10 Reasons Why I Hate Black Friday, And So Should You. Yes I said it – I hate black Friday. As a recovering shopaholic, the last thing I need is days like Black Friday to tempt me into buying stuff that I can live without.
In today’s blog post, I share 10 reasons why I hate Black Friday, and why you should too. By the end of this blog post you’ll understand why, and perhaps think differently about heading out to the stores this Friday.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure policy for details.
10 Reasons Why I Hate Black Friday, And So Should You
Black Friday is a shopping event originating in the US that takes place the day after Thanksgiving and marks the start of the holiday shopping season.
In my most recent post, “Don’t Make These 12 Mistakes Shopping On Black Friday”, I shared mistakes that many people make while shopping on Black Friday, and how you should avoid them.
Well in today’s blog post, we go a little deeper and I share 10 reasons why I hate black Friday and why you should too. I hope that by the end of reading this blog post you understand my rationale, and it makes you think twice before rushing out to the stores.
1 – Black Friday is killing our planet
I’m by no means an environmental activist, however we cannot ignore the huge impact that events like black Friday have on our environment. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are some of the most polluting shopping days of the year.
Did you know that during Black Friday 2020, people spent $9 billion online shopping? This was 21.6% higher than 2019, making last year’s event the most polluting to date.
What’s more, Black Friday’s carbon footprint has grown significantly thanks to its global adoption. Just to give a little perspective, in the UK alone, Black Friday 2020 emitted 429,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions – that’s the equivalent of 435 return flights from London to New York!
2 – Heightened levels of stress
Another reason why I’m not a fan of Black Friday is the heightened level of stress it induces. The stress of trying to get your hands on the deal you want, with no guarantee of actually being able to get your hands on them is frustrating. Setting yourself up for unnecessary disappointment.
3 – The queues are ridiculous and waste of your life
I remember years ago hitting boxing day sales with my family, and I kid you not – we queued for 4 hours in a Next Outlet to pay for our baskets of clothes. 4 hours of our lives that we will never get back. What makes it even more painful, is if you were to ask me where even one of those items are today, I really couldn’t tell you.
4 – It encourages materialism and consumerism
In my opinion, generally speaking, countries like the UK and the US are heavily plagued with materialism and consumerism. So we don’t need days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day to give us reasons to spend more money.
5 – It increases FOMO
FOMO, i.e. the fear of missing out, is the idea that people’s actions can be influenced by other people’s behaviour and actions. FOMO can be very dangerous to your bank balance, and can lead to extreme dissatisfaction which is very detrimental to one’s physical and mental health.
A lot of the excessive Black Friday shopping is fuelled by people’s fear of missing out on the best deals.
6 – People get into unnecessary debt
Leading on from the last point about FOMO, it really can negatively impact people financially. Many people will go as far as taking on unnecessary new debt to pay for Black Friday, just because FOMO has taken over rationality.
Consumers just have to have that amazing item whether they can afford it or not. People often find themselves in an unnecessarily large amount of debt for things a lot of the time they could have lived without.
Disturbing research shows that 76% of people that bought DIY products last Black Friday regretted their purchases. What’s more, 66% of respondents said they regretted buying home appliances, 64% who bought baby products regretted it, as did 58% who had bought health and beauty products.
That unnecessary pressure to take on debt to get your hands on those must-have deals is saddening.
7- There’s a lot of crap for sale
I touched on this in my last Black Friday post, but I had to mention it again here as this is probably one of the biggest reasons why I hate Black Friday.
Don’t believe the hype. A lot of these amazing deals that seem irresistible and too good to be true, the reality is many of them are just that – too good to be true.
A lot of the items that are up for grabs on Black Friday are bottom of the barrel, low quality items that stores can’t shift on a normal day.
8 – Black Friday is marketing fluff
A lot of Black Friday bargains are in fact cheaper before and after black Friday. A few companies were caught out for this last year. Customers had taken screenshots before, on and after Black Friday and the items were actually more expensive on Black Friday.
Another tactic that some retails employ is they hike the prices up before Black Friday, just to slash them again on Black Friday.
It’s annoying that retailers are able to get away with these dirty marketing and sales tactics, but consumers lap it up, so why would they stop?
9 – Black Friday is a contradiction
What do I mean by this? Well Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the United States and Canada to celebrate the harvest and blessings of the past year, Black Friday on the other hand is all about acquiring more.
This Black Friday, instead of worrying about missing out on latest deals, focus on spending time with loved ones, after all, that is what this season is really about.
If you’re short on ideas of how to spend your Black Friday, here are 10 stress free activities for families this Black Friday.
10 – Black Friday brings out the worst in people
On Black Friday people literally lose their minds! They become rude, cranky and selfish. Do you remember black Friday in the UK back in 2014 when Black Friday first became a thing and people were fighting over televisions in Asda? It was mental, and what made it all the more ridiculous is the fact that it was an unbranded television that on a normal day people would not have considered purchasing.
These are 10 reasons why I hate Black Friday. I hope after reading this post yopu can understand why I’m not a fan of the occasion. If we’re honest with ourselves, we can admit that the last thing we need is more stuff.
Before you go rushing out to spend your hard earned money this Black Friday, ask yourself, do I really need or want to buy these items, or am I letting FOMO drive my purchase decisions.
More Like This:
If you enjoyed this post, ’10 Reasons Why I Hate Black Friday, And So Should You’, then you will also enjoy my other blog posts on similar topics. Check them out below:
1 – Don’t Make These 12 Mistakes Shopping On Black Friday
2 – How To Stick To Budget – 12 Simple Ways
