It’s almost the holiday season here at Oakdale. That means bright decorations, great food, and overall joy.  The holiday season also brings gifts, which means sales and deals. Most people either went out late at night after Thanksgiving, or stayed inside on their computer the following Monday.  One thing’s for sure, billions of dollars are spent on Black Friday and Cyber Monday on these deals. This begs the question, which do the people of Oakdale prefer?

Black Friday started sometime in the 1950s.  It’s called Black Friday, because the sales would draw in huge crowds, and the profits would “tip into the Black”, or they wouldn’t be in debt.    

Cyber Monday is still relatively new, as it started in 2005.  It has only gotten more popular since then. In 2010 spending hit over 1 billion dollars.  In 2018 alone, spending was over 6 billion dollars.

Hannah Ware, freshman, prefers Black Friday, because, “you can actually go to all the stores, and most all of the stores participate”.  She also notes that it’s easier to buy clothes on Black Friday because you can try them on.  

Some of the allure to Black Friday is the fact that the deals seem to be better.  Many stores also rolled their Black Friday deals over to the weekend in addition to just Friday.  Many Apple products were hot sellers this Black Friday, including Airpods, iPhones, and older versions of the Apple Watch.  Other hot products were the latest Fitbit watches, TVs, and other tech products.

However, many websites are extending their Cyber Monday deals throughout the entire week.  While this might seem great to some, others might see the downside. An example is in some stores, like Target, are doing different deals every day.  While this could be appealing, as it offers more variety, it could be frustrating due to the fact that if they miss a day of deals, they’ll have to look elsewhere for deals on that product.

Black Friday has its flaws as well.  Freshman Olivia Tehaan noting, “The chaos” and “the people.” She goes further to say, “I went late Friday night one time at a Kmart and it was still insane.”

Ultimately, people spent over $16 billion on their holiday gifts over both days.  Even though the holidays can be chaotic and crazy, it brings people together. Despite how crazy these days can get, the outcome will bring families and friends together as they open the thoughtful gifts they received.  It’s important to remember that no matter which days gifts are bought on, they still have the same holiday cheer.