What makes Black Friday black?

The bruises you get trying to fight your way to the advertised big deal of the day.
The color of the sky at 2 am when you finally get in line for the store opening.
The color of your credit card statement a month later.

It was originally called Black Friday because the volume of shoppers created traffic accidents and sometimes even violence.
https://www.thebalance.com/why-is-it-called-black-friday-3305712

Traditionally it was the first day of the year for retailers to be in the Black (making a profit for the year)

Another vote for the day when retail income statements were in the black for the year.

Whenever i hear the name Black Friday, I think of the employee who was trampled to death by stampeding savings-crazed Walmart shoppers, as referenced in the article @KNOWITALL linked above:

“The worst Black Friday occurred in 2008 when a man was trampled to death at a New York Walmart. Despite being 6’5” and 270 pounds, temporary worker Jdimytai Damour died of asphyxiation when crowds stampeded into the store6. At least 2,000 people broke down the doors, trapping Damour in a vestibule where he suffocated. Eleven other shoppers were also injured, including a pregnant woman.”

@Zaku That’s exactly why I don’t go, no savings is so important to me I’d want to get hurt or involved in anything like that.

Plus those savings are still in effect all through the month of December and into January.

@Dutchess_III That isn’t true; many stores have door buster sales that are only good from, say, 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., or only on Black Friday. Apple stores have their only sale of the year on Black Friday, 5% off everything,

You racist bastard :D

For the benefit of the fluther flunkies, that was a joke

Well, it still isn’t enough to lure me out @zenvelo.

My boss is like a professional shopper, and one Black Friday she went to visit relatives in another state, and she told me about how as soon as Thanksgiving dinner ended, around 6 pm, they went out and shopped all night, catching various doorbuster deals all night, between different stores with different deals. Not all the stores were open all night, so for some, they were there for the store opening at 4 or 5 a.m. She got incredible deals but to me, it took so much energy. It sounded kind of fun in a lunatic way.