Black Friday Frenzy

It is three o'clock in the morning, snow is falling, covering everything in sight in a light blanket of ghostly white powder. The faint moonlight reflects off the snow, casting eerie shadows on the long line of people waiting outside the store. The line of people have been there for a while now. Some are covered in heavy blankets, asleep but mindful of their surroundings lest someone cuts in line, some are huddling together, some are stomping their feet to wake up their frozen toes, some are sipping on cups of fast cooling coffee. Just one more hour before the store opens, inside is what these people have been waiting for, something so essential that people would forgo their dinner the night before just so they can wait at the head of the line. As the clock strikes four, the doors to the store clank open. The people surge forward, eagerly lurch inside, and elbow their way through before everything is sold out.

This may sound like people in the Soviet Union waiting in line for bread, but it is actually how I imagine the scenes of people waiting in line for the Black Friday sale in the United States.

I was reading the news online and came across articles describing the frenzy of shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I couldn't help but notice the parallel between the bread lines of the Soviet Union and the "electronics lines" of the United States. In both cases, line are created when demand outstrips supply. The main difference is our "electronics lines" are formed voluntarily. The demand is not for basic necessities of life, but perceived need created by advertising and our way of life. The lengths people would go to "save" money are astonishing: missing Thanksgiving dinner, braving the cold, risking bodily harm, and generally enduring self-inflicted misery. Is buying something you don't need for half off really saving money?