Black Friday App Watch: Use Your iPhone to Shop And Save

Next month is one of the biggest shopping days of the year: Black Friday. Years ago retailers focused mostly on newspaper advertisements or mailers, however, in today’s interactive consumers regularly seek out deals online. Therefore it seems only natural that retailers are going to use iPhone Apps to help connect with customers.

Wallet Pop.com put together some of the best Black Friday apps. You can find a section of their article below, or check out the full list here.

Find the lowest prices in the shortest amount of time with the Red Laser app. Simply scan a barcode and Red Laser will find you the best deal by searching both online and in stores near your location. When scanning food products, the free application even provides nutritional information. The quick scanner will help users shop efficiently on Black Friday. Plus, the no-touch scan works perfectly for customers already juggling armfuls of deals.

Rather than searching by barcode, the 99-cent application Save Benjis hunts bargains using key words and categories. This search approach helps customers find low prices before they hit the stores. When you find the best price, purchase items right from the app. Save Benjis even features specials and coupons on many products.

Groupon enthusiasts: Download the Groupon app to save on printer ink, paper and time. The free application allows users to purchase the deals right from their iPhones. It also lets customers to find ones nearby using the iPhones' map and locator. The best part is that users can redeem Groupons directly from an iPhone, eliminating the hassle of printing the deals, or forgetting the proof at home.

For last minute buyers, find local savings nearby by using BeThere Deals. The app finds deals on everything from entertainment to apparel. The discovered deals often save customers up to 50% off original prices. BeThere Deals also finds the cheapest happy hour and restaurant prices for when shoppers work up an appetite. Currently, the free app is only available in a few cities including New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, but BeThere Deals promises to add more cities soon.

Continue reading at Wallet Pop.com…

Car Deals Disappear As Dealers Rethink Promotions

Over the past couple of years, consumers have gotten used to dozens of promotions and incentives to purchase American made vehicles. However, as this article from the Huffington Post explains, many car dealerships and automakers are beginning to rethink huge promotions to increase profits.

For years, Americans shopping for cars were treated to all sorts of deals and incentives, especially at the end of summer. Think Cash for Clunkers, which paid up to $4,500, or promotions that offered employee discounts to everyone.

Those days are over.

Deals are becoming more scarce because automakers, newly lean and profitable, are holding the line on those profit-eating promotions. In July, they offered $1,000 less in incentives per car than a year earlier, according to Edmunds.com.

And with no one expecting the government to offer a repeat of the Clunkers program, get ready for fewer discounts on your next car.

"This may be as good as it gets, and get used to it," says Jeff Schuster, the executive director of forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates.

As a result, U.S. auto sales are at a standstill, with potential buyers waiting for more deals but automakers resisting. The industry expects this to be the worst August in 18 years, with sales barely over 1 million cars and trucks. Sales are expected to fall 3 percent from July, according to car-pricing website Truecar.com.

Three Steps for Making Even Better Decisions on the Job

Last week, The Glass Hammer.com, posted a great new article by Dr. Sylvia Lafair, on three steps for making better decisions at work. I have included a section of their article below, but be sure to read the full version at The Glass Hammer.com.

1. OBSERVE: Each of us has a knee jerk manner of deciding. Pay attention to the way you seek out information and analyze data. Keep a check list to figure out your primary mode of asking for input. Do you prefer consensus or contentious? How you handle conflict is a key determiner for how you make decisions. Are you, as management guru Peter Drucker insists, able to do the right thing even if it is unpopular? Notice if you act quickly just to get “it” over with and done, or wring your hands, afraid you could be wrong. Here is a quick litmus test to help: notice your behavior when shopping for an outfit. Do you shop alone, with friends? When a sales person wants to be helpful are you grateful or is it grating? And now, for the best part; once you bring your new sartorial success home is it a done deal or are you a master of the return syndrome?

2. UNDERSTAND: We all, and that means all of us, learned decision making methods in our original organization, the family. This is where responses to decisions were applauded or the adults in our lives were appalled. Once you begin to understand the emotional underbelly of decisions you are in a better place to use a combination of logic and intuition; decisions are less gut wrenching and more satisfying. Look back at early choices, often this was in the area of friends; were they accepted or rejected? Note who judged and how you responded. Who was there to give you advice when you took a wrong turn and “messed up”? Were you able to be honest at home or did you “lie by omission”? What was the price to pay if you wanted something expensive, or frivolous?

Continue reading at The Glass Hammer.com…

Bankruptcy Filings Up 35 Percent In Past Year: Court

According to data compiled through US courts, bankruptcy filings in the U.S. have gone up a staggering 35% over the last year. Last year there were about 968,000 people who filed for Bankruptcy, compared to over 1.3 million in just the past 11 months.

Business bankruptcies, like the high-profile collapse of General Motors Co. GM.UL and Chrysler LLC, totaled 55,000, while non-business filings totaled 1.25 million, the courts office said.

Filings increased among all types of bankruptcies.

Chapter 7 filings, which require debtors to sell their nonexempt property, rose 47 percent to 908,000.

Chapter 13 filings, which enable wage earners to come up with a plan to repay debtors, rose 12 percent to 384,000.

Chapter 11 filings, used to reorganize bankrupt businesses, rose 91 percent to 14,000.

Chapter 12 filings, used by farmers or fishermen, rose 34 percent to 422.

Continued at Reuters.com…