I mean…..least shocking thing ever? Everyone I know is barley hanging on by a thread. They are 4-6 missed paychecks away from losing everything in a lot of cases let alone losing health insurance if their job goes away.
We are right on that line and it’s getting worse
I think Black Friday hitting historic highs for total spend is a perfect example of stated vs revealed preferences.
The vibecession is simply not based in reality.
I will place a bet with anyone that the total holiday spend (adjusted for inflation and population) is at worst average.
If only the source of the problem could be found by the billionaires and fixed huh?
Bless their hearts in our time.
Will be interesting to see if consumers actually spend less, or if we are still rocking that vibecession.
I’m just going to bake cookies for everyone, that’s literally it. In an out under $150 for the holidays, not too bad considering!
i have bought zero things at this point. not even something for myself. Usually 75% of my shopping is done on black friday/cyber monday deals.
It makes sense in a high inflationary environment, when consumers can reasonably assume prices will go up, not down. Basically a time value of money issue – your money is worth more if you spend it now. Especially if there’s also employment uncertainty “spend it while you’ve got it”.
As a protest and mater of practicality, I’m not spending a dime this holiday season for anything superfluous
My siblings and I have all committed to donating to charities as Christmas gifts this year. We each choose a charitable organization and the others donate. Community over corporations.
I dunno the age range of the average person in this thread, but I am in my late 30s and work as a medical laboratory professional. I started my career making around $50k per year. I make around $75k per year now (15 years in).
15 years ago, I was able to afford a nice “starter home” for $107k where I live. My payments were around $800 per month. That house is now worth almost $300k. I could not qualify for a loan for the house I used to live in with a 5% down-payment even with me making more money now.
Back then, I was able to contribute 5% to my 401k and made extra payments on my car. I don’t do either now. Every single item is more expensive, so even if my mortgage payments were the same, it would still be difficult. I spend double on the same items I bought back then. Groceries are often triple.
That’s how messed up this whole situation is. I consider myself lucky compared to many, but I’ve watched how quickly things have degraded.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I had to sell my first house because of medical debt in 2019. I used half of that to pay off my medical debt and the other half to finally buy another place in 2022. The pandemic ballooned the price of everything, so that new payment was like a kick in the stomach.
Didn’t Adobe analytics report a record-breaking consumer spend during 2025 Black Friday through Cyber Monday?
Or were they lying and trying to create FOMO?
We did a small amount of shopping, but what I noticed is folks buying practical everyday items rather than gifts.
Folks are buying a rice cookers, crockpots, etc. to cook food at home due to food prices.
Like the cheap TV’s were mostly still there after 3 days, still plenty of video game systems
Most of the “big” toys were in stock.
I think this is a sign of a tightening economy and people starting to become frugal with everyone anticipating an economic downturn.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday broke sales records and holiday spending is expected to be in line with the average this time of year.
My wife and I have decided if we don’t need it, we aren’t buying it. Zero splurging. What we have and don’t need, we are giving away. I can’t do much to stick it to corporate America but I can stop playing their game.
Yep. All my friends and their families are low key this year. This is what America, including people on this very platform, wanted.
I know the economy is bad, but I wonder if people are getting tired of stuff they don’t need.
Me and my family who normally go overboard on holiday spending aren’t spending nearly anything. We’re planning experiences together, travel, not buying more stuff we don’t need or want.
I have not seen anything worth spending money on. I went with experience gifts, books, clothing, and practical items this year.
It does feel like people in my circle are over Christmas this year. I’m gonna put up some lights and I got one $35 gift for a gift exchange. Feels great tbh
This is my ninth holiday season since starting at USPS, if you told me this was the busiest Black Friday ever you sure could fool me. The week after Thanksgiving we always get hammered with everything people ordered on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, this year it’s been dead this week. Today is the most packages I’ve had all week long and its barely above what I’d have on an average day. They’ve sent two of the three seasonal temp people they hired just to help us run packages home everyday but one this week because the excess packages they were brought on to help us deliver haven’t manifested yet. Talked with the UPS guy I see all the time earlier in the week and he said its the same for them, barely an uptick at all this week from the usual volume. People just arent spending this year.
Kind of the bare minimum those who aren’t fascists can do. Put as little into this economy as possible until the Nazis are gone.
