PORTLAND, Ore. — Thousands of Americans brave late-November temperatures to camp outside of big-box stores to score the best Black Friday deals every year.
We set out to Verify: Are deals worth it on Black Friday?
To get our answer, we spoke with Matt Granite, AKA the Deal Boss. He created an algorithm 20 years ago to track stores' claims that an item is actually at its lowest-ever recorded price.
He has scoured Black Friday deals, and his findings are shocking.
"Out of 73,000 deals this Black Friday, about 80 of them are actually worth your while. Black Friday has become a complete joke," Granite said.
For every door-buster you see in an ad, there's usually only 7 items in stock for every particular location in your zip code, so unless you're one of those first 7 people waiting in line... you're going to be out of luck for the best deal of the day.
"It’s not worth lining up... don’t ruin your Thanksgiving," Granite said.
You should also keep in mind some of the items sold in stores for Black Friday deals are going to be lower quality.
"Many of the TVs that are these so called 'door-busters,' they're actually manufactured specifically for Black Friday, so they have inferior processors, fewer HDMI ports... it’s not worth it," Granite said.
The best deals for new TVs can be found online right now.
Looking ahead, many of the deals you find on Black Friday will be 30 percent off, and will eventually be discounted even further by Cyber Monday.
"I would skip Black Friday in store, and other than supporting local merchants, keep a very close eye on Cyber Monday deals," Granite said. "The best deals that day are store-wide sales, robovacs are at their lowest recorded prices, as well as pillows, and the hottest deal will be weighted blankets."
But if you insist on shopping Black Friday deals, Granite said the best deals are going to be on gaming consoles, appliances and laptops.
"If you are shopping Black Friday, attack it with a plan. Just as you wouldn't go to the grocery store without a list, you can’t just blindly wak into a shopping mall and expect all of the deals to be handed to you," Granite said.