It’s the fourth Thursday in November. For Americans that means watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, yelling at the TV while rooting for one of the opposing football teams, and gathering with family while feasting on a special Thanksgiving Day meal. After done talking to aunt Charlotte about who knows what, and finishing the feast, it’s time for a nap… However, with Black Friday times getting pushed to be sooner and sooner, it makes it difficult to spend this holiday relaxing with your family.
Black Friday is officially defined as, “the day after Thanksgiving, regarded as the first day of the traditional Christmas shopping season, on which retailers offer special reduced prices.”
This is exactly what Black Friday should be, the day after Thanksgiving, not the day of Thanksgiving. Recently Black Friday has been starting earlier and earlier with each passing year. In 2016, stores started their Black Friday sales as early as 2 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, but if we wanted to get technical, some select stores offered their Black Friday prices throughout the entire month of November, all the way up until Christmas Eve. However, ideally stores should not open their doors for Black Friday sales until 12 a.m. Friday.
For some families, enjoying their Thanksgiving day is tradition. Family members from out of state may even fly in to spend time with the ones they love. Now, the holiday is beginning to look more like families hurrying up and eating so that they can begin their search through that night’s ads so that they can figure out what exactly it is they need to purchase.
This frantic rush is caused by some stores opening on Thanksgiving. Wait until 12 a.m. Friday. This way families could spend their Thanksgivings together and not have to cut ties with one another in the middle of the afternoon. Stores could even benefit from this push back in times as it’d give them more time to organize the products so that the crowds aren’t as large, and even dangerous when the one item everyone wants goes on sale. This push back in time would allow for employees who have to work these sales to have some family time on this important holiday. For these reasons and many more, Black Friday sales should not start until 12 a.m. Friday morning.