Consumer issues: November 2008 Archives

If you haven't seen it already, check out Jason Plotkin's video on the folks waiting in line outside of Best Buy in York County earlier this morning.
Those are some serious shoppers.

So, my earlier post this week about looking forward to traveling on Thanksgiving day was a little misinformed. I had perceived traffic would be light. Not the case.

I see a lot of turmoil out there nowadays, from car dealers shutting their doors to retailers sinking into bankruptcy.

So I don't know how much I buy at first of this "York County is not on an American coast, we are the American heartland and financially conservative, so we'll be doing OK" idea.

But then again, why else would the Dakotas end up being the strongest economies in the face of this crisis? I read two reports this morning, one on cities where unemployment is low, and one on where people didn't cut back on driving this year.

Turns out, South Dakota has the two best cities for unemployment, with North Dakota having a strong showing. And North Dakota was the one state where driving didn't dip during the peak middle months of 2008.

The Sunday after Halloween, my wife and I were driving near Target in West Manchester Township. What a traffic nightmare! Cars were everywhere, trying to make the turn into the shopping centers in the area.

I couldn't believe it. Was this the new Black Friday?

I haven't really see the crowds since - and I live nearby and drive through there a good bit. Has the peak of the shopping season past us? And regardless, who started shopping so darn early this year?

I think it was people doing their shopping before things got worse, when they'd be able to talk themselves out of getting gifts for people, or really wouldn't have the money for it. But I could be crazy, too.

What do you think?

On Sunday night, I was on the phone with my mother-in-law who told me, with no sugar coating, that my method of spending money was anti-American. I contended that my motto this holiday shopping season would be: one gift for one person. That means that if I decide to buy my father a DVD, it means I buy him one DVD and not five just because I don't think that I spent enough money.

Our staff writers share their thoughts on the bailout plan. Take a listen.

To all the faithful readers of York Common Cents, I have a bittersweet announcement to make. After 10 months with the York Daily Record/Sunday News, I'll be leaving to take a job in Washington, D.C.

I'm sad to leave, but I know that Brent, Sean and Cathy will continue keeping this blog up to date with the latest money news. Check back often for updates on gas prices and what's going on in the local business community.

I encourage you to check out the gas map on inyork.com/drive. A few stations in the area have officially dropped below $2.00 per gallon!

I'm glad I get to leave you with a bit of good news before I leave! It's a welcome change from all the negative economy news lately!

Citigroup is one of the biggest banks standing after the last round of failures around the industry, and today it said it won't be foreclosing on people who want to stay in their homes.

How would you feel if you saved all your money and bought nothing you wanted just so you could pay your mortgage, and your neighbor parked a big boat in the driveway and put in a pool, then told Citigroup he was out of money and couldn't pay ... and they let him off the hook for a while?

I bet more people will go out and get a boat and a pool. Is this a message financial institutions should be sending?

OK, I love the show, and so do so many other people. But really? Seth MacFarlane, the creator and the voices of many characters of "Family Guy" got a $100 million deal with Fox.

But then I realized how much that is worth. With trying to save money by not going out to eat, or not driving to Harrisburg or Baltimore so much because of gas prices (recent trends notwithstanding), I don't know what my wife and I would do without the endless reruns of "Family Guy" that find their way to PHL 17, Cartoon Network and most notably TBS.

Thank you, Fox, for spending your money wisely.

If so, big advertisers are trying to target you.

I think it's nice that there is a growing demand for practical ways to drag in customers instead of just trying to attract people to sparkle and shine.

So if you are clipping coupons, what are you looking to buy with them? And what tactics can still get you to buy products considering the bleak outlook?

I just read a brief in the November issue of Consumer Reports about groups and organizations that have "green" sounding names, but in fact aren't very green.

With the explosion of the environmental movement, it's always important to keep in mind that some groups may just be trying to ride the coattails of a successful movement.

For example the Heartland Institute, one of the examples used in the brief, claims it has expertise on climate issues, but has advocated for smokers' rights and accepts money from ExxonMobil and Philip Morris.

You can check out more at www.frontgroups.org.

I wrote not too long ago that the differences in gas prices at local stations really had me baffled.

Well after this weekend, gas prices have just left me more confused.

The past few weekends I've been visiting friends in Maryland and Washington, D.C. and gas prices there have always been 20 to 30 cents more expensive than here.

So when I filled up my car last night for $2.38 in Maryland, I was expecting to see prices closer to $2 in York. Needless to say that wasn't the case. Everything I saw in York was around $2.33.

How did that gap close so quickly?