Hand up all of us who isn’t missing the avalanche of Black Friday emails that have hit the inbox in the past weeks?
Black Friday is yet another US import, traditionally the day after Thanksgiving when the annual Christmas (sorry, holiday!) spending began and with stores opening early and heavily discounting those lines they wanted to shift. Anyone for a summer coat?
It first hit the UK with that megalith river named online trader who imported the idea into the UK and has become synonymous with their attempt to shift their video doorbells and their USB streaming plug-ins.
It has also become synonymous with large retailer/sellers putting pressure on those further down the food chain to discount their products and pare profits to the bone to increase the retail site’s turnover.
And then there is the RRP rip off. RRP or Recommended Retail Price which is the price the manufacturer thinks the product should retail for. In most, if not all cases, the product is never offered at this price. So, any comparison to RRP is just marketing smoke and mirrors.
Even the broadband providers have got in on the act offering cheap deals which most people who have contracts up across all months of the year, can’t access. But, hey, they are showing their ‘we care’ attitude.
This year, probably more than ever, we have got to know the various courier delivery persons by their first names, and it wouldn’t surprise this cat if some of them ended up on the Christmas card list or joining the bin men (and, yes, all our bin men are men) getting a box of biscuits on the last collection day.
But just how many of these ‘deals’ are really value for money or represent a real reduction in price?
Consumer association Which? has carried out some analysis of prices and found that 92% of these Black Friday deals were actually cheaper at other times of the year and many of the deals today will go on to be even cheaper in the next few weeks as the retailers shift stock before Christmas.
Certainly, if you have already planned to buy your loved one a set of ultra expensive noise reduction headphones, of the latest smart fitness watch, then you might find a deal somewhere online.
Of course you will have to trawl the various sites leaving your footprints via the ubiquitous cookies or given them your email address to get an ‘additional 5% off’ which means your online social media will, for months even years, throw up further ads for things you have already bought.
And, your email inbox will bulge with further offers until you spend a quiet hour or two to ‘unsubscribe’ from these annoying lists and even then, Big Brother/Sister shopper has you in their sights determined to drive you to their sites!
About Cumbria Cat
Born in Cumberland and, now, back living in Cumberland, having spent most of the past 50 years in some place called Cumbria, this cat has used up all nine lives as well as a few others.
Always happy to curl up on a friendly lap, the preference is for a local lap and not a lap that wants to descend on the county to change it into something it isn’t. After all, you might think Cumbria/Cumberland/Westmorland is a land forged by nature – the glaciers, the rivers, breaking down the volcanic rocks or the sedimentary layers – but, in reality, the Cumbria we know today was forged by generations of local people, farmers, miners, quarriers, and foresters.
This cat is a local moggy, not a Burmese, Ocicat or Persian, and although I have been around the block a few times, whenever I jump, I end up on my feet back in my home county. I am passionate about the area, its people, past, present and future, and those who come to admire what we hold dear, be it lakes and mountains, wild sea shores, vibrant communities or the history as rich and diverse as anywhere in the world.
