Black Friday deals overshadow Thanksgiving
There are two types of people around Thanksgiving and the holidays. The first are people who want to spend the holiday making memories with their friends and families. The others are the avid shoppers with their sights set on the Black Friday deals – the people who believe stores should be open hours before the Black Friday madness actually begins.
More than 70% of shoppers believe stores should be closed on Thanksgiving Day, according to a survey conducted by BestBlackFriday.com.
The website states, “The growing trend in online shopping for Black Friday and Cyber Monday continues to reflect that most consumers would rather spend the Thanksgiving holiday at home than out in traffic or shopping among strangers.”
According to MarketWatch, in 2018, Thanksgiving day spending reached $3.7 billion in online sales, which is up 28% from 2017.
Yet, despite this information, more and more stores are opening their doors for Black Friday sales early. Some stores are opening as early as 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving day. A few stores have confirmed they will be open on Thanksgiving day, including Best Buy, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, CVS, DSW, Kmart, Macy’s, Meijer, Old Navy, Sears and Walgreens.
Every year, companies take away family time from hardworking employees. We are being pushed to work harder, longer hours for the same small paychecks that don’t support us, while retail executives and CEOs sit at home with their families and collect money from the work they aren’t doing. Thanksgiving is a day everyone should get to spend with our families.
Thanksgiving has lost its meaning, overcome by the wave of Black Friday deals. Thanksgiving is supposed to be about being thankful for the things we do have. Now, Thanksgiving seems to be filled with feelings of envy for the things that we don’t.
While I understand the desire to get the best deals and to get the best things, but would you want to be working on Thanksgiving Day? As someone who works retail at a store that will be opening on Thanksgiving Day, I have to say I don’t particularly enjoy the possibility of being scheduled to work on a day I want to spend with my family.
Not only that, but we shouldn’t overlook the meaning of Thanksgiving. The day is supposed to be about taking a step back from our usually frantic lives to appreciate the things we have and the people that we are surrounded with. As cliche as it sounds, the greatest, most important gift isn’t that pair of shoes you’ve been eyeing, or that new game console; it’s spending time with the people you love.
