Black Friday 2014: Best Christmas Shopping Discount Day Is Actually Weeks Later, And You’ll Avoid The Shocking Numbers Of Drunk Shoppers

Whether or not you’re heading out for Black Friday 2014 the day after Thanksgiving, you’re bound to come across at least one or two stories about mass chaos that occurs once it all goes down. Naturally, companies have conducted hoards of research in order to make the most of the gigantic sales day, and many of those reveal bizarre truths about Black Friday 2014 — including the fact that it really isn’t the best day for Christmas shopping discounts, which means you could potentially avoid a whole lot of this:

In fact, saying “no” to the big rush of Black Friday 2014 altogether might be even wiser, according to price tracking performed by Shop Adviser. Of the 6,000 products that they tracked across 16,000 retailers, 42 percent were more expensive on Black Friday than in the preceding weeks before the discount holiday. According to their findings, the day with the lowest average discount in 2013 was December 18, with a 17.5 percent average discount. That’s compared to an only 5 percent average discount on Black Friday on last year.

Even though the best Christmas discount shopping date can’t be predicted exactly (2012 was December 1), consumers should perhaps more carefully consider their shopping days in light of some other information. Thirty-nine percent of Americans will be purchasing with the use of credit cards. That’s up from 28.5 percent last year. It’s also the highest that it has been in the history of the National Retail Federation’s Black Friday survey.

Although there could be many reasons someone would be buying with a credit card, the statistic is uncomfortably contrasted against another one found by a Sun Trust Banks survey. Nearly 40 percent of Americans feel the need to spend more than they can actually afford during the Christmas season. That number is even higher among those with kids under the age of 18, 50 percent of whom say they’ll overspend and 20 percent of whom said they’ll be making a late payment on a bill because of it.

Another fascinating tidbit from Retail Me Not found that around 12 percent of shoppers head to stores under the influence of alcohol on Black Friday. The Huffington Post also pointed it out on their list of reasons to avoid Black Friday 2014 altogether.

“If you had a couple of glasses of wine at dinner, spiked a cup of coffee with a splash of Bailey’s, did some Wild Turkey shots in the garage with your cool uncle, and THEN decided you really want to check out the sales at Kohl’s — and see if your high school ex still works there — congratulations, you’re still drunk. But you should probably just sleep this one off.”

Is there a better “best day for Christmas shopping discounts” than Black Friday?

[Image via Flickr]