It says here that people have been queing (on boxing day for up to 12 hours...some camped outside since 5 in the morning....) to save on the VAT increase. Now forgive me if I am wrong but working on the minimum wage, I'd need to be spending a shed load of dosh to save what my time is worth. I suppose most of these people spent a couple of hundred pounds.....so saved a fiver. Would you stand outside a shop in minus 6 for 12 hours to save a fiver? Loopy. Even if they where giving away an x-box I would not do it.
No accounting for some people. It seems to be a thing these of the last decade or two- I can recall a few years ago at college, there were people "camping" in the common room to get ball tickets. It seems to have gotten everywhere!
I would have assumed if you were really wanting to save the odd few pounds on VAT, the best way would ahve been to have shopped online- sure you might not get everything straight away, but the money is spent there and then and no annoying mega-queues.
And is it to get "stuff" you could live without? I wonder. Savings, obviously, are a con if what you get is something you would nither afford nor need.
Yea Lynziezian, I know some one who has to have things NOW! But all the same... to ruin your christmas for a couple of quid seems mental. And yes, I agree - just order online if it is something you are after. I am bewildered.
Edited to add...
Have you seen the furore over the increased spending on Christmas eve? I think perhaps I am losing the plot over the whole mess. Please people tell me I am not alone
They are probably the same people who drive some miles, at a cost of a pound or so, in order to buy 20L of petrol at a penny a litre less than the price at a garage that they pass.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
D'you think that the queueing has some kind of nutty cameraderie and thus, rather than being seen as a "disutility"(? term for summat you'd pay to avoid) is, in some perverse way, viewed as a form of entertainment?
I mean, it'd be something to tell your mates about at the pub/stitch'n'bitch, wouldn't it?
I have seen even fairly sensible people go all bunny-in-headlights as Christmas Day looms on the horizon.
They tell themselves they'll be careful this year, they make lists, they make budgets, they reduce their family's expectations... and then at the last minute they lose their heads and splurge money they don't have on stuff they don't need in a panicked frenzy - if they don't have enough stuff, their christmas might not work...
Being ill for the week preceding the day is one good way of avoiding this, but not recommended for other reasons!
The short answer: yes, they are.
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The family we know and love were driving to Leeds today to get a new sofa at Yukea. To be fair, it's a "distress purchase" of sorts: their sofa has just collapsed. We have never had to buy one...ever. All ours are handmedowns. But then, if your family are all over the place (Middle East South America and possibly Wales) maybe the logistics of handmedown become a trifle tricky...
Will have to pester them at some point to see how it went: with a bit of luck it will have been such a godawful experience they'll never try it again.
For god's sake, if you must drive to get to a sale early, at least make it John Lewis'
take a look at this video. I personally find it unbelievabe... but your milage may vary (though I doubt it). Totally Bonkers
Mean while Candy... re sofa... no need to rush to sales right now...grab some bean bags... and DHS (?) or whatever have a 'sale' every month. Usually every one is better than the last LOL
I did try and talk them out of it. But they've just bought a house. Outright. And having always rented before, they have hardly any "stuff" to their name. What can you do?
Nostalgia trip...this is the type of place where I bought my irreplaceable woollen leggings. I can assure you that those coats are far more effective than anything you can buy here ('cause you try them on outdoors in -15 degC so you can tell instantly). Perhaps a bunch of us should hire a charabanc and do some proper shopping. You can even haggle
Have people given up on FreeCycle? There's shedloads of stuff out there, no need to buy anything like sofas or whatever. Ask if it doesn't appear.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
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