Black Friday & Cyber Monday Discussion Archive

Anyone else notice that deals, are absolute trash?

  • Last Updated:
  • Nov 27th, 2021 11:34 am
Deal Addict
Jan 12, 2017
3685 posts
4751 upvotes
B.C.
let see
I got snow boots, keurig, air fryer, legos, SSD, HDD, prices lower than any time of the year.
No complaints here
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Sep 19, 2002
7843 posts
9202 upvotes
Vancouver
There are backlogs wherever you look, especially with chips.

Cheap electronics like Fitbit get the lowest priority in terms of chip allocations. Even Apple lost over $6 billion revenue due to problems with the silicon shortage and the larger supply chain issues.

China has the most efficient ports in the world due to full automation, but places like Long Beach and Port of Vancouver are resisting it even in 2021. As a result, you've got ships sitting out at sea for a few weeks waiting to offload.

Retailers in North America don't need to fire sale anything.
Deal Addict
Jan 28, 2007
2321 posts
1676 upvotes
SW Ontario
Very lack luster this year for BF, but no surprise really other than a real lack of home internet BF offers.

Only bought engine oil this year so far.
I'd rather be outdoors camping, kayaking, and mountain biking ...
Deal Expert
User avatar
Oct 23, 2008
19235 posts
17863 upvotes
GTA, ON
Lol...
I think I'm only going to walk away from this year's BF with just 4 packs of 3* 25"x16"x1" MERV8 furnace filters from Home Depot's pre-BF sale. Wow!
What a sad sad year.
Tis banana is IRIE 😎

10% off is cold, 50% off is warm, 75% off is hot, but FREE IS RFD!
Deal Addict
Jul 8, 2019
1261 posts
1248 upvotes
Dreamrider wrote: let see
I got snow boots, keurig, air fryer, legos, SSD, HDD, prices lower than any time of the year.
No complaints here
Am relatively new to Canada and still getting settled, and I also had a few things which I had to buy. But for someone already settled here, I can understand that the sale is lacklustre.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Aug 10, 2015
2045 posts
918 upvotes
Elgin, ON
I’ve bought absolutely nothing today. I have not even been tempted by any “deal.”
Deal Addict
Jun 10, 2020
1196 posts
1258 upvotes
Does anyone else find it disturbing that Walmart's Black Friday Sale is sponsored by Telus (tm), in big letters?

I mean, I'm already happy that my Telecom company (one of the Big 3) mercilessly gouges me more than in any other country in the world, but now my Telecom dollars are going to sponsor even larger global conglomerate Walmart? WTH. lol.
Deal Addict
Jun 10, 2020
1196 posts
1258 upvotes
Homesimpson wrote: Honestly, I think this is the worst BF ever. And I think in many cases not only were there no sales, they actually hiked up the prices on products (I was goign to pay full price on one product, did a pricing history search and it was 30% cheaper just two days ago haha). I think the logic is they know people have put aside money and want to shop/spend on BF... but, so long as the competition isn't selling for less, you can get away with actually increasing your price and people will buy because they are tired of waiting for a sale.

My guess is we're going to see BF sales in a week or two after BF hehe.

All I know is I loaded my amazon wishlist up and unless you give me a f'ing sale you ain't getting my money :)
Part of the issue is Algorithms. Algorithms and 'Marketplaces' have really f-ed up shopping for all of us. They're pricing algorithms, and Amazon uses them with abandon (though their 3rd-parties use them even more..), as now does Walmart 'Marketplace', Bestbuy 'marketplace', etc.. They just match each others prices when it suits them to get a sale (Synology NAS was a perfect example this BFriday), and then jack them up once the others do, or mysterious 'sell out' one day (yesterday), then mysteriously again find more 'stock' today.. It's all price/market manipulation BS.


Agree, things weren't that great this year, but I think it was better (surprisingly) than last year. I haven't bought a thing today. All the best sales were yesterday, and the week leading to. Last year was pathetic.

My experience has been BF Creep.. It creeps forward every year (about a week in advance of the actual day), -- and that way you get BF Guaranteed Pricing while they still have stock. Only way to go.


Good points made about not needing more "stuff" though.. Agreed, though I'm one of those people that does most ALL my major shopping on BF.. and only BF. Being a RFD'er, it seems rather rare that companies AREN'T overcharging for their crap.
Member
Dec 16, 2017
292 posts
858 upvotes
ottawa
DasHip wrote: . It's all price/market manipulation BS.
I secretly suspect that putting things in my wishlist only lowers the odds of them going on sale; or limits how deep a sale it will be.

I've never loaded up my wishlist as much as I did this year, and of the 50 items or so in there only 3 went on sale for 20% off. Just bonkers. And it was a wide variety of items also.

Oh well, at this point I'm just glad I haven't died from covid, so I'm more than willing to just wait for most products to go on sale.
Deal Guru
User avatar
Mar 20, 2009
10165 posts
8291 upvotes
Toronto
Yeah - the cupboards seemed quite bare this year.
Really disappointed by Amazon. No Prime day this year, and nothing even remotely tempting on BF.
Wallet safe.
"When someone is burning a book, they are showing utter contempt for all of the thinking that produced its ideas, all of the labor that went into its words and sentences, and all of the trouble that befell the author . . .” ― Lemony Snicket
Sr. Member
Nov 28, 2003
699 posts
413 upvotes
Montreal
With the ongoing supply issues/covid, i wonder if retailers are holding off on BF deals in order to ensure they have enough inventory for Christmas.
Deal Addict
Aug 18, 2003
2417 posts
1299 upvotes
YVR
just buy nothing. for at least 12 months. watch them notice.

