Hi all,
I'm a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald/The Age and am looking to do a case study on one family in both Sydney and Melbourne who are planning on arriving early well before the doors open - whether it be camping out overnight, or arriving several hours in advance and lining up.
Please delete if not allowed but I figured this forum would be a great place to get in touch with someone who fits that bill!
If you're interested please reply here and I'll get in touch.
I agree, and in most of the stores.
We did some Boxing Day Sale purchases from Harris Scarfe (in store) yesterday.
Harris Scarfe is a an odd store. Many items appear to be on permanent 50% off sales by pumping up the price of items for a short while and then discounting them back to the normal selling price for a few weeks after. And yes, Boxing Day sales more than a week out from Christmas are a bit ridiculous.
I too thought this sort of stuff finished up when this thing called the internet took over.
I suggest you do an article on how times have changed and follow member jv on boxing day with his online quest to find a bargain to post.
I might even buy a newspaper to read that story or at least see a picture of him/her.
Welcome to ozbargain. Good to have someone famous on board.
Famous lol: O'Sullivan, Bungard or Wade?
I too thought this sort of stuff finished up when this thing called the internet took over.
Are you talking about newspaper journalism, or camping out for sales??
In hindsight, both.
Camping out to go to a store? That's about as likely as camping out to buy concert tickets. Nobody does that anymore.
People don't even camp to buy the latest iPhone since the changes become moderate and unexciting from one version to the next.
There is nothing to camp for on Boxing Day now. Most of the sales are pathetic and you often get the same deals on VIP shopping events (almost every quarter of the year), Click Frenzy deals, etc.
I don't think many people would be camping for the sales. And yes, as others have mentioned, they often start on 24th evening or 25th evening online so there is very little incentive (if any) for camping.
Why would you bother! Boxing Day sales are a joke and have been for the past 10+ years. Same discounts you get all throughout the year, a complete and utter waste of time. Don't buy into the hype.
Oops, change of career ?
ABC news seems to be more on point
"Boxing Day shoppers queue from before dawn — only to find no sales" (mostly just doing it for the tradition)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-26/boxing-day-sales-shop…
In any case, I think most of us are quite content with shopping online and prefer avoiding the general hustle / bustle of finding parking in a shopping centre, navigating the crowded stores and possibly coming home empty handed when the stores run out of your size of clothing / or don't have enough stock to begin with.
Did you read the article you linked to? They were reporting on select stores that didn't have a boxing day sale. Other stores in fact did have a sale.
The reason i dont bother going to Aldi for special buys. The hassle and time cost is not worth it. Queue for 1 hr, then some person grabbed an armful of stock, missed out, le sigh
As a journalist, do you feel this is a newsworthy topic?
Is this another AMA ?
Is this another AMA?
Maybe he has to start there and work his way up to 'personality politics' and then 'celebrity gossip'. Like Boxing day sales, most real journalists have gone online these days. :)
Like Boxing day sales, most real journalists have gone online these days
My screen has started to smoke up
People still go to stores to buy stuff?
I would love to know how many people on OzB actual pay to buy the physical newspaper anymore. Personally I cant believe they haven't folded yet.
My dad still goes to the post office to pay his bills. Crazy!
I still subscribe to the newspaper. I have the digital version of the Sydney Morning Herald on weekdays and have the weekend papers delivered.
That being said, I also have it at 50% off and when it's time to pay full price, call up and threaten to cancel in the hopes that they'll offer another x months at 50% off …
I cant believe they haven't folded yet.
That's the best thing about a physical newspaper!
I agree about Boxing Day sales being a bit meh. Last year as I recall all of the good deals on TV’s etc were before the Christmas period, rather than on Boxing Day, which if you’re a retailer makes sense because not everyone will necessarily buy something on Boxing Day, but they’ll very likely buy gifts etc before Christmas Day, so better to get in and get more guaranteed sales rather than banking on sales that might not materialise.
