t@Kimaroo - Fortified with Kittydus Purrularis: Frys? LOL. Isn't that Chicago? A buddy of mine goes there and goes hog-wild buying computer equipment. Best deals on the planet he says.

(This message brought to you by my cornea and a full bottle of Percocet. THAT weekend was fun.)

@subtlefrog: Maybe some people use it to fulfill their lifelong dreams of gladiatorial combat?

Christ on a stick, the more I see about instore Xmas shopping, the more I feel justified in not going near it. Everything Oranges & h3llc4t said - if you have to wear the proper shoes, not chat, and consider protective gear, how is this a pleasant experience?

I will spend my black Friday packing. I'm flying to Hawaii on the Saturday after Thanksgiving! Whoot!

If you can't dispose of the box you can always try putting it at the end of an alley or street where it would be ambiguous as to who owned the box.

Though if you have boxes for game consoles the smart thing to do is to save them or sell them on ebay, there are people out there who will pay money for just a box (either to play a dirty trick on someone or just because they want it for their collection). If you decide to sell your system later on it will be worth a lot more if you have the original box.

First, put down the cellphone and pay attention to your surroundings. The calls can wait. Take your stuff back to your car in a zig-zag pattern so somebody following you has no idea where you are going. Once you get it back to your car and do NOT immediately drive home. Instead, make sure you are not being followed. The only better deals than Black Friday and the ones where they steal it for free, so don't be that one. Don't allow yourself to be followed right home.

If in doubt, drive to the local police or fire house and wait. Lights off.

When you get home, be discreet carrying in your haul. Carry in from inside a garage if you have one. If not, use black trash bags for disguise. Lock your car and your house between trips back and forth and have someone helping you by watching your back. If an item is too big to hide, wait until night, turn off all the house lights, hide it in a blanket and carry it in then. It does no good to leave the house lights on so anyone can see what you are trying to do in secret. Turn off the lights, use curtains, etc.

After Christmas or the great unwrapping, DO NOT put all your empty boxes out for trash pickup. Nothing screams "Home Invasion!" like the box from a new TV or video game. So take the boxes and cut them at the seams and turn them inside out, slice them into shreds and put in trash bags or take to a cardboard recycling bin, or take them to work and deposit in the dumpster.

The same goes for the packaging from any expensive item any time of the year. Use common sense and be careful. Even if you WANT to outdo the neighbors which the pricey toys you just got, the end of your driveway should never look like a catalog page of what you just bought. Burglars cruise around looking for that, 'shop' from the comfort of their cars, and will happily take it from you.

If trash day is a long way off, take the garbage to the dump yourself or just keep it in the house until the proper day.

You can call this being paranoid but get robbed, home-invaded and assaulted and suddenly it's common sense stuff you should have done. So why not just do it?

And as to the candles, many of them are sold by Goya, and occupy shelf space that Goya buys/stocks themselves. So that's why they would be in that aisle.

DVD deals have sucked a$$ for the past couple of years. Frys needs to get off it and put the past couple of seasons of 24 and the Lost series on $20 sale.

@jaydez: I find flamethrowers as an exceptional weapon to use against zombies. It throws them off track of you, they bump into each other, making easier on your weapons ammo.

@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: As will I...I hope your boyfriend doesn't mind.

If you are going to shop on Black Friday for super deals, head for the places that won't have as much traffic but still may have some deals -- drug stores, hardware stores, grocery stores. If they are doing promotions for 1st xxx shoppers, you might still get them just by showing up at opening.

@Daggertrout: Troy's suit is only appropriate for grizzlies -- not frenzied shoppers in Bayonne.

I think I saw Troy at the Ig Nobels years ago. I know they venerate him there.

Agreed!!

Are the deals REALLY worth that much effort? I did the BF thing ONCE and will never do it again.

If I really want something, Ill take a leisurely drive to the store at some sane time during the day. If the item is there, Ill buy it. If not, oh well.

I guess I can be kind of dense. A sign that reads, "Hey whitey, get your Ritz Bitz Crackers over here! -->" seems a tad more racist. I still wouldn't be offended though...I like Ritz Bitz.

I saw two moms fighting over a Veggie Tales DVD in Costco once shortly before Christmas. I'm sure baby Jesus smiled on that. Gah.

Which sucks because that's my birthday weekend so I never get to go out for dinner on my birthday but even then, screw it, I don't want a dinner where I have to wait for ages while cranky shoppers are waiting for a table too.

We like to stock up on groceries in advance and then bunker down and wait for all the crazy people to go do their consumption-overload nonsense. We try to avoid going anywhere for anything between Wednesday evening and Monday morning..