Image
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Deal Addict
Dec 27, 2007
4867 posts
2067 upvotes
Edmonton
arisk wrote:


BF wasn't even born that many years ago (Canada)
What younger consumers see is only a blip in our retail history.
Traditionally Boxing Day was our sales.
My impression on BF was that it was motivated by cross border shopping when our dollar was close to par.
Black friday started over 10 years ago. And it's been pretty bad then too. I think the last good sales were probably around 2005, back when door crashers were actually door crashers, you lined up outside and you had people doing coffee/hot chocolate runs.
warming up the earth 1 gas fill-up at a time...
You only live once, get a v8
Jr. Member
Sep 24, 2017
195 posts
118 upvotes
Vancouver
Remember who says trade war against China is easy to win? I think next year's BF may be the same as this year as the big companies have exchanged the deteriorating and excessive US dollars for Chinese products. As evident from the 40% overcapacity from the Chinese manufacturing that cause widespread power shortage in China. Thanks to this, I am still able to get some good deals. Next year, the items that get more expensive is not because of not enough items being produced but because of rising inflation.
Deal Addict
Dec 5, 2009
2789 posts
3289 upvotes
Even outside of covid, retailers have become so efficient with their supply chain that there are no more deals.
Back in the day, Black Friday and Boxing Day were markdowns stemming from having too much inventory.

What you see during Black Friday or Boxing Day now are products that the retailer purchased specifically for these events. Standard margins apply, even for blockbuster products.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Feb 8, 2014
32134 posts
15416 upvotes
Socially Distanced
TV prices suck this year, otherwise most of the deals have been ok but not great.

Grabbed some 256GB USB and MicroSD, a microwave (old one started spazzing out last week so lucky coincidence of timing) and a couple things i was waiting for BF to go on sale. In general i only buy things on BF that i already want but have been waiting to go on sale.

Been waiting years to get a new TV, bought one a few years back but it was the RCA with the dreaded yellow issue and not smart so sent it back. Prices were down quite a bit two years ago but didn't buy, now not even close.
Should have bought that $200 price mistake TV from Hot Deals a few years back.
In fact in Rand McNally they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people
Deal Addict
Nov 12, 2006
3109 posts
2309 upvotes
London
tmkf_patryk wrote: Black friday started over 10 years ago.
Yes, not that long ago.
10-15 years is a blip in time.

I looked up historical exchange rates.

In Nov. 2005, Cdn dollar was .85USD
Two years earlier we were .76
In 2007 we were better than par.
Exchange rates continued to be good for about 10 years.

That was a great incentive to spend elsewhere.
There was an increased cross border shopping urge.
Part of the "invention" of BF sales here was to compete and reduce that.

In 2015 our dollar dropped considerably, but in those years BF became part of our culture.
Anyone too young to remember "the before time" has high expectations.
Prior to that circa 2005, here BF only meant we would see some fights on the news, and shake our heads in disgust.

The historical reasons for it in the US are different than here.
There is no correlation to anything here, except the influence of US.
We are fortunate to get a bit of spillover.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 2, 2009
1995 posts
473 upvotes
What the ad says - and what it means:


"All Items Up To 50% Off!" - .01% falls within that range

"Everything On Sale For a Fraction Of The Price!" - 99/100 is a fraction

"Gifts For Less Than $50!" - $49.95

"We Pass Our Savings On To You!" - we got 'em cheap at a Fire Sale, so we can afford to sell 'em for 10% off retail, as is, and still make a fat profit

"The Lowest Prices In Town!" - not including taxes, carbon tax, administration fees, processing fees, recycle fees, and fuel fees

"As Low As $300!" - but we only have 2 of 'em in the store (no rainchecks)

“All Appliances Come With A 10-Year Warranty!” – except parts and labor


"*Some conditions may apply." - the conditions will apply to YOU
Deal Addict
Dec 27, 2007
4867 posts
2067 upvotes
Edmonton
arisk wrote: Yes, not that long ago.
10-15 years is a blip in time.

I looked up historical exchange rates.

In Nov. 2005, Cdn dollar was .85USD
Two years earlier we were .76
In 2007 we were better than par.
Exchange rates continued to be good for about 10 years.

That was a great incentive to spend elsewhere.
There was an increased cross border shopping urge.
Part of the "invention" of BF sales here was to compete and reduce that.

In 2015 our dollar dropped considerably, but in those years BF became part of our culture.
Anyone too young to remember "the before time" has high expectations.
Prior to that circa 2005, here BF only meant we would see some fights on the news, and shake our heads in disgust.

The historical reasons for it in the US are different than here.
There is no correlation to anything here, except the influence of US.
We are fortunate to get a bit of spillover.
10-15 years is not a blip in time for humans, considering average live to 80?
warming up the earth 1 gas fill-up at a time...
You only live once, get a v8
Member
Aug 20, 2020
478 posts
467 upvotes
Black Friday wasn't even a thing in Canada until about 10 years ago.

It was a US thing.

Canada was known for Boxing Day... but retailers decided, oh we can advertise garbage on black friday too, let's do it.

I typically (as a canadian) have found more deals for Boxing Day then Black Friday....

However, all time lows for products typically don't land on either of these two days.

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