Sights of people lining up at stores, and running into stores, chasing after deals seemed commonplace. Once upon a time, Black Friday was a day of spectacular deals and massive crowds. But now, as the crowds get thinner and the prices get even more anemic, some are asking ‘has Black Friday lost its value?’ Business teacher Andrew Dunn explains some of the factors that contribute to these falling deals.

“I think what we’ve seen is that there are higher labor costs,” Dunn said. “If you’re paying your labor higher wages and [have an] increase in supply chain costs, for companies to get products to the customer those costs have gone up, and that’s kind of sapped their margins.”

Economics teacher Natalie Perry attributes the falling deals to similar causes.

“It goes back to supply chains,” Perry said. “When we start looking at operating costs for businesses, we see that their expenses are going up. So it kind of incentives them to drop their prices. They’re trying to cover their expenses.”

Junior Arhant Awale added how changes to Black Friday have affected him.

“It’s been tough because the prices are usually higher than they were like five years ago,” Awale said.

Senior Nicole Brault highlighted how the rising prices have required her to prioritize spending.

“The rising prices have slightly affected my shopping experience because I spend less to be able to save my money for gas or other various items,” Brault said.

Perry explains how improper planning can lead to falling behind on these necessities.

“We want to be good consumers which means we need to plan ahead, we need to know what we’re looking for when we go in, we need to do our research before we get there,” Perry said. “Impulse buys tend to be the biggest complaint about Black Friday shopping. Make sure that you set your goals, make sure you know how much you want to spend. When you go out, if you have $300 extra that you can spend, then make sure that you stay within that $300. We don’t want to spend $400 and then be behind on our car insurance or car payment, or something like that.”

As Black Friday shifts to online sales surrounding the holiday, a new sale event has begun: Cyber Monday, which is the Monday after Thanksgiving. According to NBC News, the sale was created in 2005, and focuses on online sales.

“Cyber Monday is now in competition for Black Friday,” Perry said. “As more and more opportunities arise to find a good deal, I think Black Friday has some drawbacks. Who wants to get up early to fight in line for what might be like five big-screen TVs that are in the store that are on sale?”

Brault reflects this sentiment in her shopping habits.

“I shop more online than in person to be able to skip the lines and big crowds of people,” Brault said.

Awale further elaborates on the desire to skip crowds.

“At first we used to shop more in person, but we saw how many crowds there were, and now we’re mostly doing it online because you don’t have to wait a lot,” Awale said. “You can just stay at home, choose whatever you want.”

Despite the growth of Cyber Monday, Perry doesn’t foresee Black Friday going away.

“I think we still have a lot of people who would prefer to go in the store and go through that physical shopping experience,” Perry said.

Dunn furthers this sentiment.

“I think there will always be Black Friday promotions; I don’t think that’ll go away,” Dunn said. “It’ll just change the way that it’s changed a lot in the last 30 years.”

Dunn explained how sales events have changed in the last 30 years.

“What was once a big day now is like a big month, and the deals are spread out more,” Dunn said. “It’s not a one day event anymore, it’s really changed. Sometimes I talk to people that work at the outlet mall, for example, and the deals are better right now in early November than they are on Black Friday. That’s probably a big misconception; people think that’s the best day for deals, and a lot of times it’s actually not.”

Dunn added how he plans to adopt this new development into his shopping plan.

“Right now I’m just looking, comparing and I feel like I’ve got three to four weeks to compare and see what happens to prices,” Dunn said. “I would say be patient, wait, and don’t rush and buy something now but pay attention to the prices, especially high ticket items like electronics. I know headphones are very popular, video games systems are very popular, so pay attention to those prices and compare them. Look daily and if you see a great deal then that’s the time to strike.”