Retailers changing up deal times for Black Friday
Attention Black Friday shoppers! If you want to bag those amazing bargains, you'll need to shop earlier.
At Kmart, Sears, Toys R Us and Walmart, Black Friday starts at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Target opens its doors at 9 p.m. on Thursday.
But wait, there's more.
"Instead of having all the door busters available as soon as the doors open, both Sears and Walmart are spreading the doorbusters out," says Edgar Dworsky, who runs the website ConsumerWorld.org.
"So at 8 p.m. certain doorbusters will be available. Then at 10 p.m. other doorbusters will be available. And then at 5 a.m. the next morning a third group of doorbusters will be available and this varies from chain to chain."
To make sure you don't get in line at the wrong time, you need to carefully read the circulars to make sure you know what time that doorbuster deal begins.
Remember, very few of the items on sale for Black Friday are truly doorbusters. And those are normally limited to just a few per store.
For more information
10 Tips to Bag a Bargain on Black Friday
Black Friday Shopping Tips
At Kmart, Sears, Toys R Us and Walmart, Black Friday starts at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Target opens its doors at 9 p.m. on Thursday.
But wait, there's more.
"Instead of having all the door busters available as soon as the doors open, both Sears and Walmart are spreading the doorbusters out," says Edgar Dworsky, who runs the website ConsumerWorld.org.
"So at 8 p.m. certain doorbusters will be available. Then at 10 p.m. other doorbusters will be available. And then at 5 a.m. the next morning a third group of doorbusters will be available and this varies from chain to chain."
To make sure you don't get in line at the wrong time, you need to carefully read the circulars to make sure you know what time that doorbuster deal begins.
Remember, very few of the items on sale for Black Friday are truly doorbusters. And those are normally limited to just a few per store.
For more information
10 Tips to Bag a Bargain on Black Friday
Black Friday Shopping Tips
I know work in home health care. Â
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15 Black Friday's, I did the opening shift. During those 15 years, I worked for either Walmart, Target or Kmart.
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Why does "Black Friday" disgust me so? Oh let me count the ways:
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For 15 years in a row I watched otherwise normal, happy anything goes people turn into blood thirsty savages over $10 video games.
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I've watched people become aholes as they elbow, punch, kick and shove their way to the pile of 6 count $2 tube socks.
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I've been screamed at, cussed out and told "You effing ruined my 2 year's Christmas" on black Friday because we sold out of $15 tricycles. That would be in stock again that Tuesday afternoon. For $15.
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I've witnessed a manager have her pony tail pulled so hard she was jerked to the ground and had to be hauled off by medics, get 5 stitches and miss 3 weeks of work. Why you ask? She asked a lady to please wait 2 nano seconds for her to give a cashier the stack of desperately needed some ones and 5's she had in her hand.
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I've watched an electronics department employee get pinned up against the game case by a crowd of 15-20 people with no way out. Why you ask? She was holding the last in store copy of the latest must have video game of the year. After she threw it up in the air and dived for the ground in an attempt to crawl her way out, I watched at least 10 fully grown "adults" get into a knock down fist fight over said game. Never mind that an employee employee was on the ground trying to crawl away. Having that video game was more important.Â
How do I spend the Friday after Turkey day? After I take care of my 2 clients for the day, I'll get my workout in at the gym, fill up a tank of gas and maybe go to the grocery store to pick up a few things we need to make good use of leftovers.
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 @BlueJedi I've never been out on a Black Friday and I don't plan to. A friend of mine use to go with her husband up until they got attacked by some woman. She was decked and her husband was kneed in the groin so bad that he had to have emergency surgery.
@BlueJedi It's absolutely not worth it for sure.
