Quoting starkers, reply 2Yeah, I'm a cynical bastard, ain't I...
You're way too hard on yourself, Cap'n.
I wouldn't call you cynical.
End of DrJBHL's quote
Hehe, you got me there, Doc. 
Oh, and here's a story that reflects my thought on the Black Friday sale mentality... link.
It more or less agrees with me... that it's a con job intended purely to separate consumers from their money. For the handful of items they sell off at cost or below cost, their sales on other [non-sale] items more than adequately cover their 'losses'. Once through the door and a clear decision to buy has been made, the shopping mentality takes over in most consumers and something WILL be purchased.
It's a case of "while I'm here" and bright packaging/marketing techniques take over the 'once rational mind... especially if they miss out on the door buster specials that were the draw card to begin with. It's like "I can't go home empty handed after queuing here since midnight yesterday', so they'll take home something... anything to make the trip and endless hours of waiting worth it.
Marketing wiz kids count on this kind of thinking, which is why they plan these events at certain times of the year, to coincide with holidays and a perceived need to eat more/better/differently and gift friends and family, etc. Thing is, when you consider the markups and artificially inflated prices, they're doing you no favours by heavily discounting various goods, nor are they losing anything, so is it really a sale or a "come in sucker" ploy?
For mine, it's "come in sucker and give us your money" and I'll never attend. We have Boxing Day sales here in Oz. I've never been to one, never will... wouldn't stand endless hours in a queue, cos I hate queues at the best of times, and people get trampled in the mad rush to get in. With my bad bones and etc it is not the place for me... not to mention my aversion to greed driven marketing/advertising, etc.
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