Comments about ‘'Black Friday' hype is here, but are Americans ready to spend?’

Black Friday brings out the worst in shoppers and stores alike. It is ugly. And every year it gets uglier. Major retailers are edging it ever closer to the Thanksgiving day holiday. Amazing how we react to the day set aside to be thankful for what we have by trampling each other to save $20 on a piece of junk no one really needed anyway. :(

I'm going out of state to get a few pairs of jeans, and several thousand dollars worth of beer, liquor and lottery tickets.

A tip: don't buy anything you didn't come for. I went to Best Buy up in Logan for a killer deal on a laptop, but I missed it by one person. I ended up buying what seemed to be a nice desktop on impulse. As a teen, that was a big investment, and it didn't pay off. Unless you get a good deal, Black Friday is nothing but something to lure you in to buy other products. Don't fall for it.

Due to the economy and my reduced hours at work, and the increased cost of almost everything, I don't have any money to spend. Why is it called "Black Friday" anyway?

Once again, this will be a Dollar Store Christmas for my grandkids, which are many. When all my children were young and still at home, I would spend Thanksgiving with my parents, and on Friday I'd leave the kids there, go do all my shopping for Christmas, which I would then hide in the back of our station wagon, under the blankets and sleeping bags we'd brought to grandma's for Thanksgiving sleepover. There was no internet then. Just catalogs, or actually going to the store. It wasn't as frantic then as it has become now. But that was over 20 years ago, and longer (my oldest is 39).

I don't mind the crowds, I ignore the greed, and I'd go shop if I had any money. But we can't even pay all our bills, so there is no extra for buying many gifts. I'm hoping for a Christmas bonus at work.

First of all deals are limited to only a few as lost leaders to get people in the store. These black Friday sales depend on impulse buying and most American shoppers have gotten over impulse buying of a had sale item to a now only have item not on sale. Consumers have become wise to retail bait and switch advertising and what may look like a sale has been washed out by inflation and dollar devaluation on the world market.

This year may not be as bad as the previous few years if retailers skip the high dollar ticket items that are usually the money pits. Stores also would do better to have their own in house financing rather the credit card financing. I think consumers are now expecting retailers to put some risk of themselves to guarantee satisfaction.

One thing consumers should keep in mind is these mega stores do not have manufacturer warranties on any national products and store warranties are only as good as they sell a particular brand or model of a product. Products from these stores cannot be returned to manufacturer for service, this is misleading product information.