Black Friday, The New Family Value

For the past week or more, I've been listening to the complaint that the holidays are no longer enjoyable due to how commercial the stores are making it. I've listened to so much whining about stores opening on Thanksgiving that I'm almost more annoyed at the whiners than I am at the fact that both my DIL and granddaughter will be working on Thanksgiving. They are working because people feel the need to shop for all the deals on Black Friday. How else can you give your kids or your spouse more than you can afford to give at Christmas? After all, aren't computers, TVs, Ipads, X-box cell phones and other electronic toys all your kids need in life?

These stores could offer the same deals during regular hours. This wouldn't stop the habit of having some employees working in the stores while they're closed because all these stores must have crews to re-price the items going on sale. Yeah, those 15-20-30% off items you're standing in the cold waiting to buy? They were cheaper before the sale.

Back when Walmart used to open at Midnight on Black Friday there were crews in each of the stores on Thanksgiving raising the prices of the big ticket sale items. Then they'd lower them to the sale price. And then you would pay a price slightly lower than the regular price rather than 30% lower. It's how retail operates. With stores now opening at 6, both my granddaughter and my daughter-in-law will now be working Thanksgiving Day beginning at noon to start pricing changes for the big sale in their regular departments.

It isn't the stores that drive the commercialism of our holidays, it's the people that shop there. It's the people that choose to buy things rather than share themselves with others. It's commercial because a large segment of society wants to have something for nothing. And they aren't really getting anything that much cheaper than they would have paid during any other sale.