Shop Or I’ll Shoot!
(images via: Philly.com and BMWK)
The number of injurious altercations between shoppers (and occasionally between staff and shoppers) armed with a bizarre assortment of weaponry is far too great to be recounted at this time, but be assured there IS a body count. Add in multiple instances of pepper spray used for purposes surely unintended by its manufacturers, and one has to wonder if the prospect of taking home a discounted Xbox or two is worth the time, trouble, loss of a kidney and a permanent police record.
(images via: Now The End Begins and Snippits and Snappits)
It’s the unfortunate incidents that get all the ink – virtual or otherwise – so let’s bear in mind the vast majority of Black Friday shoppers want the same things: get in, get their item or items at a large discount, and get out in one piece with the priority being the latter.
(image via: Alex Slitz, Daily News/USA Today)
As retailers aren’t in business to give stuff away, “quantities are limited” is the keyword and if the stock’s sold out, hey, there’s always Cyber Monday.
Shopping Carnage
(images via: City Cynic and State Of Enlightenment)
Considering the immense volume of shopping done on Black Friday and the consistent track record of such expenditures extending back over a decade, you’d think retailers would invest in some supersized shopping carts to help shoppers hold their yet-to-be-purchases (and more of them).
(images via: Marvin Fong/Cleveland Plain Dealer, Adam Burgess/CBS Detroit and Huffington Post)
The question must be asked: Do we really need shopping cart convoys clogging up vital sea lanes, er, store aisles on the busiest shopping day of the year? Well, if you’re a major retailer, what’s most important is not the method of conveyance but the value of what’s conveyed once the human cart-ipede regurgitates its cargo all over the checkout conveyor belt. Eww.
