Fûck Black Friday.

whisky_galore

Saw this circulating, makes a good point.

On average in the EU, 31kg of plastic packaging waste is produced per person per year. This adds up to 15.8 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste generated in the EU in one year. Among the EU Member States, the amount of plastic waste generated per person ranged from 12kg in Croatia to 60kg (WTF!!) in Ireland. For all Member States, this amount has increased steadily over the last decade.
Please consider not buying **** you don't need this Black Friday. #****blackfriday

blueshade

I've bought a new sofa, a new laptop and a couple of other bits and bobs that we really needed. All in all we've saved about 700 euro so I'm not complaining. The packaging will all be recycled and what's being replaced wouldn't have lasted much longer. Then again, I'm of a generation that was raised to get the most out of things and not just replace them because something better came along.

I wonder why we are top.
Remoteness generating more trips and packing?
Young and growing population consuming a lot relative to older more settled countries?
Laziness?
Wealth?

Richard tea

And magic fairies delivered the device you are using to post this OP without packaging.

Hande hoche!

Bought a few books, for myself and some Christmas presents. Easons have some decent deals.

NIMAN

Ok right.

So many are buying into the CC story and saying they are trying to do better, while continuing to buy crap that they don't need.

People love consuming. No changing that.

super_furry

CONSUME

Hande hoche!

super_furry wrote: »

CONSUME

They Live is available on 4K.

El Weirdo

blueshade wrote: »

... All in all we've saved about 700 euro ...

You probably didn't.

Vita nova

On the plastic issue, I was in a large DIY chain recently and I would say almost 20% of the floor space was given over to Christmas decorations, most of them plastic and most probably will be thrown out after Christmas or in a few years. I'm all for people decorating their houses for Christmas but do they require so much plastic.

You can also make some of your own decorations using crepe and coloured paper; it's actually quite a skill, a bit like origami. You can go search for holly and ivy to make garlands and winter wreaths, drill and decorate logs to make Christmas logs etc. Believe it or not, those were skills I learned in primary school but if you weren't so lucky there are plenty of Youtube videos on how to make your own decorations.

tara73

Deleted User wrote: »

I wonder why we are top.

maybe because Ireland is honest in this case and not shipping the plastic rubbish to asia and with that putting out misleading or fraudulent statistics.

you knwo what Germany is doing? Germany is declaring themselves as so good in recycling. and the normal people are, they are the diligent germans with discussion what to put where, which plastic bag belongs to which recycling bin, having all kind of different recycling bins in the back yard.

and you know what? it's all a f***ing joke. it's taking the piss out of the people.

the meticulously collected rubbish is allowed to burn to a big percentage in big incinerators and the rest is shipped to asia and is turning whole countries into huge piles of plastic there or put in to the oceans to end up here again one way or the other (imported pangasia fish with our plastic in their stomach=plastic in our stomach)
but for the statistics it's 'recycled'... I can't put in words how I feel about it...

Snickers Man

I'm nostalgic for the days when I thought Black Friday was just a song by Steely Dan:o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Pw4t_Falo

topper75

Deleted User wrote: »

I wonder why we are top.
Remoteness generating more trips and packing?
Young and growing population consuming a lot relative to older more settled countries?
Laziness?
Wealth?

I asked the World Bank and they said to me on the phone that most of it comes in here from Nigeria.

blueshade

El Weirdo wrote: »

You probably didn't.

I'm happy with the prices I paid.

puppieperson1

Black friday is for lazy idiots who have lost their identity to the YANKS.
We are eroding our identities to the yank lifestyle.

We never had huge halloweens or thanksgiving or black friday (merely a shopping fest for thanksgiving) we are such incidious sheeple following american trends and abandoning our own .

Our own culture is going away before our eyes and all we want to do is be American the D4 accent is now 100% yank
Americans I wish they would live their own lives and stop trying to dictate to the world what we should do on any given date.
On top of that we have a huge issue in our own country the new Irish ( with better tans ) are also stealing away our culture un - hindered. Wake up iIreland soon you will just morph in nothingness and be no more than a generic Yank .

El Weirdo

puppieperson1 wrote: »

Black friday is for lazy idiots who have lost their identity to the YANKS.
We are eroding our identities to the yank lifestyle.

