Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in the US. Today is “Black Friday,” the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season. Online as well as brick-and-mortar retailers offer “sales” on popular items. Too often, “sale” prices aren’t much, if at all, less than what people can find without much trouble when they aren’t pumped up with Black Friday hype. That’s why I don’t participate in the spectacles that, too often, seem like the running of the bulls when store doors open and throngs of shoppers charge through .
The concept seems to have spread beyond this country’s borders and shores—and to online retailers. The bike business seems to have been pulled into it—by necessity, some industry insiders argue. The COVID pandemic Bike Boom seems to have gone “bust:” After the shortages of bikes and anything related to them that caused some shops to close in 2020 and 2021, remaining distributors and dealers stocked up as soon as merchandise became available again. But the demand of the peak pandemic year’s didn’t continue: People who thought about cycling during the lockdowns abandoned such thoughts when gyms and other venues re-opened. Oh, and whatever economists (or TV personalities who play them on Fox News and CNBC) tell us about a “robust” economy, many cyclists (including yours truly) don’t have much spare cash or even credit.
That said, there are good deals to be had. Even if I were swimming in green, however, I don’t think I’d be shopping: I have what I need (at least when it comes to cycling) and I don’t want more things. Most of all, I don’t want to follow the imperative to “buy until you die.”
