If you had the income to spare, chances are pretty high that you took advantage of all the Black Friday deals that retailers were offering over the post-Thanksgiving weekend. But did you really get all that great of a bargain?
Shoppers spent over $16.4 billion online this Black Friday, but a spate of viral videos has shown that customers aren’t getting all that much bang for their buck.
A TikTok video from last year, reposted four days ago by author and content creator Jared Kampschroederm (@kampjared), purports to show that the sale price offered at a retail clearance rack is more expensive than the original coat.
But is his math off?
Kampschroederm ‘s video has over 321,700 views and counting. In it, someone is seen walking up to a clearance rack of jackets at an unidentified retailer.
“Ooh, clearance!” a voice says. “OK, let’s see what we got here.” The person holding the camera then proceeds down the rack and begins sorting through several Carhartt fleece jackets.
The person then reveals a yellow tag with a red price sticker reading $99.04. However, they then peel away the sticker, revealing an old price sticker that reads only $89.99. It would seem that the sale price is actually higher than the original price.
Some of Kampschroederm’s viewers were quite willing to accept the idea that the store was playing shady with its customers.
“This year black Friday means it’s either same price or more expensive,” one viewer wrote,
Another added, “I wanna see videos of people taking that to the register and asking questions.”
@kampjared In light of the black Friday deal videos, I'm reposting this gem. #blackfriday #dealornodeal #shopping #clearance #carhartt ♬ original sound – Jared Kampschroeder
However, most people pointed out something that the person in the video failed to take into account. A sign over the rack, easily visible in the video’s first few seconds, indicates that the sale percentage is taken off the red sticker price.
An additional sign above the jackets noted that they were 50 percent off. In other words, the $99 price would be discounted by half—significantly less than the original $89.99 price.
“This one is not too bad. The price is 99.04 means -50% price is 49.52,” a viewer pointed out.
In response to another commenter, Kampschroederm said, “they raised the price before putting it on sale, which is the point.”
According to Reuters, while sale prices were not very low in the days leading up to Black Friday, “retailers ‘stepped up the discounting’ to roughly 30% on average in the U.S.,” as per Rob Garf, vice president and general manager for retail at Salesforce.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Kampschroederm via TikTok direct message for further comment.