catch a flight to Tahiti.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. How do you feel about Black Friday?