Making Thanksgiving A National Holiday Free From Work?

How many among us count Thanksgiving as our favorite holiday? There is the turkey to look forward to, seeing your family and friends, watching a football game, and taking the post meal nap after eating too much. Thanksgiving is a celebration of togetherness and gluttony, making it the quintessential American holiday. Here is my, George Galgano's, take on the situation.

Should We Pass A Law Making Thanksgiving A National Holiday Free From Work?

Increasingly, there is another Thanksgiving tradition that is making the rounds. Retail workers can look forward to cramming their food down quickly and briefly spending time with their loved ones. This is because they have something more important to do. They have to go to work so people can go shopping.

It didn’t use to be this way. Some time ago, Black Friday meant what it said. Shoppers woke up super early Friday morning to score great deals. Then times started changing. The new normal was midnight; then it was 9pm on Thanksgiving. And then we got the news for this year: stores would open at 5pm on Thanksgiving.

JC Penny gets the inglorious award of opening at 5pm on Thanksgiving. To make matters worse, they are not the biggest offenders. Kmart is opening at the staggeringly early time of 6am on Thanksgiving and they will stay open for 42 hours straight. Other Thanksgiving offenders include the majority of the major retail outlets: Walmart, Macys, Target, and Best Buy. This doesn’t include the smaller stores and food places that will be open as well to accommodate shoppers.

As a business strategy, opening on Thanksgiving appears to work. Sure, there are many people who are rightly disgusted by the invasion of consumerism on a day that is supposed to honor family. But there are just as many, if not more, who are not offended, and view Black Friday deals as a way to save money. Indeed, in these trying economic times, getting people to stay home instead of saving money may be too tall of an order. Many people shop on Black Friday not just for Christmas alone. Some people wait the entire year to purchase big-ticket items.

In light of these trends, stopping stores from opening on Thanksgiving appears to be a non-starter, no matter how many people or other stores try to shame them. The only way to protect the sanctity of this holiday is to intervene with a federal law. Unfortunately, given the climate of congress, a federal law like this is unlikely to pass.