Social Media is a buzz with word people who’ve received their $1200 stimulus payment from the Federal Government are spending that money on big-ticket extravagance like 55” TVs from big box stores.
So I commissioned another informal survey of shoppers leaving big box stores with big items to find out if they bought them with stimulus money.
Most folks leaving with a big screen TV or barbeque grill, a mini-fridge, or other stuff said they were not spending stimulus money, in fact, many hadn’t gotten their checks.
Like Anna, who along with her son, was struggling to fit a new 55” TV into her Hyundai?
“They had really good deals in [Sam’s Club],” she said. So I asked if she bought the TV with money from a stimulus check: “No I don’t even have one yet, I wish…”
So it was off to Costco where I met Norma, she was waiting to get into the store.
“Oh, yeah I just got a check online, direct deposit,” Norma said happily.
So I asked what she was going to do with the money.
I’m going to share some of it with my country, Philippines. Because of COVID, we’re gonna share some food over there.”
Another big-hearted gesture with the money. Very humble, very simple.
Renee says she’s still waiting on her stimulus check but has plans for it:
“I’m gonna save it, just put in the hold, in case I don’t go back to work as soon as they say.”
Off to Walmart in Kenner, there’s always big purchases going out the front door there.
I ran into a contact who works there. He reported seeing a lot of TV’s leaving recently:
“I saw six-to-eight TVs leaving, big TVs.”
He says the rush on TVs started Tuesday night. “I didn’t even know that the check’s gone out til I got home and got told by my granddaughter.”
That makes sense, Tuesday is when direct deposits started hitting accounts in earnest.
He said TVs were really moving Tuesday and Wednesday: “[It was like] the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, they had a lot of TV’s moving out [like] they cheap, they had them on sale.”
So it seems everybody is very determined to pay bills, save money, share it with family, until the money actually hits the account—then anything could happen.
And besides, everyone wants a new TV if they’re going to be sequestered for another month.
And the government is giving the money away to spend, anyway.
We’ve got to keep the economy rolling…
