Not showing humanity at its best is it?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30241459
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Two bites at the cherry now. One on Black Friday and another when the 'sales' start after Christmas.
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>> Two bites at the cherry now. One on Black Friday and another when the 'sales'
>> start after Christmas.
Someone on TV pointed out that in the States where this came from, Black Friday is sort of their equivalent of the Boxing Day sales ie. Thursday = Thanksgiving = their Christmas. And I only just learned that it's 'black' because traditionally the sales meant the retailers' figures went from red to black.
We happened to be doing our weekly shop in Asda Lower Earley yesterday at 7am, where there was a reasonable size separate queue for the BF sales starting at 8. For the non-BF shoppers it was nice and quiet. But the BF queue was snaking round the car park when we came out just before 8; don't know if there was any aggro. It's bad enough in there on a typical Saturday morning!
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And I only just learned that it's 'black' because traditionally the sales meant
>> the retailers' figures went from red to black.
>>
>
I think it's to do with all the smog created from the shoppers. I think it was coined in east coast in the 1960s.
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>> And I only just learned that it's 'black' because traditionally the sales meant
>> >> the retailers' figures went from red to black.
>>
>> I think it's to do with all the smog created from the shoppers. I think
>> it was coined in east coast in the 1960s.
You're right - looks like the financial version came later:
The day's name originated in Philadelphia, PA, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation was made: that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss ("in the red") from January through November, and "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or "in the black".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29
Last edited by: Focusless on Sat 29 Nov 14 at 10:30
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"Not showing humanity at its best is it?"
That was just over a load of unnecessary tatt; just imagine ………. 100m in the country, rising sea levels, and a shortage of food…….
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>> Not showing humanity at its best is it?
>>
>> www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30241459
Nope, it sure isn't
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Bicester Village outlet had to temporarily close after roads around an Oxfordshire town became gridlocked
The A41 and the A34 northbound from Peartree Roundabout are described as stationary
The M40 is also affected, with very slow moving traffic between junctions 10 and 9 southbound.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-30245000
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That's pretty normal for a Friday afternoon/evening:)
Pat
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Just been speaking to a colleague who has just got in to his car in London's West End a few minutes ago. He's currently on Gt Marlborough St I think. Heading for the West Country tonight.
Apparently the traffic is "interesting".
I'm currently on my sofa with a cup of tea. I do feel sorry for him. Well, a bit anyway...
;-)
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I could not bear to be in a crowd snuffling, grunting and rooting for so called bargains.
OTH, I've just saved myself around fourteen quid on our breakdown insurance after a little internet research and one phone call to Green Flag with the results. Immediate reduction on renewal quote achieved.
It still annoys me, though that companies rely on customer inertia at renewal time.
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Its pay day for lots of people today. I feel sorry for the poor people who need to do their main monthly or weekly shop amongst these idiots.
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Black Friday is fantastic - I got a nice latte for £1 instead of £1.80 at the café outside Newport (Gwent) station!
Don't remember much of a crush of customers though!
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"I feel sorry for the poor people who need to do their main monthly or weekly shop amongst these idiots."
This weekend is the one for Bury (St Edmunds) Christmas Fayre; I suppose I should be careful what I say because it brings scores of coaches and more useful cash into the borough.
Needless to say, apart from the usual Saturday 8am dash round the fruit/veg market, we'll be avoiding the town centre like the plague!
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I seriously doubt there is a single price you can't match or beat online. Why put yourself through the ordeal?
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>>
>> This weekend is the one for Bury (St Edmunds) Christmas Fayre;
I always make a point of avoiding either events or pubs who spell "fair" or "fare" in this pseudo-Dickensian fashion. And whilst we're at it, I never buy soup which is advertised as "piping hot" either.
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>> I always make a point of avoiding either events or pubs who spell "fair" or
>> "fare" in this pseudo-Dickensian fashion.
Fayre enough!
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>> Bicester Village outlet had to temporarily close after roads around an Oxfordshire town became gridlocked
I don't know why loads of people flocked there. Even if every shop at BOV reduced their prices to 10% it would still be too expensive.
BBC South interviewed some bloke who came up from Surrey (I think) and took 4 hours to get there. When they asked him if it was worth it - No was the answer.
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>> BBC South interviewed some bloke who came up from Surrey (I think) and took 4
>> hours to get there. When they asked him if it was worth it - No
>> was the answer.
He should have dropped into my place before he started, I'd have told him.
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>> BBC South interviewed some bloke who came up from Surrey (I think) and took 4 hours to get there. When they asked him if it was worth it -
>> No was the answer.
>>
>> He should have dropped into my place before he started
>>
That would have cost him even more.
