Black Friday

[RunningBum]

DD worked at Target at 6:30 or maybe even earlier. She said it wasn't too busy at all, she didn't think they advertised too much like some of the stores do, and her store isn't that close to anything else for the people who want to hit multiple stores. I suppose I should've gone out and used her discount plus their sale but I don't particularly like shopping, especially in stores (as opposed to online), and I hate crowds, so I skipped it. There's also really not anything big ticket I'm looking for right now. She may have picked up a movie or two but she had a school activity and couldn't stay long after work.

Next year, I'm going to get an HDTV big screen. The question will be whether to find a decent price before football season, or hold out for a holiday sale next year. Do they generally run sales on older models?

And is this really a good deal for stores? Are people going in and buying other stuff too, or are they just getting the stuff at near wholesale prices, which means that they aren't making much on profits, and may be cannibalizing sales for the rest of the holidays?

 

[ChemEng]

I did some shopping here, but not the early morning stuff. Managed to get a few good deals along the way.

1. Pair of shoes normally priced $65 marked on sale for 50% off or $32.50 at Belk. Get to the register and find out its 30% off of that for a total of $24 including tax. I buy a pair of shoes about every other year, so this was a good find.
2. 16" Chainsaw and floor jack at Sears. 2.5 ton low lift for $20 and a $10 off coupon just for shopping. The $10 coupon was really cool shopping incentive. It didn't have to be on sale.
3. Air compressor on Amazon for $250 that was regularly priced at $500.

The last 2 were things that I have been looking at for awhile, just decided to finally pull the trigger on them.

 

[thefed]

Having a 55" Lcos set in your 18x25 bedroom.

Am I mistaken in thinking that LCOS is an orphaned technology due to its inability to obtain high contrast ratios and its limited lamp life of 1500 hrs or so? Or maybe it was 10,000 hrs?

really, I am asking, not being sarcastic

 

[DangerMouse]

I did go to the mall but not before 11.00 a.m. I didn't actually purchase anything, I went round to the stores to do some price checking and managed to get a refund for some shopping I did last weekend and the items went on sale today.

I did do a bit of online shopping yesterday, nothing I really needed but a few nice soaps and body cremes that were featured on Oprah's list for the best of 2007.

 

[bright eyed]

Wouldn't trade it for a 7 am mall rush for any kind of a deal.

Sandy, 7 am is sooo 2005... we're up to 4 am now!

um, 4 am I was snoozing well after my thanksgiving dinner and 2nd round of seconds...guess that would have made it my thirds...

did have to be brave and head down to the super outlet mall since it's our son's bday next week and i thought tonite would be better than the weekend (and of course, i hadn't gone earlier!)- and in the evening all the bug eyed nutso shoppers were long gone. this outlet mall, by the way, is blocks and blocks big - has parking forever and at 7 pm was nearly full (only empty spaces here or there)...so akin to a busy saturday around here.

had a fussy toddler, but otherwise we got out of there with all the children - and in one piece (me at least)...

i read in the ny times article that comp usa had a 9pm turkey day-of sale and people were in line at 5pm! and given the limited quantities, many did not get what they wasted their holiday for...

 

[Moemg]

Martha !
You are my idol ! A real shopper not one of these wishy washy internet types .I personally never shop before 10 am so that lets me out of the Black Friday fun .

Oops after rereading the post I realized it was just some anonymous shopper .Sorry ! I had a really long day with traveling yesterday .

 

[TromboneAl]

We were out taking pictures for our Christmas card. Here's one of the rejects.

 

[Nords]

Hey, you gotta respect a football team with a head coach named June.

I understand Jones had a choice of taking over one of the nation's worst losing college football programs for a few hundred thousand a year... or the San Diego Chargers for a few million. So he already knew how to make smart decisions. A couple speed bumps when he got here, but he seems like a pretty regular guy. Anyone who boogie-boards at Sandy's can't be all bad.

Jones is getting a lot of props for taking a knee just outside Boise's end zone in the last minute and not running up the score. He agreed it may cost ranking points and the QB a Heisman but he thinks they've done enough to make their point. Locals would be impressed by a Mainland bowl game or a Heisman but they'll be talking about that classy last play for decades.

People around here are starting to behave like 1970s Steeler fans. Our tae kwon do dojang's owner was "running" the sparring last night, but he kept ducking into his office for a score update or having the parents relay reports. His spouse did more sparring last night than he did...

