Big-box retailers are promising huge door-buster deals on big-screen TVs this holiday weekend. And, sure enough, the Black Friday TV bargains are out there.

But if you want a good deal on a big-brand television set, you may be better off waiting a month.

"The week before the Super Bowl is a great time for TV shopping," advised The ConsumerMan Herb Weisbaum.

Weisbaum joined  hundreds of anxious shoppers on our TODAY Live Chat on Wednesday to talk about Black Friday.

A few other ConsumerMan tips included in the chat:

• You can avoid the crowds by shopping online. More and more retailers are offering their door-buster deals to on the Internet.
• Store credit cards are usually not a good deal. Just say no to the sales pitch.
• Gift cards make a decent gift. Cash is better.
• Extended warranties are usually a waste of money
• Debit card vs. credit card? Don't use the debit card.
• Most of all, don't get caught up in the frenzy. It truly is the thought that counts!

You can read the full chat here.

Wal-Mart worker protests and walk-offs planned for Thursday night and Black Friday had the retailer taking them seriously enough to send a top executive to the TODAY show this morning to downplay the story. 

Widespread picketing was not expected, Duncan Mac Naughton, Wal-Mart's chief merchandising and marketing officer, told TODAY's Savannah Guthrie. "We'll have 4,000 stores ready to go," said Naughton, staffed by "one million associates serving our customer." 

The group behind the protest actions, OUR Walmart, told TODAY they are striking to protest what they say is manager retaliation against any employees who complain about working conditions. 

"We have a  really open culture of listening to our associates, it's based on integrity, respect for the individual," Mac Naughton told TODAY. 

An OUR Walmart organizer, William Fletcher, 23, disputed this, telling TODAY that Walmart's "open door policy" where any associate can speak to a manager to bring up issues was instead used to "find out who's complaining so they can silence them with indirect threats. "They're very good at doing that while still staying within the law." 

Wal-Mart said they were "really confident" that Black Friday will go off without a hitch. "What you're seeing in the media and in the news is a small group of Wal-Mart associates in a select number of stores," said Mac Naughton, "complimented by a number of of non-Wal-Mart associates that are paid by the union." 

Still, the matter is large enough for Wal-Mart to have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), arguing that the protests were an unlawful attempt to disrupt its business. The complaint alleged that the group running the protests, the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), was backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), and was more about building union membership than fighting for worker rights. 

The UCFW filed its own complaint that day, alleging that Walmart had directed store managers to make workers fearful for their jobs if they participated in the actions. 

The legal maneuvers may be too late to prevent the strikes from disrupting one of the biggest shopping days of the year for Wal-Mart. In a statement released Tuesday, the NLRB said that it was unlikely to come to a decision before Friday. 

With stores opening at 8 p.m. on Thursday and walk-offs planned throughout the shopping event, consumer chaos is a threat, depending on how many workers end up participating. 

"Workers will be walking off the job left and right over Thanksgiving," UCFW Janna Pea spokesperson told TODAY.  

Pea couldn't give an estimate of how many walkoffs there would be, but said that there would be protest actions at over 1,000 Wal-Mart stores, ranging from employees not showing up for work, to workers walking off in the middle of their shift, to community allies passing out brochures outside the stores.

Mall of America

Do you drop your kids off at the mall for a little post Turkey Day shopping or take them with you but let them go off on their own to browse the holiday sales?

If you shop at the Mall of America, the nation’s largest mall, you won’t be able to do that this year during peak holiday shopping times if your children are 15 or younger.

After a chair-throwing meleeinvolving unruly young people during Christmas week last year, the Bloomington, Minn., mall is extending its parental escort policy this year, the Pioneer Press reported this week.

The policy, which requires kids under 16 to be accompanied by someone 21 or older on Fridays and Saturdays after 4 p.m., will be in effect during mall hours on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and from the day after Christmas until New Year’s Eve. The mall has had the weekend policy since 1996.

The chair-throwing incident, which was caught on video and posted online, wasn’t the primary reason for cracking down on unaccompanied young shoppers, said Dan Jasper, the mall’s vice president of public relations, who cited a record number of shoppers last year on Black Friday.

“We had never opened at midnight on Black Friday prior to last year,” he told TODAY Moms. “We had 217,000 people that day, including some unaccompanied kids who are 14, 15. Just for the safety of everyone, we expanded the policy.”

“The reason behind it is to make sure this is a safe environment,” he said.

