Good morning and happy Amazon Prime Day, Daily Money readers. It’s Jayme Deerwester back with you on this Tuesday morning.
The two-day sale, which launches today, is like Black Friday in July, with bargains on tech gear, kitchen toys, home essentials, clothing and pretty much every other shopping category you can think of. It’s also spurred other retailers to offer competing sales.
Just how good are the Prime Day sales? You decide. Here’s a sampling:
Don’t know where to begin? Our friends over at Reviewed have been scouring Amazon for the best deals for the past two weeks. Check out their picks:
Live updates from Reviewed.com deal desk:80+ best Amazon Prime Day deals.
Tech lover’s delight: Prime Day tech deals on Apple, Samsung, Beats and more.
Competing sales: Shop the best deals from Target, Best Buy, Samsung, Walmart.
Protect your packages: Stop porch pirates from stealing your Prime Day goodies.
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High gas prices are squeezing experience spending on travel, dining
So-called “revenge spending” – spending on experiences like travel and restaurants despite the cost to make up for time lost during the pandemic – is showing signs of buckling as inflation pressures settle in, new data show.
“Gas prices are starting to hurt,” Aditya Bhave, Bank of America Securities U.S. and global economist, wrote in his report. “Leisure services spending has weakened, particularly among lower-income households.”
As consumer spending on goods waned, pent-up demand for services like travel and restaurants was expected to keep the economy afloat.
AAA even forecasted that a record 42 million people hit the roads over the July 4th weekend (defined as June 30 to July 4) despite near-record gas prices. The first two days of that weekend also saw TSA checkpoint travel numbers top 2019 airport traffic.
“Last month, we were encouraged by the fact that services spending was picking up the slack as stay-at-home goods demand faded,” Bhave said. “The story for June is more concerning.”
🎧 Mood music 🎧
Time to tamp down the consumerism a tiny bit with a lyric from The Clash’s “Lost in the Supermarket.”
“I’m all lost in the supermarket. I can no longer shop happily. I came in here for the special offer: guaranteed personality.”
About The Daily Money
Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer news from USA TODAY. We break down financial news and provide the TLDR version: how decisions by the Federal Reserve, government and companies impact you. It even comes with its own Spotify playlist. It features nearly every song quoted here.
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