mcwalker

Increasingly online, but I still like to get out and participate in the "madness," just not too early on Thanksgiving.

JC Penney snow globes, even though I only got a couple, and GottaDeal t-shirts.

Absolutely Nothing. (so far) I am not expecting any must haves this year, but I am sure I will develop some priorities when I see the ads.

I don't know that any store is absolute, but there is a very strong chance that I will visit Target, Best Buy, Kohls, and Walmart most every time.

I just returned 7 inkjet cartridges the other day. The Staples Rewards program gives you $2 back for each cartridge recycled in a voucher that you receive at the end of the period. Note that you have to spend at least $30 on ink during the 180 days before the cartridges are turned in. Base members can recycle up to 10 a month, Plus and Premier members up to to 20 a month. It does not matter where the cartridges are purchased or what brand they are.

I haven't had many issues, but would mostly just ignore them and keep doing what I need to do. I do hate line jumpers in any situation, and I have seen a few on Black Friday.

1. Where did all the shoppers go? Just tents here! 2. One TV, Two TV, Three TV, More. Put them in our carts and get out of this store! 3. Duck and Run! Duck and Run!

Consider also looking for Legos at Amazon, Target, Kohls, Kmart, and other stores and their web sites. They may have better deals than at the Lego stores.

Harbor Freight 10/13

Suggestion to Brad for next year: make the contest "date and store of first ad other than Half Price Books, Harbor Freight, or Ace Hardware." That will stir things up a bit.

Regulars returning to GottaDeal.com in October.

The pharmacies (especially Walgreens) usually have some "Free after Rebate" or "Free after Voucher" type deals on small items. These usually start Thanksgiving morning, so you can pick them up before Thanksgiving festivities, or at other off-times through Friday.

I am glad they are adding the chips for improved security. I have not found that it takes much longer. I have also never seen credit card systems go down at any store I was in on Black Friday (or most any other time). Cash definitely takes longer for both customer and cashier and is much riskier than using credit cards.

I say Harbor Freight on Tuesday October 13.

All credit cards all the time. All of my cards earn some kind of points or cash back and I always pay balances in full each month. Target Red Card for Target (5% off instantly), Amazon card for Amazon, and Chase Freedom or Discover for anything in their 5% categories. (Discover 5% includes most department stores and clothing stores October through December.)

Looking forward to it!

Make sure there is something to tell them to look inside the book for the "surprise," otherwise they might not find the contents soon or ever.

I don't know where I will be next Thanksgiving/Black Friday, but I do not expect to be making a road trip half way across the country next year, and that will do wonders for my Black Friday shopping (and if I did, I would probably extend the trip by a day so I would not be starting my drive home ON Black Friday).

Largest single purchase this BF was a vacuum cleaner and toaster oven (online) from Sears.

I did a little online shopping Wednesday night, one pharmacy Thanksgiving morning, and shopped only from 10:00 p.m. Thursday to 1:20 a.m. Friday, then brief stops at stores later Friday and Saturday. Things were very quiet when I shopped after 10:00 p.m.

As it turned out, my Black Friday shopping plans kind of fell apart due to circumstances of long distance travel. I wound up shopping at many fewer stores than I had planned. But I can say that between late Thursday evening and Friday evening I shopped at stores from Granbury and Fort Worth, Texas to Little Rock, Arkansas, and on Saturday from an early morning stop at Pep Boys in North Little Rock all the way to Knoxville, Tennessee. I made a last ditch effort to get to some pharmacies at 11PM Saturday in little Abingdon, Virginia, but they had closed for the night.

So far, looks like two peaks: Thursday evening 6-8 p.m. and, surprising to me, a larger peak 4-8 a.m. Friday morning. I expected more activity Thursday 8-10 p.m.

I left off a few stores on purpose to shorten the list, but had meant to put Pep Boys. Amazon is leading all stores in the survey. Walmart is well ahead of Target. As some have noted, surprisingly, only 13 out of 19 (so far) have indicated that GottaDeal is the place to be. ​ Assuming that is just an oversight.

A local paper where I am visiting (Granbury Texas) had the Bealls, Walmart, Tractor Supply, Radio Shack, and Michaels ads in today's 9Wednesday) paper.

What times do you plan to be shopping in stores and which days do you expect to be buying online? In the past, I asked what time people planned to get in line or arrive at the first store, but I am changing the question in light of the spread of Black Friday shopping hours. The first question is for shopping in stores, not online or waiting in lines before openings. The second question is for online shopping only. Please check ALL times that you expect to be shopping! Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday 2014!