While some who weighed in on the TODAY MOMS Facebook page supported the move, others said it was wrong to keep well-behaved young teens from shopping without a grownup.

“I think it is unfair to all teens to be treated the same as they are not,” wrote Judie Beford. “There are a lot of good ones and I am proud of them.”

“Not all teens are disrespectful and troublemakers like these kids clearly are,” Pamela Chapman wrote. “In fact, it's been my experience that most are good kids.”

Irene Miscia Martin suggested the mall beef up its security. “Don't make one bad apple spoil it for all the good ones,” she wrote. “We have wonderful teens in our family that love to shop and that would be just wrong.”

Some thought the extended ban on younger kids shopping alone or with friends could hurt sales.

“I think they will be hurting themselves because the thousands of well behaved teens still need presents for their family members,” wrote Jessica Brown.

But Jasper said the policy has helped sales, by encouraging families to shop together.

“Retailers love the policy,” he said. “When we first implemented it, there were concerns that sales would drop. But sales increased following the implementation and remain strong. It encourages more families to come out with their kids and sales went up.”

At a meeting a month ago to discuss holiday shopping, Jasper said the policy was discussed.  “Every single tenant was thrilled because they know it’s a policy that keeps everyone safe and leads to increased sales,” he said.

The mall first started its policy after officials noticed that parents were leaving children as young as 10 at the megamall.

“Families were dropping off their kids and using Mall of America as a babysitter,” Jasper said. “That’s just not safe for everybody.”

Now, he said, the policy gets enforced a handful of times each weekend.
 

Is Black Friday the best day to shop for bargains? It is for some items, but not everything. If you do your homework, you can save a bundle. 

LIVE CHAT: Get Black Friday tips from a pro! Chat with Herb Weisbaum today at 12:30 p.m. ET

“Some of the deals are shockingly good,” said Edgar Dworsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org, who’s been analyzing Black Friday deals since 2004. 

A few examples of some unbeatable Black Friday savings: 

• A Vizio 60” LED Smart TV on sale at Wal-Mart for $688, about $300 less than you can buy it anywhere else.
• The top-rated Samsung Galaxy SIII smartphone is less than a dollar ($0.96) at Sam’s Club, $200 off the regular price. 
• A 13-piece hard anodized cookware set at JC Penney for $100, that’s half price. 

But Dworsky cautions that only a few of the items advertised in the Black Friday circulars are what would be considered true door busters. And in many cases, those are limited to just a few per store. 

“Sears, for example, now has hundreds of door busters. Believe me, they’re not all great deals,” Dworsky told me. “But if you’re careful and you compare prices ahead of time, you’ll be able to recognize which are the bona fide door busters where you’re saving 50 percent.” 

Who has the best deals? Jon Vincent at BlackFriday.com picks Wal-Mart, Kohl’s and Best Buy. He calls the Black Friday ads for Target a disappointment. Dworsky agrees. 

“In the past, Target has been very good,” he said. “This year Target is not so good, except for an Xbox 360 with Kinect for $199.” 

How to snag the deals you want 
You need a plan to be a successful Black Friday shopper. Consumer World put together a list of tips to bag a bargain on Black Friday.

Here’s how to start:

• Read the ads. You can preview the Black Friday sales circulars at sites such as bfads.net, blackfriday.com and blackfridaygottadeal.com. While online, visit store websites for unannounced bargains and look for deals and coupons on their Facebook pages. 
• Evaluate the deals. Use price comparison websites such as PriceGrabber, PriceSpider, Shopping.com  to see if the advertised price really is a bargain. Use BizRate and ResellerRatings to check the reputation of an online merchant. 
• Check the reviews. For customer reviews, head to Epinions.com or read the user comments posted with products on Amazon.com. For professional ratings, visit sites like Consumer Reports, Steve’s Digicams (for cameras), PCMagazine or PCWorld (for computers), CNET (for all sorts of electronics) and the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio.  
• Save more with price-match guarantees. Many chain stores now offer some sort of price protection guarantee. You may be entitled to a refund if the price goes down at the store or a competitor offers the exact item at a lower price before Christmas. Sites such as FreePrice Alerts, CamelCamelCamel, PriceDropAlert and DealAlerter and will let you know if the item you’re tracking drops in price. Consumer World recently published a list of price-matching policies at major retailers.

What about something you want that’s not on sale Black Friday? 