It also depends a lot on what you’re buying, as I think sometimes clothing and homewares are a bit cheaper but usually electronics and the like aren’t, at least that’s my experience anyway.
I definitely think camping out, specifically for sales, would be a bitter disappointment.
I'd camp outside eBay for 20% off storewide.
Waste of time
I’ll be camped in front of a pc refreshing Ozbargain. Does that count?
Now that is something for an article. How many people are looking for bargains on Christmas day rather than interacting with their families?
Really good deals are only available in a very limited time window (before out of stock). Family interaction freely available any day of the year.
Tough decision I know lol
Absolutely - I was hoping to pivot the story to focus on online shoppers as I agree with the consensus in this thread which is that camping out is a thing of the past.
Could I send you a private message if that's OK?
Not sure if you’re talking to me, but if you are go for it
I'm hoping for Buy One Get Myer Free this year.
No response from OP to these comments; a little disappointing when the assistance of this community was requested.
You are easily disappointed. Not sure OP owes anything to the community.
Even some comments here implying certain things about OP's job as a journalist. Why should OP reply to this sort of stuff?
If people go to the effort of ridiculing you, the polite thing to do is come back and cry or at least attempt to defend yourself (and provide a bigger target). Are you new to this or something?? :)
Haha… yes.
Apologies - I'm here now
Welcome back. How is the article developing?
Definitely pivoting towards focusing on online shoppers :)
@Matty1388: That is a complete variance to your original post. Maybe you should start a new post, and you will get a lot more responses relevant to that.
@GG57: He/she could do a poll. "Who will be looking at Ozbargain on Christmas day?", "Who would buy a bargain, if they found one?", "Would you prefer to shop, or talk to your drunk rellies, on Christmas day?", "Are people getting together with friends, family on Christmas day", "Are people getting together with friends/family for Christmas but not on Christmas day", etc.
I raise the last few because we often do the Christmas get together when it isn't Christmas day - as you get older and pair up/get divorced the logistics of Christmas day becomes harder. Besides, holding it after Christmas means you can get all the Christmas "stuff" cheap. The true Ozbargainer would hold Christmas celebrations late December/early January.
@try2bhelpful: People already have Christmas in late December.
The 25th is in the last week of the month :)
Should do it on 31st, then have something different to do until midnight.
@Gandalf the Thrifty: Combined Christmas New Year would be cool. Start at lunch time and keep going until early morning.
More people camping out nowadays in front of Footlocker for the latest pair of sneakers. I see semi-regular lines of people camped out for 1-2 days in Sydney City near Town Hall to get their hands on those limited edition shoes.
That's because you can make a profit from that.
If you stop to smell the roses, you realise that people find purpose in behaviours like preparing for Christmas and Boxing Day, etc. All in all, they are smaller elements of a larger problem where people attempt to deflect an overall lack of purpose by indulging in such lengthy and absorbitant events.
You obviously don't have children..
A lot of people still look past Black Friday sales in Australia where there have been better deals than Boxing Day. Those of us who "camp" on our computers in the early hours often get rewarded with stuff like this https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/418829 which led to a PS4 500GB Console + Spiderman Game for $219 Delivered
Maybe you could pivot even more and try make the public more aware of Black Friday as a lot of people still don't have a clue (check some of the forum posts too).
I can see the headline now "RIP Boxing Day Sales 2018" aka "Gerry Harvey Hates them, what the professionals don't want you to know"
Matt,
I cannot contribute to this topic but I might have something else for you. PM me if you like.
Merry Christmas.
Are you actually a regular Ozbargainer and created a new account just to post this topic?
Matt's article on Boxing Day queue? Looks like there's still a long queue outside big retailers, despite general disappointment. Some people still like the thrill and atmosphere though.
Went to the DFO at South Wharf and there were people everywhere. Some shops had quite long queues. Some of the high end stores in Melbourne had long queues as well.
Do people actually do that anymore?
Often start sales online earlier