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

cousins (one from here & one in from washington d.c.) came over and took me to lunch (mine was under $7). we stayed out of the right hand lane on the way to the beach so as to avoid what little traffic trickled into the galleria mall. enjoyed a second floor window seat overlooking the ocean, beach & state road a1a activity. later that evening i ran out to whole foods for some unsalted pistachio nuts ($18.22).

so on black friday i contributed about total $25 to the economy. just doing my part.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Am I mistaken in thinking that LCOS is an orphaned technology due to its inability to obtain high contrast ratios and its limited lamp life of 1500 hrs or so? Or maybe it was 10,000 hrs?

really, I am asking, not being sarcastic

My old company made a fair number of the lcos chips (another stupid use of profit dollars IMO). There were two problems with early lcos sets, one was poor yields on the chips themselves and early failures of the silicon, the other was a bad batch of bulbs in a wide range of the early adopted JVC sets, which JVC exacerbated by pretending it wasnt their fault and forcing customers to jump through hoops to get a good bulb or spend money buying a new one.

Some early and cheap sets suffered from low contrast but newer ones actually have some impressive "true" contrast ratios...true meaning "not made up from some sort of test in a lab that the actual user will never get close to".

In general the technology is capable of much higher, much more finely grained output, and changing the bulb nets you effectively a brand new tv set from a display perspective. We like our set a lot, its got a hell of a picture.

All of the benefits looked good on paper, but the original manufacturers not getting profit margins on the yields, bad bulbs and high prices pretty much doomed it vs the easier to manufacture, well accepted lcd and dlp technologies. That and only Sony and JVC did much with the product and their LCD and DLP sets were a lot cheaper.

So far three years of regular use and no blown bulb yet. I'll replace the bulb in it once and then get something else. I only bought this one because it was sitting in the aisle in Sams Club with a 50% off clearance sticker because it was the last one, had a "Broken Stand" and I knew the model was new enough to not have the bad bulb. The "Broken Stand" turned out to be someone trying to put the screws into it with a power drill and spun them out. A little glue and some dowels and its better than original.

 

[Twinkle Toes]

Memories of Black Friday past

Seems like it was 2003, maybe 2004, and Circuit City had HP laptops on a sale good enough to coax me out of bed in the middle of the night. First and only time for the early morning shopping thing. It was at Temple, TX. I have to admit, it wasn't bad.

No one broke in line or rushed the door. Their crowd control plan was amazing. They rolled out a hugh screen TV and played at least one movie...maybe Shrek...don't remember. What I do remember is that they rolled a serving cart down the line...coffee, juice, danish, donuts, muffins, etc. Then they started playing games with neat stuff for prizes...CD players, remote control cars (about the size of a medium size dog) among other things. Then they started at the beginning of the line and handed out coupons for the doorbuster items. SIL and I got the last two laptop coupons. DD was at another store with her DD. I called her and told her we were having donuts and coffee. When they finally opened the doors at 6 am, the employees were wearing santa hats and lined each side of the entrance door singing jingle bells. Sounds too good to be true, but I swear that's how it happened.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

happy to report that apparently black friday has been extended through saturday here in consumerville.

my mouse wheel broke last night so i thought it might be safe to shop today. wrong! could not find a parking spot. came running home with my broken mouse tail between my legs.

 

[Goonie]

I didn't go shopping (or anywhere else for that matter) yesterday. Radio Shack had a 4gig flash drive on sale that I wanted, but I wasn't about to join in the feeding frenzy to go there yesterday. Instead, I went to coffee this morning with my cronies, and then afterward, about 11am, I went to RS. They still had several flash drives in stock...still sale priced....so I grabbed a few of 'em.

Besides the manager and one clerk, there were 2 other customers and myself in the store. Also very little traffic today...everyone must be pooped out after their adventures yesterday!

 

[W2R]

I didn't go shopping (or anywhere else for that matter) yesterday. Radio Shack had a 4gig flash drive on sale that I wanted, but I wasn't about to join in the feeding frenzy to go there yesterday. Instead, I went to coffee this morning with my cronies, and then afterward, about 11am, I went to RS. They still had several flash drives in stock...still sale priced....so I grabbed a few of 'em.

Besides the manager and one clerk, there were 2 other customers and myself in the store. Also very little traffic today...everyone must be pooped out after their adventures yesterday!

I didn't go shopping yesterday, either. Today we went to Radio Shack, and we were the only customers in the store. Frank bought a battery, and I bought nothing. Guess we are not the ideal customers.

Then we went to a consignment antique store. This is one that we have been to before, frequently. We were AGHAST at the prices. They have doubled in the past year. I don't know if this is due to Christmas, due to the complexities of New Orleans' recovery, due to inflation, or what.

Pretty disappointing.

 

[Dreamer]

DD's birthday was on Black Friday and she wanted to go shopping. I asked her if she was sure this was what she wanted to do and told her that I would not go at any 4AM. We arrived at the mall at 8:01 and left at 8:58AM, without buying a thing. I guess the stores where she went (Hollister's, American Eagle, PacSun) did not have the huge sales that she was expecting. She said she would never go again. That works for me. I browsed at a couple of new stores that I did not even know were at the mall. My DH called and I met him at Lowes and we spent a couple of hundered dollars on insulation and odds and ends he needed for remodeling our family room downstairs. I have looked online and think that I am going to be doing the majority of my holiday shopping online. I have never done this at Christmas, but it seems like a good way to do it. I am not a shopper.

