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Cyber Monday

Missed the weekend? You're not too late. Yet.

Last call. Sent to your inbox in minutes.

  1. Admit oneOne readingFor Group chat
  2. Admit oneOne readingFor Far-off cousin
  3. Admit oneOne readingFor Office swap
  4. Admit oneOne readingFor A teacher
  5. Admit oneOne readingFor Best friend
  6. Admit oneOne readingFor You

The deal

Checking with the machine…

What it is

Cyber Monday is the Monday after American Thanksgiving, named in 2005 for the online shopping people did from their desks at work. At the Midway Machine it's the last call on the season's pack of six reading tickets, which arrive by email in minutes: nothing to ship and nothing to wrap.

Everything here is digital. Order on your phone, and a few minutes later you have six reading tickets: print the page, or forward each ticket by email or text. Each one opens a personalized card for whoever holds it.

That makes it the gift you can still sort out at 11 p.m. on the last day, for the office gift exchange, the group chat, your kid's teacher or the cousin three time zones away.

Why Monday?

In 2005, before smartphones and before most homes had good internet access, retailers told Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation, that orders jumped on the Monday after Thanksgiving, when people came back to their office computers after the long weekend. The federation's research backed that up, and the team gave the day a name. 1

The desk-at-work part of the story has mostly gone. In 2024, 57% of Cyber Monday online spending in the US happened on phones, and the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday are now counted together as Cyber Week. 2

      Shopping online safely on Cyber Monday

      Online deals move fast, and so do the people who copy them. The Federal Trade Commission's holiday advice comes down to a few plain habits: 3

      • Check the address bar. Buy only on pages that start with https, and use shopping apps that say how they handle your data. 3
      • Look up the seller. Read reviews from places you trust, including reports of things that never arrived or looked nothing like the listing. 3
      • Keep the paperwork. Save the order number, the return policy and the shipping cost for every order. 3
      • Be careful with financial details. Be wary of holiday "offers" that ask for more than a purchase needs, and treat gift cards like cash. 3
      • Check the price history. Most "deals" turn up again. Which? found 92% of the Black Friday offers it tracked were the same price or cheaper on another day. 4

        Can a last-minute gift still be a good one?

        Yes, if it's about the person rather than the price tag. Stanford researchers found that recipients don't feel more grateful for pricier gifts, even though givers expect them to. 5

        And gifts built around an experience tend to bring people closer than objects do. Cindy Chan and Cassie Mogilner found that, and traced it to feeling: experiences stir up more of it. Even a thing can work that way, Chan says, if it brings back something you did together, like music from a concert you went to. 6

        A reading ticket sent tonight lands in an inbox in minutes, and what it opens is about the person holding it. That's a better last-minute gift than most.

            Where Cyber Monday came from

            1. 2005A small team at Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation, heard from retailers about a jump in online orders on the Monday after Thanksgiving, when people shopped from their office computers. The federation's research confirmed it, and they named it Cyber Monday. 1
            2. 2005A press release went out. Ellen Davis, who was on the team, says the name had taken on a life of its own within a week. 1
            3. 2015Adobe data showed Cyber Monday 2015 as the biggest shopping day there had ever been online. 1
            4. Cyber WeekThe five days from Thanksgiving through Black Friday to Cyber Monday now get counted together as Cyber Week. 2
            5. 2024US shoppers spent a record $13.3 billion online on Cyber Monday and $41.1 billion across Cyber Week. More than half of Cyber Monday spending, 57%, happened on phones. 2

            Worked out, not guessed

            • 57% of Cyber Monday 2024 online spending in the US came from phones, an all-time high. This deal works the same way: start to finish on your phone. 2

            Why it's the last call

            Cyber Monday is the end of the deal weekend. When this countdown runs out, the pack goes back to its usual price, and this page will only be able to tell you when it's coming back.

            So if you've been meaning to, now is the moment. It takes about a minute.

            How it works

            1. Order the pack. A few minutes later your email brings a printable page of six ADMIT ONE tickets (two by three, with cut lines and a To and From line on each), plus a link to forward each ticket by email.
            2. Send them out: forward a ticket by email, text the code, or print the page for the office gift exchange tomorrow morning.
            3. Each person redeems theirs with their own birthday, and their own card lands in their inbox a few minutes later.

            Each ticket is one reading for one person and works once. Tickets are good for 12 months from the day you buy them.

            Questions

            How fast do the tickets arrive?

            Usually within a few minutes of paying, by email.

            Can I send a ticket tonight to someone far away?

            Yes. Forward it by email or copy the code into a text. They redeem it on their phone with their own birthday.

            What if I miss the countdown?

            The page stays up and shows when the pack is back. Join the Mailbag and you'll hear first.

            Do the people I send them to need an account?

            No. They type the code, their name and their birthday, and the card goes to their email.

            Who invented Cyber Monday?

            A small team at Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation, named it in 2005 after retailers saw online orders jump on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

            How do I shop safely on Cyber Monday?

            Buy only on https pages from sellers you have checked, keep the order number and return policy, treat gift cards like cash, and check the price history before you believe a "was" price.

            Sources

            1. Shopping Spree (20 November 2017), Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business. Read on .
            2. Cyber Monday Hits Record $13.3 Billion in Online Spending with Majority of Sales Driven by Mobile (3 December 2024), Adobe (press release, Adobe Analytics data). Read on .
            3. FTC's tips for happy holiday shopping (Gretchen Abraham, 20 November 2019), Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Read on .
            4. Nine in 10 Black Friday "deals" cheaper or same price at other times of the year (26 November 2024), Which?. Read on .
            5. Research Confirms It's the Thought That Counts (Marguerite Rigoglioso, 1 December 2008), Stanford Graduate School of Business. Read on .
            6. The science of gift giving: U of T research on the best kind of present to receive (Don Campbell, 16 December 2016), University of Toronto News. Read on .

            For entertainment and self-reflection. Astrology and numerology are traditions, not science.

            Spotted something wrong, out of date or missing? The corrections page says how we fix it.

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