We’ve all heard of extreme sports like cliff climbing and mountain biking, and now we have the equivalent of this in extreme holiday shopping. Note the blonde in the red suit in Target ads who does sprints carrying heavy shopping bags to get in shape for Black Friday. In 2008 on Long Island, a Walmart employee was killed in a Black Friday stampede of shoppers as he tried to hold them back. Unbelievably, the hundreds who trampled and killed this man continued to shop for the big ticket sale items.
The problem is that Black Friday is turning into Black Thursday in retail stores’ attempts to compete for every shopping dollar out there. The derivation of Black Friday is, after all, the day that puts stores in the black or profit side of the balance sheet. First it was just big sales and incentives for shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving. Then it was opening stores at the butt crack of dawn. Pretty soon some big box stores decide to open in the early morning hours, and then many stores opened at midnight. I mean, really, who wants to go shopping at midnight after a big day of Thanksgiving eating? Not me. I plan to be in bed in a tryptophan coma by then. Well, apparently not enough other people do, so now some stores are opening for sales 8am to 1pm on Thanksgiving Day!
A disgruntled part-time Target employee was interviewed on the TODAY show this week. He turned in an on-line petition to Target headquarters with 200,000 signatures of those employees who did not want to work at Target on Thanksgiving. He is scheduled to work from 4am to 10:45am and then to go back 10 hours later to restock shelves for the midnight opening. A Target spokesman explained that their shoppers have expressed a desire to kick off holiday shopping right after the Thanksgiving festivities rather than in the middle of the night. Retail stores seeking consumer dollars are feeding the Black Friday frenzy. Forcing employees to work on a traditional family holiday is just not ethical business practice. An alternative might be to pay double for employees who volunteer to work that day or, gasp, just stay closed until Friday morning.
In my adopted state of Pennsylvania, most men go up to their mountain cabins after Thanksgiving to get ready for deer season which opens on the following Monday. This leaves the womenfolk to eat leftovers and to bond through competitive shopping. I imagine sisters or friends getting together, making lists, going out to breakfast, and trying to do it all in one day. And there is nothing wrong with that if you love doing it that way. Yet, I cannot help but draw an analogy between shopping and hunting. I fought the crowds and snagged an XBox for a great price vs. I hiked through the woods and bagged a 10-point buck with one shot. Our local news coverage of Black Friday is the same every year: overflowing parking lots, throngs of over burdened shoppers, and crowded malls. The person with the most stuff wins. Why is this news?
Personally, I have never gone shopping on Black Friday because I don’t like crowds. Instead of an extreme shopper, I am a moderate shopper who buys gifts locally as I see them, never shopping for more than an hour or two on any given day. In the end I always succumb to last-minute online purchases. Tonight some people will be lined up outside of stores to get the best price on a big ticket item by being among the first 50 customers. Living in a tent outside a store is pretty pathetic, “Occupy Walmart.” But maybe the adrenaline flow is what some people need to get their holiday gift shopping done. I just don’t get it.
I'd enjoy hearing from someone who likes to shop on Black Friday.
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