We never had huge halloweens or thanksgiving or black friday (merely a shopping fest for thanksgiving) we are such incidious sheeple following american trends and abandoning our own .

Our own culture is going away before our eyes and all we want to do is be American the D4 accent is now 100% yank
Americans I wish they would live their own lives and stop trying to dictate to the world what we should do on any given date.
On top of that we have a huge issue in our own country the new irish ( with better tans ) are also stealing away our culture un - hindered. Wake up ifreland soon you will just morph in nothingness and be no more than a generic Yank .

Wait. Are people celebrating Thanksgiving here?

TheValeyard

El Weirdo wrote: »

Wait. Are people celebrating Thanksgiving here?

No.

The Nal

puppieperson1 wrote: »

Black friday is for lazy idiots who have lost their identity to the YANKS.
We are eroding our identities to the yank lifestyle.

We never had huge halloweens or thanksgiving or black friday (merely a shopping fest for thanksgiving) we are such incidious sheeple following american trends and abandoning our own .

Our own culture is going away before our eyes and all we want to do is be American the D4 accent is now 100% yank
Americans I wish they would live their own lives and stop trying to dictate to the world what we should do on any given date.
On top of that we have a huge issue in our own country the new Irish ( with better tans ) are also stealing away our culture un - hindered. Wake up iIreland soon you will just morph in nothingness and be no more than a generic Yank .

Stay off the internet please

whisky_galore

puppieperson1 wrote: »

Black friday is for lazy idiots who have lost their identity to the YANKS.
We are eroding our identities to the yank lifestyle.

We never had huge halloweens or thanksgiving or black friday (merely a shopping fest for thanksgiving) we are such incidious sheeple following american trends and abandoning our own .

Our own culture is going away before our eyes and all we want to do is be American the D4 accent is now 100% yank
Americans I wish they would live their own lives and stop trying to dictate to the world what we should do on any given date.
On top of that we have a huge issue in our own country the new Irish ( with better tans ) are also stealing away our culture un - hindered. Wake up iIreland soon you will just morph in nothingness and be no more than a generic Yank .

It's a yankee commercial concept that businesses here jumped on to get rid of their end of line stuff that didn't shift all year.

Create the hype and the masses will come.

Boggles

puppieperson1 wrote: »

Black friday is for lazy idiots who have lost their identity to the YANKS.
We are eroding our identities to the yank lifestyle.

We never had huge halloweens or thanksgiving or black friday (merely a shopping fest for thanksgiving) we are such incidious sheeple following american trends and abandoning our own .

Our own culture is going away before our eyes and all we want to do is be American the D4 accent is now 100% yank
Americans I wish they would live their own lives and stop trying to dictate to the world what we should do on any given date.
On top of that we have a huge issue in our own country the new Irish ( with better tans ) are also stealing away our culture un - hindered. Wake up iIreland soon you will just morph in nothingness and be no more than a generic Yank .

Bass Reeves

whisky_galore wrote: »

It's a yankee commercial concept that businesses here jumped on to get rid of their end of line stuff that didn't shift all year.

Create the hype and the masses will come.

Yes and no. Online now target this weekend as people buying this weekend are guaranteed delivery pre christmas

The problem isn't specifically plastic, we've gotten too good at making stuff efficiently. When you can get a really good phone for under 150 quid (shop around) where's the incentive to repair? You have the phone a year, it's not quite as fast, needs to be charged half an hour earlier than before and you break the screen. Replacement screen takes labour and a couple of parts. Why not pay just a little bit more for a brand new phone?
TVs are another example. Massive TVs for 500 quid, they'll last easily a decade. But if it breaks the hassle and expense to get an old TV approaches that to get a brand new one.
We pump out stuff because to create 100 or 100,000 widgets has the same fixed cost. We still value our labour but so little labour goes into making an item new, boxed and on a shelf that it works out too expensive to repair and fix.

Nollog

puppieperson1 wrote: »

Black friday is for lazy idiots who have lost their identity to the YANKS.
We are eroding our identities to the yank lifestyle.

We never had huge halloweens or thanksgiving or black friday (merely a shopping fest for thanksgiving) we are such incidious sheeple following american trends and abandoning our own .
.

