Column: Beware Black Friday

The Friday after Thanksgiving is known as a major shopping holiday.

But according to a study from ShopAdvisor, Black Friday is not the best deal day.

In fact, the study found Black Friday was one of the worst sale days of the year in 2011.

To illustrate this idea, the study said if Santa purchased 252 toys for his toy-bag on Black Friday, he would have saved $515.

However, there were eight other days during which he would have saved more than $1,000.  
 
Over the years, I have wondered one thing — wouldn’t Black Friday have a negative effect on profit?

It’s not like stores are pumping out older, outdated products.
 
It doesn’t make sense for a store to randomly drop their prices.

So, I am left wondering where the discounts are coming from.

Starting in late September, the study said prices start to climb.

This makes sense. As the holiday season starts, stores can discount products without actually incurring a loss.

Not to be discouraging, the study found times in the year when there were good sales.

Black Friday was not one of them. The best days for deals hovered around it.

Unfortunately, we’ve missed a couple of them — Dec. 1 and the Monday before Thanksgiving.

There are still a few to come. 

Waiting until 14 days before Christmas led to cost saving, according to the study.

The last days to wait for are the last two days of the year. This is when retailers try to sweep their shelves for the incoming year.

I know it is hard to resist seeing a scratched up price tag. However, Black Friday seems too good to be true.

­— audperki@indiana.edu

Follow columnist Audrey Perkins on Twitter @AudreyNLP.