2021 Black Friday

Thanksgiving week is here.  And that gives those of us in trades that have no holidays a chance to opine about having to work on Thanksgiving Day.

Cops, doctors, nurses, EMS workers telephone operators, news reporters, toll booth attendants, power plant operators, and on and on. You get used to it. In fact, in some cases, you embrace it.  

It seems unfair, though, that retail stores open on Thanksgiving. Unfair to the workers who have to finish “dinner” by 4 PM to get to work at five or six.  For what?  For the shoppers who can’t wait a day to buy the Black Friday specials?

As we head toward Monday morning, a small group of RVs has gathered in the Best Buy and Target parking lots.  We know people are going to celebrate the holiday by tailgating their holiday meal and we know they’ve stowed tents in their buses which they will pitch on Wednesday near the doors to the stores.

All this to get an InstaPot for three dollars off the regular price. (Not to be confused with the MSRP.)

That’s a whole ‘nother story. The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price has nothing to do with the price anyone paid.   

Example:  a Bic Crystal Pen’s MSRP is under a buck. But you can buy a package of a dozen for under two dollars and neither Bic nor mega-mart is losing money on this deal.

Sticker prices in auto showrooms should be labeled “fiction.”  So should “invoice prices,” which purport to show you what the dealer paid for that shiny new 2019 Plymouth Duster. (There is no Plymouth Duster anymore.)  The dealer gets rebates and bonuses from the factory. You never see those.

MSRP is a level of fakery that’s only slightly faker than “Originally $29.95, Black Friday priced at $15.99.  Here’s how that works:

Megamart gets in a shipment of Gold Tootsy Socks and labels them $29.95 for a three pack.  Then, one midnight, the stock clerks put them out for sale.  The store may or may not be open at that moment.

Around six in the morning, another stock clerk comes along and affixes another sticker that says $15.99.  When the store opens Black Friday morning at 6:30, Megamart can’t be faulted.  They originally priced them at 30 bucks.  Who cares if the store wasn’t open?  Now, they’re 16. What a bargain. 

And neither Megamart nor Gold Toots loses money because the wholesale price of the three pack is $7.50 if you buy in six figure quantities.

GRAPESHOT:

-When it’s 20 degrees and the restaurant is nearly empty, what possesses the host to seat you at the table nearest the door?

-trump says he doesn’t need to hear the Khashoggi tape because he doesn’t speak Arabian… kind of like Dan Quayle who didn’t visit Latin America because he doesn’t speak Latin.

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

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© WJR 2018