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This is Black Friday, the day that officially launches the Christmas shopping season. Customers wake up before daylight to storm the doors of stores where wondrous bargains supposedly await them.

At the risk of putting a damper on Black Friday, let's talk about credit cards. The News & Record published a front-page story this week telling you what you've probably noticed: that Americans' love affair with credit cards may be cooling.

In the past, we've hauled out our little pieces of plastic to pay for everything from coffee at Starbucks to airplane tickets to big-ticket cars. We Americans spend more and save less than any people on the planet. On trips to China and Russia, I've learned that the Chinese and Russians don't buy something unless they can pay for it. Maybe it's their repressive history that's taught them to toe the line. Not us. We free-wheeling Americans put it on plastic.

According to the Associated Press story, the sour economy may be changing our consumer habits. Americans have discovered old-fashioned greenbacks. "Retailers such as Walmart, Target and J.C. Penney are noticing a shift away from credit cards in favor of cash and debit cards," the AP story said.

I can personally attest to this turnabout. I was standing in the checkout line at Target last week and noticed that the three shoppers ahead of me were paying with -- gasp! -- dollars.

One customer's shopping basket was overflowing with purchases, suggesting a hefty bill. She still paid with cash, not plastic. I was so impressed that I put my Visa card back in my purse and paid with cash, too. That's the way trends get started.

My late father would have applauded. When credit cards were a relatively new invention in the early 1950s, I was still a child and remember thinking it would be so sophisticated if my parents had a credit card. (Today, some people have dozens!) The Diners Club was a pioneer of the new credit card industry. First issued in 1950, the Diners Club card was used to pay restaurant bills. My uncle had a Diners card, and I was extremely impressed when he whipped it out to pay for dinner at a Birmingham restaurant.

It would take years before my father grudgingly owned a credit card, and even then he rarely used it. My father had lived through the Great Depression and, like others of that generation, he believed in thrift and savings accounts. His motto: If you can't afford it, don't buy it. He was a devoted believer in pay as you go. The Diners card -- and later American Express, Visa, Mastercard, etc. -- did not fit in his financial firmament.

Today, he would be appalled by my mail. Several times a week I am bombarded with unsolicited letters asking me to sign up for credit cards. I'm convinced that anybody -- teenagers, college students, the unemployed -- would qualify even if they have no financial means to pay credit card bills. But consumer behavior may be changing. According to the AP story, Walmart and Target officials say credit card use has declined during this frightening economic downturn. Credit card companies are also cutting back on issuing cards. In short, we may be learning to live like our grandparents once did.

But here's the downside of life without credit cards. If shoppers shelve credit cards, it will discourage them from spending money, analysts say. And that will worsen our sick economy.

Tom Friedman, the syndicated columnist, recently told readers to "go shopping" and stimulate the economy. He momentarily caught me off guard. He was seeming to contradict what we've been told not to do when our personal finances are uncertain. But Friedman added one caveat: "go saving," too, and don't buy what you can't afford.

If you happen to read this column before you join Black Friday's madding crowd, feel free to shop 'til you drop -- but preferably pay with cash. Who knows? You might be starting a healthy new habit!

http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/11/26/article/rosemary_roberts_shop_til_you_drop_but_pay_with_cash