We recently had the busiest shopping day of the year, known as “Black Friday.”  Not knowing how many people were out – I don’t participate in the getting up early part of this day – I would assume that it was another success for businesses.

The term “Black Friday” dates back to at least 1966, although its usage was primarily on the East coast. The term has become more common in other parts of the country since 2000.  Because Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, Black Friday occurs between the 23rd and the 29th of November.  According to Reuters, in 2007 135 million people participated in the Black Friday shopping rush.

Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employees have the day off as part of the Thanksgiving holiday (with the exceptions of those employed in retailing, health care, and banking), which increases the number of potential shoppers.  Retailers often decorate for the Christmas and holiday season weeks beforehand.  Many retailers open extremely early, with most of the retailers typically opening at 5AM or even earlier.  Some of the larger retailers (depending on the location) such as Sears, Best Buy, Macy’s, Toys “R” Us, and Walmart have been reported to open as early as midnight on the start of Black Friday in localized areas and remain open for 24 hours throughout the day until midnight the following Saturday.  Upon opening, retailers offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores.  Although Black Friday, as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term “Black Friday” has been traced back only to the 1960s.

The term “Black Friday” originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day (see Origin of the name “Black Friday” below).  More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit).

OK, so people went out and got great deals last Friday.  Given the economy, I’m wondering about all these deals that were offered.  If a business can give these deep discounts and remain profitable, why couldn’t they do the same thing the rest of the year?  Even if the discounts weren’t as big I would think a business could reduce prices – not necessarily sales – and still make money.

I could be way off base with this, but we hear things about stimulating the economy and I have yet to hear anything about helping the consumer dollar stretch.  From gas at the pump to grapes at the grocery store, if consumers could buy more with their money I think we would be willing to spend more.

I vote for every day being a “Black Friday!”

First, let me say happy Thanksgiving to all.  Right now I’m probably preparing to cook some good food, eat some good food and have a good time with my family.  It is my desire that you are doing the same wherever you may be.

OK, let’s talk Black Friday.  My mother used to always say that sometimes you get what you pay for.  I’m sure you’ve also heard that if a deal seems too good to be true it is too good to be true.  Apply that thinking tomorrow when you are out and about shopping for those Christmas gifts and you may just end up with a great bargain.  Otherwise…

There will be plenty of merchandise sold tomorrow that really isn’t worth waking up at 4am – that is if you went go to bed at all – and camp out for.  Sometimes stores don’t have the good deals people think they are going to have.  It is probably embedded in some people’s minds to buy, buy, buy.  I guess it doesn’t matter that you could probably get the same thing during the whole holiday shopping season.

Let me give you an example I’ve heard about and you can tell me if I’m right or wrong.  That is, if you know. 

I’ve heard and read that electronics at Wal-Mart are either sub par or are purposely different models that other electronics stores like Best Buy and Circuit City.  For instance, a Sony LCD TV may be $1200 at Wal Mart and $1500 at Best Buy.  They could be the same screen size and on the surface seem to have the same specs, but when looking deeper the part numbers are different or they could look entirely different.  What gives?  Well, Wal-Mart – the place where Satan lives to some – has enough power to persuade big electronics manufacturers to make a model only sold in their stores.  If they can sell these products at their seemingly millions of stores around the globe, why wouldn’t Sony, Samsung, Dell, Sharp and others make a Wal-Mart model?  They probably do.

Yesterday we wrote about you driving safe this weekend.  Today we would like you to shop safe/smart and get the most bang for your buck.

OK, I know you are stuffed with Turkey and need to take a nap.  Have fun and remember this one thing: I have a stocking that is big enough for you to fit a digital camera, netbook or 42″ LCD TV in it.  I will give you my shipping address later! 

P.S. After writing this I found information on CNET about deals worth waiting for. http://news.cnet.com/2300-17938_105-10000037-1.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0