The Busiest Shopping Day of the Year

At 5am on Friday morning, I was happily asleep. I have never been out shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, and I don’t plan on braving crowds like that without a really good reason (like a Dream Theater concert). I avoid crowds whenever I can. The closest I ever got to a Black Friday shopping experience was through my friend Val.

A few years ago, Val was drawn out by the $99 deal on the digital camera she had been wanting. This was enough to lure her to the Target parking lot at 5am. She reported that several shoppers do this every year! Every year?!!?!?!?!!??! Retailers are always doing plenty to feed this by conjuring better deals and opening earlier and earlier.

It is becoming an American tradition. People are lined up as if they are about to start a race. This is just another brand of rush for a particular type of adrenaline junkie. Perhaps it’s the promise of unadvertised deals on Black Friday that keep people coming back year after year.

E-Commerce To The Rescue

I often retreat from retail during the month of December. If I want to buy something, I’ll buy it online.

Shopping online has transformed our lives. It’s easy, safe, and convenient. We have access to just about anything we would want and at great prices too. E-commerce has changed our lives and I’m sure it has changed yours:

• It saves you time – Ever think about how much time it takes to go to the store? You will be as shocked as I was when I discovered that it takes 40 minutes just to buy a stick of butter at the grocery store.
• It saves you money – Shopping online saves you money. In many cases, you don’t pay sales tax. You don’t use gas to go to the store.
• It’s safe – credit card information is encrypted online. It’s far less likely that a human will see your credit card number when you shop online. There is actually a bigger risk when you whip your card out at the store. The holiday shopping season also sees an increase in retail crime.

What About Shipping Costs?

Shipping costs are negligible when compared to your time. Shipping is often a point of contention, especially if the shipping costs approach or even exceed the cost of the item, or if the item is shipped locally. Shipping is cheaper than you think.

The cost of shipping is recouped by the deals you can score by shopping online, not paying sales tax (most of the time), and saving yourself a trip to the store. Every time you start your car, it costs money. It takes a significant chunk of time to go to a retail store locally. There’s more to it than the round-trip time. You have to park, walk into the store, find the item, check out, and walk back to your car. It took me 40 minutes to buy a stick of butter once. The supermarket is a mile from my house. You’ll save even more time by avoiding holiday crowds.

If you shop on Amazon, you can sign up for Amazon Prime. For $79 a year, you get unlimited free 2-day shipping on most items. Upgrading to overnight shipping is only an additional $3.99!

Shop Online

At our my blog, Renee And Elliott, we’ve set up a Shopping page just for you. When you shop at our partners’ sites, it doesn’t cost you an extra penny and it helps us out. You might even save money, or something more valuable, like your time.