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In my family, it was a yearly tradition to wake up early, suit up and grab a good spot in line outside our favorite stores on Black Friday. Things have changed since then, though. Now, as an adult who hates the cold, I lean towards online shopping, but there are many pros and cons to consider before making your Black Friday plans.
Pros
- More and more stores are offering similar deals online to what they have in the stores.
- You don’t have to brave crowds, the cold or early mornings. You also don’t have to worry about ruining Thanksgiving dinner by heading out to Black Friday sales that start on Thursday.
- You can shop in the nude, cuddled up with your blankets, drinking hot chocolate (if you’re into that sort of thing).
- Doorbusters have always been an incentive to shop in-person, but now many sites are offering doorbuster deals, like Best Buy and Walmart.
- Stores like Walmart, Best Buy and Target are also offering free shipping, so you save on gas and postage. Staples also has free next-day delivery on orders of $50 or more.
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Cons
- Shopping in person can be exhilarating! Snagging a deal before someone else is a huge adrenaline rush (if you’re into that sort of thing). You just can’t duplicate that online.
- Some stores have deals that are only available at their stores. Check your favorite store’s Black Friday flier and look for in-store only in the fine print before you make your final online-or-not decision.
- Shopping at a brick-and-mortar place is easier than ever. The Walmart app, for example, can download a color-coded map of your local store to make finding deals simpler. Target also allows you to digitally save items from your Black Friday flier to a quick list you can use on your phone while shopping.
- If Black Friday shopping is a fun event for your family or group of friends, you could miss out on bonding time by shopping online.
- You can’t physically see the product. I hate buying pajamas online, for example, and finding out days later, when it arrives in the mail, that the material is the kind that makes me itchy.
After mulling it over, which will you choose? Let me know in the comments.
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