We invented Halloween.

whisky_galore

whisky_galore wrote: »

It's a yankee commercial concept that businesses here jumped on to get rid of their end of line stuff that didn't shift all year.

Create the hype and the masses will come.

That’s nonsense to be fair. I’ve a list of stuff I have been watching the prices on for some time that I want myself or to get for Christmas gifts and I’ve picked up a number of them at a good discount over the last week and today on amazon mostly.

There will always be one or two things you get a great deal on that you didn’t really need but are nice to have when the price is very low also.

Mrcaramelchoc

/\/ollog wrote: »

We invented Halloween.

: )

Gannicus

El Weirdo wrote: »

Wait. Are people celebrating Thanksgiving here?

Yeah. Our work canteen set out a Thanksgiving menu for lunches etc yesterday.

El Weirdo

Gannicus wrote: »

Yeah. Our work canteen set out a Thanksgiving menu for lunches etc yesterday.

Are there Americans employed in your company? And it's hardly celebrating, is it? Probably just a handy excuse to get rid of some Turkey and Ham.

Gannicus

El Weirdo wrote: »

Are there Americans employed in your company? And it's hardly celebrating, is it? Probably just a handy excuse to get rid of some Turkey and Ham.

Like 2.... i think.

They did a whole spread,
chicken and spiced corn chowder.
Roulade of turkey, chicken, duck and bacon with shallot stuffing and sage and onion jus.


they did a sweet potato hash with Turkey and soft egg for brekkie too.

topper75

/\/ollog wrote: »

We invented Halloween.

I know there was a Samhain thing in the Irish calendar - a sort of end of harvest shindig with a non-Christian spiritual dimension. It was centred on fruit/cakes/nuts/disguise, with an element of the otherworld and scary unknown. There was no big buildup to it and it was confined to the 31st Oct.

I don't think I could accept that we have anything to do with the modern commercial event called Hallowe'en. I would say that is 100% imported from America over the last 3 decades or so. I think the American pumpkin link with some kind of turnip carving here is quite weak. I never saw anybody try to carve a turnip in Ireland. Can anyone find some evidence?

I'm not pronouncing anything here - just expressing doubts.

bodhrandude

Its a pity the dope dealers don't embrace Black Friday, 2 eighths for the price of one. :D:D

begbysback

I’m confused here, am I supposed to give out about plastic, Black Friday or thanksgiving?

Gannicus

begbysback wrote: »

I’m confused here, am I supposed to give out about plastic, Black Friday or thanksgiving?

All of the above

whisky_galore

Lawson Bumpy Goth wrote: »

There will always be one or two things you get a great deal on that you didn’t really need but are nice to have when the price is very low also.

Why do you buy things you don't need?

nkl12xtw5goz70

begbysback wrote: »

I’m confused here, am I supposed to give out about plastic, Black Friday or thanksgiving?

Generic anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, anti-American ranting all welcome, it seems.

nkl12xtw5goz70

whisky_galore wrote: »

Why do you buy things you don't need?

Don't you ever buy things that fall into the "don't strictly need but would be nice to have" category?

tara73

begbysback wrote: »

I’m confused here, am I supposed to give out about plastic, Black Friday or thanksgiving?

it's all connected..:mad::)

But buying stuff makes me feel better about myself.. for a while..

kowloon

puppieperson1 wrote: »

Black friday is for lazy idiots who have lost their identity to the YANKS.
We are eroding our identities to the yank lifestyle.

My identity is I'll buy things whenever I can get the best price. I'm pretty sure we didn't need the yanks to learn that.
Culture isn't some sort of snapshot of Ireland taken during the Famine that is frozen in time. It'll change constantly as people make different choices. You're typing on a website that exists because Irish people wanted to talk about an American computer game.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

super_furry wrote: »

CONSUME

Human Beings are a plague, Mr Anderson

Maysa07

I'll just leave this here...

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/black-friday-investigation-pours-cold-water-on-so-called-deals-1.4094793

Peatys

Fúck this crap. We don't design the packaging. We don't buy plastic packaging just to have plastic packaging.
The pressure needs to be put on the producers, not the already over burdened consumer.

storker

puppieperson1 wrote: »

Black friday is for lazy idiots who have lost their identity to the YANKS. We are eroding our identities to the yank lifestyle.

