Shop until Your Credit Card Melts

Job crisis? Uncertain future? Forget about it. On Black Friday, millions of Americans battle for the best bargains: The well-being of America’s entire economy depends on the holiday shopping season.

The first indications of the approaching battle came at the beginning of the week. It was Monday afternoon as Tito Hernandez and Christine Orta pulled into the parking lot at Best Buy and pitched their tent in a strategic location: right next to the front door. From that point on, the enemy — thousands of other expected customers — had already lost.

The little gray-green tent in front of the St. Petersburg, Fl. Best Buy was briefly the center of media attention. What looked like “Occupy Best Buy” was in fact the final preparation for Black Friday, the biggest bargain day of the year in the United States. The young couple definitely wanted to be the first ones to reach the flat screen TV department. “I’m interested in the 42-inch and the 55-inch models,” Orta told the television reporter. The 42-inch was on sale for a measly $199.99.

It may seem loony even by American standards to camp out for five days at a store, but long lines at chain stores and shopping malls on the day after Thanksgiving are tradition. Black Friday is the kickoff to the hottest shopping season of the year. Customers fight for bargains and stores are filled with the sound of ringing cash registers.

Despite high unemployment, uncertain futures and a crippled housing market, Americans still want to keep shopping until their credit cards melt. The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts as many as 74 million shoppers over the three-day weekend; that’s about one-third of all consumers and 27 percent more than last year. A minimum of 77 million will at least want to have a look at the bargains and then make their decisions.

Consumption is king in America

An absolute necessity for retailers, the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas accounts for up to 40 percent of their annual income. The NRF is predicting spending of around $466 billion this year, up 2.8 percent from 2010. That’s less than the 5.2 percent increase the previous year but is still more than the average 2.6 percent increase measured over the past decade.

So today all eyes will be on the biggest turnover day of the year. It’s the day when business managers have the best hope of turning their bottom lines from loss to profit, from red to black, hence the name Black Friday.

The welfare of the entire economy actually depends on the success of the Christmas shopping season. “A bad holiday season would raise recession fears again, whereas a strong one would start to dispel those fears,” said Scott Hoyt, of Moody’s Analytics. In a good season, companies would tend to hire more workers, which would benefit the rest of the economy. Consumption is king in America, accounting for some two-thirds of the nation’s gross domestic product.

In order to help the success of the shopping season, some retail chains have committed a taboo: They opened their stores on Thursday. Thanksgiving Day is traditionally a holiday in America when people stay home and have family gatherings, eat turkey dinner and watch football on television. But Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Macy’s and many other retailers weren’t willing to accept that.

Labor unions protested, saying their members were being cheated out of a holiday, but the protests were brushed off by the businesses. They maintain that workers in many branches of certain drug stores or supermarkets have historically had to work on Thanksgiving, according to the NRF. In view of the depressed job market, regular employees and the 500,000 additional seasonal workers aren’t really in the best bargaining position.

Bargain hunters trample a doorman to death.

Thus, in many places those employees have been waiting in checkout lines, their turkey not yet completely digested, as the traditional skirmishes rage around them. The bargain hunters were somewhat able to plan in advance because Wal-Mart made floor plans available showing where the sale items were located, which saved precious seconds and helped avoid possible conflicts.

The battle for bargains can end in fatalities. It was on Black Friday three years ago in a New York Wal-Mart that a security guard was killed shortly after unlocking the doors that morning. Thirty-four-year-old “Jimbo,” who was nearly 6 feet 6 inches tall and built like a football player, was knocked down and trampled to death by the raging door busters streaming into the store.

Those unwilling to put up with the crowds have the option of escaping the entire hellish scene. Black Friday is followed by Cyber Monday, a day when there are many bargains online. Or they can take the advice of bargain experts who advise them to have patience because, according to them, the best days with the fewest shoppers and even better bargains take place after the Black Friday rush as there’s always a lot left over after the weekend. The only downside is that you can’t always expect to find that exact product you’re looking for.

For Tito Hernandez and Christina Orta in their tent, waiting isn’t an option. That flat screen TV they want could be captured by the enemy.