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From the Grauniad...
Many shoppers were determined to bag a bargain, regardless of what it was. Louise Haggerty, a hairdresser and waitress shopping at 1am at a Sainsbury’s in north-east London, said: “I got a Dyson but I don’t even know if I want it. I just picked it up."
*shakes head in wonder*
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I know the 40" TVs at Asda were cheap. But a Polaroid branded TV?
I'd prefer to research and get something decent. Probably at John Lewis for the 5 year warranty! (and they price match)
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sat 29 Nov 14 at 01:13
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Like a horde of animals looking for prey.No thanks.
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It's a stupid name. "Black" days traditionally are those of national disaster - stockmarket crash, battles lost in the Boer War, liners torpedoed with massive loss of life.
Is this a PC "new black", connotating good things instead of bad?
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>> Is this a PC "new black", connotating good things instead of bad?
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=18592&m=410094&v=e
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>> I know the 40" TVs at Asda were cheap. But a Polaroid branded TV?
>>
>> I'd prefer to research and get something decent. Probably at John Lewis for the 5
>> year warranty! (and they price match)
>>
Completely agree, and the sad thing is, you can buy a Samsung or Panasonic 40" TV online for not much more than £200 if you're careful. Apart from being better performing, you will at least be able to get parts and service support as it ages.
Polaroid is of course a massively well known brand, but in a defunct market that no longer exists. Since then, they've been "licensing" their brand to pretty much anyone, and I daresay if I waved the cash in front of them, I could be sticking Polaroid labels on a new range of bog roll holders this time next year.
These are cheap, Chinese tellys imported by the boat load for about £100 each. Asda will sell you one any day of the year for about £200. One day a year, they reduce them to £140, and sell out in minutes. And the nation gets to watch idiots not only falling for it, but hitting each other to grab a "bargain"
A bit of my fondness for this country literally died yesterday. Has society really sunk to this level? I couldn't believe what I was watching on the news.
Last edited by: DP on Sat 29 Nov 14 at 09:33
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>> A bit of my fondness for this country literally died yesterday.
>>
Oh!
How did that manifest itself?
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Actually What HiFi gave the Polaroid TV fours stars in their review and that was at a price of £370. At less than half that price it is a real bargain.
www.whathifi.com/polaroid/5-42-led-14/review
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sat 29 Nov 14 at 10:10
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I tried to get on the Currys website at 11:30 last night. A message came up that there was an estimated nine minute wait before they could connect. I didn't.
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23 minutes on my test.
I long ago decided that hyped sales are for muppets.
The evidence confirms my view...
Not that I am old, or bitter y'know...
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>> But a Polaroid branded TV?
Apparently you have to wait a minute for the picture to develop when you first switch it on ;)
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I stupidly picked yesterday to return my Craghopper jackets to Debenhams that I bought online. Blinking hell!!!!
I walked through St Enoch Centre in Glasgow and there was a tensa-barrier segregating the queue waiting to get into Game. As I walked past I heard two women talking, one said to the other "what is it you are getting here" and the other replied "nothing specific I just want to see what everyone else is queuing for"
Never underestimate the power of hype!!!
There were some detailed links on twitter last night where folks had actually did some online price comparisons of the black Friday deals and surprise surprise, the majority of them really were no where near as good as they tried to make out!
I have personally noticed that many of the Amazon deals are poorly quoted - the "was" price they show is the RRP where in actual fact the product is a lot cheaper than that already on Amazon but they show the Black Friday price as a saving over RRP.
As I said to a colleague yesterday, over the course of a year it is much cheaper to buy everything you need at full price rather than buy a whole load of stuff that you don't need and will never use, at half price!
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I've just driven past our local computer independent retailer who has a rather plaintive poster in his window stating "Black Friday, 10% off"
Bless !
;-)
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Guardian's Marina Hyde asks 'If If I Buy a Telly on Black Friday does That Make Me a Pleb'?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/28/tv-black-friday-pleb-andrew-mitchell-battle-inequality
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sat 29 Nov 14 at 21:55
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"Guardian's Marina Hyde …………"
Of course she's confused about Britain and class, along with comrade Tony B and his shaken kaleidoscope.
The tories are now calling the coppers "plebs". Thirty years ago, when the coppers were arm-in-arm with the tories charging my father and his fellow miners, they were the best of mates. Of course the coppers are confused.
In those days, I was a true working-class leftie on every issue. I'm still a working-class leftie at heart, but now my judgements are made on logic rather than dogma. I suppose that's why I have little patience with middle-class lefties.
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"And this year us Brits have put on a show…"
Are we sure the fighters are Brits?
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Black Friday - Bromptonaut
