Is Amazon.ca's Black Friday week Sales kinda Crappy?

Black Friday is touted as the best day to get big ticket items for cheap. But looking at the coverage of Amazon's Black Friday Week Sales I think I'd have to call it into question. Sure, there is more items than usual highlighted to be priced at a discount, but none of them are really great bargains.

I did my own looking and aside from a few good Blu-ray deals it was (as my mother would say) nothing to write home about. Thirty percent of crappy watches, twenty percent off of camera's that are pretty much obsolete the minute they arrive in the mail and some cheap blenders that your wife or girlfriend probably doesn't want.

Perhaps there will be a big stack of blow out deals on the actual Black Friday, but to my eyes this year is looking to be a wash. Is it because it is no longer a select few merchants are daring to do it? It seems more like just another 'thing' that all stores and retailers need to 'take advantage of'. Maybe this will be the year where everyone takes a big loss and realizes that they should have just let their employees stay home with their families.

What do you think?

Working Black Friday is a Bummer

Was just reading this article about how working on Black Friday totally sucks. As a former retail employee, I can confirm this to be true. The writer hits on all the key points that always made my life miserable.

1. The store opens at some godforsaken hour - what does this mean for an employee? Well, if you're not up all night stocking the shelves with the latest door crashers, you'll have to be there at lease half an hour earlier. Then you get to wade through the line of grouchy campers who 'need' that cheap tv.
   
2. People are Jerks - Yep. Total. Jerks. As if getting a deal wasn't enough, Black Friday shoppers seem to feel that they can be completely rude to staff and one another. When the inevitable happens and the bargain items run out, you're expected to stay polite while mothers turn into harpees screaming for their cheap toaster.

Now that I'm out of retail, I don't envy those people. I also do my best to avoid the rush by doing my shopping online. There are a lot of Black Friday deals at Amazon and even without the additional savings, there are usually some good deals over there.

That nonsense aside, if you're going to go out on Black Friday, please be kind to the poor employees that are stuck dealing with angry shoppers.

App to Help Americans Get Black Friday Deals

If you're the kind of person who actually follows the 'theres an app for that' mentality, then you're in luck. BFAds has just dropped this app to help you spot deals that you want to pick up when Black Friday rolls around.

I haven't had a chance to review the app yet to see how well it works or what content has. One review on the Apple site says "Useless ads are NOT Black Friday and have no prices!" - but I'm sure that will change as the actual flyers for the day become available. We're still a bit far out from the actual date.

Also, if you're looking for Black Friday deals in Canada you're also likely to be out of luck. Canadian promotions are seldom the same as their American counterpart and BFAds seems to be focused on the (much larger) US market. I'll try to install the app in the next couple of days though and share my thoughts for my friends south of the border.

Cheers!

Canadian Malls to Open early this Black Friday

As I've said before, Black Friday is more of an American thing, but in recent years it's been catching on in Canada and online. This Ottawa Citizen article confirms that Canadian malls are deciding to get into the game.

People often forget that 90% of Canadians live withing 2 hours of the US border, so cross border shopping is common - especially when there is major discounts to be had. It looks like Ontario malls are going to try and slow down the travel and keep some of those holiday dollars for themselves by opening earlier and offering similar discounts on Black Friday.

The Cadillac Fairview management company (who oversee 9 malls in ontario) and Toronto's Eaton place have signed on to do promotions. Odds are that other large management companies and shopping centers will follow suit - if not this year, then soon.

Are you an investment person? This could be some Black Friday Tips for ya....

Have the natural disasters of late left you feeling like you need to make a quick dollar? Are you made of money and feel like investing?

Well, I might just have the answer for you. I found this article that may (or may not) show the stocks that are good choices during the Black Friday season. If you look at the chart you'll see that the best companies to invest in are those that are holiday oriented.  By that I mean electronics and furniture retailers - think things that people are otherwise too frugal to buy.

We'll do our best to find deals for Black Friday that actually help you save, as we know that the economy is tight. What are you looking for this holiday season? I've got nothing but time - so let me know what you're searching for and I will put the effort in to make sure you find the item you need for a happy holiday.

:)

Wal-mart Black Friday Walkout? Some reasons it could happen...

As I first pointed out in this post, America's biggest retailer could be facing a walk out on 2012's Black Friday. Since my days as a punk rocker left me with a passing interest in corporate politics, I decided to dig into the issue a bit further.

Wal-mart has always had an anti-union approach to their workforce. Rumor has it that they've even gone so far as to send informants into their work force and subtly bully leaders of unionization movements. While browsing around I found this article which states that as much as 80% of the Wal-mart work force is paid so little they require food stamps.

With Wal-mart sitting on 13 Billion dollars in profit last year, it gets a little easier to see how workers might get a bit pissed off. Why would they go to work on Black Friday when they couldn't imagine being able to afford the deals that they're helping to peddle?

It has to be hard to not feel powerless when facing this type of situation.

Macy's 'Leaks' their Black Friday Sales

Looks like another major store has 'leaked' their Black Friday sale information almost a month in advance. MSN Money reported that US retailer Macy's has let their sale plans slip out. Similar to other merchants, like Amazon and New Egg, the department store let the media in on what American's could look forward to saving their Lincon's on.

Typically, people don't pay much attention to the diversified retailers like Macy's on Black Friday or Cyber Monday and instead favor big ticket items like furniture and electronics. The MSN article notes that there is no 'one item' that could cause a crash on locations when Macy's opens its doors on Black Friday, but there may be enough to bring some increased revenue to an otherwise dull friday.

Personally, I would we could quit using the word 'leaked' for these types of things. A headline like 'Macy's starts to hype up its Black Friday Sale' would be considerably more accurate, but I guess we all want in on a good secret.