And I won't be participating in any of it. Can't stand the mob mentality. Don't get it. If it floats your boat to be trampled to death and get in a fist fight over a stupid toy or gift for someone to save $5, be my guest. I'll be napping off the turkey.
if you think that standing there with a protest sign is going to stop people from rushing the store for that deal on a flat screen your living in the twilight zone
I worked for a store that was open 365 days a year. I worked every Holiday, usually volunteered.Â
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Working on Thanksgiving should remind people to be thankful they have a job to go to, lot's of folks out there would trade spots with you in a heartbeat.
@Melissa Angevine I don't think it's the employees who are complaining about having to work. The bottom line is that the customers have gotten so rowdy and ugly it's not very plesant to be in that position.
I don't need a deal that bad, thanks anyhow. Same goes for the day after Thanksgiving. Â
 @Shelly Amen.
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I really don't see what the big deal is. Working in the service industry, employees are used to working holidays. Restaurants, grocery stores, casinos, movie theaters, etc are all open. So what? If you don't like the crowds, don't go out! No one is ever "forced" to work a holiday. If employees don't like it, find another job. It may take a while but that is the nature of the job. My cousin is a detective and when he was a uniform cop he worked on Thanksgiving if it fell on his shift day. He never complained. We sent his wife home with a plate for him. Firefighters work and hospitals are open. The 911 operators are working.  I personally don't enjoy the crowds so I do not go out but my company is open on Black Friday when others are closed. I have to work and instead of complaining I am doing the "happy I have a job" dance.Â
 @northend:Â
".... No one is ever "forced" to work a holiday ...."
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Actually, MANY are "forced" to work holidays, especially in the grocery & retail sectors. If you refuse, they retaliate & cut your hours. For those who depend on every penny of their paycheck, a cut in hours can be a major financial hit.
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And while you can do your "happy to have a job dance", there are many who would LOVE to have a job, as well as many who would love to have a job that did not involve working holidays. But having experience the current job market first hand, I can tell you it is easier said than done when it comes to finding a new job.
 @LocalLady  @northend: when I worked in retail, the only way you could weasel your way out of any days scheduled between black Friday and new year's, especially black Friday was literately be in the hospital on your death bed.
 @Northend The only thing I really disagree with this on is the comparison of an emergency or medical worker to a retail worker...I doubt very much if someones life or health would be in much danger if walmart closed for a day or even a few hours. That said.......I'm more disgusted with the extreme commercialism and spending frenzy. I stay nice and comfy at home and dont go near retailers on these days.......cant stand the crazy crowds. As a kid, the only places open on the holidays were convenience stores....amazingly I survived.
 @Northend I worked for 2 years in the movie theater industry that that was horrid because you don't even get time and a half so I worked every holiday and I worked at the mall for 2 years and that amount of savannah style fighting that happens in malls around holidays is horrible.  First responders make sense because accidents still happen on thanksgiving but people don't need to go shove other people down to buy a $25.00 blu ray player. Shopping isn't a necessity.
 @quidproquo  @Northend What is really sad and disturbing is that our first responders have to work even more holiday time directly because of the violence, greed and mob-mentality surrounding any type of door-buster sale. Those increasingly require more police on duty, more ER, more medics, etc.Â
 @quidproquo  @Northend I also spent time working in a mall store. During the holidays it required a lot of attitude checks and adjustments to keep that smile on my face.Â
 @Northend  @quidproquo I beleve those stories. If you are lucky you have some great repeat customers who help to balance things out.
 @Darn it!  @quidproquo  @Northend Retail in general requires patience. When I was 17 a customer called me stupid at the register and I lost it. I did not get fired because all the cashiers witnessed it. But I could easily have been reprimanded. This made me shake my head http://www.businessinsider.com/retail-employees-reveal-the-most-annoying-things-that-customers-do-2012-8
 @Darn it!  @quidproquo  @Northend I've come across a few of those too. I try to cut them some slack knowing they've probably had an overload of obnoxious customers lately, but I don't take any crap from them.Â
And yes, some are just obnoxious because it's who they are, same as the rude customers.Â
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 @MargeGunderson  @quidproquo  @Northend I'm a nitwit! I never even thought of that. Too late now but I can still use it when I am across the counter from a rude clerk. Turn the tables a bit.Â
Gotta admit that there are sales clerks who really need to find another job that involves no customer service. But generally, I give hats off to them for all the crappola they have to put up with from people. Â
 @Darn it!  @quidproquo  @Northend It helps to keep that smile on your face if you wear glasses instead of contact lenses.