 

[thefed]

So far three years of regular use and no blown bulb yet. I'll replace the bulb in it once and then get something else. I only bought this one because it was sitting in the aisle in Sams Club with a 50% off clearance sticker because it was the last one, had a "Broken Stand" and I knew the model was new enough to not have the bad bulb. The "Broken Stand" turned out to be someone trying to put the screws into it with a power drill and spun them out. A little glue and some dowels and its better than original.

Do you mind me aksing what it cost you after the discount? I remember seeing REALLY expensive sets...but that was it!

if the thing has as good a pic as I heard they do, I'd stock up on bulbs and ride her til she dies....why switch?!?!?! I guess it depends how much the bulbs cost....

 

[youbet]

Neither DW or I shopped on black friday. But, we did see some news coverage, and here in the Chicago area there were some crowds at some stores in the pre-dawn hours.

But, one big change we noted is that "black friday" is no longer a "christmas" event (small c intentional) in our area. It's a "holiday" happening. Chicagoland is into the "happy holidays" instead of 'merry christmas" big time.

I'm glad to see it. It's been frustrating seeing the inappropriate connection between Santa and all that crap and the actual Christmas (note big C) season. Now, no connection at all.

If we choose to go to Christmas Eve service this year, we will. And, there will be zero connection between that and the "holiday" chaos going on at the mall. I'm glad for that.

Happy holidays to ya all!

 

[daystar]

I had to WORK on Black Friday. But I did some online shopping on Thanksgiving and bought a 22" Flat Pannel Wide Screen monitor for my computer and a Canon 7MP Digital ELPH camera. This cost about $400 total.

 

[thefed]

I had to WORK on Black Friday. But I did some online shopping on Thanksgiving and bought a 22" Flat Pannel Wide Screen monitor for my computer and a Canon 7MP Digital ELPH camera. This cost about $400 total.

i saw a nice 22" LCD wide for 167 at target! i wish i hadnt just purchased a 19

 

[maddythebeagle]

We were out taking pictures for our Christmas card. Here's one of the rejects.

yeah...something seems missing....

 

[Martha]

yeah...something seems missing....

 

[Goonie]

I have looked online and think that I am going to be doing the majority of my holiday shopping online. I have never done this at Christmas, but it seems like a good way to do it. I am not a shopper.

I've been doing some of my shopping online for years. Last year I did ALL of my shopping online! Most of it at Amazon....heck, they even wrap the stuff!

I'm doing the same thing this year. No crowds to contend with, no clerks trying to get me to buy more/different things that I don't want, no fighting traffic and wasting gas. I just punch some stuff on the keyboard, they charge my CC, and then either the nice guy in the big brown truck, or the cute gal in the FedEx truck walks up to my front door and hands me a box load of goodies! Simple!

I even do some of my Mom's Christmas shopping for her. She tells me what to buy, I find a good price for it, charge it on my rewards CC, and then she reimburses me. She gets what she wanted for a good price, plus no traffic, clerks, crowds, etc, and I earn points on the CC. We like Amazon, and Amazon likes us.....besides I earn 3 points for each dollar spent there!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Hey Al...that beaver is telling you to buy some Tech Stocks...

Do you mind me aksing what it cost you after the discount? I remember seeing REALLY expensive sets...but that was it!

if the thing has as good a pic as I heard they do, I'd stock up on bulbs and ride her til she dies....why switch?!?!?! I guess it depends how much the bulbs cost....

I think it was around $2000 in 2005, came with a nice black and green glass stand. TV hadnt even been unboxed. I think the original list was $3500-3800ish.

I can get the bulbs for $165, and I oughta pick one up because they just pop when they go so having a spare on hand would be a good idea. The logic board croaks on them too so I dont want too many of them.

Best bet on tv's is to wait until early january or early february then take regular trips to sams club and some costco's. People buy big screens for christmas or the super bowl and then get buyers remorse and bring them back a few weeks later. Sams puts them out on the floor and marks them down by at least 25%. Some costco's do this too.

 

[WanderALot]

Had a pretty good BF. I was debating heading out to Circuit City for the $300 laptop for my FIL. Since our baby was born, I haven't been getting much sleep anyways and since I was already up at 5 am ... I decided to go to CC. It's only 2 miles from our house and it was packed so I decided against it and went to the new Staples down the street about 20 min before it opened. Totally unprepared for what to get, except for a color laser for $99 after rebate. I overhead a lady talking about a GPS and ended up getting the last TomTom! The best part was that it was supposed to be $125, but they gave it to me for $60 because of a price mistake!

 

[TromboneAl]

Glad I checked out this thread again.

When I look at the wild shopping on black Friday and before Christmas, I think "Well, at least the shoppers are buying presents for other people -- that's nice."

But I have a feeling that now, much of the Black Friday stuff (e.g. plasma TVs) is not purchased as gifts.