The Black Friday Scam: Why the Hype Is a Ripoff Compared to Previous Glory Days

When Black Friday first started back in the 60’s, retailers needed to slash prices to get people to show up the day after Thanksgiving.

Businesses were in competition and each tried to outdo each other with bigger deals.

Each year more and more started going shopping on Black Friday.

As time went on, deals started having a time restraint.

Meaning the best deals, in limited quantities, would only be released at 10am, then 8am, then 6am, then to the first 20 people, etc.

So this trained people to go shopping earlier and earlier, until they had to show up before the stores opened to get the ‘doorbusters’.

And we saw this in Mervyn’s ads in the 90’s with a lady waiting for the store to open.

And did we get deals?

Heck yeah!

I got all the furniture for my place and a 10″ plasma TV for only $2!

Well, not that much. And I don’t recall what I got. But I do remember seeing tons of deals all over.

(But the checkout line that wrapped around the store was enough to make me willing to come back in a few days and pay more)

Then retailers realized that the people had been trained to show up early on Black Friday.

They didn’t need killer deals anymore to lure them in.

So, then they started offering less deals. Did the people still show up?

Yep.

And sadly over the last decade (that I call the Darkest Timeline) they have pretty much made the bait and switch complete, where now they offer the IDEA of Big Sale.

Just hike up the original price so it SEEMS like a sale.

These days doorbusters are few and far between.

But big box stores are hoping we don’t notice.

Black Friday is a big scam pic.twitter.com/MVQPsTOMVW

— NO CONTEXT HUMANS (@HumansNoContext) November 26, 2024

See for yourself.

This clip shows how the “Black Friday deal” is just covering up the previous same price.

Scam-a-roony!

TARGET RUNNING THE WALMART ROLLBACK SCAM ADVERTISING UNCHANGED PRICES AS DEALS FOR BLACK FRIDAY ### $TGT $WMTpic.twitter.com/kwBoakTvUp

— iBankCoin, A Reliable Source (@iBankCoin4tw) November 25, 2023

Here’s Amazon selling 8 count of markers for $9.

BUT they’re claiming the 12 count cost $30?

Then they “mark it down” to make you think you’re getting a huge deal?

Scammy black Friday junk. Mark up the price and pretend you're giving almost 70% off. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/WgD0fKCSPP

— 🤖You meep, I moop🤖 (@jmmooreo) November 27, 2024

That dress that you love?

It was $10 cheaper days before Black Friday.

Exhibit A of how Black Friday is a scam.. 2 days ago this dress was $79.99 now it’s $89.99. Although companies are advertising sales of 50%+ off, keep in mind that they hike up the original price & make it seem like you’re actually receiving a bomb discount. pic.twitter.com/lMxmrQ9P1p

— anb (@alysia_nicoleee) November 29, 2019

People are catching on. And they’re aren’t happy!

These Black Friday deals on amazon are a fucking scam! Why is it that a product that was $50 2 weeks ago is now “on sale for $50” and it says the alleged retail price is $80??? 🥲 I’m so tired of the price gouging

— ᏗᏝᎩᏕᏕᏗ ⚖️ (@osolovelylys) November 22, 2024

Beware Amazon's Black Friday deals, it's a marketing scam. Was tracking a gift for a grandson, it went on "sale" for Black Friday, price is actually the same, they raised the "typical price" by $10. I remember some dept store getting in trouble for the same back in the day. pic.twitter.com/FMSKvNHWga

— Lorraine Lanning 🙂 🍖🍗🏕🦉🦅🦢🐦🦆 (@Common_SenseCO) November 23, 2024

And with online shopping so popular, it’s not the same anymore.

People aren’t camping out anymore.

If they want more shoppers, they’re going to need to have legitimate deals, like days of old.

Make Black Friday Great Again.

Here’s some clips of when it used to be fun and you could get deals. Not everywhere was an intense stampede, unlike the news showed.

Best Buy in 2005:

Toys R Us in 2009. (RIP)

Here’s a stroll through Target in 2007, years before they went woke.