You can give them the finger right to their obnoxious faces as you push your glasses up, but with your big friendly customer-smile what can they prove? :^D
 @quidproquo I too worked holidays in the mall. I also worked in grocery stores, and at Boeing the week everyone else was off. I did not complain. Everyone celebrates differently. Going to a movie on a holiday is very foreign to me, but it seems to be the trend. No one needs to shop for anything, even food on a holiday and no one needs to gamble either, but the Tulalip parking lot will be filled on Thur just like every other holiday and Albertson's will be open. I still don't see what the big deal is. Dealing with customers in general is exhausting.Â
 @quidproquo LOL https://www.facebook.com/pages/Things-retail-workers-want-all-customers-to-know/126817230662855
 @Northend Also - how about some people literally fighting and throwing punches over stupid crap? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVcvqUqjgVg&feature=related
 @Northend also this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3F_eQ1z1F8&feature=related Â
 @Northend Black Friday is a different beast though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XztrTGXl29U  isnt' something you see every day.
Thanksgiving is one of the only non religion based holidays we have here in America so i'm super super protective of it. I don't think anyone should be working on Thanksgiving except first responders.
@quidproquo You would be surprised how many of "us" celebrate Thanksgiving on days other than "Thanksgiving" for a number of reasons/Â traffic - sharing grown children and grandchildren with the "other" family - working at jobs you may think of as "necessary". . .a litany of reasons.Â
@quidproquo "one of the only non religion based holidays we have here in America"Â - You mean other than Martin Luther King's Birthday, President's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Columbus Day, and the Grand Daddy of them all Independance Day?
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All the while Thanksgiving is actually spiritually based - at least part of the reason for it is giving thanks to God for helping the early european settlers to survive, along with thanking the native Americans for the same.
 @WhatFashion? You don't get off work for any of those but independence day in the retail industry.
 @quidproquo  @WhatFashion? And Independence Day is not a guaranteed day off in retail either.Â
 @quidproquo You must have meant ThanksTaking.Â
Yea so.
I will not shop at any of these stores simply because they are forcing their workers to work a traditional holiday by opening their doors earlier then Friday. I would sign any petition that would legislate making it illegal for a retailer to sell any products in a brick and mortar establishment on Thanksgiving that isn't a necessity for life as in food or medicine.Â
It must feel like a sitcom writing session at corp headquarters as they come up with these ideas. "Wait wait wait....what if...stay with me....we started Thursday night" "You're nuts...who shops Thanksgiving night?" "NO - our research shows they'll do it. We've got them trained like Pavlov's dogs" "But...this will be hysterical, we jerk them around on what exact time the deals start. 8 pm for some, 10 pm for others...midnight? WHy not and....5 am for some more on top of that. We should set up video cameras and youtube these schmucks."
 @NBA_Is_Useless Why not make it a competition? Greedy Customer Bingo â make cards with the various categories all mixed up and randomly distributed on the cards. Customers taking it physical; customer and employee taking it physical; screaming idiot; shoplifting fail (has to be epic, like a face plant four feet from the exit); tears over out-of-stock item less than $10 retail value, etc.Â
The  various bingo milestones (I don't play; not sure what they all are) earn the employees prizes, and a blackout earns Black Fridays off WITH PAY for life.Â
Seriously, what they'll have to have put up with to mark the various squares on their cards, the prizes should be substantial even for the little single-line bingos!
