Holiday shopping patterns

[Tim the Tank Nut]

I've been out a few times this holiday season.  I'm really surprised at the level of inventory in the retailers I've been in.  There appears to be a ton of stock and minimal pricing discounts to move any of it.  I even saw what I would call a very popular restaurant with no waiting at supper time yesterday.

Typically the papers will cover how holiday sales are going but I haven't noticed much of that this time around.

What are the rest of you seeing?

[TrustMe]

A lot of people in the UK have cut back this Xmas according to the latest government  finance figures from October. A lot of peoples wages are not going up by inflation  

[Ivanhoe]

My local Walmart was almost out of milk and eggs this past weekend. Strange timing.

I stopped off at Lowes today while running around, really quiet considering Xmas is just a few days away. No sign of an Xmas sale on Craftsman tools, which is disappointing and weird. I want to buy a long-handle 1/2" ratchet, but dang its over $50 regular price. Too rich for my blood.

 

 

[Tim the Tank Nut]

I start saving money for Christmas in June.  The typical budget wouldn't begin to cover this year's holiday expenses. Granted I shop for an unusually large number of people but at the point where I would normally stop spending there was a lot left to do.

One item is large chocolate candy bars.  For years they were one dollar a piece and plenty common.  This year they were "on sale" for $2.00 each.  That isn't 9% inflation...

I just don't see any value at all in anything that is in the stores right now.  I can't help but wonder if they are calculating holiday sales based on dollars and thinking everything is fine because "our numbers are up".  

I'm sure they are at double the price but I have to believe that costs are up too.

The first weeks in January are going to be interesting...

[TrustMe]

1 hour ago, Tim the Tank Nut said:

I start saving money for Christmas in June.  The typical budget wouldn't begin to cover this year's holiday expenses. Granted I shop for an unusually large number of people but at the point where I would normally stop spending there was a lot left to do.

One item is large chocolate candy bars.  For years they were one dollar a piece and plenty common.  This year they were "on sale" for $2.00 each.  That isn't 9% inflation...

I just don't see any value at all in anything that is in the stores right now.  I can't help but wonder if they are calculating holiday sales based on dollars and thinking everything is fine because "our numbers are up".  

I'm sure they are at double the price but I have to believe that costs are up too.

The first weeks in January are going to be interesting...

Over the last few years the US dollar has been quite high against a lot of other currencies like the UK pound. That has created a lot of cheap import's for US consumers. By that measure I'm surpised that inflation is so high in the US.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by TrustMe

[Tim the Tank Nut]

I live here and I can't believe it.

A bunch of leaf lettuce was $2.49 yesterday.  It was 99 cents in 2017.

of course, food is not calculated as part of inflation here.

...but simple things like a tape measure or a drywall knife are nearly twice what they were.  A simple screwdriver set at Lowes marked down from $41 to $29  today but it no longer includes the two larger screwdrivers, only the little ones and it used to be a holiday staple at $19.

[LT Ducky]

This example has nothing to do with holiday spending but is rather interesting.

Due to several circumstances my now 22 year old niece moved in with me when COVID closed down her college. She insisted on paying rent so I told her she had to pay the weekly grocery bill.

In April of 2020 that was $45-65 a week.

She still lives with me and now the bill runs $100-140 a week……..

[Ssnake]

Yeah, no kidding. We were shopping during IITSEC week in Orlando, the (as my co-worker from Tampa put it) Clown Version of Florida Cities.

 

Okay, five grown-ups, and we didn't really want to suffer in the evening after a long day at the exhibition stand, but none of the shopping trips was under $100.- , and we needed three or four in total for the ten days ... Still cheaper than eating out, however, and never worse in quality (often better).

[Rick]

I live in an area with a moderate amount of Amish. A pound of local bacon and a dozen eggs recently went from $2.00 to $3.00. But please, I don't want the pity I know members of this Grate Site are thinking right now 

[Tim the Tank Nut]

i'm not sure pity is what came to my mind...

 

We've almost stopped buying cereal completely as it is astonishingly expensive.  Regular plastic trash bags are unbelievable as well.

I looked on Best Buys website last night.  A keyboard I bought three years ago is on sale (same one).  It's double what I paid for it even after the sale price.  It appears that this year I will not have a single electronics purchase around the holidays.  If other people are thinking like I am....

[Detonable]

  Wallmart was pretty busy a couple days ago. 

 

  I was able to get some discounts at Kohl's (a clothing store).

 

  I bought some nice green leaf lettuce but the last couple times the heads were really small. Smaller than I remember.

