Monday, November 30, 2009

Where Are The Deals

So Black Friday was down or slightly up or significantly down or .... who knows what numbers to believe these days. But either way, people are not buying much.

But no wonder! Where are the deals? And I mean REAL deals. Not 30% off some drastically high price. Go into Barnes & Noble - sure there are racks of books at "30%" off - but 30% off a $16 paperback is still $11+ - for some paperback book. Hey, show me a good paperback for $1.50 and that's a "deal" - and I'd probably buy it despite my spending being forced to very little this year.

Some might say $1.50 is absurd. But if iTunes can sell a song for $1 then so can booksellers. It doesn't have to be "Free" as one book claims - but it does have to be cheap. The days of throw anything out on the floor and EXPECT people to buy it are gone folks.

Even "Cash for Clunkers" was a bad deal for buyers - people got a govt credit for $4000 but auto dealers sold at higher prices - even Ford attributed their profit to a $2000 higher price per car than the previous quarter. Show me a car for 50% off - that's a deal.

And go into any Wal-Mart, Target, Home-Depot and where are prices really lower than last year ? Most of my groceries at Wal_Mart are from 20-40% higher! Oh, and the size of the package is 30% smaller. The smiling face is gone - it's now "Every Day Higher Prices". Deals ? - none in sight.

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