“We recommend waiting until Cyber Monday because sometimes there will be a coupon you can use online,” said Vincent at BlackFriday.com. “If not, just check the weekly circulars and see if the item is put on sale before Christmas.”

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter or visit The ConsumerMan website.

Courtesy Melissa Rush

Melissa Rush, 24, far right, with her family outside an Old Navy on Black Friday in 2010 at 2 am.

You think you're going to get a deal this Black Friday? You'll have to get through the diehards first.

“Are you kidding?” Amanda Willis, 21, shouted into her phone, after secretly making it ring. “Yankee Candle is giving away those big candles for free for the next 10 minutes?!” Most of the hour-long line in front of her fled the J.Crew store at Jersey Shore Premium Outlets to dash over to the candle store. Willis checked out in 15 minutes. “I'm on a schedule,” the college senior and frugal fashion blogger told TODAY with a laugh mixed with both guilt and glee, recalling last year's ruse.

Related: 10 things not to buy on Black Friday

After waiting for 30 minutes for parking on Black Friday, a guy cut off Tyger Danger, 24, and stole her spot. “I threatened to key his car,” said the Orlando, Fla., public relations executive who flies home annually to shop Black Friday with her family. Since she was girl, her mother has bought her a new Christmas dress each year. “I find the day very stressful,” Danger told TODAY. “As I’ve grown older, I find myself staying away from large crowds, but my mother loves it. She loves the hustle and bustle. She loves the decorations, the energy and excitement."

Black Friday isn't what it used to be. There are cops now, organized lines, and claim tickets passed out for the door busters. They're necessary elements after a Wal-Mart worker was trampled to death in 2008 by uncontrolled crowds. Retailers have gotten better at crafting and marketing stingier deals, too. The day doesn't even start on Friday anymore, with many stores this year opening at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Much of the action and excitement is moving online as well. IBISWorld forecasts that 2012 Black Friday spending will be $12.2 billion, an increase of only .1 percent over last year. Meanwhile, Cyber Monday spending will jump 21.4 percent to $1.5 billion. For these true believers, however, Black Friday is as much for the savings as the thrill of snagging them.

Donning snow pants, a sweatshirt, coat, gloves and hat, Chace Cannon, 26, waited from 11:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. one year in front of a Salt Lake City, Utah, Target store. The temperature: 6 degrees. The prize: a-40 inch Westinghouse HDTV, half off, for $299. Once inside, he and friends loaded their carts up with eight TVs, the investment adviser told TODAY. Latecomers tried to pry the boxes out of their carts, so the gang retreated to a corner and circled the shopping carts until friends and family arrived.

Louise Sattler, 53, admits to being strategically nice to others. After that people are much more willing to help you, the Los Angeles educational entrepreneur told TODAY, like holding your place if you need to go to the bathroom or letting your kid jump in the line with you. Her family, fluent in sign language, uses it to coordinate with each other inside loud stores. It's faster than texting.

If she can't find what she's looking for, she'll look them up on the Internet afterward or during Cyber Monday. “A lot of the same deals are online,” said Sattler, a bit ruefully.

Tips: How to not bust your budget over the holidays

However, clicking buttons at home doesn't have the same visceral thrill of snatching a prize in the shopping scrum.

There's this “adrenaline high of getting all these great sales,” Melissa Rush, 24, told TODAY. She went to her first Black Friday on a lark a few years ago. Then she found a pair of ballet-slipper style Crocs for $24. After that, the Seminole, Fla., 2nd grade teacher was “hooked.”

This year, her family is limiting everyone to bringing one dish for Thanksgiving. It'll give them more time for shopping.

Rush's goal is to buy a present for each of her 30 different family members. Using a spreadsheet on her phone synced with her computer, delegating tasks in-store to her shopping crew of 10 friends and family, and using a combination of coupons, price matching, and manufacturer's rebates, she aims to spend no more than $300 total, about $10 per person. She says it's key to compare the circulars from the week before with the Black Friday announcements to make sure the deals with the big red circles around them are actual savings. She also checks prices and reviews on Amazon.com before putting an item on the hit list.

Rush does what anyone else can do. She's just very dedicated about how she does it. Research ahead of time. Know what you want. Stick to your plan. Execute. Oh, and always make sure one person in your group gets into the checkout line right away when you enter the store while the others hunt for the goodies.

“At first people thought I was crazy,” when they heard how early she was getting up and how hardcore she took the whole process, she said. “Then they saw the receipt.”

