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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Early Birds

Black Friday calls: Are you in or out?

It can’t come soon enough for some people.

And it couldn’t possibly come late enough for others.

Black Friday, the post-Thanksgiving orgy of early-morning discounts, is as divisive as it is crowded. For the devoted, it’s a chance to get great deals on some things and to get a lot of names crossed off that Christmas list. For others, it’s a borderline offensive example of the crass commercialization of the holiday.

“I consider it a spectator sport – watching the fights break out as recorded by TV news across the nation,” wrote one commenter on the Everyday Economy blog. “It makes me sad to see the desperation and mob mentality. It’s ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ applied to toys and electronics.”

And yet views like that one can’t dampen the spirit of those who love it – like this comment posted at a different Black Friday discussion board: “I actually love love love black friday!!!! My friends and I spend a week planning all the stores and Christmas lists. We get free gifts at all kinds of places. We all get up and carpool at 3 a.m. We laugh and shop without husbands and kids. There are great steals and a great time.”

Maybe America’s not a country of blue states and red states, after all. Maybe it’s a country of shoppers and sleepers-in. With that in mind, here’s a hypothetical conversation between the two Americas:

Sunny Shopper: Black Friday’s awesome. My sister and I compile the ads and plan the best route to get the stuff we want. This year, we’re planning to be outside a certain unnamed big-box retailer by three bells – with blankets, lawn chairs and thermoses full of coffee – for a $25 microwave and a $400 laptop.

Sleeping In: Black Friday’s awful. All those crowds. All those lines. If your time is worth anything at all – I’ve priced mine at $30 per waking hour, $50 per sleeping one – then the bargains aren’t such a great deal, in a quality-of-life sense. I’ve heard it’s the single biggest shopping day of the year.

Sunny: It’s actually not typically the busiest shopping day of the season (which often falls on the weekend before Christmas, thanks to lazy shoppers like you) but Black Friday has gotten busier in recent years. During the 1990s, it was usually the fifth-busiest or lower; in recent years, it’s been first or second, according to sales volume surveys. But even as the number of shoppers increased last year, average spending actually went down – from $360 to $348, according to the National Retail Federation.

Sleeping: Still. I’ll be celebrating Buy Nothing Day.

Sunny: What kind of ludicrous day is that?

Sleeping: It’s sponsored by Adbusters magazine. It’s a “festival of restraint” for 24 hours, celebrated all over the globe. Average spending: $0. I’ll be eating turkey sandwiches and playing Uno with the family.

Sunny: Not my idea of a festival. Look, I’ve got to buy Christmas presents for my husband, three kids, grandparents, brother and sister, one co-worker and Aunt Edna. If I can save hundreds of bucks a pop – and get a lot of people crossed off my list – then good on me.

Sleeping: There are plenty of other ways to save money. Apart from a handful of the biggest, splashiest deals – usually on electronics – you can usually get good deals on any number of days between now and Christmas. Or you could celebrate Online Monday and shop the sales over the Internet a week from today.

Sunny: I’d miss all that human contact.

Sleeping: Fine. Then permit me to quote from the Web site MainStreet.com: “Remember that buying only those items that you have accounted for in your budget will give you the chance to make it through the holidays debt free. Skipping Black Friday is a good way to keep on budget. But if there is an important reason you do have to fight the Black Friday crowds, be sure to do a little bit of preparation to get the best deals.”

Sunny: Oh, I’m prepared all right. I know where all my favorite stuff is on sale, and I’ve checked for the best prices against comparison Web sites like BizRate.com and PriceGrabber.com.

Sleeping: Even so, isn’t it a bad idea to be spending money right now?

Sunny: Isn’t now the perfect time to be saving money – through bargains?