21 comments
I mean…..least shocking thing ever? Everyone I know is barley hanging on by a thread. They are 4-6 missed paychecks away from losing everything in a lot of cases let alone losing health insurance if their job goes away.
We are right on that line and it’s getting worse
I think Black Friday hitting historic highs for total spend is a perfect example of stated vs revealed preferences.
The vibecession is simply not based in reality.
I will place a bet with anyone that the total holiday spend (adjusted for inflation and population) is at worst average.
If only the source of the problem could be found by the billionaires and fixed huh?
Bless their hearts in our time.
Will be interesting to see if consumers actually spend less, or if we are still rocking that vibecession.
I’m just going to bake cookies for everyone, that’s literally it. In an out under $150 for the holidays, not too bad considering!
i have bought zero things at this point. not even something for myself. Usually 75% of my shopping is done on black friday/cyber monday deals.
It makes sense in a high inflationary environment, when consumers can reasonably assume prices will go up, not down. Basically a time value of money issue – your money is worth more if you spend it now. Especially if there’s also employment uncertainty “spend it while you’ve got it”.
As a protest and mater of practicality, I’m not spending a dime this holiday season for anything superfluous
My siblings and I have all committed to donating to charities as Christmas gifts this year. We each choose a charitable organization and the others donate. Community over corporations.
I dunno the age range of the average person in this thread, but I am in my late 30s and work as a medical laboratory professional. I started my career making around $50k per year. I make around $75k per year now (15 years in).
15 years ago, I was able to afford a nice “starter home” for $107k where I live. My payments were around $800 per month. That house is now worth almost $300k. I could not qualify for a loan for the house I used to live in with a 5% down-payment even with me making more money now.
Back then, I was able to contribute 5% to my 401k and made extra payments on my car. I don’t do either now. Every single item is more expensive, so even if my mortgage payments were the same, it would still be difficult. I spend double on the same items I bought back then. Groceries are often triple.
That’s how messed up this whole situation is. I consider myself lucky compared to many, but I’ve watched how quickly things have degraded.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I had to sell my first house because of medical debt in 2019. I used half of that to pay off my medical debt and the other half to finally buy another place in 2022. The pandemic ballooned the price of everything, so that new payment was like a kick in the stomach.
Didn’t Adobe analytics report a record-breaking consumer spend during 2025 Black Friday through Cyber Monday?
Or were they lying and trying to create FOMO?
We did a small amount of shopping, but what I noticed is folks buying practical everyday items rather than gifts.
Folks are buying a rice cookers, crockpots, etc. to cook food at home due to food prices.
Like the cheap TV’s were mostly still there after 3 days, still plenty of video game systems
Most of the “big” toys were in stock.
I think this is a sign of a tightening economy and people starting to become frugal with everyone anticipating an economic downturn.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday broke sales records and holiday spending is expected to be in line with the average this time of year.
My wife and I have decided if we don’t need it, we aren’t buying it. Zero splurging. What we have and don’t need, we are giving away. I can’t do much to stick it to corporate America but I can stop playing their game.
Yep. All my friends and their families are low key this year. This is what America, including people on this very platform, wanted.
I know the economy is bad, but I wonder if people are getting tired of stuff they don’t need.
Me and my family who normally go overboard on holiday spending aren’t spending nearly anything. We’re planning experiences together, travel, not buying more stuff we don’t need or want.
I have not seen anything worth spending money on. I went with experience gifts, books, clothing, and practical items this year.
It does feel like people in my circle are over Christmas this year. I’m gonna put up some lights and I got one $35 gift for a gift exchange. Feels great tbh
This is my ninth holiday season since starting at USPS, if you told me this was the busiest Black Friday ever you sure could fool me. The week after Thanksgiving we always get hammered with everything people ordered on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, this year it’s been dead this week. Today is the most packages I’ve had all week long and its barely above what I’d have on an average day. They’ve sent two of the three seasonal temp people they hired just to help us run packages home everyday but one this week because the excess packages they were brought on to help us deliver haven’t manifested yet. Talked with the UPS guy I see all the time earlier in the week and he said its the same for them, barely an uptick at all this week from the usual volume. People just arent spending this year.
Kind of the bare minimum those who aren’t fascists can do. Put as little into this economy as possible until the Nazis are gone.
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