tmc

Now I can say it's OFFICIAL, due to the value of our precious American currency it doesn't buy diddly squat in Chinese goods anymore, even on BLACK FRIDAY. I've also been saying for a few days now, that many of these deals you DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT FOR DOORBUSTERS and stand in line for. Many can be gotten ONLINE, for the SAME PRICE OR CHEAPER (NO TAX AND FREE SHIPPING).. there are of course exceptions.. many of those under the $200 price tag. So, go if you MUST have something, but its not what your expecting.. from years past. Time to scrooge the retailers and BOYCOTT for a while and wait for the CLOSING LOCAL RETAIL DOOR FIRESALES. There is NO price war amongst the BF ads.. just because there is very little WIGGLE ROOM in the wholesale pricing markets these days particularly for USA. ** Exceptions can be made for LEAD contaminated products.

I dunno, overall sales increase due to the fact that we still have a population explosion (legal and non-legal people) and they MUST eventually spend money sometime & the holiday season is usually when the bulk of it happens. All I'm saying is it may be disappointing for quite a few chain stores who are expecting some good numbers based upon the ads so-far. Maybe high gas prices, and other increases in the cost of living haven't come to turn you into a complete grinch this holiday season but Mr. Retailer is under pressure to make sales at prices which have a blaring RED STICKER stag-flation / inflation is here this holiday season. I reiterate my observation that the brick and mortar (B&M) retailers have got loads more price chopping to get done in order to push people into those 4-6am lines this holiday season as the ONLINE deals have been 20-60% cheaper than the physical stores. This is what makes the black friday deals look like price parity... not a DOOR-BUSTER deal.. just the same of what you probably could have gotten by mail with FREE shipping and in many cases NO SALES TAX (and NOT WAIT FOR BLACK FRIDAY EITHER). Traditionally, the deals have been better than online retail but this is not the case (SO-FAR). One analogy would be the kind of disparity between pay per day rental service / vs Flat-Fee netflix dvd rental business. One is killing off the other somewhat until wholesale change happens and only the big box stores like walmart, costco, bj wholesale and a few others are left. Some retail pain is going to happen & stores are going to CLOSE this holiday season, you can mark these words down. If one looks at what happened in years past with Kmart and Compusa.. that will hit others like Officemax, Staples, and a few others too. A big halo is hovering over Toys-R-Us with the lead paint problem. They deserve to be hurt (along with Walmart) for not doing more to keep bad products off shelves BEFORE it becomes a problem, not after children are contaminated.

So far... the deals SUCK... there isn't anything I'd really want to stand in line at 4-6am for this year... :-( boo hoo! I was expecting the suspense for some hot product to see a really cheap price, but so far it's been very lack-luster... over 90% of the products you see advertised for BF have been sold online for similar prices... the only difference is you get up early in the morning and you can buy it from your brick and mortar retailer for the same price PLUS SALES TAX. Very ideal. NOT!!!! Unless Walmart or the others who haven't leaked yet go OVERBOARD.. I'm sleeping IN. (walmart, cc, staples, bb, etc) This just might be the year to boycott BF. The SKY-HIGH GAS prices aren't helping my enthusiasm either!

What I think walmart should do is have a lottery system. You get a ticket (day or two before)specifically for the item you want. If your numbers come up. You win. No pushing, No shoving, No stampeding. Fairness and, to boot you have to come just early enough to be in that "buy window" (20-45 minutes from announcement). Tickets would have to be properly watermarked/signed to prevent spontaneous counterfeiting.

Personally, they better make with the CHEAP PRICES because probably gas prices will reverse gears BIGTIME when black friday rolls around.. hopefully with a few less congress people who are respsonsible for such "lax" oversight of the maket manipulation and profiteering... I think price is the key to getting people to buy... not wham,bam door busters.. all manufacturers who "set" prices should have them "torched" and they should be 50+% off at least!

If you think about it, what with all the high gas prices, Katrina, Rita... my impression is there won't be much to wait in 5 degree weather for at midnight or earlier the previous day! But, if i has to guess what might be 'hot' are things that have had lackluster demand sofar this year, like computer and other flash memory. Cd's/Dvd's (a fixed price for certain quantity... or get something free for buying them) The one thing you WON"T see is alot of those FREE AFTER REBATE DEALS this year.. companies have been screwed (as have we) by the oil companies... and wait, they just got another Christmas bonus, of new tax incentives to build oil refineries... Lets' see, what else might be dirt cheap... fuby, (gotta love walmart with those cheap toys) computer networking is poised to be hot sellers, playstation 2, xbox / xbox 360 bundles for a sweet deal (maybe $50+ discount or so... or alot of goodies thrown in) Seriously, I hope if its bitter cold this time, ALOT of people just stay home this time around and BOYCOT buyind ANYTHING this season to teach the stores (and in due course, the OIL COMPANIES) a lesson in supply/demand. If the product sits on the shelf too long, it spoils, just like lettuce on the shipping dock! Kind of like after 9/11/2001, nobody bought a thing, just stayed inside watching tv, YES...that kind of boycott Even sony said they're gonna wait to cut any prices this season! Ha! Despite hype from sites like this (which btw, do a GREAT job at getting the inside scoop of the best stuff available) the downside is it makes things just that more competitive.. but my guess is it will backfire bigtime... More people are buying early and online, not waisting their time, too. I saw a handful of deals that were better around NOW and not black-friday... the prices WENT UP but it made things look like a good deal.. don't be fooled.