When the economic crisis hit in late 2008, to stay in budget, Rush's large family had to change the holiday gift-giving tradition to White Elephant or Secret Santa parties, which make a game out of giving a limited number of presents. Now that she does Black Friday, she and her posse come home with SUV-loads full of presents, and everyone gets one. “Our smiles are as big as Christmas,” she said.

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From Los Angeles to Tampa, shoppers are already camping out in front of big-box retailers, determined to be among the first in line for door-buster deals. 

In Los Angeles, some hardcore consumers have been in line since last Monday, even taking vacation from work in order to save big money. 

An estimated 147 million Americans will take advantage of Black Friday sales, 4 percent more than last year. 

"This year's the earliest I've seen people line up,” said Jeff Cox, the Best Buy manager at a Best Buy store in Los Angeles. “I’m astonished. I've never seen that in my history in retail." 

Why would a person spend 10 days camping out in front of a store? Are the deals really that good? 

"People are like, why come, make a line. You're not saving that much. But we actually are," said Miriam Santamaria, who is proudly first in line at the Best Buy. 

By Friday morning, managers at the L.A. Beat Buy are expecting up to 5,000 people. That explains why Miriam says the worst part about Black Friday is getting out of the parking lot. 

In Tampa, shoppers starting waiting in line over the weekend at a Best Buy, hoping to get their hands on heavily discounted flat-screen TVs and computers. 

Good things come to those who wait. But this may be taking it too far.

Attention Black Friday shoppers: The rules of the game have changed this year. You’ll need to shop earlier and more often to bag those amazing bargains.

At Kmart, Sears, Toys R Us and Walmart, Black Friday starts at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Target opens its doors at 9 p.m.

“Is it now Black Thursday?” asked Michael Brim, founder of BFAds.net, one of many websites dedicated to tracking holiday-season deals. “It’s weird. Are people going to forgo Thanksgiving meals?”

Maybe not, but retailers certainly think dedicated shoppers will have no problem heading to the big-box stores Thursday night.

“We heard from our guests that they look forward to kicking off their holiday shopping with deal-hunting on Thanksgiving night,” said Kathee Tesija, executive vice president for merchandising at Target.

“Our customers love the thrill of Black Friday shopping and equally enjoy getting an early start on their search for the best deals,” said Peter Reiner, senior vice president for marketing at Toys R US.

In another new twist, Sears, Kmart and Walmart are staggering their “doorbuster” deals this year. At Walmart, for example, some of the superspecial deals will be made available when the doors open at 8 p.m. Others go on sale at 10 p.m. A third wave of deals will become available at 5 a.m. on Black Friday.

“They’re just trying to get people to stay in the store, take advantage of three different sales and shop all night long,” said Jon Vincent of BlackFriday.com.

One welcome Walmart addition that should help limit the shopping madness that sometimes accompanies the “doorbuster” specials: The retailer is guaranteeing that customers who shop during its one-hour event  Thanksgiving night will be able to get an Apple iPad 2 16GB with Wi-Fi for $399 (and get a $75 Walmart gift card), an Emerson 32-inch 720p LCD TV for $148 and an LG Blue-Ray video player for $38 before Christmas.

If you are in the store or in line between 10 and 11 p.m. Thanksgiving night and one of these items sells out, you can buy a “Guarantee Card,” paying for it by midnight. The item will be shipped to that Walmart store for pickup.

In 2008, a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by shoppers rushing to get into the store for Black Friday deals.

Retailers also are trying other tactics to lure shoppers on days other than Black Friday. Sears and Target will give shoppers early access to Black Friday bargains in return for their  loyalty. Members of the "Shop Your Way” loyalty club at Sears can shop doorbuster deals starting at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18.

Is it worth joining?

“Shop Your Way is a fairly middle-of-the-road loyalty program and if you frequently shop at Sears, the points might be worth something to you,” said Jeff Somogyi, an editor at dealnews.com.

At Target, shoppers with a REDcard credit or debit card account can shop exclusive Black Friday sale items starting Wednesday, Nov. 21. Those with a REDcard will also get a 5 percent discount online and in the store, as well as free shipping on all orders.

Caution: Financial experts say opening a new card simply to get a jump on a sale or even a discount price is a bad idea.

“You're using your credit report as an admission pass, and retail store credit card inquiries are among the most damaging for your credit scores,” said John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at SmartCredit.com. “Further, the interest rate on the REDcard is subprime (22.9 percent APR). That makes carrying debt very expensive and certainly outweighs the value of getting a deal on your shopping trip.”

