Thanksgiving is a cherished American holiday originally founded on the timeless sentiment of gratitude. However, it has evolved to encompass much more than giving thanks after a bountiful harvest.
Today, the holiday is an icon for elaborate meals, holiday parades, football–and shopping.
Last year, over 137 million people shopped during Thanksgiving weekend including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And that’s just in stores. Online sales saw major increases in recent years, jumping up 18% in 2017 alone.
This year, 74% of Americans plan to shop during Thanksgiving weekend with the average spend just under $500 per person.
There’s no doubt that Black Friday has grown to be one of the biggest retail events of the year, second only to the weekend before Christmas. Its provocative ads and notorious deals have turned mass consumerism into a burgeoning tradition.
But under the surface of all this retail ruckus lies some unsavory truths that better portray the shady reality of Black Friday.
The name itself traces back to the scandalous crash of the financial markets in 1869 when two Wall Street financiers attempted to game the system by arbitraging gold prices. Their unscrupulous scheme bankrupted a slew of investors including hardworking farmers.
Ever since then, Black Friday has taken on multiple meanings. It wasn’t until a few decades ago that retailers spun the term to represent the point in the year that finally puts their profits in the ‘black’.
To this day, Black Friday continues to be a contentious affair shrouded by the lure of teeming shopping carts. Here’s a look at some of the adverse practices surrounding this modern American tradition.
Violence
Over the past decade, there seems to be a rising occurrence of violence on Black Friday.
According to a website that tracks Black Friday death tolls, there have been 10 deaths and 111 injuries directly tied to Black Friday shopping since 2006. Headlines range from somewhat trivial to wildly outlandish, like a Wal-Mart employee being trampled to death in a mad stampede of Black Friday shoppers.
Many conflicts arise from people fighting over merchandise, parking lot robberies, shoplifting, shootings, and just overall chaos. Other tragedies result from recklessness and plain old selfishness.
What is it about Black Friday that brings out the worst in people?
Greed. Plain and simple.
It’s saddening to see people regress to ignorant, competitive, even combative states as they hunt for the best deals at the expense of civility.
You never know what’ll set someone off so it’s best to stay alert and conscientious in order to escape the dangers of retail rage.
Or, perhaps steer clear of large crowds of restless shoppers altogether.
Labor
If you think waiting in long lines to pay during Black Friday is tiresome, imagine being the clerk behind the counter. While it’s normal for retailers to have heightened demand for retail staffing during the holiday season, Black Friday calls for ‘all hands on deck.’
As a result, large retailers have been known to make unreasonable demands on employees to maintain adequate staffing during the highest traffic days of the year.
And as stores race to open earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving day each year, logistically it means that a lot of employees have to miss out on their own Thanksgiving festivities.
Retailers aren’t always nice about this either. For example, in 2014, employees reported that Kmart is making holiday hours mandatory, threatening termination if employees don’t comply.
Photos submitted by workers show store managers’ unwillingness to accommodate scheduling requests during the holidays, specifically during ‘blackout’ dates like Black Friday and Christmas Eve.
Even if employees can get paid extra for working holidays, it’s still unfair to require them to work. I don’t know about you but I don’t feel right shopping at the expense of someone else’s leisure.
Environmental
Speaking of logistics, have you ever considered how stores prepare to be fully stocked for opening time? Or how online retailers like Amazon manage to fulfill massive amounts of orders within the promised 2-day ship time?
I’m no supply chain expert but I suspect it takes literally tons of transportation to make this happen which puts a big toll on the environment year after year.
According to this article by National Geographic, “two-day shipping…left a bigger carbon footprint than slower options that shipped over a week. That’s because shipping gets items to your door faster requires more diesel-using trucks on the ground and less efficient shipping systems.”
In addition to transportation, the production and disposal of consumer goods themselves leaves a large environmental impact. Some of the most commonly purchased items during Black Friday are particularly bad for the environment.
Electronics are harmful due to their short usage lifespan, inefficient recycling options, and toxic materials that end up in landfills (referred to as e-waste).
Cheap clothing often featured in advertising to lure people into stores also negatively affect the environment. Coined ‘fast fashion’, bargain clothing is usually made from textiles containing some proportion of plastic microfibers that pollute the environment when disposed.
This research analysis by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that a garbage truck of textiles is burned or dumped in the landfill every second, costing an estimated $500 billion in value from barely used clothes.
Lastly–and perhaps most notably–is the pervasive use of plastic packaging in consumer goods. Mounds of Christmas presents under the tree often translates to heaps of plastic destined for the garbage after the glorious unwrapping comes to an end. The National Geographic article cites that 91% of plastic isn’t recycled each year, most of it ending up in the ocean instead.
Some ideas provided in the article to combat these negative environmental effects are:
- Buy used or upcycled products
- Gift experiences or time instead of tangible goods
- Use reusable shopping bags
- Wrap gifts in cloth or recycled paper
Mental
I used to live in Minneapolis which is near the famously huge Mall of America. Imagine shopping there on Black Friday.
In my teens, my sisters and I once braved the crowds to shop on Black Friday and let me tell you, sore feet, hungry stomachs, and empty wallets ensued.
Yet, the greatest fatigue wasn’t as physical as it was mental. Hours of browsing, comparing, examining, debating, and purchasing drained my brain.
You know what happens when your brain gets tired?
Bad decisions. Impulse buying. Decision fatigue. Scarcity mindset.
You get the idea. Shopping sprees sound fun at first (and they are for the first hour or so), but they quickly become a trap for buyer’s remorse later on.
On the lighter side
Black Friday is not all depressing and bad. It represents the very essence of capitalism as companies compete for consumers’ dollars and attention. And robust consumer spending contributes to jobs and a healthy economy.
But there are also things to keep in mind as we stand eagerly in line for the doors to open at midnight. Behind the grandeur of bright lights and holiday cheer are darker practices and behaviors that could come back to bite us.
If we’re not careful, these snags could end up negating all the savings we gained from shopping on Black Friday in the first place.