We never had huge halloweens or thanksgiving or black friday (merely a shopping fest for thanksgiving) we are such incidious sheeple following american trends and abandoning our own .

Our own culture is going away before our eyes and all we want to do is be American the D4 accent is now 100% yank
Americans I wish they would live their own lives and stop trying to dictate to the world what we should do on any given date.
On top of that we have a huge issue in our own country the new Irish ( with better tans ) are also stealing away our culture un - hindered. Wake up iIreland soon you will just morph in nothingness and be no more than a generic Yank .

Or, more simply, and a bit less Henny-Penny-ish, people might just be welcoming a bargain...especially in the lead-up to Christmas when traditionally there's been no sign of a sale until January. The desire to take advantage of a bargain isn't, as far as I know, ingrained in any particular culture. When Irish people are taking the same Thursday and Friday off and celebrating Thanksgiving with Turkey etc, then your mild claim might actually carry some weight.

In the mean time, please feel free to post any evidence that the Americans are "trying to dictate to the world what we should do on any given date".

Boggles

Maysa07 wrote: »

I'll just leave this here...

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/black-friday-investigation-pours-cold-water-on-so-called-deals-1.4094793

tara73

puppieperson1 wrote: »

Black friday is for lazy idiots who have lost their identity to the YANKS.
We are eroding our identities to the yank lifestyle.

We never had huge halloweens or thanksgiving or black friday (merely a shopping fest for thanksgiving) we are such incidious sheeple following american trends and abandoning our own .

Our own culture is going away before our eyes and all we want to do is be American the D4 accent is now 100% yank
Americans I wish they would live their own lives and stop trying to dictate to the world what we should do on any given date.
On top of that we have a huge issue in our own country the new Irish ( with better tans ) are also stealing away our culture un - hindered. Wake up iIreland soon you will just morph in nothingness and be no more than a generic Yank .

maybe a bit radically expressed but the quintessence is 100% true.

but don't think it's only Ireland they try to import the 'american lifestyle'/habits/products for profits. They do it in every country in the world they can get a foot in.

whisky_galore

whisky_galore wrote: »

Why do you buy things you don't need?

What I mean is things I could do without but definitely have use for and only haven’t bought before due to cost.

Example I bought another amazon echo as it was so cheap (I already have 4). Can live without it yes, is it handy to have one another room for controlling things definitely at the price I paid.

Lawson Bumpy Goth

Lawson Bumpy Goth wrote: »

What I mean is things I could do without but definitely have use for and only haven’t bought before due to cost.

Example I bought another amazon echo as it was so cheap (I already have 4). Can live without it yes, is it handy to have one another room for controlling things definitely at the price I paid.

You have 4 amazon echoes?

That does seem excessive..

Ush1

I love how nox has become Eric Cartman.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

You have 4 amazon echoes?

That does seem excessive..

I’d plan on eventually having one in every room. Don’t see it as excessive at all when they are heavily used for smart control (among other things) which will only be increasing and increasing.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Peatys wrote: »

Fúck this crap. We don't design the packaging. We don't buy plastic packaging just to have plastic packaging.
The pressure needs to be put on the producers, not the already over burdened consumer.

I've found that stuff , for the most part is packaged in such a way that all the space is used properly.
The problem is, the like of amazon take these well designed packages and put them in an empty box 60 times bigger than it needs to be along with a load of that big bubble wraps stuff.

The waste is ridiculous, from the cardboard alone, to the fact that these comically large boxes take up more space on trucks and planes, resulting in more trips than necessary to transport a given volume.

randomspud

Lawson Bumpy Goth wrote: »

What I mean is things I could do without but definitely have use for and only haven’t bought before due to cost.

Example I bought another amazon echo as it was so cheap (I already have 4). Can live without it yes, is it handy to have one another room for controlling things definitely at the price I paid.

Congrats on paying Amazon to harvest all of you data/habits.

tara73

Lawson Bumpy Goth wrote: »

I’d plan on eventually having one in every room. Don’t see it as excessive at all when they are heavily used for smart control (among other things) which will only be increasing and increasing.

he's the seller for 'smart control devices' on amazon...:D:D