Dear Petco: If You Insist On Pushing Black Friday In July Promos, At Least Make It An Awesome Deal

Black Friday can now be anytime, any month.

If you’re getting an email from Petco trumpeting a “Black Friday In July!” promo that’s only serving to tick you off, you’re not alone. Consumerist readers Matthew and Kelso both forwarded their sighs along with a Petco email that is very, very excited about a not-so-great deal that just serves to make people cranky. Because it’s not Black Friday. It’s just Friday, in July.

And the exciting, email-worthy promotion that’s supposed to mirror the excitement (?) of lining up outside stores in the wee hours of a cold November morning to get your hands on a severely discounted big TV or a really sweet [fill in other electronics thing people like]? You have to spend $75 to trigger the promo and get free shipping, and it doesn’t even include dog or cat food, or lizard food if your lizards eat crickets.

“Can we please not make this a thing? It’s bad enough already around Thanksgiving,” writes reader Matthew, not realizing that it’s already too late. “Plus, this doesn’t seem quite so good – first, you have to spend $75 to get free shipping AND it ‘Excludes dog food, cat food, litter, and more.’ Apparently so much more that they couldn’t fit it all in the the footer of the email. Ugh.”

Other items you cannot buy online for your pet with this breathless promo: cat litter, dog litter, ice melter, wild bird food, live fish & rock, aquatic gravel and accents; crickets, live food and frozen food; out-of-stock items, Donations, Petco Gift Cards and eGift Cards. As well as really heavy things and certain delivery methods.

Kelso feels the same way about this whole thing, adding, “It’s Black Friday in July — again. And it’s only 30% (exclusions apply — I didn’t bother to look at what they are) [editor's note: now you do], which honestly isn’t all too much in terms of actual Black Friday deals, just saying’…”

Yes, you can still buy cat toys and dog collars and bird stands or whatever, so that’s great if you’ve got $75 to burn there. But let’s not get crazy and call something Black Friday just because you happen to have a minor discount on a Friday in July.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist