Has Black Friday Gone Too Far?

I don't know that you can blame the stores, you can however, blame the rudeness of people now days. Our Walmart is open 24 hrs, so we all waited inside in front of the items we wanted. At other local stores one in particular (the news showed by helicopter) thousands of people waiting in front, rushing inside when they opened the doors. I had a reasonable experience today, people were polite and helpful, I can't imagine wanting an item enough to hurt someone to get it.

That "crowd" would better be described as a "mob" because what they did to that poor man is mob behavior even if, as in this case, inadvertent. They were clearly so hell-bent on getting their "bargains" that they threw caution and civility to the winds to fulfill their own self-absorbed desires.

And, if I were reporting this story, I would have described them not as "eager customers", but "crazed customers". Eager people are still usually civil; crazed people will stop at nothing, clearly what happened here.

I hope Walmart steps up and does the right thing by that individual's family. They should have had armed security at their entrances.

The store puts the bait out in large amounts so the people can injure or kill all in their way.
Why not put very small amounts out at unlisted times through out the day and advertize this fact.
This would stop large crouds who only care for themselves and little for human life.

ABC asks: Has Black Friday Gone Too Far?

When a Wal-Mart employee is trampled to death in a stampede, the answer is clearly YES!

freaking people and the idea that something is for nothing==shows the lack of common sense and the fact that these items are on the net most anytime for the same prices----they would even kill someone for chinese junk.

i am in business and to prove a point i took items selling for five dollars that were not moving---priced them at 20 dollars-and had a halfprice sale and they all sold-----american shoppers are absolute idiots and would not know a real bargin no how.wallyworld knows how to rip people off--they are masters at it.

Americans need their Chinese-made goods at all costs! I know we have lots of crazies in this country, but wow, who is responsible for this. It can't be the store.

Retail stores have a responsibiltiy to provide safety to the public.

Each year, someone is either hurt or killed on Black Friday!!!

They need to come up with a better plan when allowing customers into their stores!!!

Like give each customer a number and allow them to enter the store
one at a time!!

I think it's time for stores to take a hard look at themselves and their business practices. Safety of employees and innocent shoppers must be of the greatest importance. Perhaps these half day sales need to stop, with the prices slashed less and then have the sale last for the full day. The raw meat has to be pulled from in front of these hungry, rabid mobs.

Who are all these people who have so much money to spend on expensive unneccesary games/junk things and movie tickets? all these games and the news about movie ticket sales and stuff: who has money for shopping and stuff? and i agree that people will buy anything that has a "sale" tag on it, even if the orginal price was less than it.

Store responsible? These crazies did tear the door from its hinges. Are stores to make stronger doors? Hopefully with the economy tanking and inflation massively decreasing our purchasing power, these types of things will be a thing of the past.

Huh, While the stores are not entirely to blame, they must share some responsibility. Every year someone gets injured when doors are opened for fire sales. If there is an unruly mob, then you don't feed the mob mentality by throwing bones to them. This was a foreseeable accident waiting to happen. If you conspire with a mob by providing them with the means to injure someone, or fuelling their lawlessness, and the consequences are foreseeable, then you are partially liable for the ensuing damage. That's the law.

Personally I think it is caused by all of the lead they have been exposed to while shopping at Walmart. The lead emissions off those Chinese goods in that warm, enclosed store have to be high. I don't like Wally World, so I don't go there very often, maybe 4X a year. I have found that a week before Christmas you can get some really nice stuff, look like you spent a ton and it was 40-60% off.

I have never been and never will go shopping the day after Thanksgiving.Big fake ,just like going out of business sales....

Black Friday went too far the minute it got a name and millions of people, like lemmings, came to believe that they just HAD to shop the day after Thanksgiving. And the media, egged on by advertisers, egg on the mobs. They even call it "the official first day of the holiday shopping season." Official? Who decreed that? The media adores people who go too far, like fans who go bare-chested and paint themselves in team colors for a football game in 10-degree weather. The Black Friday frenzy, complete with people making fools of themselves, suits that need.

Having worked in malls from ann arbor to tulsa to las vegas, I've seen black friday from mediocre to affluent. At all levels people on black friday become greed-driven mobs willing to (now literally) trample on anyone to get what they want. I can't give an easy solution other than 'Do unto others....'

When I was a child in the late 1940s, Christmas for our family was simple. We always attended church service and enjoyed a "pot luck" dinner with relatives. Although the family was struggling ourselves, we made a point of giving to a chosen charity at Christmas. At home, on Christmas morning, each child (and only the children) would find one or two gifts (many times homemade) under the modest tree, and candy, fruit and nuts in our stockings which we hung the night before. We were quite happy, did not feel the least deprived, and enjoyed the holiday immensely. In those days fancy desserts were only enjoyed during special occasions, such as the holidays, and relatively few people were overweight. You ask the question, "has Black Friday gone too far?" In my opinion, it is but one of many, many things that have gone "too far" in this society. I am deeply saddened that this beautiful holiday has been turned into such an orgy of materialism and carelessness toward others.

Well said, Jester1976.

Ditto, Jester1976!

Where were the manager and assistants while idiots trampled someone who was trying to make a living? Probably sitting in the back office and letting the guy die for low, low prices.