Post #4 of my 12th Anniversary Blogging Marathon, post #4,261 of my dozen years of daily blogging.

Some may have noticed that I have a handful of “Black Friday” images in the banner rotation of about 100.

When I checked email this morning, the lion’s share were from every merchant list I must have managed to get on in the last 20 years on the Internet. Like my cell phone number from 1993, I still have some very old email addresses.

I must confess that I don’t get it. I’m not a “SALE!” person any time of the year and for some reason, the prospect of being able to by 35% more stuff with the same number of dollars on this one day of the year simply doesn’t entice me.

Two reasons for that. First and foremost, when I want or require something, for whatever reason, I demand to have it NOW! Sure, I don’t mind discounts, good bargains, whatever, but the bottom line is that if I have determined I truly want or need something that is within my means to acquire, even at full retail, then price takes a back seat. Second, my buying behavior is demand driven, not supply.

I’ll elaborate.

While I’m sure there are plenty of both genders on either side (who are we kidding…malls are 90% geared to female shopping), this does demonstrate the difference between a person who shops specifically to fill a need (demand oriented) and someone who shops specifically to see what’s on offer, that they can “save money on.”

I’ve often said that I hate shopping but that’s not really true. Don’t love it either, and I’m not anti-commerce, anti-materialistic, anti-consumerism, or any of those things at the level of some cause—though I do harbor light disdain. I’ll even engage in “browsing” from time to time—especially if I find myself that old-school hardware store on Main St. Placerville, CA, with the original 2 x 6 floor planking, and it’s the closest to “they have everything” you’ll ever see.

Look in your closets, storage shelves, and garage. And, how many garage sales have you conducted in the last five years?

See what I mean? I’ll bet you could go through all your stuff and reflect on how much you really needed it, and how much use you actually got out of it. This is what happens when you shop to shop rather than to specifically go acquire something because you have determined you have a sincere desire or need of it.

In the end, this isn’t a post meant to chastise anyone or lambast women or serial shoppers, but I repeat myself. It’s just to suggest that you think about what you’re really doing. Marketing and salesmanship are both a blessing and a curse. If nobody ever tried to entice anyone to buy, we’d probably be in an economic pickle. At some level, economies and markets require a measure of vibrancy to be viable at all. So, perhaps in the large, it’s fine as it is. But, every individual gets to do what they want.

…Back last summer when I loaded up my car for Mexico I found that everything I truly needed fit in the back of that mid-size SUV. I wrote a post along those lines that a lot of people liked, so you might want to take a few minutes to read it. I called it The Tyranny of Assets.

If you’re enjoying this and have shopping to do, please consider hitting this Amazon link for your shopping. That’s all you have to do. When you do, it creates a perfect win-win-win. Rather than peddle some specific product to you, just buy whatever you like, need, or wish to gift. You win. Amazon competently gets it to you in a day or two, so Amazon, the producers, and suppliers win. At no additional cost to you, Amazon gives me 6-8% of the purchase without adding a single penny to your bill. Even if you just pop it in your cart, I’ll still get paid when you decide to check out.