 

[Steven P Allen]

I see no drawback to folks rejecting consumerism, especially in purchasing gifts for Christmas, et al.  Since I got RiF'd our Christmas present purchasing has been significantly reduced, slashed to 10% of last year's.  Ya know what?  No great loss.  Makes it easier to concentrate on why we celebrate Christmas.  We have not reduced our charitable giving for the season, however, with the same result. 

As for the constant rise in prices of food and necessities, chalk them up to the desire to be Green.

If we can get even moderate cooperation from the weather next month, we're putting in a largish garden this coming year.  Gonna plant some fruit trees, too.  Maybe some chickens the following year.

[TrustMe]

Just been looking for a replacement for my 5 year old Kindle who's battery is failing. The price is the same as what I paid 5 years ago  

[sunday]

1 hour ago, TrustMe said:

Just been looking for a replacement for my 5 year old Kindle who's battery is failing. The price is the same as what I paid 5 years ago  

Why not use the phone?

[bojan]

Way more pleasant to read on Kindle especially if it is in (semi) darkness. OTOH, there are battery replacements for Kindle, and if rest is doing well I see no point in getting new one*. Just change battery, it will last 2-3 years at least.

*Mine is on 3rd battery ATM and still having no other issues.

Edited December 23, 2023 by bojan

[TrustMe]

1 hour ago, sunday said:

Why not use the phone?

The kindle has extremely small weight. The Kindle battery should last at least 3 weeks of heavy reading were es as I recharge my phone twice a day.. And my phone screen is very small. it's a budget phone as i'd rather upgrade my PC than upgrade my phone each year.

Edited December 23, 2023 by TrustMe

[TrustMe]

44 minutes ago, bojan said:

Way more pleasant to read on Kindle especially if it is in (semi) darkness. OTOH, there are battery replacements for Kindle, and if rest is doing well I see no point in getting new one*. Just change battery, it will last 2-3 years at least.

*Mine is on 3rd battery ATM and still having no other issues.

Last time I changed my battery on a phone it started expanding to the point were it buckled the case and warped the screen until it was broken. I'll have a look on Amazon for batteries but i'm not so sure about buying one.

 

[sunday]

21 minutes ago, TrustMe said:

The kindle has extremely small weight. The Kindle battery should last at least 3 weeks of heavy reading were es as I recharge my phone twice a day.. And my phone screen is very small. it's a budget phone as i'd rather upgrade my PC than upgrade my phone each year.

That's an advantage, true. I am happy enough with the phone to not need another device.

[TrustMe]

1 minute ago, sunday said:

That's an advantage, true. I am happy enough with the phone to not need another device.

I have around 600 paper books in my book shelves   Now that the shelves are all full i've started using my kindle more and more as I no longer have anymore room to install more book shelves.

I'm a bit of a book worm  

[Rick]

10 minutes ago, TrustMe said:

I have around 600 paper books in my book shelves   Now that the shelves are all full i've started using my kindle more and more as I no longer have anymore room to install more book shelves.

I'm a bit of a book worm  

Understand . I got the wife's old tablet with a Kindle on it. I'd rather turn pages, but I'm not quite as anal about it as I used to be. I keep thinking back to and old original Star Trek episode where a successful defense lawyer for Capt. Kirk uses books instead of computers. 

[Ivanhoe]

1 hour ago, TrustMe said:

Last time I changed my battery on a phone it started expanding to the point were it buckled the case and warped the screen until it was broken. I'll have a look on Amazon for batteries but i'm not so sure about buying one.

 

The term that the youngsters use for a Li-ion battery blowing up is "pillowing."

I've bought no-name laptop batteries off Amazon with no real issues, but one didn't have what I would consider proper battery life for a new battery. Still vastly cheaper for me to do it myself than to pay someone else.

[Ivanhoe]

https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/70435.html

Quote

This last Christmas wasn’t so fraught as all that, but it still seemed to me to have been pretty restrained; the two Christmas markets that we participated in were almost flat-lined. Everyone seemed to be holding on to what money they had. We went to one small-town Christmas tree lighting ceremony, which was crowded … but it was a small town, out in the Hill Country, which we presumed to be fairly sheltered against disruptive shenanigans. But everything costs more, this year – we couldn’t do massive batches of fudge to give away to friends and neighbors this year but had to settle for baking a few sheet pans of bar cookies instead. UPS used to park a storage unit in the driveway of a house just inside the neighborhood and made deliveries in a golf-cart with a trailer hitched to it … not this year. (Or last, to be fair.)