On November 28, 2014, I did the unthinkable: I immediately jumped out of bed when my alarm went off at 7:30 AM. As a psychology minor, I feel that there should be an official term for my ability to instantly wake up the morning of Black Friday, while I struggle every other day of the year to drag myself out of bed for class, hitting the snooze button at least 5 times in the process. (My roommate keeps count.) Going strong until 3 PM, I reflected on an extremely successful shopping excursion, in which I implemented my best shopping strategies in order to scoop up bargains.

My friends and family know that I take Black Friday extremely seriously. Unless I was waiting online, I did not check my phone. The scarcest resource on this day is intangible: time. For example, deals such as “door busters” are only effective for a short window of time. Thus, I come prepared. I map out exactly which malls and their respective stores I plan to visit. To keep myself on track, I make a general list of the types of things I seek. After all, it is easy to get distracted by the sheer abundance of deals. For me, staying organized is the easiest way to get the most of Black Friday.

Researching prices is an integral part of the preparation process. The concept of information asymmetry, in which one party has more information than another, is evident on Black Friday. While shoppers see advertisements of major price reductions, only the stores know just how good these deals are. Was the discount applied after artificially inflating the price, thereby resulting in nominal savings? More than ever, it is important to be an educated consumer. Nowadays, with a smartphone, customer due diligence is easy because you can determine if the product is cheaper in another store or online. Brick and mortar stores recognize this trend and have implemented prices and promotional strategies accordingly.

It is not enough to know which places offer the best prices, though. I ensure maximum savings by using coupons. A trick I use to get valuable coupons, in addition to those from the mail and newspapers, is to subscribe to email newsletters. The first email often includes a complementary coupon. I admit: I subsequently unsubscribe.

No matter how much effort I put into preparing, I know that I will never accomplish everything I want. The chaos of Black Friday manifests itself economically in the form of tremendous inefficiency. There are two main contributors: one outside the store, and one inside.

The first stems from parking. Over and over, I circled the parking lot looking for an empty space. There is a legitimate debate as to which means of transportation is best for Black Friday. The public transportation school of thought believes that paying one flat fee to and from the mall is more cost efficient than wasting money on gas. Moreover, there is no time lost searching for a spot. On the other side of the spectrum are driving proponents. Not dependent on a bus schedule, they are also free from the burden of lugging around their purchases; they can simply dump the bags in their trunk. That the cost of a barrel of oil is at its lowest since September 2009 makes this option significantly cheaper than in past years.

The second contributor toward inefficiency impacts all customers, no matter their mode of transportation: long lines. Clearly, customers value the benefit of their savings over the cost of the time they spend waiting. Even with all of the cash registers manned by employees, there were still long lines winding throughout stores.

 

As I waited, I heard people being paged on the intercom to help at the registers. The endless stream of workers highlighted how the store, in anticipation for the busy season, had hired more people. As a result, seasonal unemployment decreased. In economics, there are three umbrella categories of unemployment: frictional, cyclical, and structural. Seasonal unemployment falls under the latter, which is marked by an absence of demand for workers, often in a particular industry.

The increased number of employees is interesting given the stubbornly high unemployment rate that has plagued America since the Great Recession. Even when reports claim that unemployment drops, to the delight of Democrats, many Republicans and economists point out that this is a myopic view of the nature of unemployment. They are referring to the fact that if people become pessimistic about their chances of finding another job, they will drop out of the labor force. This will skew the unemployment ratio, inaccurately making the economy look healthier than it is. Normally, over the course of November and December, unemployment temporarily decreases, as stores hire more to cater to the increasing consumer demands.

Upon entering the mall, I noticed just how many more opportunities there were to save. For example, many customers had coupons that I had never seen, which they had received in the mail. I realized that these lucky individuals all held the store credit card. Stores often issue their own card in order to circumvent the fee they pay to issuers. Since it is a burden to carry around multiple cards and owning too many negatively impacts one’s credit score, stores reward cardholders with exclusive discounts and valuable coupons.

There are also special rewards for the first customers, in order to entice people to visit their store early. This is extremely effective, as evidenced by the ubiquitous long lines before stores open. I was fortunate to find an unused $5 Aeropostale voucher for “shopper #93.” Having essentially found money on the ground, I went to the store and purchased socks-for free!

Shopping for clothing was an entirely different experience than shopping for technological gadgets. With regard to the former, obsequious employees asked me, in super saccharine voices, if I needed assistance. Those in Best Buy, on the other hand, were instructional in nature. This is because the layman needs someone to explain the differences of the products as well as the complex technical jargon. While I saw many busy employees, mostly male, the store was still painfully understaffed. When I asked for help, they rudely responded, “We are really busy. You will have to wait.” They know that no matter the abysmal quality of their customer service, demand will continue to exist.

As I waited, I overheard buzzwords that reflected popular sentiment. Specifically, the word “Samsung” kept popping up. An employee told me that indeed Samsung was the hottest thing this year. Apple, he felt, was stagnating, with innovation limited to simply altering product sizes. That someone knowledgeable about technology saw more potential in Samsung than Apple, a highly popular company in the markets due to its sky-high market capital, indicates that a significant shift in the leader of the technology industry may be underway.

My Black Friday was exhausting, yet thrilling. I encountered many temper tantrums, witnessed a family buckle up a purchase from Macy’s before letting their child in the car, and overheard an old lady desperately seeking the lingerie department. I saw many good deals, but refrained from buying anything unnecessary in an attempt to minimize my materialism relative to my fellow shoppers. While I came in with a general budget that I did not exceed, I cannot say the same for others. I anticipate that this Black Friday will generate much more revenue than last year from big spenders.