@Rick Dobbs: Some people could stand to follow that last one year round.

BF is one of the most profitable days of the year for the retailers and I don't buy the retailers crying wolf because sales are down 1%, over here people buy everything and anything on BF even if its NOT on sale and all those items people are buying are marked up plenty enough to make the retailer profit even after a 50% off sale. A lot of people use it simply because its an excuse to go shopping and to buy a lot of crap that you don't really need.

@Eldritch: I love working black friday. My favortie day of the year when I worked for CompUSA was getting to work a 24 hour shift on black friday (9pm to 9pm typically). I was comissioned based, and was typically one of the only ones in the store that was (I worked for business sales, and we got comission, retail did not) and the rest of the business guys were off for the holiday. So I would sell tons of stuff, we got 5 catered meals on black friday, we got holiday pay, and over time pay typically, and its fun and exciting.

I would make tons on that day, and could usually do double my monthly quote in a single day, I miss it.

The doorbusters can be considered mediocre too depending on the product, an HDTV for $100 isn't gonna do you any good if it goes belly up in 6 months and isn't designed to be repaired easily.

Speaking of free items my friend and I found a video game at Amazon called Spectrobes: Origins for the Wii, and it was on lighting deal for 19.99 a copy. However if you ordered 3 copies it came to something like $29 because there was some kind of other promotion I don't remember exactly what it was. Combine that with ECA codes that were still working at the time. The games trade in to Amazon for at least $20 each and the game still retails for 49.99 on most store shelves. Amazon was basically paying him to take the games.

When are people going to get up on their hind legs and stop letting marketers and advertising DBs lead them around by the nose?

Bah! Humbug!

Hold out for Cyber Monday - a lot less pushing, shoving and standing in line

@sean98125: probably less scary than going to the real mall, and a hell of a lot safer. Maybe I'll watch Dawn of the Dead.

I used to do the Black Friday thing - back about 8 years or so when I started, I could roll up at a store an hour before they opened and be about #30 in line, and walk out with hundreds of dollars of free after rebate stuff. I could hit multiple stores within a couple hours and be home before I normally would wake up.

But in the last few years, the number of people who show up has gone up exponentially. A few years ago I showed up at Circuit City at 11pm for a 5am opening, and was too late to get the $300 laptop. The deals are also not nearly as good as they used to be, and with the number of people you can't really go to more than one store and expect to find anything. Plus, many of the stores I used to go to (Circuit City, CompUSA, OfficeMax) aren't around anymore.

So for the last few years, I've stayed home. I've scored some decent deals online, and haven't had to spend 8 hours in the cold outside.

Seriously. Stay home. Drink some beers. Call out for a pizza. Watch an old movie or two. Screw it.

And then the fashion accessory which will set you apart from the rest of the crowd: water wings. Because you never know what could happen.

Kidding...kidding. Honestly, sales have been so off for stores that you may as well wait for the desperation sales the week before Christmas and take your time. Maybe even haggle a better deal out of the manager who's nearing the end of the month and hasn't made his numbers. Tis the season for manipulation *sigh*

@Rick Dobbs: Black Friday sales this year are shittier than most I remember...

But we do have Boxing Day on 26th December (similar sales craziness). Even colder and snowier then. I guess, this is why no one lines up at 3am.

Probably "want" rather than "need". If you have to get up at 3am and fight the crowds because you "need" to save a few bucks, maybe you should reconsider the purchase. ;)

I'll be sleeping in on Black Friday, thanks. :)

Stay home and make your own Black Fridays!

1. Stay home.
2. Shop [www.etsy.com] for presents.
3. Eat pie.

@Eldritch: Yes, I completely agree.

Unfortunately Mr. Aroo is one of those poor sods as well, but fortunately people don't tend to get violent over sheet music.

Everyone shopping on Black Friday, please remember to be nice to the poor sods who are working that day!

@h3llc4t, breaker of office dress codes: obviously you haven't seen my Ark of the Covenant sweater!

@Opoponax: But I need DVD box sets. We got the entire box of The Wire for $85 last Christmas season!

But, it would be great bait if you are into watersports... [consumerist.com]

But none of it did I wait in line or sacrifice part of my Thanksgiving for a deal. Doubt that's changing this year.

(Also if you watch sales they have better ones leading up to and directly after Black Friday)

@madog:
The link for the name makes it much less racist, my good man.

It's a day off from work for me. The last thing I'm going to do on a day when I can sleep in is get up when it's still dark to go stand in a line.

No sale price is worth that kind of laziness.

