Black Friday

What a week... First had my Laptop crash due to spyware, then got wickedly burnt by Dell (who asked me to pay for helping me format the system), and then had a marathon shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. When i was doing my Masters, I never cared about shopping on the day after thanksgiving day..But i did jump on to the wagon soon after i started my PhD..may be bcos of boredom on the long holidays or due to the sheer need to see the crowd.. The first year, I cared less to wake up at 4 am. But the last 2 times, I religiously woke up at 4 am and made sure I was in Bestbuy at 4:30 am. If you thought, I stand there wanting to buy every Goddamn thing there, u r mistaken. I, for some reason, like the energy of the crowd there. You see people of all ages, some with coffee in their hands and some still droolling from the last sleep, but all with a kid like look for shopping.. Last time, i ended up picking a bunch of empty CDs and this year I got myself a 120Gig Hard Drive (I have been feeling stupid of not backing up my 4 years of PhD work in school and my prized possession of Mp3s)..After Bestbuy, we (me and my other half) drove to an Outlet mall and just dropped in every shop we can think of..After 4 hrs, we were dead tired and got 4 T-shirts as the momento of the torment..
Well, I thought I would post some neat stuff about the Black friday day. First about the name "Black Friday". Before you think of any sinister stuff, retiailers use this day to move from Loss (red marking) to profit (black) in their balance sheets, thus giving the name Black Friday..Most importantly, black friday is all about retailers gimmick. You would never see a good brand on sale that day. You would get to see brands which are slogging to get off the shelf or brands which want to make a mark in the market. The brands which sell their stuff, with a reduced pricing, also makes money. Most of the consumers would be fooled to be happy with MAIL IN REBATE. Mail in rebate works always in favor of the brand and not us (consumers).. Have you ever thought that what is reason behind someone saying that a product is worth 100$, but after mail in rebate the price would be 40$? Well, first the manufacturing price for that product would be well below 40$. Secondly, it takes 6-8 weeks for the brands to process your mail in rebate and then send you the check. But till the time (you encash the mail-in-rebate check), the money is in the brand's account - an instant cash pool, without paying any interest)..Next comes the tax part. When you get the product, you pay for 100$ and tax for it, and not the tax for 40$. So the city and state also gets a cut on this...Man, as i tell my wife, America always finds ways and means to prove it as a Capitalist society and ways to milk the common man..
The last thing is, the products we think are being sold cheaply would be sold at the same price a week or 1 month down the lane. A bummer...Having said these stuff, who cares?? Its all about having fun and treating yourself/others..
I shall post a picture of the crowd...