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Anyone venturing out and about for Black Friday Sales?

Josie

*probably reading smut*
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Not me. I went out ONE time and never again. Way too many people and way too many pushy, rude people. I feel sorry for anyone who has to work retail this weekend.

Any good Black Friday stories?
 
nope. there isn't enough booze in the world to get me to do that. for those that dig it, though, i hope that they have fun. some people seem to consider it a tradition.
 
Well, since boredom made me crawl out of retirement, and I have to work tomorrow (retail store)...lol. It will be interesting.
 
For those of you who do go out on Black Friday, please be considerate and turn your camera phone horizontal when filming the brawls.
 
Since we are not traveling this year, I plan to go into the office a few hours tomorrow. It should be a productive day. There won’t be any meetings since it’s a holiday. So I plan to catch up on some things. There should be four or five other people doing the same thing.
 
I dont think my wife is going to do any black Friday shopping....a few years ago she took me with her to the Mall Of America for the black Friday gladiator games......never again.


I still have flash backs. :(
 
Well, since boredom made me crawl out of retirement, and I have to work tomorrow (retail store)...lol. It will be interesting.

Oh no! Is this your first year working BF weekend?
 
Oh no! Is this your first year working BF weekend?

First time venturing out on BF, and working. I have booze on standby for when I get home.
 
I have planned a Black Friday viist to Home Depot to puchase (66) pressure treated 2x4x8' boards since they offer that product for $3.27 (each) while others want $4.47 (or more) for that (same/similar) product. I will likely also buy a plastic storage tub (or two) for tools/supplies and, if the sale price is good enough, some additional Ryobi One+ batteries for use with my cordless power tools.

It is not so much that I like shopping on Black Friday (or any other day, for that matter) but my next job is building a cover-over roof for a fairly old (10'x54') single-wide mobile home. We were out yesterday to obtain actual prices (from Home Depot, Lowe's and McCoy's) for the materials required for that roofing job - for some unkown reason they often seem to vary from the prices advertised on the store's web sites/apps.

It is amazing how much variation there is among prices for basic construction materials (as well as other products) at different local area stores and/or online outlets. For this smallish (semi-emergency) roofing job alone I can save (the customer) over $300 (about 18% of material costs) by getting the pressure treated 2x4s, the pressure treated 1x4s and the galvanized metal roofing panels required from (3) different sources.
 
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Not me. I went out ONE time and never again. Way too many people and way too many pushy, rude people. I feel sorry for anyone who has to work retail this weekend.

Any good Black Friday stories?

Nope. I've never once gone out there with all the craziness.
 
Not me. I went out ONE time and never again. Way too many people and way too many pushy, rude people. I feel sorry for anyone who has to work retail this weekend.

Any good Black Friday stories?

We (family) use to years ago when my and my sister's children were young. Now our children are all grown, have children and live 2 -8 hours away. Thanksgiving is usually a three to four day event for us depending on who can be where and when.
 
I got a 10 pound bar of platinum for $3.00 last year on BF.
 
And lived to tell about it too. ;)

Lol. Never have shopped on BF. There's nothing I need or want that badly. If, like you, there's something I need during the course of some work, I'll get it. Otherwise, I'm fine. I'm not a "shopper", and I don't enjoy crowds and mobs.
 
Lol. Never have shopped on BF. There's nothing I need or want that badly. If, like you, there's something I need during the course of some work, I'll get it. Otherwise, I'm fine. I'm not a "shopper", and I don't enjoy crowds and mobs.

My shopping consists of comparing prices, from several sources, for items that I want or need. If I could do so using websites alone then I surely would, yet too often the store's prices do not match those on their websites and/or the items are not in stock and can't be obtained, even by 'special order', within a reasonable amount of time (under 7 days).

One extremely annoying practice has evolved whereby a manufacturer produces indentical (for all partical purposes) products under different 'brands' so that each 'big box' retail outlet can assert that they offer the lowest price for that product. If the SKU number varies (even if the product is functionally identical) then the store will assert that is not subject to their price matching policy. Of course, a #2 grade 2x4x8', made of pressure treated southern yellow pine, is not 'different' simply because it was milled at a different location or happens to bear a different 'brand' barcode.
 
My shopping consists of comparing prices, from several sources, for items that I want or need. If I could do so using websites alone then I surely would, yet too often the store's prices do not match those on their websites and/or the items are not in stock and can't be obtained, even by 'special order', within a reasonable amount of time (under 7 days).

