4 or 5 years ago when it was still sane; I went to the Black Friday sales around 2am and were still able to get alot of the stuff I wanted. Now, people are camping out the evening before ... I don't even bother anymore. Plus, the deals weren't that exciting anymore.
I agreed that there aren't many good deals out this year comparing to last few years. I think vendors are extra cautious about overstocking for the holiday now. The passed few years, retailers were stuck with huge inventories when the econ crashed so they have no choice but to sell them off at outrageous prices .. no longer the case. Consumers are also spending less too so yeah .. personally, I think the best time to buy is actually after Christmas .. not Thanksgiving.
Well .. depend on what you need to get .. there's electronics, cars, services, sport gears, decors, and of course, clothes in limited supplies since most retailers try to rid inventories during the earlier sales .. not to mention those "returned" unwanted gifts. The good news is that they sometimes add new items to attract buyers .. so if you're lucky, you can snatch a good bargains on new things.