What is the Better Deal-Breaking Day?

By Christian Amaya and Braeden Sumpter

On November 29 and December 2, Black Friday and Cyber Monday take place. These two deal-breaking days happen all across America, and shoppers everywhere will do anything to find the best deals on products in which they want and that includes good or bad products. People do outrageous acts such as starting fights and trampling others in order to secure the products they want. However, Cyber Monday is a safer way to buy items compared to Black Friday.

​Every year, Black Friday has been shown to be a dangerous day. A Walmart employee was killed last year after being trampled to death, while shoppers fought for cheaper goods. Injuries are common thing every year because customers want those killer deals that stores are offering. Ian Higgins, a student at Glenelg High School, said, “ I saw people fighting in Walmart over toilet paper. There were lots of verbal arguments and a [physical] fight almost.” This is one of many instances of violence and what happens every year during Black Friday.

 Eagerness circulates throughout every customer as stores open in the morning which sometimes leads to violence.  In the past, there have been stories of people getting injured while fighting for an item, but that doesn't stop people from camping outside stores days before Black Friday to get those juicy sales. Some popular stores that shoppers camp out at are Walmart, Best Buy, and the Apple Store. Shoppers even plan these camping trips in order to secure the deals that everyone has been seeking for so long.

Black Friday is seen as a bad idea is because people aren’t guaranteed the item that everyone is dying to acquire. It’s not worth waiting outside a store for a few days just to have a slight chance to get the item the customer wants. When bargain hunters eventually get into the store, everyone will do whatever it takes to get their hands on what they want.                 

Not only is Black Friday dangerous for customers, but for retail employees as well. One reason why employees hate working on Black Friday is because sometimes stores will open very early in the morning, which is usually a few hours earlier than normal. This means that employees may be forced to work that day and will potentially miss out on quality family time. Some stores have been known to open on the evening of Thanksgiving.  For example, Dicks Sporting Goods opened during the evening of Thanksgiving at 6pm until 2am. Also, Black Friday is obviously chaotic which causes an immense amount of stress for retail employees. Employees will have something going on all day since Black Friday is so popular around the country. 
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Bargain hunters appreciate being able to order items online which is why Cyber Monday however is the better alternative than Black Friday. Instead of having to fight for an item and potentially getting hurt, people can buy items online which is much safer, and efficient. Instead of sitting out in the cold and having to deal with large crowds, people can sit in their family room comfortably on a computer. Some stores offer different deals on Cyber Monday than Black Friday, which in some cases, are better and will save you more money. April Smith, a student at Glenelg High School, said, “I prefer Cyber Monday because it is much easier and much more efficient than waiting outside in the cold while you could just sit down on your laptop and shop without having to leave your house.”  According to CNN Business, In 2018, there was 7.9 billion dollars in sales on Cyber Monday and 6.2 billion dollars in sales on Black Friday. So, it is clear that people shop more on Cyber Monday which may be a result of stores having different sales than they did on Black Friday. Some of those deals include saving 300 dollars on VR products on Amazon. Cyber Monday is clearly safer and more efficient option for people who want to save money. Black Friday is unsafe for many reasons which makes it clear that Cyber Monday is better.