Posted on 11/30/2014 5:16:39 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Doesn’t everyone pretty much have all the iPhones and big-screen TVs they need, already?
Gun sales were booming. That should tell a person a lot.
Would not be surprised if Internet sales were 15% over last year, offsetting the retail numbers and then some.
So potentially good news for UPS truck drivers and warehouse pickers. Not so good for those working in brick & mortar places.
one thing we’ve noticed is just how few genuine bargains are on offer this year.
(and yes, they’re pretty much things everybody already has).
we went to three major shopping malls. There were many customers walking around and looking, talking, having coffee and snacks in the “food courts.” There were, however, precious few buyers. You hardly saw anybody carrying any purchases out of the malls.
Half of this must be the krappy economy under Obama and Comrades. But, people will still buy some things if they’re real bargains. That was pretty much absent (so far, at least) this year.
We had an Orange Julius and left.
Once the over-spend cycle has been broken, it becomes easier to spend less and less each year.
And if they don’t, they can just go to Ferguson and loot a store.
A Target employee told me something similar. I was there Thursday night and folks were walking right by the stacks of tvs with screaming low prices. The only scramble appeared to be for high end iPads which were being sold with a big $$ gift card attached.
[they can just go to Ferguson and loot a store.]
What store?
I guess it’s safe now to believe our lyin’ eyes.
With more money towards taxes, utilities, and insurance ...why would spending on gifts increase?
Maybe people are just tired of wasting money on crap they don’t need.
But but but Obama’s economy is doing great, gas prices are down (due to increased supply; had absolutely nothing to do with Obama), unemployment is down (due to skewed and misleading figures consisting of holiday employment, part-time jobs being counted as full-time jobs, and hundreds of thousands of people giving up looking for work no longer being counted).
Everything else has gone up in cost; healthcare premiums up at least double, groceries up at least 33%, utilities are up, rent is up, etc...
My daughter went to Kohl’s on Black Friday and said they were busy but not crazy- and only took her 10 minutes to check out, no long lines.
I shop online and I’m only half done a/o today.
The media will say this us due to the “ferguson boycott of Black Friday”. They’ll be lying tho.
I’ve posted the same thing about malls in general over the past few years; many people (mostly “replacement Americans” in my area), but few carrying any purchases. I’ve also noticed that more space is dedicated to food (the kiosks in the walkways themselves, which used to sell merchandise), and also we have a tattoo parlor now in our mall.
Cellphone stores (which also service) are also filling former stores as well.
BINGO. What is driving down Christmas sales this year is the increasing amount your paycheck going to pay for higher taxes and especially the Obamacare mandates. In short, less discretionary income in 2014 is about to hammer Christmas sales.
Maybe it's high time we massively overhaul both government regulations and our tax laws so people enjoy far more take-home pay after taxes and insurance needs.
I have 9 kids, and I’ve bought 3 things so far, from Amazon. We just don’t have any extra this year. Sad but true. There was a time when I would go for Black Friday sales. They kept moving the sales earlier, and I don’t care to shop on Thanksgiving. So they’ve lost me. It’s gonna be a small Christmas this year. I’d rather do a cool, meaningful service project with the kids.
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