Cat’s Take: Is a Black Friday sale really a sale?

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By Cathi Coppinger

Should Black Friday be a national holiday? According to a new survey, 39 percent of people say YES, it should be a paid day off. My answer is YES! It should! And so should Good Friday and Superbowl Sunday and my birthday!

WalletHub.com analyzed the Black Friday ads from 30 of the biggest stores in the country to figure out the average discounts they’ll be giving. JC Penny is the biggest – they’re selling stuff on Black Friday at an average of 68 percent off. They’re one of seven places where the average discount is over 50 percent. And Sam’s Club is offering the worst Black Friday discounts, but since they already sell stuff at big discounts all year, that kind of makes sense. Costco’s average sale on Black Friday is only 19.5 percent off. Sam’s Club average is 24.9 percent off. They’re two of seven places with an average discount of less than 30 percent. The rest are Amazon, Big Lots, Walgreens, Toys R Us and GameStop.