One good thing about the day after Thanksgiving is that it has become a useful barometer for measuring economic recovery in America, the capital of the free world. Because it marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season, the more traffic the retailers see on their store floors, the more economic pundits sing eureka!
But to me, it was more than that. I was out to compare the situation this year with last year. I became a researcher of a sort. There were two major differences I could point to this year to explain really, there's economic recovery.
Last year, retail promos were more geared towards food products! Coupons were issued for low-priced, no additional purchase required TURKEYS. This year, even though the turkeys were there, you had to make purchases of $25.00 to use a coupon that allowed you to buy one turkey at $0.39 per pound (Cub Foods) or $0.48 per pound (Rainbow Foods). And there was a limit of "one per family". Those restrictions were not there last year.
Last year, my family had fun. We went from one store to the other to buy turkeys until our refrigerator filled up!!! Well, the economy was bad. And then I was recently out of job and we had to be more imaginative with our resources. This year, a turkey was at the cost of $25 of other purchases! I wondered if the retail big wigs at corporate concluded there would be no more free stuffs since people were coming out of a recession...
Also this year, seemed like the biggest gainers of Black Friday were electronics. I remember buying my 42" Samsung TV at $1,400 in 2002. (It's still working fine! thank goodness). On black Friday, a more advanced LCD unit sold for $498.00. The only group of products that remained unyielding in pricing was electronic tablet, the iPads and Galaxy Tabs of this world!
Okay, enough of market generalizations. Here is my biggest find of November 26, Black Friday 2010. I was at Walmart, Apple Valley MN. Walmart of course, is America's biggest retailer. For may years, it remained #1 of Fortune 500 companies. I was clutching the sales catalog which I pulled out of the previous Sunday newspaper. I arrived at this Walmart at 11 a.m. by which time the items my wife and I had penciled were all but gone. Then I remembered that the same time or even later in the afternoon on the Day after Thanksgiving last year, most of the Black Friday products were still available.
I hope Americans would realize the hand of God in the good turn of fortunes over the past several months. I hope individuals, families and business owners would know to include their personal financial turnaround in this particular Thanksgiving.
Yet, I have a feeling that as the retail floors are jammed, the credit cards will be equally filled. I saw a young woman carrying a 46" Sony TV, (just $798). Nothing bad in that except that it's more than just the price. It is the urge for materials that one needs to ponder about. Across the Minnesota River at the Mall of America, still referred to as America's largest shopping mall, true or false, was a sea of shoppers of all nations and cultures. The crowd was a spectacle to behold; the type you would find at Manhattan on a hot summer evening. Everyone was out for a once-in-a-year bargain, or so it seemed.
Let's praise the Lord at these times for His return to the economic fields of America, and hopefully the world. He promises that when we praise Him, He would bless us and all the ends of the earth would fear Him. (Psalm 67)
Which is why I really love Acts 14:17 concerning the recession and my personal situation; "Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." (KJV) Praise Jesus!
I barely could put away four turkeys this time around. God knows we bought many of them last year in response to economic realities. This time around, we would buy them when needed as we trust God to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving.
