So. Its here. Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving Day in the United States. The day when crazed consumers go out in the middle of the night to wait in line to buy their most desperately wanted holiday goods. It's insanity I tell you!
My bride and her sister were at the mall at 6:30 this morning looking to do battle with other early morning maniacs. My habit on this day is to go on-line to our bank's web site and watch our joint checking account drain. Periodically, I'll call my wife and say "hey! what did you just spend $400.00 on?!?"... "oh, just some Christmas stuff, but boy! what a deal "we" got!". I hate Christmas season. (not really...but I do hate the approximation of bankruptcy that happens in January and February each year.)
This year many stores were advertising opening at 4:30AM. That seems totally out of control on the face of it. However, a couple of years ago, I got sent into the freezing night to wait in front of the local Best Buy store to get a Nintendo Wii for our son for Christmas. The store opened at 7:00AM. I was there from 10 PM until the store opened along with a couple of hundred other whackos. I got the last unit. There were 12 in the whole store (limit one per customer!). I think if I had wanted to, I could have walked to the back of the line with my unit and sold it for twice as much money. I value my life, so I didn't do that, but I did think about it. The 4:30 opening would have at least put me back home and in my bed for a couple of hours before the dawn.
Being a logistics geek, I really "get" what's happening in terms of how that game console got into my grubby hands. The process started back in the spring when orders were placed. Then product got manufactured, put into a container and shipped to the United States. From there, it goes to a DC, is sorted by store allocation and in due course, is shipped to the store for merchandising. On hot goods like the Wii I mentioned, some product will move by air freight in order to pre-position high demand items. Small consumer electronics like iPods, iPhones and gaming consoles all move that way.
Traditional transportation and warehousing of course is now supplemented by on-line purchasing , which can send orders all the way back to origin depending on what the goods are. Custom made Nike shoes are a good example. If a company can allocate goods by store or even down to the consumer, the DC step can be eliminated. DHL, UPS and FedEx all have combination services that allow goods to be labeled for shipment direct to consumer from origin using consolidations into the US, then using their express networks to blow the goods out through their networks.
As for me, I do my shopping on-line. I'm happy to let my wife fight the mall and Wal*Mart. I think secretly she really loves it. It's the Amazon warrior in her. I'll take my Amazon on-line thanks. (Shameless plug: for those looking to give books on logistics or best sellers...check out the links here!)
This year the holiday shopping season is expected to be moderate at best because of the sub prime mortgage debacle, a weak dollar and fuel prices. Generally it comes down to people not wanting to watch the bank account drain. Americans just don't feel great about the economy and more importantly, our own personal economies. For that reason, Americans will probably keep some cash in reserve. Those that don't will pay the consequences when that January heating bill comes in.
It's my great wish for all who read this blog that you have a healthy, happy and holy holiday season.
Eric
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