Thursday, November 28, 2013

BLACK FRIDAY 2013

THE FOLLOWING IS AN EDITORIAL.

As I post this, it is still about two hours from midnight (Eastern Time in the United States of America) Friday and what was the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season: the day after Thanksgiving, and the wee hours known as "Black Friday". 
The term is not politically incorrect but, depending upon which theory you believe, refers to either the retailers' hope that their profit margins go from the redness of debt to the blackness of profit; or the more modern theory that the name is derived from the fact that a lot of stores would open long before sunrise that day!

BUT NO MORE!

Thanksgiving is fast becoming just another business day for many retailers, provided they even bothered to close Wednesday night! There are now overnight ads and sales extended well beyond the original pre-dawn frenzy of years past.

Whether or not this strategy is actually successful, after you figure in such costs as employee salaries, security, advertising expenses, etc; remains to be seen.

Folks, I don't know about you, but I seriously think this concept is getting a bit out of hand!

Whatever happened to staying home on a holiday and enjoying the simpler things in life, like family and friends?

I personally have yet to shop any Black Friday event, regardless of when it actually started. Having worked in the retail industry for over twenty years until heart problems took me out of "the game", my sympathies go towards the employees who have to work those long, weird schedules instead of being with their loved ones.

So, while it still has some appropriateness, I'd like to close this missive with the poem I ran this time last year.

SOME DARE BRAVE THE GLOOM OF BLACKEST NIGHT
QUESTING FOR BARGAINS UPON THEIR TREK
HITTING EVERY SALE BEFORE DAYLIGHT

ME? I PLANNED WELL AHEAD
NO NERVES, CREDIT, OR CAR SUFFERED WRECK
JUST RESTFUL SLUMBER WITHIN MY OWN BED.

Sincerely,
Lee Houston, Junior
Editor-In-Chief: The Free Choice E-zine.


THE ABOVE WAS AN EDITORIAL.

No comments: