Why I'm shopping on Black Friday this year

The 50-inch 1080p Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ800U can be ordered from Amazon for just $1,881.

(Credit: Amazon)

I normally don't shop on Black Friday, but this year I'm making an exception.

No, it's not because I'm moving into new digs and I need to furnish the place with shiny, new tech (I do), or that I'm addicted to buying tech goodies (I am). Instead, I'm shopping this Black Friday for two main reasons: prices are much lower than they were last Black Friday and--call me a patriot or a fool--I want to do what I can to help businesses and the economy.

Prices this year are outstanding. A 32-inch Sony LCD HDTV can be picked up at Circuit City for just $499, and the beautiful 50-inch 1080p Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ800U can be ordered from Amazon for just $1,881. Some of the low-end GPS models from TomTom and others can be purchased for under $100 this year and notebooks from HP, Dell, and even Apple are discounted Friday.

I can't remember any other year in recent memory where so many high-quality products could be purchased at such discounted prices. GPS devices for under $100? A high-end Panasonic plasma for under $2,000? A Sony LCD for just $499? Are you kidding me?

This year, it's too tough to pass up.

But I have an ulterior motive for buying some gadgetry goodness this year: I want to do what I can to help the economy.

Historically, Black Friday has been the single day many retailers could "get in the black" and start making some money after a long year of maintaining losses. As the economy continues to spiral into a recession and businesses are feeling the pressure, I think it's incumbent upon consumers to do what we can to help turn things around.

By buying as much as fiscal responsibility allows this year, we're not just doing businesses a favor, we're doing each other a favor--higher business revenue leads to higher employment. In essence, we're keeping our neighbors gainfully employed and ensuring that although we're all being rocked by a recession that has seen millions lose their jobs and possibly force companies to crumble, we can do our part to soften the blow.

Maybe I'm hoping for the best without preparing for the worst, but I think businesses have done their part. They've discounted products across the board more heavily than they have in the past. Now it's time we do ours.

I'm not here to tell you how to spend your money or to even say that you should. All I'm saying is that if you're willing to spend cash this holiday season, don't be afraid of what might come.

The economy is bad and troubling times may be ahead. But I truly believe that this holiday season, if successful for businesses, will help all of us over the long term.

Now excuse me while I hit the road and start picking up some tech.

Check out Don's Digital Home podcast, Twitter feed, and FriendFeed.

[Hairy_Bagel]

Ha! You keep telling yourself whatever you need to in order to rationalize your purchases. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt :)

[HlLLARY CLITON]

what hogwash....the deals this year are few and faaaaaaar between. I didn't buy a thing today. I look for retailers to get desperate after Christmas. I can and will wait

[ckurowic]

I agree. Just wait until after Christmas! Deals will be had. I was very disappointed in "black Friday" this year. I'm an Apple guy, and I bought a new iPod, it was $138 versus $150. Wow. What. A. Deal. </sarcasm>

[Magicland]

What sort of crack have you been smoking? There are no good deals this year, last year's deals were much better (such as sub-$100 GPS units with lifetime free traffic thrown in, and $99 color laser printers). There isn't a single black friday laptop deal out there that hasn't seen the same or better price in the last 3 months, and while there are some good LCD and big-screen TV deals out there, that entire market has been dropping, and will continue to do so. Expect much better prices after the Gov't shuts off analog TV broadcasts early next year, as the supply glut builds and costs drop even more. Everyone's got the same Xbox 360 bundles, and they'll be the same price next week. Nobody's got the Wii at any sort of deal, and nobody wants a playstation 3. And let's face it, if you don't already have a GPS, you're not really addicted to tech gadgets, are you? So even if they were handing them out free at Walmart, it wouldn't be much of a deal.

[saltage]

I bought a 486 DX with 4mb ram and 120mb hard drive, back in 1993 for $2000. I can buy a much better computer now for about one-fourth of that price.

You comparison is as absurd as this one. None of the deals this year are as good as last year or the year before or the previous year. Get on the net and do some research.

[thenet411]

Anyone who participates in the disgusting display of rampant consumerism should be ashamed of themselves. At least 3 people have died so far in connection with this BS. Get a damn life people.

[Rants&Raves]

For my own private education, why is getting what you want and need in exchange for your labour wrong ?

[zmjman08]

I couldn't agree more.
You know our country is in a miserable, utterly self-absorbed state when people are KILLED over FRIGGIN CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

[iigsman]

Don,

Stick to electronics. You know very little about economics.

[Bh01]

There are many things I need more than a big tv or a gps. Things like rent money, heat money, and enough to cover my monthly credit card & other bills. Until I meet those needs. I don't plan on buying things just for the sake of buying. And if the government sends me a stimulus check, it will go for bill payments not unnecessary consumer toys. I don't suspect that I am unique in this regard.
However I did make one purchase this black day. I paid a three month old electric bill so I don't get shut off next week. Is it ironic that "black Friday" used to refer to the day in 1929 when the stock market crashed, and now it is the day retailers hope for their best sales of the year?

[MTGrizzly]

Sorry, the crash in 1929 came to be referred to as, variously, Black Tuesday, Black Thursday and Black Monday.

The so-called crash in 1987 happened on a Monday.

No Fridays in there...

[Rants&Raves]

Nope; it refers to the day when the streets are typically overrun by shoppers.

[Iria00]

Hate to say it, but you are indeed a fool. Part of the reason the U.S. is in the fix we are in is because we produce next to nothing. Trade imbalance always will cause problems, particularly when it's as bad as ours.

All we do is consume. And we can't keep that up forever.

[The_Decider]

This day should be used as a test.

You wait in line for things all night and you lose your right to vote.

Start a fight over stuff and you lose your drivers license.

Write articles like this and be condemned to fast food jobs forever.

"By buying as much as fiscal responsibility allows this year, we're not just doing businesses a favor, we're doing each other a favor--higher business revenue leads to higher employment. In essence, we're keeping our neighbors gainfully employed and ensuring that although we're all being rocked by a recession that has seen millions lose their jobs and possibly force companies to crumble, we can do our part to soften the blow."

This Keynesian notion, unfortunately, is still very prevalent. But it has been refuted over and over again. The truth is just the opposite: What helps the economy is real savings. Having real savings (e.g., money in the bank) allows you to invest those savings at some point into ventures that aim to satisfy true consumer preferences, i.e., business that make stuff consumers really want to buy.

It is true that a person may be laid off from a business that somehow misjudged demands for its products or services. But your real savings will allow another, perhaps more successful, business to hire another person, or many other people. And those people will be more productive, because they will make products people really desire. Without savings (i.e., investment), those more successful businesses would never be able to get started or expand.

[john55440]

When you "hit the road and start picking up some tech", you will find that almost none of it is manufactured in the USA.

[ckurowic]

Well he wasn't hitting the road in his GM or Ford was he? Not knocking that, I mean I like to get to where I need to go, not have the POS repaired 3 times on the way....

[aka_tripleB]

Deals are only good if you need what the bargin is for. If I don't need, say a new camera, the I don't care if I can get one for a third of the price. If I decide to get one some time in the future, the camera I buy will be much nicer and ultimately a better deal based on the features even if I won't get the same price on it.

[nashville2]

Bah freaking humbug to you too.

<I>"I said good day, sir!</i>

[DarkHawke]

Y'know, Don, I often sneer derisively at your columns, but here, you're 150% dead-bang on. If it's within your means to get what you need, or even just want, why not? So what if there's a recession going on? If you don't have to participate, don't. You'll help the economy, which means people will either stay employed or can get employed, which means they can buy what they want or need, and pretty soon we'll all be saying, "What recession?"

The notion that a person should make an effort and consume to save the economy, as a patriotic duty, seems to me a really moronic idea. Save your money, pay your bills, be a responsible consumer, and your country will be in much better shape.

And for the record, to encourage individual comsumption as a patriotic duty this is NOT a Keynesian notion, as someone else has said above. Keynes encouraged planned government spending to reactivate the economy, not "patriotic" individual spending. The latter seems to be a lot more like an idea born out of the Bush economic team. Remember what Bush said when the Irak war started? He said the American people not to worry about the war, which would be over in a jiffy. Instead of asking people to make sacrifices and spend less (like Roosevelt did in WWII), he encouraged us to continue with our lifes as if nothing had happened, and to keep spending to keep the economy alive.

It seems that Mr. Reisinger has the same absurd notion about what being a "patriot" is. Are we so twisted that we have been led to believe that consumption a patriotic virtue?


"a true patriot... is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins."
Frederick Douglass

[Aanon]

If you really want to help the economy, pay back your loans faster and make a buzz about it. You don't seem to understand economy.