Brad

Another shipping update. Later today I'll be dropping off more shirt packages, so if you've won a shirt or bought one as of right now, yours will be on its way if it wasn't part of the first batch. Size update: For some reason nobody wants XL this year so while we have a bunch of those left, all other sizes are either very limited or completely gone at this point. So if you need a size other than XL, place your order ASAP: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/Shirts It's looking like future contests could likely be limited to XL prize shirts only so keep that in mind.

Another year, another server move for Black Friday so please post here if you run into anything strange anywhere on the site or forum (error messages, long loading times, etc...)

Thanks to everyone who signed up so far. We'll have a t-shirt or gift card contest on there when we get a few more people.

With the forum's chat function not working at the moment and the webcasts possibly not happening this year, I created a GottaDEAL server on Discord for us to chat about Black Friday or whatever else. Here's the invite link: https://discord.gg/3hd2K5t For those who are unfamiliar with Discord, it is a free text, voice and video chat service. You can access it via their apps or through a traditional web browser. Once you sign up for an account you can join the GD server using the special invite link above and can chat with everyone else who has signed up. One advantage of using Discord over the old forum chat function is that you can view past conversation in the channels and not just what is happening while you are there so can come and go without missing anything. Currently there is a #general channel for more off-topic chat and a #blackfriday channel for discussing Black Friday. If we need to create additional channels we can do that at a later time but this is a good start. We've already got a dozen or so people who have joined and I'll be posting about it elsewhere but I wanted to make a dedicated thread so more people see it.

Scans direct from my mailbox: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/MoreSales/SamsClubIS

Just a heads up for you guys in here that we'll be doing a server move at 10am CT tomorrow (Saturday) morning so the forum will be shut down while that happens so that no posts get lost during the move.

I emailed bigjimslade weeks ago and never heard back from him unfortunately. Hope things are OK.

If you have a membership Sam's Club also has discounts on gift cards during their November 1-day sales and possibly during their BF sale.

http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/MoreSales/TargetToyBook Pretty much the same offers as last year with the Cartwheel daily deals and 25% off coupon.

Obviously trying to make up for the loss of TRU: http://corporate.target.com/press/releases/2018/10/target-reimagines-toy-experience-for-the-holidays

Just a heads up, I'm already running low on sizes small, medium and 3XL so if you want a shirt in those sizes, I'd strongly suggest ordering ASAP. There's a good chance some of these sizes could be gone by the time the next contest ends and we may be left with only sizes L, XL & 2XL for future contest winners. I still have the option of placing a second order with the printer but it will depend on how many orders I get over the next week or so. To order shirts: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/Shirts

Just got an email from Home Depot's lawyers

The 10 winners are: Vol Fan 1975 bethed TazErase berry1014 okannie bribri25 momlori Fishboysmom cllehto hoits2000 Congrats. Check your PMs to claim your shirt. Look for another contest soon!

There are links to text lists from past years here: http://forums.gottadeal.com/topic/286017-black-friday-ads-from-the-past-dates-lists-scans/ you can do a search for kerosene or heater and see if anything comes up.

Great to see so many of you getting your shirts. You might want to check those coin pouches - one of them has a randomly inserted Amazon GC in it

As I've done the past few years, I've looked at the data from the past several years including when the ad was leaked for some popular stores and what date Black Friday fell on each year. Based on these numbers and this year's Black Friday date (November 23rd), here is the "average" day you can expect these ads this year: October 31: Dell Home, Ace Hardware November 5: Sam's Club, Kohl's, Sears November 6: Target, JCPenney, Meijer November 7: Walmart, Best Buy, Macy's, Costco November 8: Staples, CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens November 9: Michael's, Bass Pro Shops November 10: Dick's Sporting Goods, GameStop November 12: Lowe's, Old Navy November 14: Home Depot, Menard's November 23: Black Friday 2018 You can go back through the last 12 years to see the leaked dates for many stores here: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/Dates This year Black Friday falls on the earliest possible date, the 23rd. Next year it goes back to the latest possible date, the 29th. Of course you may remember that the last few years we had a crazy 2-day periods that saw ads from nearly all the big stores all released right after each other. I expect something similar this year around November 5-7 (and the data above backs it up), so be prepared.

http://searsholdings.com/press-releases/pr/2116 So they found enough $ to be able to file for chapter 11 instead of chapter 7. So stores and the web sites stay open for now although they are going to close even more stores by the end of the year. Just postponing the inevitable in my opinion...

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=as_li_ss_tl?node=17911186011&linkCode=sl2&tag=gottadeal-20&linkId=1d84208a29ccb5816fc44db441956f44&language=en_US

F&F: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/MoreSales/FarmFleetToyland FF: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/MoreSales/FleetFarmToyland

Links added to the posted ad threads. I'll try to get them up ASAP but once we start getting multiple ads leaking around the same time I may wait until we get all of the actual ads posted before I go back and add the PDFs for all of them at once, but they should all be up within an hour or two.

Thanks for the reminder. I'll get around to adding links to them soon

The timing of this (if it happens) means that we'll still end up posting a Sears BF ad because it was likely finalized weeks ago but the stores likely won't honor the sale as they'll be doing liquidation sales most likely.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/sears-arranges-financing-for-a-potential-bankruptcy.html

Good news: I just got back from the post office where I dropped off packages for all 49 of you So you should be getting them in the next week or so. If you don't have them by 10/19, send me a PM so I can check the tracking and see what the issue is. This is definitely the first time I shipped BF t-shirts wearing shorts in 70-degree weather lol. I remember many times over the years going to the post office late at night when I finally got some free time and it was like 30 degrees and freezing rain. I'm sure that's still going to happen for the later shipments though...

Just an update: all paid shirt orders have shipped tonight, along with prize shirts assuming you contacted me before today to claim your prize. Next batch will go out at the end of the month, so place your order if you want to be included.