I was reading an article in the Register Guard this morning about Black Friday. I've never quite understood the mindset of people willing to brave the crowds (or would mobs be more appropriate?) on the day after Thanksgiving just for door prizes and discounted shopping. As I've told people already this year on Facebook, if I could barricade myself in my house from Thanksgiving to the beginning of the New Year, I would. People get so crazy this time of year.
According to the Register Guard article, people lined up outside the malls for as long as 13 hours before the stores opened. Imagine that: 13 hours! I can't imagine any free prize or discount is worth that kind of time. Actually I'm sure of it. Oregon minimum wage is what, $8.50 an hour? So let's assume for the moment that we can price a person's time at minimum wage. (Alright, I know that a person's life is worth more than minimum wage, but for the sake of the math, just work with me for a second.) Ok, so that would make a wait time of 13 hours equal to about 13 X $8.50 = $110.50. Ok, going along this same train of thought this waiting also takes place on a holiday, so your time is worth time and a half. That would make the wait cost about this much: 13 X $12.75 = $165.75.
Really? You're going to find savings worth that much. And if you consider your time to be more valuable than minimum wage, you'd better come up with savings better than that. Personally my time (and my sanity) is worth more than I'd ever save at any Black Friday sale.
I know that our economy is based on buying stuff, and that holiday sales drives most of our economy for the entire year! It's sad. It's great that people are in a giving mood for the holidays, but we put too much stress on ourselves during this time of year to spend money to show our family how much we love them. I've got a suggestion for everyone for next year. How about instead of going shopping on Black Friday, you show your family how much you love them by spending some quality time with them?
Shopping can wait.
