Thoughts about Black Friday and Cyber Monday..Pros and Cons..

          We have all heard of them, and I am sure that most of us have utilized them, but are they truly as great as people say? Are they really worth all the trouble that people go through to do their shopping then? While I will give you my personal opinion on that, I will also give you some of the pros and cons about these. First, I'm going to start by giving you my opinion, then the pros, then the cons, and lastly, the statistics.
       My opinion is going to mostly be about Black Friday because it affects a holiday now and something I deem quite important, whereas Cyber Monday is not on this holiday. Personally, I do not have a problem with people wanting to get some great deals as well as getting their shopping done, however, I do have a problem with people making their family time plans around their shopping plans. I do not think that your loved ones should come second to shopping, and I understand that that is not always the intention, it's just that people want these deals. It'd be more understandable to me if Black Friday was just then, on Friday and NOT starting on Thanksgiving when you are supposed to be with your family. I am aware that some people do not celebrate holidays or aren't a fan of them and that's fine, but I just think that for the sake's of the people that do and so they don't have that temptation to leave their loved ones to shop, Black Friday should only be on Friday, and not Thursday (as known as..Thanksgiving.) Some of the deals are even beginning before Thursday and stretching out what is supposed to be a singular day event into a multiple days event and I just think that's not right. Cyber Monday doesn't really affect Thanksgiving, or at least, not as badly so I do not really have a problem with it. Feel free to disagree.
       Obviously, the first pro I am going to tell you is the most given one, which is the shopping deals stores offer you. Pros I can think of right away for Black Friday include maybe making it a bonding time by taking someone you love with you and jamming out to Christmas music in the car because it's Christmas shopping for the most part, am I right? Another pro for Black Friday shopping is that it is exercise with constant moving to be first to get the sale and unfortunately for some people, it's the most exercise they may get. Now for Cyber Monday, you can invite a loved one over and both of you do your online shopping while comfortable in your pjs and maybe playing Christmas music or a Christmas film in the background or cuddling with your pet while checking out those deals.
     Now that I've given some of the pros, I must give some cons, because unfortunately nowadays I'm seeing more cons than I am pros for these two events. Beginning with Black Friday in which I am reiterating the fact that since Black Friday is beginning earlier and earlier, people are missing time spent with their loved ones because they are going out for these "spectacular" deals. I say that in quotations because some of the deals I have seen aren't even that spectacular. For example, some deals I have seen are just maybe a few dollars cheaper and I understand that a sale is a sale, however, you could still end up spending the dollars you saved on gasoline so you're spending it anyway. Another con is the endless lines and crowded spaces, which if you are anything like me, you get extremely uncomfortable in crowds. Yet another con, and I am sure you all have heard this one, the fights that break out because of the sales and people not getting what they want because of that. Over materialistic items none-the-less. Another con for Black Friday is because some of the deals are great to some people, the merchandise may not be in as good of condition do to many people touching it and moving it around, dropping it. The cons for Cyber Monday are again deals which may not be as spectacular, stuff being ordered incorrectly because the internet can be a difficult thing for many, and over the past few years, there has been several instances of sites breaking or shutting down because the over usage of the internet. Those of you here at school surely understand what happens when too many people are using the internet at the same time which is that it tends to break for awhile. Well, the same thing can happen outside school too. Another con for Cyber Monday is that for some businesses, employees will not show up to work so they can shop or they will shop during work. Not only that but if they order something, and it is incorrect or damaged, it is more difficult to return by mail and can sometimes get lost during transport. Additionally, you can't test the merchandise before you buy it. With both of these events, it's also easy for people to spend more than they really can because they are in a buying frenzy.
     Now that I've said some of my thoughts about these two events, does anyone else have something to add that I may have missed? Or have another opinion? This is just something that I thought a lot about over break and I tried to get it up during break but some other things came up. At any rate, I hope everyone had a great break and please just take some of what I said into consideration when next year comes around for these events.