Would any self-respecting American shopper pass the opportunity to accumulate great items at extremely reduced prices? Of course not! The idea that there are people all around the country who are bold enough to criticize savvy shoppers just for trying to take advantage of great sales is awful. Huge sale events such as Black Friday receive relentless criticism year to year, but for no true reason. Targeted by people who are incapable of worrying about only themselves during the holiday season. Common complaints are that the sale times on Black Friday are getting earlier every year. Although that may be the case, who is really complaining about it? Black Friday shoppers are not doing the complaining about the sale times, the people that do not …show more content…
Financially speaking, do these Thanksgiving Day shopping opportunities really actually have an impact on retailers ' bottom lines? Does it move retailers out of the red and into the black as Black Friday was intended to begin with? Economists are saying no. Steven Pressman, an economics and finance professor at Monmouth University says that “if a store 's open on Thanksgiving, some consumer will be there. If the store doesn 't open on that Thursday, will that same consumer be there on Friday, Saturday or Sunday? Probably so” (Official News). So how do the consumers feel about Pressman’s comments? They do not feel anything. Consumers are by definition self interested. They are going to buy whatever they want no matter what. If a company cannot manage its financials, that is on the company. Consumers do not participate in Black Friday with the intention to transition a company from the red to the black‒that is merely a secondary …show more content…
Therefore, employees that do not have two nickels to rub together for Thanksgiving are not enjoying nor encouraging the hectic luxury spending done on Black Friday by fellow consumers. Employees such as the ones at Wal‒Mart, have no choice but to work Black Friday for extra money just to make ends meet while simultaneously watching hundreds of shoppers come into their store and blow multiple paychecks worth of money. Malveaux goes on to say that “According to Wal‒Mart 's CEO, at least half of its workers earn less than $25,000 a year, which is not enough to live on in a city”(Malveaux). This quote from Malveaux confirms the idea of Black Friday being only for the corporations and consumers. Employees are simply the vehicle to make Black Friday happen.
A common worry about Friday is safety, parents wondering if their kids should be out that early in such dangerous crowds. My solution: Do not shop at Wal-Mart! Out of all crime reports filled out on Black Friday, over half of them are involving Wal-Mart customers or staff
It is seen in everything from the hoarding of material objects to the destruction of friendships, both of which are popular themes when regarding the topic of Black Friday shopping. Black Friday has become Black Thursday, a trend which has only shown up within the last decade. The great American holiday that is Thanksgiving is celebrated because of our gratefulness toward all that we have, a holiday that is meant to be spent gathered around a table of our loved ones. However, the retail holiday that consumes the day afterward has begun to overflow into our gatherings, and it is due to the greed of the American people. Were it not for the market’s demand for earlier sales, stores would not open their sales on Thursday nights. Everyone would simply wait until early the next morning to start off on their shopping extravaganzas, and the sales themselves would likely be far less violent as
Walmart was the first retail store to open early on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. Once all of the competitive stores learned this technique, they put it to a test. JC Penney opened at 6p.m. the first year and at 3p.m. the second and third year on Thanksgiving Day. Macys and Kohl’s opens at 5p.m. and the more upscale retailers such as Dillard’s close on Thanksgiving Day. The retail stores that open so early are also ruining the chances of making the profit on Black Friday due to extending the time open. In reality, these stores are open more than 24 hours
The idea that department stores might be losing out to retailers like Amazon is not a new one. However, the extent to which one affects the other is not entirely clear. More specialized, non-department stores may also play a role in pulling department store sales downward. Clothing store sales, for example, grew slightly, by 1.2 percent, from January 2013 to January 2014 while department store sales declined. (Census Bureau, 2014)
Wal-Mart represents the sickness of capitalism at its almost fully evolved state. As Jim Hightower said, "Why single out Wal-Mart? Because it's a hog. Despite the homespun image it cultivates in its ads, it operates with an arrogance and avarice that would make Enron blush and John D. Rockefeller envious. It's the world's biggest retail corporation and America's largest private employer; Sam Robson Walton, a member of the ruling family, is one of the richest people on earth. Wal-Mart and the Waltons got to the top the old-fashioned way: by roughing people up. Their low, low prices are the product of two ruthless commandments: Extract the last penny possible from human toil and squeeze the last dime from its thousands of suppliers, who are left with no profit margin unless they adopt the Wal-Mart model of using nonunion labor and shipping production to low-wage hellholes abroad." (The Nation, March 4th 2002 www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020304&s=hightower).
Wal-Mart has branded stores in all 50 states and in over 27 countries. Wal-Mart started with humble roots in 1962 by Sam Walton in the small town of Bentonville, Arkansas. Within thirty years, the small local discount retailer grew to one of the largest retail companies in the United States of America. Now it stands as the largest retailer in the world. As the largest retailer, Wal-Mart has gained many detractors. In "The Case for Wal-Mart," Karen De Coster and Brad Edmonds recognize how people “like to attack bigness” (632). Many believe Wal-Mart offers low wage jobs with few employee benefits, discriminates against women, and among many other issues, doesn’t give back to the community (631). In contrast to the constant barrage negative attacks, Wal-Mart proves beneficial to the community. Wal-Mart prides itself on being an equal opportunity employer to such a degree it has the most diverse group of employees anyone can imagine. Most Wal-Mart stores are the anchor that provides a steady stream of consumers to other much small businesses in the area. Beyond providing quality jobs for the people in and around the store, Wal-Mart brings convenience, lower prices, and help to those in need.
