Black Friday Argumentative Analysis

November is an intoxicating month; the leaves finish falling, the air is crisp, and football is starting to get exciting. It's also the month of Thanksgiving. Sitting down together and watching football with some turkey and a beer is a family tradition for many. And after the food coma comes the shopping. In fact, Black Friday shopping is a tradition many families participate in together. However, it's getting out of hand. Every year stores open earlier and earlier, cutting into family time, making Black Friday, Black Thursday. Stores should open no earlier than 5 AM on the Friday following Thanksgiving.

Where did Black Friday come from? Many people believe that it traced back to when slave owners sold their slaves to purchase merchandise.

They were the top sellers of many different brands and items; they sold 2.8 million towels, 2 million televisions, 1.4 million tablets, 300,000 bicycles, and 1.9 million dolls (Wal-Mart). From 6 PM to 10 PM, Walmart processed more than 10 million register transactions in various stores (Wal-Mart). Clearly, it's not only good for customers to save money but for stores to make money, too.

Wal-Mart's fiscal revenue for 2014 was $473 billion, with a large chunk coming from Black Friday of the previous year (Wal-Mart). Many other stores such as Sears, Kohl's, and Aeropostale make large sums of money that is an advantage for their business. They move a lot of product to make room for new ones and it's a good way to draw old and new customers back. Indeed, opening earlier could make or break a stores revenues.

With the staggering money results, one would say it's almost idiotic for stores not to open earlier during Black Friday. My counter argument is, is it really? In 2011, Wal-Mart's fiscal reports showed they made $419 billion that year, take in affect of the slight depression the United States suffered, and the currency fluxuation, and the gap isn't all that large. Plus, stores like Wal-Mart would save millions on holiday pay for the 200 million (plus) employees they employ. Shutting down for a few hours would not destroy businesses like