Should Black Friday Be a Red-Letter Day?

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Photo courtesy of www.toucharcade.com

Is Black Friday really worth all the hype?

Were you one of the thousands of Americans who spent Thanksgiving evening camping out in front of a store to take advantage of the crazy Black Friday deals (some stores offered up to 80% off!)?

Yes, we all know Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and is probably the biggest shopping day of the year. It kicks off the holiday shopping season and is the one day where people can find insanely cheap deals on everything from golf clubs and designer clothes to power tools and home entertainment systems. With the pressure of the approaching holidays, many people take advantage of Black Friday.

However, is it all it’s really cracked up to be?

Well, who doesn’t love buying gifts for people and getting great deals, right? But have you ever thought about the people who are working on Black Friday, unable to be with their families? Is that fair? It’s difficult to get a holiday on Thursday, have to work on Friday, and then possibly even having to work the whole weekend. “I think it is absolutely not fair to make these people work on Thanksgiving Day,” said Mrs. Stephanie Oster, the seventh-grade science teacher, “but it is fair to have them work on Friday.” She also stated that “these people need a balance with their work and their families.” It’s a tough call. On the one hand, workers get Thursday and maybe the weekend off. On the other hand, working Friday and the weekend breaks up what could be a great vacation.

According to Sarah Pruitt’s article on www.history.com, “What’s the Real History of Black Friday?”, the first use of the term “Black Friday” was not applied to holiday shopping but to financial crisis: the crash of the U.S. gold market on September 24, 1869 to be exact.
Some thought Black Friday was the day stores made all their money back as “black” means turning a profit in accounting terms. The true story is that in the 1950s in Philadelphia, hordes of suburbanites would flood the city the day after Thanksgiving in advance of the traditional Army-Navy game that was held on Saturday. There were stampedes of people, arrests, and shoplifting. The city came to call the day “Black Friday,” but somewhere in the late 1980s, American businesses tried to take advantage of the day by dramatically slashing prices.

Originally, there were only a few bargains. Over time, though, the deals have become bigger and broader. This year, Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, sold its Kindle e-reader for only $50. Dell offered crazy cheap deals on laptops for only $550, and Wal-Mart sold a high definition 55-inch TV for less than $300! Even Apple got into the spirit with a Black Friday sale after taking last year off. This year Apple made deals that provided consumers with a $150 dollar gift card after the purchase of other Apple products. Black Friday is now clearly a big part of the shopping culture, and has also spawned Cyber Monday – the Monday after Thanksgiving which provides shoppers with great deals on electronics and technology.

However, the mayhem and violence that sometimes took place in 1950s Philadelphia is still associated with Black Friday. This year there was an open gun fire at a Walmart in Reno, Nevada that killed one person. Also there was a shooting at the Wolfchase Galleria mall in Memphis, Tennessee. “I think that fighting over material things is ridiculous, and there should be organized lines with security,” said seventh grader Clara Schor.

Perhaps the worst thing about Black Friday, though, is the fact that for many people, getting a great deal and buying “things” seems to often take precedence over spending precious time with family and friends. Retailers try to lure consumers into coming into their stores to get the best deals, but this takes people away from their friends and family, the true meaning behind the holidays, and places the focus squarely on materialistic endeavors.

Some students don’t mind the consumerism of Black Friday, as long as one’s intentions are more in line with the spirit of giving. “The meaning of gift giving in the holiday season is taking the time to think about others and doing something nice and kind for someone you love by getting them a gift,” said seventh grader Lauren Straub.

As the Internet has grown, much of the Black Friday shopping has moved to the comfort of people’s homes. While this has not completely prevented the chaos in stores, people now have a choice to avoid the crowds and buy online.

Yet while Black Friday has become a fixture in our culture, but it’s important that people don’t forget what’s really important – the spirit of giving and the time they get to spend with their family and friends.