There's always that joke about Christmas "starting earlier and earlier" every year. It's not really a joke, though, considering we've all seen it happening in real time. In most cases, at least in my neck-of-the-woods, you can expect to see Christmas decorations and stuff to buy that's definitely not related to Thanksgiving right after Halloween rolls by. There are some extreme cases, not including Christmas-themed places, where these same sights can start to pop up even before Halloween arrives.
Black Friday is kind of like that nowadays. It hasn't branched out to other months, or even weeks, but it has extended into other days. Black Friday for some companies start on Wednesdays. And those "early doorbuster" deals, which are oftentimes done online, can even start as early as Monday.
It's kind of crazy.
Still, even with the online marketplace making shopping easier, for the most part, I haven't really ever jumped on the Black Friday (or Cyber Monday) deals. Not because they aren't any good. And not because they're hard to find. There are a lot of websites out there that handle the legwork to find you the best deals after all. But simply because I'm rarely surprised by a launch of a product.
What I mean is, if I'm in the market for a new video game system, like in a transition from the Xbox 360 to the Xbox One, I know the Xbox One is coming, when its launch date is, and plan accordingly. I'm an early adopter so I get it at launch, for better or worse. And being an early adopter for most things I buy, waiting until something like Black Friday typically doesn't pan out.
I've taken advantage here and there over the years, at least when I've seen a gift for someone in passing, at least.
A friend of mine picked up a variety of devices this year. A MacBook Air for a family member (discounted by $200), a new DSLR (discounted by $400), new AirPods (wanted a backup pair, "just in case"), and random other stuff. They did pretty well for themselves, and they even managed to get money back out of a lot of the promotions because of where they shopped.
I know Black Friday and Cyber Monday are lucrative for the companies, but I want to hear from you. Whether you ventured out in the wild to brave the physical stores and lines (did you even have lines in your area?), or you shopped primarily online, did you take advantage of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions? If you did, what did you buy this year? Let me know!
