From Reuters:
"This a staggeringly bad number," said pollster John Zogby, referring to the number of people who said they would spend the same amount on gifts this year. He noted that with inflation, even flat sales means retailers won't be making as much.
"You're still going to have people standing in line at three in the morning at Wal-Mart, but the lines may be thinner this year" on Black Friday, he said, referring to the day after Thanksgiving in late November that kicks off the holiday sales season with a barrage of promotions.
Oh well. You'd have shot your eye out anyway.
Shoppers to cut back holiday gifts [Reuters]
]]>Bah Humbug!
]]>My folks used to overspend a lot at Christmas. My dad is free of the habit but mom still feels bad if she doesn't go into debt for 11 months to pay it off.
]]>We're cutting back this year. A new house, new car, and only a single income is setting us back enough as it is.
So my son will only be getting MOST of his wish list, and not ALL of it, this year.
]]>I have to say that is a clever story name.
]]>or, the other alternative, since they start Christmas earlier and earlier every year, alot of people probably get their stuff earlier to avoid crowds.
]]>However if you read the second posting you'd note some more sobering statistics, such as:
"Excluding just the gas purchases alone, and holiday sales rose a lackluster 2.4%. If we back out supermarkets, other food plus restaurants (and their price increases), then (my ballpark estimate) sales rose approximately ~2% -- or a bit below the core rate of inflation. In other words, Real Sales may have reflected an actual loss over last year. This was despite the longer holiday shopping season."
My point was that Bladefist stated that it was "record heights" and was not. If you are going to make such a bold assertion back it up with a citation. If not keep your mouth shut and talk about things you actually know about or can prove.
Year after year it irritates me when merchants talk about what a terrible holiday season they're having because their rate of growth is less than in previous years. The headlines frequently say "Worse season in N years" when what they mean is, "Highest sales ever, but lowest growth rate in N years."
How do you think your boss would react if you started bitching and moaning about your "worst pay ever" because this year you only got a 3% raise while in past years you got 4 or 5%?
]]>The weak dollar is responsible for my current work abroad (consulting). It's a lot more feasible for foreign clients to use our services now, although with all the ripples going through foreign markets, we'll see what happens with that. As a result I get an amazing client, six months in Paris and a raise.
Of course, the market performance here could tank too and then I'd be on a plane home.
]]>In the meantime my business has finally taken off bigtime and I'm making significantly above average income levels. 2 years of hard work are finally paying off. 2 year ago I was living month to month on disability, rarely leaving the house and worrying about the price of a can of coke.
]]>I became agnostic just to eliminate Xmas giving.
]]>This year I got them $350 Paul McCartney tickets and an imported bottle of Japanese plum wine (my mom's favorite which so far she's only had in restaurants).
Times are good here in Israel :)
]]>however, office secret santa things, etc are nixed. as well is the hated/dreaded christmas card list. How I hate sending out those damn things. This alone will save me major moola since the post office is running such a racket on stamps.
]]>I, for one, will probably spend more because I'm living abroad and everyone wants me to send them a souvenir, whereas usually we don't really do gifts for adults.
]]>The few presents that I'm buying will be gold ingots.
]]>I'm not buying you presents, sod off.
]]>I'm in the gift business, and executive management (you know, the people who aren't feeling the hit) aren't taking "bad economy" as an excuse this holiday season.
Imagine Bryan Doyle Murray in Christmas Vacation at the end of a 70' conference table making it clear to all the middle-management schmucks (me) that "our competitors can use the economy excuse, but not US!"
So, yeah... I'm just wondering exactly whose shit is going to hit whose fan, but I've got a good idea of WHEN it's going to happen.
]]>This is a great time to do a secret santa
]]>I spent thousands last year, and I will be spending nearly nil this year. Is that staggering enough?
(Sorry to any of my friends and relatives who may be reading this...)
]]>I'll certainly be spending more this year.
]]>And this time I mean it!
Seriously: We remodeled our kitchen and need to refill the savings account. Santa's not brining any big gifts this year for the kids and the family isn't getting much either. I'm also enforcing a cash only Xmas gift system. If you buy a gift pay cash. If you charge, money goes from envelope to bank to pay the bill. Some people may just get a card.
]]>err, I mean, 'government loan'.
]]>