Or, shop from home
Some doorbuster deals can only be snagged by those who wait in line, but most of the items offered Black Friday can be found online.

“For example, Kohl’s advertises 500 doorbusters, and we expect at least 450 of those to be available online,” Jon Vincent of BFAds.com told me.

The super shoppers at dealnews.com visited Walmart and Target on Thanksgiving Day last year. They noted some of the special prices and then shopped for those same items online. They found that 70 percent of those in-store deals were available online for the same price or less. 

“While there were still low prices on some items that we could only find exclusively in-store, chances are high that you’ll find a comparable deal online if you decide to stay home and do a little research,” said Lindsay Sakraida, features director at dealnews.

Retailers understand that a lot of us prefer to grab those Black Friday deals online. At BFAds.net, Michael Brim told me stores have become more transparent about what they’re going to sell online and when it will become available.

“They usually put the online sales live on Thanksgiving Day morning,” he said. “You can shop all morning Thanksgiving Day and if you miss out on any items online or the item is in-store only, you still have the opportunity to go to the store the next day.”

More info:

• Top 10 Tips to Bag a Bargain on Black Friday
• Video: Do You Need to Shop In-Store on Black Friday?
• BFAds.net: Hot Deals

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook or visit The ConsumerMan website.

Reuters

Shoppers pay for their purchases at an Old Navy store as "Black Friday" shoppers get an early start in Los Angeles last year. Better deals on some products might be available later in the season.

With all the Black Friday ad leaks and sneak peeks we've unearthed in the past few weeks, this season's shopping extravaganza is looking ripe with deals and discounts for all. But even though many product categories will see new all-time low prices, not everything will be a good purchase on Black Friday. In some cases, you would be better off skipping certain deals and waiting for a better offer later on in the coming year. Here are 10 items that are not worth buying this Black Friday.

Toys
We've said it many times already, and we'll say it once more: Black Friday is not the best time to buy toys for the holidays. Many will likely still be discounted for Black Friday, and it may feel pretty good to get your shopping done early, but you won't love that sinking feeling you'll get when you see those toys discounted for less about two weeks before Christmas.

Game consoles without a bundled item
Speaking of toys, if you're looking to buy any of the major video game consoles this holiday, you're likely to get more bang for your buck by opting for one that comes with a few extras. While we've already seen a few choice Xbox deals in the leaked Black Friday ads, in years past, the vast majority of Editors' Choice console deals went to holiday bundles that included premium accessories and two or three game titles. These were frequently discounted 30 to 40 percent off their retail prices.

Brand Name HDTVs
Black Friday is an excellent time to invest in a new HDTV, as we predict a variety of size categories will hit their lowest price points. But don't expect the best deals to be tagged with name brands. Typically, the rock-bottom prices will mostly apply to third-tier manufacturers. Instead, brand name TVs tend to see their best price of the year in January and February as manufacturers look to clear stock in preparation for new models in the spring.

The latest digital cameras
There's no shortage of digital camera deals around Black Friday, but keep in mind that the premium current-generation models are just a few months away from being replaced by a new line of 2013 options. If you're eying a brand-new digital SLR, we recommend waiting until February or later when it becomes an "old model," resulting in more aggressive discounts from retailers.

AP file

The best deals on cameras are likely to be had in the new year.

Christmas decorations
While not typically on anyone's "To Buy on Black Friday" list, Christmas decor tends to end up in-cart on impulse buys. Sure, that string of lights or holiday wreath might be on sale, but deals on Christmas items get better the closer we get to the holiday itself — and of course are the best after the holiday.

Office supplies
For some, it may seem silly to advise against office supply deals on Black Friday, as it's not typically a category associated with the shopping event. But for several years running, office supply stores like Office Depot and OfficeMax have released Black Friday ads in the hopes of encouraging an uptick in business. Unfortunately, these deals are generally no better than those we see throughout the rest of the year. In fact, during the entire Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday stretch in 2011, we only found a measly three Editors' Choice deals in this category.

Jewelry and watches
We're flagging this accessories category "Do Not Buy" for the entire holiday season. Much like Christmas items, there will be lots of sales advertising shiny, metallic objects perfect for him or her. But the discounts on jewelry around the winter holidays are no better than those around Valentine's Day, when baubles are at their most in-demand. And instead of buying a watch now, consider holding off until the spring and summer when we see more Editors' Choice deals.

