An American tradition that shouldn't have crossed the Atlantic?

Even when my daughter was a starving student she avoided the January Sales. She said she'd rather either pay full price or go without than fight through those crowds.I think I will certainly only be shopping on weekdays from now till Christmas.

I saw all the stuff in the papers today but otherwise didn't know that any shops in Britain had adopted this American tradition. I was out doing my weekly shop yesterday, trips to Waitrose and Tesco and saw nothing untoward in either shop. Crowds no worse, no obvious special bargains.

Mind you, I am doing a lot of my Christmas shopping online.

If it's American then please do send it back. In fact feel free to return anything remotely connected with the star spangled banner. A purely personal opinion.

A REAL Black Friday for Glasgow and the response of Glaswegians put into perspective the petty greed of this consumer bonanza.

amazon do a 'black friday' sort of thing - but one can shope from the comfort and safety of you own home. that said - the bargains are not all they are cracked up to be as the % age off is based on the RRP not on what they are actually sold at - is that legal?
anyway bought a pack of 5prs mens socks for 3.99 and free postage which is the extent of my greed
I am sure that most of the frenzied buyers are not really vile greedy creatures and if they could see or recall their behaviour would feel heartily ashamed even if they got a half priced TV. sadly it is the way society her and in America is going - part of the ME FIRST society. It takes only a few genuine acts of kindness and - no 'you first I insist' behaviour to restore one's faith in humankind.
never go to January sales until they have been running at least 2 weeks as I hate crowds and queueing.

It does sound rather sinister doesn't it? Amazon do the Black Friday thing and I really don't understand it or want to get involved in it.

I had planned to go shopping yesterday but when I heard that it was "Black Friday" changed my mind. I don't like crowds at the best of times, the thought of the crush put me off - don't care how cheap the goods are!

They really do encourage greed I can agree wholly with that. That does not encourage or excuse that behaviour.

I think some of the stores do encourage this type of behaviour - they have a few ludicrously low-priced items and encourage the crowds queuing and even camping outside days before the sale by providing entertainment.

Have you noticed how in the January sales there is often a TV news camera crew inside the store to film the mayhem.

In the US black Friday is known for such chaos and screaming crowds - it's no coincidence that Asda is owned by Walmart.

There's obviously no excuse for violence but I think the stores must take some of the blame.

Spot on JaneA

Riverwalk No way is it the fault of the shops for having sales.

Individuals are always responsible for their bad behaviour. Anything else negates any concept of personal responsibility

It's the same with the term "Road Rage"; coining that as a "syndrome" or whatever, in a way suggests it is no longer quite the fault of the driver.

I've seen people behave like this in the January Sales so it is not just the fault of Asda and quite a few of the big Stores had problems yesterday,remember years ago when parents used to be fighting over who got the "must have Cabbage Patch Dolls & Star War Figures" ? things have not changed much have they ? people are so greedy and all manners are left at the entrance to the store.

Agree ffinnochio . People are greedy and you have to wonder where the money comes from. I wonder what Asda thought would happen and if the electrical items were really such a bargain.

ffinnochio

and a

High five, Janeainsworth

"A male shopper was arrested at an Asda store during the Black Friday scramble for cut-price goods which has seen bargain hunters behaving 'like savages'.
These extraordinary pictures show the man being tackled and then wrestled to the ground by security guards at the store in Cribbs Causeway, Bristol.
He was arrested following a row over two 60-inch televisions as thousands of people across the country bombarded stores selling discounted DVD players, phones and tablets.
Eyewitnesses said trouble flared up when staff told the man, 35, was only allowed to buy one of each product.
He was escorted from the store by security guards and was finally restrained by five members of staff - with one employee suffering a cut face.
One witness said: 'He was being told by staff at Asda that he wasn't allowed to buy two TVs.
'Security then escorted him and he was arguing and filming them on his mobile phone when it was knocked out of his hand.
'He ended up being carted off handcuffed in a police car but it was the security guards who got physical.' "

Unbelievable. I don't think you can blame Asda, or even the Americans, for this.
It's like blaming 'killer motorways' for road accidents.
People have to take responsibility for their own actions and the only people responsible for a feeding frenzy are the greedy, ill-mannered ones who participate in them.

It's quite wrong for Asda to deliberately set out to have a 'feeding frenzy'.

The poor staff must have been terrified if reports of fighting, screaming, pushing and shoving are true.

The police and ambulance services should send Asda the bill for attending such mayhem.

What the heck is this? - no, forget that, I don't need to know!