Traditionalists might balk, but the holiday shopping season is already underway. Skeptical? Head to your local department store and you'll be inundated by Christmas trees and ornaments. Bargain hunters, though, know that the real deals are more than a month away.
Black Friday, traditionally, is when retailers truly slash prices. Early birds can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars off of their holiday bills. Switched.com checked with a few elves, who gave a sneak peek at what you can expect deal-wise this year.
Blu-ray Players and Movies: Blu-ray is shaping up to be the biggest door buster of this year's Black Friday. de Grandpre expects at least one retailer will offer a Blu-ray player for just $49. Look for bargains on Blu-ray films as well, with last year's hit titles (such as "Iron Man") to fall as low as $5.
Laptops: With the proliferation of Netbooks this year, it's never been easier to find affordable portable computing, but Dan de Grandpre, CEO of DealNews.com says it will get even cheaper on Black Friday. Look for well-equipped Netbooks to sell for $199 – and basic 15" laptops to go for as little as $249.
HDTVs (Pretty big): The holidays are typically the best time to buy a new TV – and Black Friday is the time to do it. If you're looking for a normal sized set, you're in luck. Piper Jaffrey analyst Mitch Kaiser says he expects to see 32-inch LCD sets for as low as $299. GottaDeal.com is estimating 37-inch plasma and LCD sets will fall to $399 or less.
HDTVs (Really big): Need something bigger? How about a 46-47 inch LCD set for $599 – a 25 percent savings? Or a 52-inch LCD for $999? Dealnews says you can expect both. Plasma deals will be a little harder to come by, but a 50-inch set should run roughly $899.
HD Camcorders: You've wanted to shoot your child's school play in HD for a while, but haven't been able to spring for the pricey camcorder. This might be the year. Low-end, flash-based 720p models could drop as low as $60 (though you won't be able to zoom with those). Expect a high quality 1080p HD camcorder for $349.
GPS: While navigation systems have dramatically expanded their reach this year – even making it onto the iPhone – there's still a market for car-based systems. Dealnews predicts you'll be able to find a no-name entry-level system for $49, while a Garmin or Tom-Tom brand will be as low as $69.
Digital Picture Frames: Showcasing your digital pictures consistently gets cheaper. This year, skip the 7-inch screens and focus on the 8- or 9-inch ones, which should be available on Black Friday for as little as $30.
Monitors: Computer monitors might not be the sexiest of gifts, but they're usually welcomed with open arms – and they'll be cheap this year. Name brand 22-inch LCD models may go for as low as $99, while 24-inch models will drop below $150.
Memory: Don't know anyone who needs a monitor? External hard drives are always popular, since they're an easy way to back-up data. Dealnews expects a 1TB drive to fall as low as $49 this year. Gottadeal is looking for 8GB flash drives to hit $15.
If you've ever had the misfortune of accidentally wearing a red shirt into a Target store, chances are pretty good that you were tapped on the shoulder by some other customer. The store's red shirts are so noticeable that it's hard to not assume anyone wearing red there is an employee. That's exactly the impression a man in Miami Beach, Florida exploited to walk off with $17-thousand worth of Apple's iPod Touch music players.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
NYWOMAN said 10:17AM on 2-06-2008
Look for the LOGO? Target allows their employees to wear any styled red shirt, the shirts are not issued or monitored by the company. It's an easy scam to get away with. Watch Out.
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Steve said 2:14PM on 2-06-2008
My girlfriend worked for Target for 9 years. They all bought their own shirts. In fact, she didnt own one with a logo.
The man is a genious.
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hopp said 3:24PM on 2-07-2008
i work at target and it is our stores policy to wear your name badge with the target logo or you get sent home. so look for the name badge on the red shirt!!
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Mike said 9:53AM on 2-07-2008
I think the article meant to say look for the NAMETAG (which incidentally has the Target logo on it)
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Terry Adams said 2:26PM on 2-06-2008
My son worked there during the Christmas holidays this year. The company does not furnish the red shirts, and any red shirt will do. The logo referenced in the article by Tim Stevens is on the employee name badge, worn conspicuously on the left chest of the employee's shirt.
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Kate said 2:30PM on 2-06-2008
the man isn't a genious. he's a thief. he'll eventually be caught and sent to prison like all the other idiots who thought they were smarter than the system too.
