Why I Hate Black Friday

-

Okay, so hate might be too strong a word, but I really don't like the practice of Black Friday.


I'm not a monster, I like a good shopping deal, but I have issues with Black Friday in particular. For starters, it isn't just a single day anymore. Retailers (Walmart being by far the worst offender I've seen so far) have been advertising Black Friday sales since before Halloween. HALLOWEEN! Which is 2 months before Christmas!

Black Friday is the Worst


Are we even going to bother celebrating Thanksgiving? 

Probably should just skip it, since that holiday doesn't net nearly enough profit for retailers.

On that note, it's the commercialization of holidays that really grinds my gears. The moment Halloween sales begin to dwindle, they jump right to coaxing people into the store with all things Christmas season... it's just disgusting. None of the holidays, Halloween included, are meant to be about SHOPPING.

Gift giving is meant to have meaning. Sure picking out something you got on sale can feel like an adrenaline high (it probably is), but how many gifts are bought just because they are supposedly a good deal? Does the recipient even want that for Christmas?

Back to Thanksgiving. It's a holiday that is purpose bent on spending time with family- the most important aspect of all holidays in my opinion. A time to gather together, give thanks for what blessings we have already and reflect on the year.

And of course, watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Which now comes complete with the SAME Macy's commercial every single commercial break. And it is guaranteed to be an annoying one- silly music, bizarre and nonsensical, hard to follow, but brightly colored- SHOP OUR STORE!!!! With a nice heavy emphasis on Christmas before you've even finished cooking the Thanksgiving turkey.

Okay, I will admit, it makes complete sense that Macy's advertises like crazy during their parade. Do you know how often I shop at Macy's though? NEVER. Like, I've seriously never been to a Macy's store in my life- the nearest one is over 200 miles from my house. I've made a purchase or two from them over the years online, but not because of a commercial.

Now, all the horrible corruption of holidays into capitalist propaganda aside, the idea of waiting in lines for Black Friday sales also irritates me.


Do you know what happens during the last week of November here in the Copper Country? Yep, it snows. Tomorrow is predicted to drop anywhere from 9 to 18 inches in 48 hours. Guess who won't be standing in line outside of a store at 4am to get the best door buster deals? Yep, me. I'm way too sane a person to do that with my time. I have never stood in line at a store at 4am to get a discount and frankly I never will. There is NOTHING I need to buy that is worth that kind of effort. I'll even pay more for food if I can buy it at a more reasonable hour.

The worst part?

Those Black Friday sales are not as stellar as they claim to be. 


A few years back I worked at Shopko (RIP) during the holiday season. We spent the night shift before Black Friday meticulously changing out all the price labels across the store for the upcoming "festivities". We overstaffed and got ready for the crowds.

The customers cleared us out pretty good that day. The following week, our regular two trucks and a spare restocked every single item we had advertised on Black Friday. By the following Friday, everything that had a "deal" on Black Friday was offered again at the exact same "deal" price. And the one thing that wasn't included on the first Friday in December- the 4am shopping and crowds.

That's right. Same deals, same products, less effort and stress by both the employee working and the customer.

Now I'm not saying all retailers do this- and frankly Shopko went bankrupt so I'm not sure they are leading any marketing trends- but my point is that the effort involved is not necessarily worth the reward.

If you absolutely MUST get your Black Friday shopping fix- I recommend Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, or my new favorite- Giving Tuesday.


I just learned about Giving Tuesday this year. Donating to a charity that helps the community is a much better practice than giving hundreds of dollars to Walmart. If you want somewhere to donate here in the Copper Country I recommend the Portage Health Foundation. They've been instrumental in helping recovery projects from the catastrophic Father's Day Floods we had in 2018, and repair work is still on-going from that. They donate to lots of local non-profits around here, including places like the Swedetown Trails and the Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly as well as many others.

In the meantime, I plan to spend my Friday this week relaxing at home with Hubby while the kids have a sleepover at their Auntie's house. Maybe we'll kick back with a steak dinner and movie night on the couch, or just go to bed early (YAY SLEEP!)

You definitely won't catch me lined up outside a store anywhere. I won't be decorating for Christmas until December either- I have to enjoy my turkey and stuffing holiday first.

Until next time,
Emma Leigh

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why I Write Letters to my Stepchildren

-
I write letters to my stepchildren. My stepchildren live with their mother, 3.5 hours away from us, during the school year. There's not much we can do about that since they need to attend school, but keeping in touch with their day to day can be hard. Last year I started writing them 'snail mail' letters, complete with self-addressed, stamped envelopes. While I've never gotten a reply from either child, I know they are at least getting my letters and they know that their dad and I are thinking about them. It's my own little way of showering them with love from a distance. Phone calls with kids are awkward. I don't know if you've ever tried to talk to a kid on the phone but they're easily distracted and it's not always possible to follow their train of thought. Talking on the phone with our kids has the added 'fun' of their mother hovering in the background, listening to every word and interjecting into the conversation when she's
Read more

Loving Through the Mess- Painting

-
Image
Hubby and I have almost finished painting at the new ho use.  We've been living here a few weeks now, but it's starting to finally feel like ours and not just someone else's place we are squatting in. As I mentioned in my previous post about moving while pregnant , we bought our new family home from smokers- who were gross enough to smoke indoors. Which meant there was no removing the smoke from some things. After lots of cleaning (hello vinegar), throwing away of window treatments (they were ugly anyway), odor sealing primer, and fresh paint you can't tell there were once smokers here. And damn was I shocked at how much the smoke residue was stressing me out. I haven't always been such a neat freak. I used to spend a lot of time in places that reeked of cigarette smoke in college, and didn't think twice about it. But when I got pregnant, the reading material about foods I couldn't eat sent me into a spiral about all the poisons out there that we can
Read more

New Year, Some Goals

-
Image
Happy 2020! New Year's Day Sunrise 2020 Today doesn't feel much different from yesterday. But it's regardless a fresh beginning, even if only a date on the calendar. We started out this morning with bright sunshine but still plenty cold- perfect January weather. This is the time when people usually talk about resolutions and changes they are going to make. I don't have any changes I plan to make this week, but I do have aspirations and goals for the coming year ahead. I don't usually make resolutions any more. In the past decade, very few of them made it to February and so I've found making a few main goals for the year works better than "resolutions" to change things. Of course, baby will be arriving in a short while and so most of my upcoming plans revolve around him. There's lots left to do and I've been putting off a lot of it until the holidays were over. So I guess my first goal for 2020 is to be prepared when baby arrives.
Read more

Winter is Coming 2019/2020

-
Image
First Snow Yesterday morning as Hubby and I were drinking coffee, I glanced out the living room window and  could see a flake of snow falling, here and there, very intermittently. "Look honey, it's snowing!" I exclaimed. He turned from the TV to take a look. "Look at that, it sure is." he replied. "I'm going to go hunting tonight." "Ok." And we went back to watching television like it was nothing. Less than a week ago we were on a boat in 70 degree weather, and now it's snowing. That's how weather goes this time of year. This morning we woke to actual snow on the ground and I took some pictures. It's not snow the way we have snow in the real winter, but the contrast of the fresh white with the fall colors lit by the rising sun just made my morning. It's a chilly 34 degrees right now and I could see my breath as my fingers got cold taking pictures. My poor marigolds are done for the season. They
Read more