It's been 20-plus years since I've done this kind of work, but I challenge anyone who's put in at least a year in any retail/food service job to disagree.Â
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@deadcandance - add me to the women who hate shopping in huge crowded stores group! hate it, don't do it!
Nice to belong to a club. I have never shopped on black friday. I hate crowds. I dont' care how much money I can save. My sanity is worth more.
 @deadcandance Meet another one who hates shopping. The only shopping I don't mind is for groceries but even then I avoid the huge crowds.Â
 @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance Add me to the list. I avoid crowds whenever I can.Â
@Nicole P: When my son was younger, I worked in retail. I HATED Black Friday! People would be lining up hours ahead of time in the dark just to get 79 cent Match Box cars or whatever else was a "hot" deal. The year I got out, I told my son I did not want to be anywhere near a store that day. We drove to Vancouver BC & spent the day there - it was GLORIOUS! There, it was just another day. We did all the "touristy" things, and there were no crowds to contend with. It was SO relaxing!
@Darn it! @MargeGunderson @deadcandance add me, but its black friday I hate the most, I refuse to go out and contrubte to the madness. The holidays are no longer about family, giving and caring, but about greed. I can't stand it. I make my kids pick out a toy to donate to the Marines for the toy drive, we keep our christmas's small and same for thanksgiving, its about being with out families and enjoying that time.Â
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I feel sorry for the employees. I really dislike the trend for more stores to be open on major holidays. I'd like to see even grocery stores closed.Â
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 @deadcandance  I won't shop on Thanksgiving or the day after. In fact, until after the New Year I will avoid shopping as much as I can. Shopping online is my friend. LOL
 @LocalLady  @susabelle: OMG!!! I know WaKue's!!!! They used to have the most amazing Peking Duck!
 @susabelle:Â
Reminds me of the time I attempted to make Chinese at home - even the dog wouldn't touch it! Never again - WaKue's for life.
 @Susabelle  @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance My leftovers end up in the freezer. Pot roast ends up being hot beef sandwiches, etc. Getting to be that time of year.  Yum is right!
 @Darn it!  @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance I actually home can foods that make a lot......like chili and stew.....that way they just sit on my shelf until the next craving..... IPot roast though........yum! When my husband wanders into the kitchen...lets just say he does not know how to cook for 4.......he cooks for a small army....LOLÂ
 @Susabelle  @MargeGunderson  @deadcandanceLiving alone, I got out of practice. Hard cooking for one. Every now and then I get hungry for a pot roast, or stew and end end up with leftovers for a week. Which is a good thing. On an oriental chicken salad kick now.Â
 @Susabelle  @Darn it!  @deadcandance If the NY sewer alligators are snarfing it down, you must be doing something right!
They have quite a variety available, what with all the multi-star fine dining choices dumping their leftovers down the drains.Â
 @Darn it!  @Susabelle  @deadcandance I love to cook! Even my misses are usually fairly edible. You do the dishes, I'll fix just about anything you like that doesn't involve broccoli.Â
 @Susabelle  @Darn it!  @deadcandance Cast iron â the Hallmark® equivalent of communicating with thugs.Â
Maybe a shotgun is a bit more efficient with the right training, but the cast iron skillet never needs reloading.
Not even re-seasoning if you bash 'em from the underside of it.Â
 @Darn it!  @deadcandance Fortunately, the husband lets out those frequently enough that it can't be pinned on me... :^D
 @Darn it!  @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance Well, you can ask my ex-husband about the effectiveness of it. He knows first hand.
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I am sure you are not alone in the kitchen "fail" department......My family and I have sat around the table after a dining experiment gone bad and discussed whether we should call the environmental people for disposal........in the end we sent it down the drain......but that in itself could explain the alligators in the sewer in NY..........hehehe
 @Susabelle  @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance I am a lousy cook so anything in my kitchen has the potential to turn into a weapon. I've concocted some sauces that could very well be considerd lethal.
