At Everything Finance, we examine financial matters from numerous perspectives. With the holiday season around the corner, our topic today focuses on consumerism versus family values.
Our economy is in need of rejuvenation, and retailers are looking to capitalize on the Black Friday phenomenon as one way to revamp their annual earnings. How might they do this? Quite simply. Some of the leading retail chains have decided to initiate their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving evening, rather than the traditional early hours of Friday. This has sparked considerable dissent among the store’s hourly workers, who are protesting by raising their voices.
STORES OPENING ON THE EVE OF THANKSGIVING
An intense rivalry has been observed between stores trying to be the earliest to open their doors for the sales. Currently, 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving seems to be the favored time. Sears has announced plans to launch their sale at this time and remain open for an uninterrupted 26 hours. Likewise, Toys R Us, WalMart, and K-Mart, are joining the 8 p.m. kickoff, facilitating sales designed to attract enormous crowds and stimulate a holiday shopping extravaganza.
It’s important to clarify that certain chains will be open on Thanksgiving Day itself. These include drugstores like CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid. For our purposes today, however, we’re primarily addressing those opening for the Black Friday sales, when employees will not only be on shift, but will also be contending with large holiday crowds. The earliest sales start, in general, at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving night.
EMPLOYEES RETALIATE
Working on Black Friday is no walk in the park. I can attest to that from personal experience, having done so during my college years. The experience is exceedingly intense. Shoppers are often agitated, worn-out from Thanksgiving preparations, and in considerable numbers.
Having employees leave their Thanksgiving celebrations to accommodate frenzied customers seems unfair. Interestingly, I’m not the only one with these sentiments – a Target employee initiated a Change.org petition that quickly gained traction. At the time of my writing, the petition had amassed more than 200,000 signatories. The plea included a poignant letter to Target’s CEO.
THE FUTURE OF HOLIDAY SHOPPING
Rich Milgram, the CEO of career network Beyond.com, reminds us that Labor Day and Memorial Day were once considered days of rest as well. Nowadays, sales and store openings on these days are commonplace, reflecting society’s adaptation to the evolving marketplace. [Source: CNN.com]
So, we must ask: where do we, as a society, draw the line? While we’re collectively striving to recover from our economic slump, should we sacrifice cherished American traditions for this cause? Alternatively, is this trend simply another manifestation of a society primarily oriented towards profit-making? Is any tradition still considered sacred in these times?
