Post-Thanksgiving/ Black Friday Musings

So what was it like, Black Friday, I asked a Target employee in electronics. Well-mannered crowds who thanked him for working on Thanksgiving. The popular items—iPads, iPods and phones. And yes, the shelves are socked today for those of you with some cash in your wallet. I’m not sure I envy these people, standing in line for hours or even days, but at least they have ideas! Our family tuned in to the Macy’s Parade, but this year we quickly tuned out—too many breaks to non-parade events (like singers), boring floats (can’t McDonalds do better than the clown—I'm partial to the fries and soda)—and some ho-hum announcers.

With major ongoing cleanup efforts from Sandy , couldn’t the media have cut away to some of the scenes— the more than 10,000 Thanksgiving meals served by Occupy Sandy and more than 26,000 by the city of New York to affected areas? The focus of what used to be Thanksgiving is now spending. According to media reports, 247-million shoppers (in-store and online) spent an average of $423 (for a total of $59.1 billion—those figures may be updated later this week). One economist predicted spending would subside—after all, so much was spent in this initial Thanksgiving-Black Friday weekend. For those of you with pocket change remaining, there’s always Powerball (with $425-million).

A lot of you have gotten shopping underway, but I am still seeking ideas. . . . .

Bring Back the Seasons. . .

I went through Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam) on Nov. 12. The place had a distinctive Christmas feel. Garlands, trees and ornaments decorated the ceilings and walls. Back in the States, grocery stores had replaced bags of candy corn with red and green M&Ms . . . .


Thanksgiving has never had the commercial appeal of Halloween and certainly cannot compete with Christmas. Increasingly, Thanksgiving has been rebranded by media and merchants as the eve of Black Friday!

“Black Friday Madness Sweeps Across the Country” – NPR

“Black Friday Shoppers Fan Out in the Night” – New York Times

“Earlier Black Friday Openings Draw Crowds” – Wall Street Journal

With these headlines and images of people waiting in long lines, the rest of us undergo a guilt trip. Everyone is out shopping. Maybe we should be too.

Thanksgiving has been holiday of intense travel so people could spend time with families. But merchants are trying to ensure 100 percent participation. That even the Occupy groups give up their protest for 24 hours.

The new opening hours (some at 9 p.m. Thanksgiving evening) enable people can get up from the family dinner, wave bye to all the aunts and uncles they haven’t seen for the past year and now travel to the shopping center to join the lines forming for that flat-screen TV or Blu-Ray Player.

This year, Black Friday started on what has been traditionally known as Thanksgiving Thursday. For those who missed out on this event, Cyber Monday is starting early too. . . .