The Myth of Black Friday and Holiday Deals Needs to Stop

Have you finished your holiday shopping this year? Did you take advantage of the amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals we have been hearing so much about? Well, according to Wirecutter magazine, 99% of the advertised deals are not much of a deal at all. I happened to see a video of a Houston area Walmart where a brawl erupted between two customers going after a new T.V. How good was this deal they were fighting over? In an article from Forbes magazine, big name retailers like Walmart and Sears inflate regular prices of items in order to advertise larger discounts. One deal listed a Samsung 1080p T.V for a discounted $599.99 down from a regular price of $1,199.99. However, the same exact T.V was listed in their store $807.49 earlier this year.

A similar situation unfolded at Macy’s where the popular Breville toaster was listed for $280 and advertised a major discount down from $417. This same exact appliance was listed on Amazon. Priced at $250, it was not part of a sale but had been listed at that price for months. Does Macy’s think that customers just won’t compare deals? Or are they banking on the fact that their deal will be more appealing at a store which people know for appliances? The truth is they are hoping to get lucky.

Let’s say you saw saw a pair of headphones a relative wanted, and it was listed for 50% off, wouldn’t you jump at it immediately? If the price three weeks ago was $100, the retailer could list the regular price as $200. On Black Friday, you would pay the same price as before. This example may seem like an extreme, but it is not far from the truth in some cases.

Part of what makes these discounts so large is the difference from their “regular” price. I listed regular price in quotations marks because there is no definition to that term.  The Breville toaster from Macy’s never actually sold for $417 but according to Julie Strider Fukami, a spokeswoman for Macy’s, these prices can be determined from “different factors, including the cost of the item, overhead, benefits we offer… as well as our ability to offer the item at a lower price.” “Regular” price functions as whatever the retailer decides it to be.

We are stuck in a sort of tug of war between consumers being deal obsessed and retailers wanting to supply them with deals by any means possible. There needs to be more transparency from retailers on what their regular price actually is. Not a fluffed up ballpark number so customers think they have found the needle-in-the-haystack deal this year.

The Final Spot Goes to... You Guessed it, Ohio State

Who belongs in the 4th spot of the college football playoff?

That was the question under frantic debate up until this morning when the finalists were announced on ESPN. Alabama and Oregon are in due to record and strength of schedule (if Alabama were left out it might be the cause of WWIII). The third slot went to the undefeated Florida State Seminoles. And the tie-breaker of sorts went to Ohio State, which meant TCU and Baylor were left out of the fun, and very upset about it. Why did Ohio St. deserve that spot?  A: they are a storied program; B: they have a massive nationwide following; C: they have a larger student body; and finally D: because thats who is "supposed" to get in because of tradition.

The board who made these decisions evaluated a number of factors, but let’s talk about the three teams in question. Here are the supposed reasons as to why the rankings played out like they did:

Ohio State: 1 loss to Virginia Tech 21-35

Early in their season the Buckeyes lost to Virginia Tech is a surprise upset, but everyone seems to have forgotten that. This weekend Ohio State shutout Wisconsin in a big way with a third string quarterback in the game. Bravo. But lets not forget, if Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon is stopped (which he was), Wisconsin has no chance.That same Wisconsin team lost to Northwestern, and barely beat Minnesota earlier this year. Yes, their halfback is a Heisman candidate, but they are overrated and most people know it. Therefore the amount of credit given for this win is too much.

TCU: 1 loss to Baylor 58-61

TCU had the third seed going into this weekend and beat Iowa St 55-3 yesterday. This morning they dropped to the sixth ranking. They went from three to six and they almost won by 50 points! In response to the news TCU’s coach Gary Patterson said this today, “If we want to control our own destiny, we need to be undefeated.” I guess so because with their only loss being to their Big 12 co-champion Baylor, and with the beating they put forth this weekend, I am not sure they could have done anything more. They showed amazing growth from a 4-8 season last year.

Baylor: 1 loss to West Virginia 27-41

Baylor was ranked at 5 last week and executed a solid win this week against a ranked Kansas St. team, but it was not enough to push them over the top. One would think they would be arguably as fit as anyone to fill the fourth spot. In addition, they did beat TCU, who was one of the other contenders for the fourth spot. However, Baylor had a very weak non-conference schedule which did not help their case.

The debate between Baylor and TCU is one that shows no clear winner. But it seems logical that one of them would be filling the fourth spot. In the end the committee went with a choice that will bring more national viewers, and a bigger level of hype for a matchup with Alabama. Even though it was what we were all expecting it is still disappointing. If you were hoping this new playoff system would be more fair, then I guess it may not your year.