Interviews:
1. Lauren Riggio, Staten Island, NY., face-to-face interview, 9/15/15, 2. Megan Sanger, Poughkeepsie, NY., face-to-face interview, 9/15/15, 3. Brian Biersbach, Buffalo, NY., telephone interview, 9/30/15, Online Sources: 1. Anne D’Innocenzio and Mae Anderson, “Thanksgiving shopping brings decline to usual Black Friday frenzies,” The Charleston Gazette, Nov 2014 (accessed at www.proquest.com, 9/15/15) 2. Jena McGregor, “In keeping with its values, Costco to close on Thanksgiving,” The Washington Post – Blogs, 10/28/14; (accessed at www.proquest.com, 9/15/15) 3. “Wall St. Cheat Sheet: Can Americans Stop Shopping Long Enough to Enjoy Thanksgiving?,” Newstex Finance & Accounting Blogs, 11/26/14; (accessed at www.proquest.com, 9/15/15) 4. Philip Caulfield, “As anxious Black Friday shoppers swarm sale stores to nab post-Thanksgiving deals, fights and hot tempers mar holiday,” New York Daily News, 11/23/12; (accessed at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/tensions-black-friday-u-s-article-1.1206877, 9/30/15) 5. Richard Webner, “A quieter Black Friday: Crowds aren’t as tumultuous with more stores open on Thanksgiving,” Florida Times Union, 11/29/14; (accessed at www.proquest.com, 9/15/15) 6. Sharon Edelson, “Macy’s Makes Thanksgiving Opening Move,” Business Insights: Essentials, 10/15/14; (accessed at www.bi.galegroup.com, 9/15/15) 7. Simon Carswell, “Thanksgiving choice: family or shopping?: Commerce pushes stores to open on a day many believe best spent at home,” Irish Times, 11/29/14; (accessed at www.proquest.com, 9/15/15) 8. Suzanne Kapner “Heavy Inventories Thraten to Squeeze Clothing Stores,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/03/13; (accessed at http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000142405270230457 9404579236453467671482, 9/30/15) |
We all have that same warm and fuzzy feeling of turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy once a year on Thanksgiving. Now, imagine that feeling being taken away. Or better yet, imagine eating that intimate family dinner on a line outside a department store, instead of being in the quiet comfort of your own home. To consumers Black Friday has become an annually fun tradition, but for the workers this could mean a national holiday being taken away from them because of a shopping spree.
“We would look over all the flyers on Thursday night to pick out what stores had the best deals and which ones to hit at what times” said Black Friday shopper Megan Sanger. “My sister’s birthday usually falls around Black Friday. Even though I’m not an avid shopper I would go with her and spend money on a shopping spree as her birthday present.” However, former employee Lauren Riggio shares her account of working at a plus size women’s clothing store called Avenue: “I worked on Black Friday and it was horrific. People were pushing each other out of the way for a pair of shoes like they wouldn’t see it again, but little did they know that they could order them. Also people wanted to hold items for over 24 hours, which we couldn’t really do because the most was 36. Clearance sections were out of order, hangers were everywhere and because we were located in a store near other stores there were even clothes in our store on the floor that weren’t even our [Avenue] clothes! People [Employees] at Annie Sez [a few stores down] thought I stole them when I returned their clothes but they had the security tags off of them, which meant someone had already bought them. Customers stole a lot, most of the time it being jewelry. Someone even walked away with a pair of shoes in their bag! Since we only had maybe ten people working there [at Avenue], everyone was required to work lots of hours. It was really bad, sort of illegal.” In recent years, Black Friday is still considered one of the biggest shopping events of the year, but also one of the most dangerous. According to a retail tracking website, the Black Friday death count has counted nine fatalities and 90 injuries just since 2006 (Carswell 2014). In order to calm the chaos, some retailers have tested out opening their stores earlier than Black Friday: on Thanksgiving Day. Brian Biersbach has worked as the assistant manager at the Buffalo, NY Big Lots for the past five years. On a typical Thanksgiving, his family will be together from morning until evening when they have dinner and go around the room saying what each person is thankful for. Last year he worked from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. at night, only to eat Thanksgiving dinner alone. “I don’t understand the point of it, there’s so many people there at once. I’d rather wait and pay the extra money.” Lab42, a market research firm reported “...70 percent of Americans feel that stores should remain closed on the Thanksgiving holiday, which indicates a 10 percentage-point increase from 2012” (Newstex 2014). Sanger said, “I believe that it shouldn’t be on Thanksgiving [because] it’s a holiday when people shouldn’t have to work. Black Friday is on Friday not Thursday.” Workers have even expressed their negative attitudes on a Facebook group “Boycott Black Thursday”, which has over 120,000 likes (Webner 2014). So why do big retail stores such as Macy’s, Target, Lord + Talyor, Walmart, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Sears, JC Penney’s, Old Navy and Kmart still remain open? Retail analyst and consultant Howard Davidowitz said in an interview with The Huffington Post that “It’s a sign of desperation. In order to take business from someone else, you’ve got to create a sense of urgency, got to have more sales, got to have more earlier door-busters.” Of course businesses must comply with “blue laws”, or laws created back in colonial times encouraging people to spend their Sundays and holidays attending mass, however only few states – Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine – have them (Carswell 2014). Most often then not, stores will add bonuses to work extra hours and give their employees the opportunity to work voluntarily. However, even with all the extras employees still detest the idea of having to deal with the crowds. “If I had a choice I wouldn’t but because I don’t I will have to” said Biersbach. “I feel like people should go home on Thursday and enjoy their family dinners, and black Friday shouldn’t start until 3 p.m. or sometime in the morning. They shouldn’t open at 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt started “Franksgiving” in 1939, moving the holiday further away from Christmas and earlier in the year when businesses still suffered years after the Great Depression in order to boost sales. The actual term “Black Friday” refers to when the gold prices plunged in the stock market in September of 1864. Later in the 1960s, newspaper editors brought back “Black Friday” to signify the rush of shoppers as well as the color ink accountants used to show profits being made by retailers (Carswell 2014). “...Just because more people are headed to the stores [earlier], it doesn’t necessarily translate into more sales,” said NPD analyst Marshall Cohen. “It frontloads it...all we’re doing is spreading the wealth and not necessarily creating more” (Newstex 2014). Still determined to continue with tradition and honor their employees, stores such as Nordstrom, Costco, Dillard’s, TJMaxx and Gamestop still continue to close their shops on Thanksgiving. “I think that they [businesses] should figure out [to open their stores] another day because people miss out on a night to spend with their families” said Riggio. “If they were to keep it on Thanksgiving, they should find people who don’t celebrate the holiday from other cultures to work in the stores; they should make their employees more diverse.” |
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