Early birds will enjoy their first major payoff this week as Amazon rolls out "Black Friday-worthy deals” sooner than ever before. Starting Oct. 4, you can visit its new Epic Daily Deals page, pull up its mobile app, or simply ask a smart home device, “Alexa, what are my deals?” to check out a plethora of pre-holiday markdowns across all categories. (A word to the wise: Don't wait to hit "purchase" if something catches your eye, because we have no idea how long any of the deals will last.)

Did it hurt? When you realized we're about to enter our second pandemic holiday shopping season?

It won't be much longer until retailers start cramming your inbox full of ad scans and deal previews. It may seem a bit pre-emptive, like those neighbors who insist on putting up their Christmas decorations before the leaves fall, but trust us when we say that this year's Black Friday sales will be even weirder than last year's.

Under circumstances absolutely no one had on their bingo card, pickles and paper bags have gotten as elusive as Playstation 5s. Blame the Delta variant, which continues to inflame pandemic-related material shortages and delivery delays across industries of all kinds. Unsurprisingly, this ordeal has left manufacturers and retailers scrambling; Walmart, Home Depot, and Ikea have actually gone so far as to charter private cargo ships to make sure their shelves are stocked for the holidays.

As such, finding the best deals this Black Friday will likely be a question of availability more so than price.

"I half-jokingly tell people 'Order your Christmas presents now because otherwise on Christmas day, there may just be a picture of something that's not coming until February or March,'" UPS International President Scott Price told Agence France-Presse in mid-September. And you thought finding toilet paper last spring was bad.

Since planning ahead will be your best defense against backorders and "out of stock" notices, we're rolling out our Black Friday coverage way earlier than usual this year. (The early bird gets the Nintendo Switch bundle, so to speak.) We'll be updating this post with the best deals as sales start to pop up — in the meantime, here are all the must-know details you'll need ahead of time.

Black Friday is a shopping holiday that takes place every year on the day right after Thanksgiving. It used to be synonymous with viral fistfights and stampedes and lines that stretched around city blocks before 3 a.m., but COVID-19 has turned it into a mostly online event.

While Black Friday proper falls on Nov. 26 this year, retailers will start trickling out their holiday doorbusters much sooner — we're thinking as early as October.

The National Retail Federation officially coined the term "Cyber Monday" in 2005 after it noticed that in previous years, the Monday after Thanksgiving saw a massive uptick in online sales. It credited the phenomenon to two factors: Online retailers were starting to vie for a piece of the Black Friday pie, and shoppers were waiting to peruse the deals on their faster work computers come Monday morning. (At the time, office PCs had better broadband than home setups.)

Last year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales effectively bled together since in-person shopping wasn't really a thing. We'll almost certainly see that repeat this coming November.

Most major retailers' Black Friday hours are still TBD, but we already know that Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Kohl's, and Bed Bath & Beyond will close their doors on Thanksgiving Day. (That's another big change from pre-pandemic years, when many stayed open on the federal holiday so that eager shoppers could get a jump on their best deals.) If you feel the urgent need to do some post-pie shopping that day, you'll have to crack open your laptop instead.

Amazon: Starting Oct. 4, Amazon is running "Black Friday-worthy deals" every day in the leadup until the actual holiday. Find out what's up for grabs by visiting its Epic Daily Deals page, installing its mobile app, or by asking your smart home device, “Alexa, what are my deals?”

Bed Bath & Beyond: Check back later for deals!

Best Buy: Check back later for deals!

Dell: Check back later for deals!

Kohl's: Check back later for deals!

Macy's: The department store will kick off its Black Friday sale on Tuesday, Nov. 23. Check back later for deals!

Target: Check back later for deals!

Walmart: Check back later for deals!

Amazon Echo: Save up to $64.99 on smart speakers and displays, including a bundle that gets you a first-gen Echo Show 8 and a Blink Mini Indoor for only $79.99.

Amazon Fire tablets: Save up to $64 on the retailer's Alexa-enabled tablets; don't sleep on this Fire HD 10 gaming bundle.

Amazon Fire TV Stick: Take 35% off the third-gen Fire TV Stick and 32% off the Fire TV Stick 4K.

Apple: Save up to $70 on a pair of AirPods and get a $10 promotional credit with every $100 Apple gift card purchase.

Beats: Get a pair of the new Beats Studio Buds for just $124.95 — that's a 17% savings and their highest discount to date.

Kindle: Save up to $70 on select e-readers.

Samsung: Save up to 25% on select Galaxy Watches and the Galaxy SmartTag+.

Sony: Take 27% off the 75-inch Sony X0J 4K HDR TV and save up to 25% on its BRAVIA XR series of 4K OLED displays.

Bissell: Save $100 on the SpinWave Wet and Dry Robotic Vacuum.

Roborock: Take up to 40% off robotic vacuums and robot vacuum/mop hybrids.

Breville: Save up to 43% on coffee makers.

Crock Pot: Get up to 35% off slow cookers.

Le Creuset: Take 40% off the French brand's premium cast iron cookware.

Vitamix: Snag the A3500 Ascent Series Smart Blender on sale for just $524.95 — a 25% savings.

Amazon: Save at least 10% on select living room furniture and rugs.

Tuft & Needle: Take 10% off select mattresses.

Amazon: Get up to 64% off select toys from brands like Disney and Easy Playhouse — plus, take up to 52% off Catan, Marvel, and Avalon Hill games.