 @Darn it!  @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance Actually, I recommend cast iron as a home defense weapon.......nothing says "get out: quite like a cast iron skillet......well, except a shotgun of course.
 @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance Lawsuit! Lawsuit! And a bonus - tv coverage of the scene of the crime. Dog food company saw how much dog loved marinara sauce and your quote that it was totally organic, They buy recipe from you for new line of dog food. Mega bucks. Plus percentage of every jar sold.Â
My parrots are big and the noise can be too but doesn't happen very often. Personality plus. You can spend a year trying to get them to say something and they won't do it. Say a good loud, forceful expletitive once and they have it down pat.Â
 @Darn it!  @deadcandance Now we're getting somewhere! Nobody told me not to have my pan handles sticking straight out from the stovetop, at exactly the height of my (soon-to-be-borrowed) Great Dane's ferociously wagging tail.Â
All that marinara sauce splattered everywhere, it'll look like a crime scene without even a hangnail on the injury list.Â
Your beaked buddy is adorable; I take care of some friends' birds when they go out of town. A bit noisy especially at feeding time, but so much personality!
And they never start using the new lines I teach them until about two months or so later â very tempting to my demented sense of humor but so far I've behaved. :^DÂ
 @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance Embellishment - dog is wagging tail and he licks up all the delicious spaghetti sauce that was spilled from the pot.Â
Ohhhh, that's a stinky one. Good use of bag. I'm lucky, parrot leavings don't smell. Just wad up the free Little Nickles from the bottom of the cage and throw them in the woodstove. Lots of chewed wood chunks from toys make great fire starter.Â
 @Darn it!  @deadcandance So, at tax time I can write off the All-Clad and the MilkBones used in dog training and bribery? This is getting better and better!Â
On a slightly related, but not lunchtime-friendly tangent, ZipLock® gallon-sized baggies have a great testimonial for their next ad blitz: the cat's weapons grade litter box deposits are every bit as potent when the baggie is opened several hours later, having successfully locked in all that, er, freshness... o_oÂ
 @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance Maybe in book you are cooking with your all-clad and burglar breaks in. You whomp him over the head with it. All-clad is so happy with new use for it's product that they send you a whole complete set. Dog wags tail.
Dog is hero who saves you from the result of your injuring yourself. With your All Cladd you can make him great homemade bribes (I mean treats).
 @Darn it!  @deadcandance My only potential deal-breaker here is, no animals large or small can be injured in the making of this whatever it's turning into.Â
The big dog can help in my stupidity injuring myself, but cannot be an actual victim. Although, if we can fake that part convincingly enough, at least we wouldn't have to worry about the dog not keeping its story straight, being overcome by guilt, or taking a better offer to sell me out.Â
 @Darn it!  @deadcandance Somehow I missed the part about finding new authors for your Kindle. Maybe we can work out a little deal with my plan B cash-in-for-idiocy-then-write-a-book concept?Â
 @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance Sounds like a plan to me. Put some good intrigue, a little romance and maybe a big dog in the book and then let me know when it is available for Kindle.Â
 @Darn it!  @deadcandance No, I think YOU missed the part where I said I don't like to shop! :^D  And I should have added that I'm also broke, so that All-Clad isn't coming this way anytime soon.Â
You're really forcing my hand here, Darn it! ! Am I going to have to resort to Plan B, where I somehow manage to find an incredibly moronic way to injure myself that actually hasn't been specifically warned against in the fine print precautions, sue for millions, settle for thousands, then write a book about my riveting life experience?
 @MargeGunderson  @deadcandance I think you missed the part where I said I didn't like to shop. LOL But when forced, it's online for me. Now, I am searching for a few new good authors for my Kindle.Â
 @Darn it!  @deadcandance Pretty much anything in the All-Clad® stainless steel with copper core line I'll be delighted with, thanks!Â
Heck, I'll even cook your favorite meals to show my appreciation. :^D