Winter apparel
During Black Friday, we'll likely see some of the best apparel coupons of the year from a variety of retailers. However, if winter apparel is on your list, it's smarter to hold off until January, when those items are added to clearance sales that take much deeper base discounts. We will inevitably find additional stacking coupons then too, to make those stronger sales even better for your wallet.

Apple iPad mini
The long-awaited iPad mini will set you back at least $329, and if it follows the price pattern of its distant predecessor, the first generation iPad, it won't see a discount until several months from now. While there's an off-chance that an attention-seeking retailer could offer an iPad mini promotion (the latest full-size iPad is included in the Target Black Friday ad, after all), the bottom line is this: the iPad mini features essentially the same innards as the iPad 2, and we're predicting that the latter will fall to $299 this Black Friday. Therefore, the iPad 2 will offer more screen real estate at a lower price.

Microsoft Surface RT tablet
Microsoft has seemingly made a concerted effort to position its products in line with Apple's, thus exerting a considerable amount of control over where the Surface is available and for how much. And like Apple's tendency to offer minimal discounts on the iPad, Microsoft might only offer a marginal deal on the Surface this season. But if Surface sales are weak, the tablet may instead go the way of the BlackBerry PlayBook, wherein we'll see its price fall considerably by the spring.

While we advise against purchasing the above products around Black Friday, keep in mind that nothing is written in stone, and we may still see some stellar deals within these categories; however, it's more likely that we'll encounter so-so offers, so it's best to temper your expectations.

This story originally appeared on dealnews.com as "10 Things Not to Buy on Black Friday."

More from dealnews.com:

• Retailers Want Your Black Friday Loyalty
• Black Friday Spending & Shopping Plans
• The Facts Behind Leaked Black Friday Ads
• 70% of In-Store Deals Available Online

Target employees are seeing red after the retailer announced its stores will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, cutting into holiday time for workers. An online petition asking Target to not open on Thanksgiving has over 179,000 signatures, and the number continues to rise.

Thanksgiving, a time for family, togetherness, turkey ... and standing for hours to service the needs of the relentless hordes of shoppers seeking the last Furby and deeply discounted HDTV sets. Indeed, Black Friday, which traditionally started in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, has seen its hours pushed back in recent years so that stores start offering savings on Thanksgiving night itself.

This year, Walmart, Toys R Us, Kmart, and Sears are all opening their doors at 8 pm Thursday. Together with Target, that's two to four hours before they kicked things off last year.

Reached for comment, Target spokesperson Molly Snyder told NBC News: "Target’s opening time was carefully evaluated with our guests, team and the business in mind. Across the country, team member preferences were considered in creating our store staffing schedules. Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest of the year, and we appreciate our Target team’s flexibility on this weekend and throughout the holiday season."

Synder told NBC News that Target employees always receive time-and-a-half pay for working national holidays. Workers clocking hours during Thanksgiving and Black Friday also receive additional pay bonuses, she said. Only one-third of Target's workforce is  scheduled to work on Thanksgiving. 

Some employees are "excited" for the chance to work extra hours, she said. "We’ve heard from many stores that they had more team members volunteer to work than they had available shifts," Snyder said.

But there are a few people out there, almost 200,000, who think that something with "Friday" in the name should actually start on Friday.

The Change.org user who created the petition, "C. Renee," is a self-described six-year employee of Target living in California. In the petition description the user wrote that having to work on Black Friday prevented him or her from visiting their family on the East Coast.

C. Renee wrote, "I currently work two jobs, substitute teaching and work Target at nights and weekends, so having Thanksgiving off really does give me that one day to relax and visit family I otherwise have no time to see." The user did not respond to an NBC News request for additional comment.

Are you "into" Black Friday? Do you have a passion for hunting for the savings? Do you plan in advance and make sure you have the best shopping strategy? If so, we'd like to talk to you for an upcoming piece on Black Friday diehards. Please do get in touch with us. 

Don't forget to include your contact information, including which state you live, so we can contact you.

Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images file

If you want a great price on a TV, wait until the Thanksgiving weekend. Research found that television sets of all sizes are typically at their lowest price around Black Friday.

The shopping frenzy some people wait for all year long is still seven weeks away. And yet, we already have the first predictions about Black Friday sales prices. 

