Black Friday Scam?

By Glen Gardner

CEO Glen Gardner and Associates/

Marketing consultant Z102.9 and 1600 ESPN
Any minute now, people will start pitching tents outside of big box
stores in an effort to save money, but they are operating under the
false premise that the Black Friday deals advertised are actually
in-stock in great numbers.

In my opinion, Black Friday has become more of a lottery or game of
chance, rather than a sale. If you read the fine-print in many of the
ads, the merchant has the right to limit quantities. Alright, they
should have the right because, in reality, quantities are always
limited. The problem is in some cases that number is as low as one or
two items per location. I wonder if the majority of people camped out in
front of Box-o-rama know that. Their chances of getting what they are
looking for probably aren't much better than the lottery in some cases.
Another trick that gets pulled-out of the big box retail hat this time
of the year is offering items that appear to be a great deal, but
aren't. In some cases they have contracted with brand-name suppliers to
produce a product that is cheaper than the standard product, but looks
identical. This is quite common in the electronics world. Potential
Black Friday electronics shoppers need to check the serial numbers and
item numbers carefully if they are comparison shopping. In some cases
the items are cheaper because features have been eliminated and specs
have been lowered.

As always, let the buyer beware and perhaps it's a better idea to shop
value rather than price. In most cases you really do get exactly what
you pay for and if it appears to be too good to be true, it probably is.
So rather than pitching a tent Thanksgiving night, go buy a lottery
ticket. They are both games of chance, but the lottery payoff is
potentially a lot bigger!
Happy holidays.