Growing up, my family’s biggest tradition was waking up early after Thanksgiving and making our way to either the mall, side stores, or even outlets to go Black Friday shopping. Despite the pushing, shoving, and the fighting done during this day, it brought us a lot of fulfillment in being able to get gifts for our loved ones. As the years went on I’ve noticed a shift in not only what items are being offered during Black Friday but when the sales are rolling in.
This year, many people may be seeing advertisements of 20% off at their favorite makeup store or getting emails about limited-time deals prior to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But are these early Black Friday deals really the best times to shop? When talking to friends and family about this phenomenon, we’ve come to the conclusion that many of these deals are pushed due to the market for consumerism being pushed online instead of in person. Although buying online can be beneficial in many ways (i.e., a higher number of stock per item, fewer Black Friday brawls, reward points, etc.) there are still downsides to buying online during this time.
The biggest downside that comes from buying online is the shipping time. As someone who works in my college’s mailroom, the biggest issue we’ve had in regards to students buying holiday gifts for loved ones is buying their gifts at what seems to be a reasonable time, but in all actuality is not. This is because of the high volume of orders companies get during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This causes a lot of delays in delivery which can cause your items to arrive later than expected. In addition to this, many packages can get lost in transit which can cause an even bigger issue.
So what does this mean for Black Friday? Although we may enjoy the early deals during this time, we should be a little concerned with just how early they’re rolling in. With online retailers competing with their in-person counterparts, we’ve started to see a shift in a lot of shoppers and their preferences during the holiday, and although this change can be seen as a good thing, it still begs the question of the increase in consumerism and the material goods that we feel the need to have. The earlier the sales, the less we get to focus on the real holiday we should be celebrating: Thanksgiving. In a time where we should be giving thanks for our loved ones that surround us, we are focusing on the next sale. The early Black Friday sales have in some ways diminished the idea of thanksgiving and have caused many people to overlook the holiday. If we all focused more on our loved ones and not the material goods that they might want to receive, maybe we could go back to what the true holiday spirit is all about.