The shopping experts at dealnews.com studied what happened last year and they expect many popular electronic items to be at their lowest prices ever during what they call the “Black Friday Season” – mid-November to Cyber Monday. 

“Typically, people think of Black Friday as a bargain bin event, but we’re seeing hotter items get discounted,” said Lindsay Sakraida, features director at dealnews.com. 

If you want a great price on a TV, that’s the weekend to shop. Dealnews research found that television sets of all sizes are typically at their lowest price around Black Friday. 

“For example, we’re predicting you’ll be able to find a 47-inch TV for around $299, which is actually a very aggressive price,” Sakraida said. “We expect that to be the size that retailers use as the door-buster deal to get people into the store.”

Of course, this “rock-bottom” price is for third-tier manufacturers. If you want a high-end model, expect to pay more.

Apple tends to offer discounts of 5 to 10 percent on Black Friday. Free shipping for online purchases is also a traditional incentive. Sakraida told me she believes third-party merchants will once again beat Apple’s prices with discounts of up to 25 percent. 

“We predict deals around Black Friday on both the new 3^rd-generation iPad as well as the iPad 2 from a variety of stores, at prices lower than what Apple will charge,” she said. 

Dealnews predicts the new iPad (16GB with WiFi) could be offered for $499 and the iPad 2 (16GB with WiFi) for $299. If this happens, these iPads will get snapped right up, so you’ll have to watch the ads and act quickly if you see a discounted price. 

Black Friday is also the time to snag some super deals on videogames. Games released early in the year could be slashed to $15 – that’s 75 percent off the retail price. Some of the hot new titles (ones that were just released in October) should be marked down 50 percent on Thanksgiving weekend. That’s what happened last year. Keep in mind, prices on some videogame titles may go even lower the two weeks before Christmas. 

Toy stores slash prices on Black Friday with discounts of as much as 50 percent on some of the most popular toys and games. But you’ll probably see better deals later in mid-December on what’s left. Of course, if it’s a must-have toy that’s in demand, don’t wait too long.

Don’t forget, Black Friday also means deals on clothing. Sakraida expects “some of the best coupons of the year” which can be used on merchandise already on sale.  This is a great way to get a big discount on cold weather apparel before the clearance sales later in the year. 

Black Friday shopping tips
After analyzing the data for last year, dealnews found that the sale prices on Thanksgiving were often better than those on Black Friday itself. 

“So if you’re really particular about what you’re looking for, you probably want to get a head start and look on Thanksgiving,” Sakraida said. 

One more tip: It’s rarely necessary to fight the crowds. Sure there are some door-buster deals that are only available at the store. But dealnews found that about three-quarters of the in-store deals were also available online for the same price or less. 

More info: Dealnews Black Friday Predictions 2012 

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook or visit The ConsumerMan website.

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Anna Staab gets her ticket at Walmart for a $199 Xbox with Kinect and a $50 gift certificate.

By Eve Tahmincioglu

Extended Black Friday hours may have angered those store employees who had to work before their turkey dinners were digested, but many shoppers were happy with this year's earlier store opening times because they found fewer raucous crowds and shorter lines as a result.

“This was the absolute calmest Black Friday I have ever experienced,” said Nathan Luna, 24, who began his shopping trek at 12:08 a.m. this morning and headed to Best Buy in Wheaton, Md.

While things may have been more relaxed, projections for the number of consumers heading out on the biggest shopping day of the year are up.

According to data compiled for the National Retail Federation by BIGresearch, up to 152 million people plan to shop over the Black Friday weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), that's higher than the 138 million people who planned to do so last year. According to the survey, 74 million people say they will definitely hit the stores and another 77 million are waiting to see if the bargains are worth braving the cold and the crowds.

Overall, electronics and clothing were among the biggest scores for many consumers, especially video game players and high-end fashions. And many shoppers said they found the sales items they wanted, unlike past Black Fridays that offered slim pickings; and lots of sales people to help them navigate the stores.

Here are some first-hand accounts of the day and deals from Black Friday aficionados:

“The crowds were very well-behaved,” said Brad Williams, 39, an analyst for Duke University who headed out at 9:15 p.m. last night with his wife Wendy. “The line at Target, as I said, was enormous, but my wife said that the people there were jovial and pretty Zen about the wait. No pushing or shoving whatsoever.”

The couple has two young kids, but grandparents take the kids after Thanksgiving dinner to their house so Brad and his wife can shop unfettered.