Yeah, I'm staying home.

(and then flip). So stay home! Even when you're being facetious!

Stay the frak home. Seriously. Nobody needs cheap plastic garbage from China so bad that I should have to spend hours fighting off mobs in a big box store to acquire it for them.

My tips:
- I've seen some lines go around the store. Bringing someone to go stand in line while you take turns shopping helps a lot. Especially places like Kohl's and Wal-Mart that have slow checkout processes. You can get right in line and still have time for you to both look for the things you want.

- Make sure you get all the flyers and don't go to a store that really only has one thing you want (unless it's a BIG thing like a $19 plasma TV or something).

- In relation to the last one, don't expect to get the $19 plasma, you probably won't. Going to a store for just the one item like that is going to leave you feeling disappointed.

- Snacks in my wife's purse have saved the day many times. Bring enough for the poor suckers standing in line around you too, they probably didn't think of it.

- BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU GO IN TO A STORE AS IT OPENS. No one should die just because you want a bargain. This isn't funny because it's true and has happened.

- Don't be a dick.

@Fanboy1217: I loved season 3 of Psych. Hilarity, pure hilarity. You could probably use @CouponBot for Old Navy, but you're out of luck unless you go to Old Target too.

If you do get trampled or injured or whatnot then I think the medical bills and lost time at work not to mention the inconvienience of being injured would negate any type of savings that you would get on that day. You never know when the trampling or injury could happen to you, if you are caught in a mob even if you never intended to be caught you could just be the unlucky person. Its just not worth it.

I shop online year round and get better products for better prices than what is available on BF.

I am of course talking about the mad rush for the 1-2 of each item doorbusters that the stores have, not for normal shopping later on. I have found in previous years that the stores are dead after about 2-3pm on BF because everyone is tired out from the morning. Go at night and its the deadest shopping day of the whole year. Thanksgiving is about spending time with family not killing each other for some toy or for spending it waiting in line for some item.

@SatisfriedCrustomer: If you live where there are a lot of retirees who go out for Black Friday, you could probably drop Werther's candies too, and it'll work just the same.

Oh, and read Consumerist articles about dumbass shoppers who get trampled by the hordes of people in line for the receipt checker at Walmart.

There is absolutely nothing (not even 99 cent ipods) that justify waking up at 3 am to fight the parking lots, crowds of people, long lines and other ridiculous behavior.

Also I think the expense of medical bills that could possibly occur from being involved in a black friday mob would negate any savings that you would save that day. IMO, its just not worth the risk to save $5.

Simple, no?

I've never done the crazy get-up-early-black friday thing. Due to my size I would surely be trampled.

I have however gone out later in the day with family to Frys (they come from Florida, they're nerds, thats where they like to go.) and it really wasn't bad at all. It's almost enjoyable and some of the deals are still left.

The crazy early stuff won't ever happen for me, but I look at it like skydiving: exciting and risky but I won't ever do it.

Nothing at Best Buy really wowed me this year.
My aunt normally shops at the mall stores and i take care of the perimeter stores. after that i can go home and relax. Black friday is more about shopping for me than anyone else. Never would i go to walmart on black friday. i went in one 3 hours after they opened and it looked like a bull in a china shop. Keep in mind it's one of the nicer walmarts (Orland Park, IL).

@bravo369: Agreed. Evidence seems to suggest that a lot of Black Friday shoppers don't budget/internet shop throughout the year- if they did, they'd know that it just might not be worth it.

I'm five feet tall and under a buck. It'd be wreckless of me to go to the mall on Black Friday.

I just don't understand black friday. I researched my purchases and I know what tv I want and what Washer & dryer I want. I look at the black friday ads and is it ever listed? no. it's all the year old crap that probably should already be priced at what they are listing it at since it's the old models. i guess if you just want to TV then go ahead but I figure that if I'm already spending that much money, I might as well wait a little longer and get the one I want with the features i want.

Carry some play $20 dollar bills with you - if necessary, drop a few on the floor to distract the crowd while you grab the last item on the shelf.

@Aeroracere:

You mean I shouldn't go buy a 50 inch flatscreen from WalMart and then have it stolen from me in the parking lot?

Why, I never!

Though the unfortunate part is that there are people who probably need those sales to get what they need.

@GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee: What?! I will brave Black Friday for House.

* Pack heat just incase the crowd turns into a crowd of zombies.

* test drive an F-150 SVT Raptor that day (for the whole day) to avoid all traffic and this all road rage.

See, this is why I hate this time of year. People focused blindly on stuff, instead of their fellow human beings.