Black Friday Experiment 2013 Part 2: The Great Thanksgiving Boycott

This is part two of my blog series “The Black Friday Experiment 2013”. You can find the previous article here.

Just a brief recap in case you didn't read my previous blog. I haven't done Black Friday shopping in over 20 years. But after a conversation with a friend who convinced me it can be a positive experience if you do it right, I had to give it a try. Who am I to turn down a crazy challenge? Also, who am I to turn down a great chance at a story? That would not be me. So, here I am.

With that said, I won't be waiting in lines to get into the stores when they open. I won't be part of the pushing and shoving, and I won't be part of the “underwear grab” as you read about in my last blog. Nope, “P-O-S-I-T-I-V-E is the key word here. I am not going to be the first fish out of the water to jump for the bait. I am a bit of a rebel, I don't like being part of the ploys that the retailers put out there, which is why I haven't participated before. Will this turn out to be a positive experience? That is what I am going to find out.

This brings me to the point of this blog today. Thanksgiving. You know, that holiday where we are thankful for what we have and for counting our blessings? It isn't about the things we don't have. Yet, Black Friday is like the polar opposite of that concept and is advertised in a way that makes people feel they need to get what they want right now, with no regard to anything or anyone else. In the past, they were at least separated by one day. However, this year Thanksgiving is 6 days later than it was last year, so Black Friday is coming late in the game. The retailers are feeling the crunch of the shortened shopping season.

Many of the stores over the past few years have been open on Thanksgiving day, but they were careful about keeping the big Black Friday deals to Friday. However, this year, many stores will be having their big Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving Day itself.

What will they call it? “Thankful Thursday”? It is Thanksgiving. Note the two words, “thanks” and “giving”, and it is not because we are thankful for getting or giving a widescreen TV for the next holiday. Some are forecasting that Black Friday will become a thing of the past, with this new move to Thursday sales.

It seems that slowly over the years they came close to encroaching and invading this day, but never dared to cross this line. I remember the time when even grocery stores weren't open, and if you forgot the can of cranberry sauce, you'd just hope that the nearest liquor store would be open and you could find something that might work, or at least something else to distract your guests from noticing. This year, with the shortened shopping season, maybe that boundary was just too hard to resist. Once the first store announced they would open on Thursday morning for the Black Friday sales, staying open for more than 24 hours, then many others did as well.

The same shoppers will be shopping on Black Friday anyway, why does it need to start earlier and how does this bring more shoppers to the stores? I thought about that all week. The conclusions I came up with were the obvious ones. The stores want shoppers to come to their stores first. If they put out their bait first, then the fish will bite. Also, it extends their shopping season by one day. There are no other reasons I can think of, can you? We all have the same amount of money to spend, whether it is Thursday or Friday, you still have the same people out there shopping. But where you spend your money is the key. Also they do count on that last minute compulsive shopping too, so extending it a day is always good for them.

They have now encroached on our holiday. Will you let them? Will you shop on this day? Is it worth it? Besides shopping on the holiday, this also means more people will have to work on Thanksgiving instead of spending time with their families.

I won't do it. I am going to say it right now, I am going to boycott shopping on Thanksgiving. But I am wondering, are the sales so great that you feel that you have to? Think about this carefully. I thought originally how it might be okay, since not everyone is cooking and visiting. People might spend their morning shopping, or maybe they will go out with their family and shop before or after. But, in thinking about this carefully, I said a big and resounding “NO!” It is the principle of the matter. The stores are invading our holiday for the sake off their bottom line and for pleasing their stockholders. It isn't about us, the consumers. Black Friday itself is about them, and now they want Thanksgiving to be about them too. Don't give in to this.

So for the sake of my Black Friday Experiment 2013, I will be keeping the shopping to Black Friday. Will you join me in this boycott?

What will you do? How do you feel about this? Let us know in the comments below.

I will be back soon with more on my experiment. See you then!