The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
The holiday season is here. For many students that means spending time with family, relaxing and shopping on Black Friday. But has this dedication to spending time with family been lost to an opportunity to spend money instead?
Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday all mix together to form a mass weekend for Christmas shopping which seems to blot out Thanksgiving.
Stores have been putting out Christmas decorations sooner each year. In some Walmart stores, Christmas displays were out even before Halloween products made an appearance.
Companies anticipate the holiday season as a time to make massive revenue. Commerce sales explode on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday.
According to a report done by Adobe, Black Friday 2016 is estimated to bring in about $3 billion by the day’s close. That is about an 11 percent rise from 2015.
Stores have extended their business hours for Black Friday and even into Thanksgiving, which is referred to as Gray Thursday. The huge profits made by retailers on these dates provide an incentive for longer business hours.
Retailers lure shoppers in with great deals and long hours to increase their net profits, resulting in the biggest spending weekend of the year.
While the people who own companies are making good money with these extended hours, the workers at these stores cannot spend time with family since they must work the prolonged hours that come with Black Friday.
Erin Malone, senior communications major, said, “I think it’s very important to maintain normal business hours on Black Friday, so that the people who are working can spend time with their families like everyone else does.”
The shopping involved with the holiday season is not only hard on workers; the environment is strained as well.
Extensive resource extraction is involved to make toys, clothes and electronics for gifts. Farming cotton, mining for metals, and factory production of plastics in many children’s toys amounts to a lot of carbon being added to the atmosphere.
Imagine all of the plastic bags that were used across the country on Black Friday alone. Those bags will most likely end up in a landfill after one use.
But there are some companies taking advantage of the shopping holiday of Black Friday to help the environment.
Patagonia received $10 million in sales on Black Friday this year, and the company has declared that it is donating it all to small grassroots organizations that are “working on the front lines to protect our air, water and soil for future generations,” according to a press release.
In response to this stretch of mass consumption some are opting to buy less for the holidays.
Malone said, “In my family we’ve really cut back a lot on gift giving. Instead we will spend an evening together or eat a meal together.”
It is not only individuals that are opting to stay out of the mass consumerism which takes place on Black Friday.
The outdoor equipment retailer REI closed all of their stores on Black Friday and instead offered their employees paid leave to have a day to spend with family or go experience the outdoors.
In 13 different states, free admission was offered in State Parks the day after Thanksgiving to get people outside instead of heading to the mall.
When asked what they enjoyed most about Thanksgiving break, students replied with spending time with family. There was little mention of what they bought on Black Friday.
With Christmas right around the corner it is important to remember that the effect of heavy gift shopping will have on the environment. Purchasing from second-hand retailers, using a reusable bag or simply buying less will be the greatest gift for the planet this holiday season.
Genevieve Adamski
Environment Editor
gadam590@uwsp.edu