Chain stores, such as K-Mart and Wal-Mart swing their doors wide for all deal seekers at around 6 a.m. Individuals will wake up earlier than necessary, drive to these stores, and camp out prior to the stores opening, if only just to ensure they get the best spot in line. Also near this time, various online deals begin. This means before many people wake up on Thanksgiving morning, sales have already started both in store and online. By this standard, the day’s workers have to get to the store hours before it opens to prepare the store for the surplus of people and the chaos that will soon enfold. People should be getting rest or preparing food for their lunches or dinners, but instead they are shopping or working. Retailers place priority on shopping from the moment people wake up until they go to sleep. There is never an emphasis on family throughout the entire day in these chain stores. The madness occurs throughout the entirety of both days, causing lack of family time in both days of the holiday for patrons and
First of all, a Buy Nothing Day would have great benefits to the economy of a nation. While money would not be taken into the economy on the Buy Nothing Day, consumers are not spending for a day and are keeping their money. The economy of a nation, with the exception of vital goods, stock, lodging expenses, etc., could practically halt for just one day. Businesses would have the chance to re-cooperate and catch back up. Overall, a day where workers and the economy could take a break would help the livelihood of businesses and allow the economy to calm down for just one day.
Imagine having to work on thanksgiving. Not only do those people miss out on Black Friday, but also miss out on time with your family. They also get to go to work more than likely sleep deprived, deal with unpleasant customers, and constant lines. Curtis West worked as a Macy’s employee. In his 24 years of work for them he had to work a total of 19 Black Fridays. He said it wasn’t bad when Black Friday started off, because it usually meant going in at 5 am on Friday. Now for sto...
Starting the day right after Thanksgiving, everybody’s mind is set on one thing: Shopping. People young and old wake up early in the morning to start their holiday shopping. Everyone is looking for the perfect gift for their family and friends. But nobody cares to think of what the employees at their favorite stores think and feel. Shoppers just come inside and turn the store upside down.
Walmart has had a long-standing presence in America society since the middle of the 20th century, seen as a place to get everything done, Walmart has become a fixation in our society. From grocery shopping, to changing your oil and even filing your annual tax returns, Walmart is always there, everyday. Started by Sam Walton in 1962, it began as a small operation catering to a small Arkansas community. It was started on principles very similar to small local businesses in small towns. Today Walmart has gotten a different, darker reputation. On the surface, Walmart may seem like the solution to everyday issues. Low-income families are attracted to the low prices, and people who work odd hours benefit greatly from the 24 hours a day that many Walmarts are open. Lately, Walmart has also managed to be publicly recognized as a store that sells many of today’s green products, including organic food, environmental conscious cleaning products, as well as, paper products made from recycled paper. However, underneath all this, Walmart has a different side. Exploitation of its workers is widespread amongst Walmarts who do not belong to a union, especially in the United States. Wal...
Seitz, P. 2013, Best Buy Set For Price Battle This Holiday That Will Hurt Profit Margins 'In this to win,' says CEO on aggressive competition with Amazon, Wal-Mart, Los Angeles.
Isidore, Chris. “No Holiday Hiring for Walmart, Just More Hours for Its Workers.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 20 Sept. 2017, money.cnn.com/2017/09/20/news/companies/walmart-holiday-help/.
Holiday shopping, for me, is a nightmare because of the abundance of crowds, all of the fighting and competitiveness. I believe those last minute shoppers are the worst, they are the ones that are rude and impatient. For some people, with lots of patience, dealing with holiday shoppers is a good experience. For people like me, who has very little patience, it is a dreadful experience. Another aspect of shopping during the holidays is dealing with tired, overworked and frustrated employees. They are just trying to get their jobs done as quickly as possible, so they can go home to their families. Meanwhile, you have those employees that are cheerful and are eager to help the distraught shoppers. Also, during the holidays horrible accidents can occur often at this time of year. I am going to portray the dangers and mishaps that can occur during the holidays. I am not anti-holiday, but the older I get the more I don't have any desire to be exposed to all of the potential chaos.
One key to Wal – Mart’s success, many believe, is the way it energizes its sales force. For example, employee meetings at Wal – mart stores are the same pep rally – type affairs that Walton organized years ago. Cries of “Give me a W, give me an L, give me a squiggly….” are led by store managers who whip salesclerks into selling frenzies as they prepare for the day’s onslaught of customers. And those clerks know just what their customers want and how many are buying their merchandise. Just to make sure, they are given thorough sales figures to show exactly how their particular store is doing. How much money did they take in compared to the previous day, or week, or years? What items are hot sellers, and what’s their markup?
They do not buy anything for reasons that they do not have money or they need that money for something else. In fact these shoppers can be at a store for hours and not purchase a single item. I can say that I am a window shopper most of the time. I can look around for hours and not buy anything at all. I basically look at things that I want to buy for when I do have the money for it. I’ve noticed a lot of people do the same thing, they join friends to the mall to just hang out and they end up window watching, walking in and out of