Black Friday Shopping
Matt Seinberg

I state now that I hate shopping during the holiday season. I see what it does to people, and it's not pretty. Crazy women, they fight over the last item. Each woman clutches that last item, as if her last breath depended on it. Nope, you'll never see me in one of those life or death struggles.

Black Friday shopping accounts for 30 per cent of annual profit for some stores.

Do you know why the Friday after Thanksgiving is Black Friday? Because that when 20-to-30 per cent of a stores profits for the year occur. Imagine doing that much business in one day. I've worked many of those days and when you're done, all you want to do is go home and collapse.

When the internet exploded, years ago, retailers realized the money they could make from the people that didn't want to fight the in store battles, the sales expanded from just Friday to Thanksgiving Day as well. People could just fire up their computer, let their fingers do the walking, and order those terrific price specials from the comfort of their own home in their underwear.

Three items I wanted to buy were Black Friday specials. The first is Norton Security for 10 devices from BJs, on sale from $89.99 to $29.99, with no rebates required. The 5-device version goes for $19.99, after rebates, at Staples. You tell me, which is the better deal.

BJs started their Black Friday circular sale this past Friday, 18 November; I got the Norton program and one other item. I was also looking for a laptop computer for Melissa, since she needs one for school and doesn't want to use the 17" monster Dell that's in the basement.

I started looking around for that as well, and BJ's, Staples and Best Buy were all going to have something on sale. I decided to go with the one at Best Buy, because it really was the best value. As well, I could order it on the website and get free shipping to my house.

Some Black Friday shopping excursions began at 4 am and lasted until noon.

My sister in law used to tell us stories about her Black Friday shopping excursions that started at 4 am and lasted until noon. As my wife and I usually have to work those days, the thought of getting up to go shopping never crossed our minds. There can't be something priced so spectacularly that it would cause a normal person to bust the store door open at some ungodly hour.

There's one other item I'm looking to buy, and that's The Nest smart thermostat. Last year it didn't go on sale, but this year it seems everyone is going to have it for $199, down from $249. The question is this, which store do I want to order it from and is there anything else I want to buy.

I'm like most men when I shop. I know what I want. I get it from the shelf, pay for it and leave. I'm not going to walk around the entire store to waste time. I don't have the time to waste, especially on my days off. I'll leave that to my wife, who can dawdle in a store or the mall for hours, and think nothing of it.

I also can't shop with my wife for that reason. I don't want to just walk around the mall for the sake of it and wait for her while she looks at shoes. I'd rather choke on chicken bone that go shoe shopping.

There you have my shopping philosophy.

Look for it on line and order it or get in the store, buy it and get out quickly.

Have a great Thanksgiving 2016 and happy shopping!