One extremely annoying practice has evolved whereby a manufacturer produces indentical (for all partical purposes) products under different 'brands' so that each 'big box' retail outlet can assert that they offer the lowest price for that product. If the SKU number varies (even if the product is functionally identical) then the store will assert that is not subject to their price matching policy. Of course, a #2 grade 2x4x8', made of pressure treated southern yellow pine, is not 'different' simply because it was milled at a different location or happens to bear a different 'brand' barcode.

What you mention seems to be standard practice these days. If you just happen to need a few of something, It's not a big thing. If you're buying some volume, it can make a difference, and the discrepancy between on line prices and actual in store prices is misleading and disappointing.
 
What you mention seems to be standard practice these days. If you just happen to need a few of something, It's not a big thing. If you're buying some volume, it can make a difference, and the discrepancy between on line prices and actual in store prices is misleading and disappointing.

Shopping around can make a big difference even with the purchase of a single item. I recently bought a new portable, 10" blade table saw since my (10 year?) old one (Ryobi) was fading fast due to it's plastic base degrading and becoming too brittle. After some online research of product reviews I had narrowed its replacement prospects down to Dewalt, Ridgid or Skil models.

Since I already have a portable table saw stand (Dewalt brand - also purchased on sale) which works fine, I wanted to buy only the basic saw (not a saw/stand combo) and, fortunately, that was possible with all the models that I had decided were viable replacements. The Skill brand was not compatible with my (Dewalt) stand since it mounts with bolts at a bizarre 44 degree angle making it easily fit only on their own stand. The Ridgid saw was available from Home Depot (online) for $199 while the best 'deal' that I could find for the Dewalt saw was $299. Saving $100 (more considering sales tax) was, IMHO, well worth doing that shopping around even for that single item purchase.
 
Nope.
My wife and I have not exchanged presents during Christmas for years. More important to just get the family together. We purchase what we need, when we need it.

I do not like the commercialization of Christmas that has taken place.
 
I'd rather jump naked into a pit full of king cobra snakes then go anywhere near a retail outlet on Black Friday.
 
Not me. I went out ONE time and never again. Way too many people and way too many pushy, rude people. I feel sorry for anyone who has to work retail this weekend.

Any good Black Friday stories?

LOL...hell no. I do like to watch some of the crazy videos of it on youtube though.
 
Shopping around can make a big difference even with the purchase of a single item. I recently bought a new portable, 10" blade table saw since my (10 year?) old one (Ryobi) was fading fast due to it's plastic base degrading and becoming too brittle. After some online research of product reviews I had narrowed its replacement prospects down to Dewalt, Ridgid or Skil models.

Since I already have a portable table saw stand (Dewalt brand - also purchased on sale) which works fine, I wanted to buy only the basic saw (not a saw/stand combo) and, fortunately, that was possible with all the models that I had decided were viable replacements. The Skill brand was not compatible with my (Dewalt) stand since it mounts with bolts at a bizarre 44 degree angle making it easily fit only on their own stand. The Ridgid saw was available from Home Depot (online) for $199 while the best 'deal' that I could find for the Dewalt saw was $299. Saving $100 (more considering sales tax) was, IMHO, well worth doing that shopping around even for that single item purchase.

I'm pretty well set with portable stuff - I don't do much outside my shop these days. Well, I do some, but certainly not the volume you do. I occasionally will do some built-ins, but that's mostly shop work as well. The days of building houses and major remodeling and renovation are over for me. I'm too old, and I'm pretty good at saying "No". Politely, but firmly.
 
I'm pretty well set with portable stuff - I don't do much outside my shop these days. Well, I do some, but certainly not the volume you do. I occasionally will do some built-ins, but that's mostly shop work as well. The days of building houses and major remodeling and renovation are over for me. I'm too old, and I'm pretty good at saying "No". Politely, but firmly.

At nearly 65 myself I am slowing down a bit too and using a helper more often on jobs that I used to do by myself.
 
At nearly 65 myself I am slowing down a bit too and using a helper more often on jobs that I used to do by myself.

Yeah. I'm much slower with more physical work than I was even a few years ago. I was pretty dismayed about that at first, but I've accepted it. No sense trying to change something I know I can't.
 
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