Black Friday

The madness starting today in the retailing arena is mis-named, IMO. It implies by name, discrimination. It emphasizes the bleakness in consumer retailing which competitors fight. And, on-line buying has carved a serious niche into selling to the public.

As a "pre-Black Friday" promotion, we went to our Kohl's store last night, where my wife picked up two appliances she has been wanting: a crock-pot having a removable pot (for cleaning ease), and a Waffle Maker. Each list-priced for $39.99. Sale price $19.99 each, with several rebates, $-off coupons she got by mail, all-included, the purchase price of each item came to under $4.00.

Now, I don't believe for a minute such retailers are in business to lose money. We bought nothing else. Surely, their profit-margin at retail cannot be 10X cost, 1000%, can it? Can these products be foreign-made, shipped, distributed, and displayed for $4.00 each? Incredible thought.

What do you say?
Frank

 

Well @Frank Sanoica I admit that today I was too tired to do more than let Izzy out to go do his business.

But here the sales for Black Friday have been going on for at least a week before the actual day, and most of them don't end until the end of the month. There is even an app for your phone to show you where the empty parking spaces are, and they are in all the shopping centers.

Store sales are down so much that they are going to great lengths to attract customers. It's almost like going to a carnival inside some of our towering malls. There are so many different wares to be had in this great metropolis that it is a buyer's paradise.

 

We went to one store , JCPenny's, on Thanksgiving evening. Believe it or not, I was in my wheelchair and it worked out fine. There was a nice Blender, for "smoothies" she wanted, a couple of turtleneck tops she wanted and I got two pairs of Memory Foam slippers.
On Friday, we went out to breakfast and done a little more Christmas shopping. Used my wheelchair to get around in Best Buy and Sports Academy.

I looked at folks passing me and said, with a smile, "see, even a person in a wheelchair can go Black Friday shopping!".

 

@Cody Fousnaugh I guess I need to take lesson from you. I too have a wheelchair, but I tend to relegate to a corner in a room that I don't go into much. There are days when my spine just will not support me, and on those days I do appreciate it.

My grandson, Bobert, says I need to make friends with the darn thing. It can be used manually or I can switch it over to electric if my upper spine decides to lock up at the same time as my lower spine does. It will travel over 12 miles on one overnight charge, and it goes so fast that I can almost forget its a wheelchair.

I have learned that my friends appreciate it when they want to drag me to the larger malls, or even to just get out and visit the many parks with their nature trails.

Maybe if I gave it a name, I might look upon it in a friendlier manner. How about the Mean Machine?

 

"Mean Machine", sound good to me!

This is the first time in my life that I've needed to use a wheelchair. My wife is amazed at what I can do using it, like: cooking my own breakfast, doing some laundry and getting around in stores. Fortunately, some stores have battery-operated chairs. I will sit in the vehicle while she goes in a store and get one. She will ride it out to the parking lot spot and I will get in it and go into the store. Have no problem maneuvering the chair in the store. In fact, yesterday, while we were at a sporting goods store, I wanted to try on a pair of jeans (I've been wearing my jogging pants when we've gone to breakfast or shopping). We waited for a Dressing Room room to open and I drove the chair into the room. Was able to shut the door and my wife helped me get the jeans on. The fit darn near perfectly! Took some to get the chair out of the Dressing Room area, but I did it. Then, had to go to the restroom. Was able to, again, maneuver this electric chair into the restroom and use it. Wife was outside and held the door open for me to get out. For only using a regular wheelchair and electric one for 5 weeks, I think we are both amazed at how good I do in it. But, obviously, can hardly wait until I my foot is healed and I can fully walk.

 

Some of the Black Friday figures are in and I’m not sure how to take them.

One figure I’m not really concerned with is that Americans spent around 6 or so Billion dollars on mail order items. I’m sure that the high figures will be meat for another political statement from the guy in the Oval Office regarding the state of our economy but the figure is misleading.

The one that makes the Billions dollar figure a misleading number is the fact that 78% of all the Black Friday sales were on credit or rather, buy now and pay later deals.
From what the guy on the radio said, the 78% figure is the highest it’s been in many years.

Again, I’m not sure how to take those numbers. Is it a showing of economic confidence? Or, are people strapped for cash and hoping they’ll be able to pay off whatever they bought? Or….?

 

Just an aside to the "bought on credit" comment... to buy online you almost have to use a credit card, unless you are foolish enough to put your debit card or banking information out there. So the "credit" sale amount may be misleading.

 

They said on TV last night that 78% of purchases were made as buy - now pay later. They were talking about the pitfalls of doing that.

 

Not surprising. A lot of people are in credit card hell. They have multiple credit cards they use.They never pay it off, and they don't seem to care. I use my card all the time, especially on line, but I pay the balance every month.

Do you remember putting clothes or other things on "layaway" at some of your local stores? When I was young, I remember my mother doing this. She would pay on her layaway once a week, and you couldn't have the item(s) until it was paid for.

 

Does anyone remember Christmas Clubs?