The terror of Black Friday

Black Friday has grown to be one of the busiest shopping days in American retail, but at what cost?

With the pressure from family and friends to celebrate winter holidays like Christmas or Hanukkah with the perfect gifts, the unofficial holiday promotes a mob mentality, creates unsafe shopping risks like injury and sometimes death, and is completely outdated with the rise of“Cyber Monday” sales.

According to a 2008 NY Daily News article, “Worker dies at Long Island after beingtrampled Black Friday stampede” shoppers were so ready to get in on Black Friday, they tookthe hinges off the doors and flooded into the store.

The customers ended up killing Jdimytai Damour in their frenzy. 2008 was over a decade ago, but it is an exemplary report of how the Black Friday crowds get into a ‘“retail rage”.

The chaos continues every year, in fact there is a whole website dedicated to it called http://www.blackfridaydeathcount.com. The site tracks not only fatalities of the holiday, but also the injuries dating back to 2006. In 2018 the official list has one death and seven injuries. Keep in mind these are just the reported citing of violence, not everyone gets to tell his or her story or have it told.

The next reason Black Friday is not-so-great is that all the hassle of going out and pillaging for great deals feels obsolete if consumers consider the power of online shopping.

Some stores, like Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, hold an online version of Black Friday called Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday sales are just as good as Black Friday sales without all the hassle. Bargain shopping from the comfort of your own home without the risk of rude shoppers, long lines, and sometimes dangerous situations.

It is also important to note that other stores like Hot Topic will have their Black Friday sales available online, as to keep with the trend of shopping the day after Thanksgiving.