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Angelica said 2:24PM on 2-06-2008
I personally work for target now, and we all supply our own shirts but alot of us do own red shirts with logos on them that we have earned. This Ipod/zune issue is very popular in california too. I have seen it happen in a few stores. It can happen in any store anywhere walmart, kmart, bestbuy.
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liver and onions said 2:28PM on 2-06-2008
NO STEVE - THE MAN IS A THIEF AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!!
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carol said 2:30PM on 2-06-2008
Get an ORANGE APRON~~thats what we do at Home Depot~!!!! lol
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Dan said 2:33PM on 2-06-2008
As a former Assets Protection Specialist for Target, I am amazed these high dollar items were not in a locked and secure display case. That is the easiest deterrent to this kind of theft. These items should of also had a security tag on them either placed by the manufacturer or the store itself. The sensors at the front door would have sounded and the Target Protection Specialist, (The security person at the front of the store), would have noticed this activity and also not recognized the thief as an employee and could have made a customer service stop and alerted the APS or APTL(Assets Protection Team Leader)to make an apprehension.
I saw lots of different kinds of theft when I was with Target, and this is a simple theft scheme, which could have easily been detected and stopped without loss.
Someone at District and or Spoke level will be looking for a head or two to roll over this.
A few job openings coming soon in the North Miami area.
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ted said 2:33PM on 2-06-2008
why to go ! people wonder about and say about race?????? get rid of the border crossers and give people jobs.....11 million illegials???? give them a riffle send them overseas,instead of free education,medical.food and housing.then they work on top of things?????look what most drive and live and where there money goes,free from taxes etc....if we got rid of all the illegials look how much gas we would save!!!!!Americans get up off your ass and demand your right to work...and kick a mexican home
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Mrs07RN09 said 2:36PM on 2-06-2008
When I worked for Target a few years ago, they didn't have company issued polos. We could just wear any shirt (polo, t-shirt, sweater) as long as it was red. The polos with logos on them are earned like a previous poster said. I hope they will look at this situation and think about issuing company polos with the bullseye embroidered logo to every employee!
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ted said 2:47PM on 2-06-2008
question????? if this man had a job would have he had to do this??? state of delaware...man arested for stealing loaf a bed and a qt of milk for a baby givin 10months in stste jail...cost to tax payers mre than loaf of bread and milk for 1 day in jail....smart move delaware..good use of tax payers money...GIVE AND BUY AMERICAN GOODS...F....WALMART AND SAMS CLUB...MADE WHERE..YOUR JOBS....NOT
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Anna said 3:01PM on 2-06-2008
"Ted", dont be ignorant. This has nothing to do with race. There are lots of criminals from different races out there and you know it. If you don't then you are stupid!! Just for the record yes this guy should get caught!
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StickyFeet said 3:14PM on 2-06-2008
What this article failed to say is that the guy walked up to the holiday temp help at the electronics counter asked for the keys to locked cabinets, and then emptied them out. So not only did he fool the customers he also fooled the employees.
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Mary said 3:15PM on 2-06-2008
TED you are really a m-o-r-o-n.
Not all illigals are mexicans. How about all the canadians, french, english, asians, australians, south americans and so on and so on. Always blaming averything on the mexicans, Moron
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Sugar said 3:18PM on 2-06-2008
wow. there are so many employees at these large stores that it's easy to not get noticed. i worked for a store that had people climbing in the ceilings for days and people just assumed they were repair men and they were actually staying up there plotting a robbery. the store manager hardly told anyone what was going on and one of the guys was the old managers son-in-law who used to work there so no one thought anything about it. i think it's hilarious.
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Sugar said 3:23PM on 2-06-2008
and all you morons misspelling "genius" by typing GENIOUS...can take a lesson from that clever cat.
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NICKI said 3:43PM on 2-06-2008
My husband works for Target Asset Protection. When he heard this he laughed. These aitems are REQUIRED to be in the locked cases in the electronics department. He said this is why many Target Stores now provide T-shirts (at cost to the employees)with the Target logo on it.
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V. said 3:40PM on 2-06-2008
What I find unbelievable is that the devices were "on the shelf". In the Target where I worked up until last week, they are locked in glass cases and only the Electronics team member has the keys. I have to think there is a little more to this story...
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