"The crowds seemed to be bigger this year at Target and Kohl's, but smaller elsewhere," Williams added. "I think that has to do with when we arrived. We were in the teeth of the initial rush at those two places, but by the time we got to Crabtree, about 3 a.m., that had subsided and the second rush, when non-crazy people are getting up, hadn't yet begun."

Brad Williams

Orderly crowds at the Tanger Outlets in Mebane, N.C.

The deals overall were good, he said, but his “best bargains” were “a pair of Lucky Brand jeans for my wife, which were $18 (original outlet price was $69.50, they were on clearance for $30, and 40 percent off that), and a Brooks Brothers sports shirt, which was $29.90.”

Wendy Novicenskie

Brad Williams shows off his Black Friday loot.

Anna Staab, 51, Metamora, Il., hit the stores around 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving and found lots of merchandise available at Walmart and Menards, a regional department store chain. “After seeing plenty of merchandise left at Walmart at this hour we wondered if it had something to do with the economy or if people were just avoiding it due to the earlier hours,” she surmised.

Staab, a retired Post Master who has seven kids living with her, some foster, some adopted and some biological, said she needed to be out early to get the big bargains and ended up with quite a few.

Her biggest complaint was where Walmart placed the sales items.

“Big box items, i.e. trampoline, ping pong table, power ride on toys, were all at the back of the store. Customers had to fight the crowds with the huge boxes,” she explained. “They need a better system for those.”

Nathan Luna

Nathan Luna grabbed an iPad for $454.

And Staab didn't like that many retailers staggered sales throughout the night.

"Certain things went on sale at 10 p.m. Thursday, then midnight, then 8 a.m.," she noted.

Besides a few annoyances, she was able to get the one thing she really wanted. She's most proud of the Xbox with Kinect she got at Walmart for $199 and a $50 Walmart card included, about half the price it was last year.

The iPad 2 was the only thing Nathan Luna was looking for.

He arrived at the Best Buy in Wheaton, Md., at 12:20 a.m. and found the parking log jammed and a line of more than 700 people.

“Less-experienced Black Friday shoppers would have probably turned around in horror, but I pressed on,” said Luna, a TV photographer who has been Black Friday shopping since he was a kid when he shopped with his mom and grandmother.

Nathan Luna

Lines formed at the Best Buy in Wheaton, Md., and police were on hand to keep things moving smoothly.

Despite the crowds, he said, a group of police officers helped shuffle shoppers into the store and the line within 20 minutes after the store opened.

Nathan Luna

There were big crowds at the Best Buy in Wheaton, Md., but lines moved quickly, according to one shopper.

“I was greeted by a wall of Dynex 32-inch TVs and thousands of people jamming up the aisles,” he described. “I asked the greeter where the iPads were, and he directed me to the back of the store. I had to bump a few elbows to get back there, but when I did, I noticed something new.”

Instead of a line snaking around the entire store, he said, there were check-out lines scattered throughout the store near key items.

“When I got in the iPad line, I literally had eleven people in front of me,” he said, adding that it took about a half hour to check out, compared to the hours it has taken during past Black Fridays.

He eventually got his iPad for $454.

Erin Mellini was happy she paid $10 for VIP parking through Livingsocial for the Rockaway Townsquare Mall in Rockaway, N.J., because she ended up with a prime parking spot.

“The VIP parking was nice and close, and it gave me peace of mind my car was in good hands because the mall security was in charge of it,” she said.

Erin Mellini

Erin Mellini with the hard drive for $30 she was able to snag.

Mellini, 25, a zookeeper and educator from Randolph, N.J., found the mall relatively quiet when she got there at 5 am.

“The stores were not really picked clean,” she added, but “any deep discount item, which you needed a ticket for, was gone.

For example a $199, 42-inch HDTV from Best Buy was gone, but I got an external Toshiba hard drive that I was intending to buy and didn’t have to deal with the mad rush at midnight. I got it for $30 which is a very good price.”

The best deal, she noted, was a $40 WiFi streaming media player from Walmart.

“I was happiest to get that, which was a door-buster deal,” she explained, adding that most of the stores had a great supply of advertised merchandise.

Mellini acknowledged that she and her friend Erica, who joined her on the shopping excursion, didn’t have the same "adrenaline rush" they had on previous Black Fridays because the crowds seemed to be so spread out given the extended hours.

“We still had a great time and intend to maybe go out at midnight next year if that is going to become the norm for stores,” she added.

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