Questioning Christmas:
Thanksgiving is known to many as a one of the largest mass travel event in the world. But how people travel and shop for Christmas affects our economy. Recently thanksgiving has been recognized as a smaller holiday as the years go by; just as Black Friday starts earlier. And for all of you who may not know what Black Friday is, it is the time of the year when people stab each other over a plastic Barbie doll with a camera embedded in it’s chest. Many Americans have even started to skip their family feast just to buy their loved ones hearts. Less has been spent on food and retail sales skyrocketed.
At least some people have recognized that not all of the great deals are released on Black Friday or the week thereof. Many merchants have recognized this growing trend that Black Friday was indeed the busiest and holds most the gold, but at the same time just less than half of all Christmas sales are made months before November December 8-20 and the week following Christmas. Many would not understand the importance, but if merchants were to keep all of their sales, deals, and other shopping events to one day only, the tradeoff would be a surplus in product and lost clientele due to the anarchy of the busiest and most unmanageable days of the year.
Last year alone according to Statista, Bonuses were seen to be smaller in size than ever not to mention the amount of bonuses received, were only given to about 10% of our workforce. Considering a majority of our numbers are not executives, we can assume they are mostly compiled of small low pay jobs or seasonal employment like systems. There is most definitely a shortage in money for the holiday season and plenty of people spend too much and even take out loans to buy their loved ones expensive luxuries they most certainly can’t afford.. As deals have been marketed and stretched out over the course of the season , we know that you cannot just market random products at random times. This is why we have other days dedicated to a style of shopping or a certain type of product of brand. Companies over time have forged new ways to get money and keep a constant holiday flow. The idea is quite simple actually. Cyber Monday is the first to follow Black Friday, but from there on, many companies have put expensive and more “Adult” oriented gifts or products, and no I am not talking about anything inappropriate, but I am sure your toddler would not enjoy receiving a leather shoe polishing kit. This idea is a tradeoff for long term spending, and getting you to buy expensive items that if were last you would just not care to purchase. Then They put cheaper yet still mildly popular toys on sale to keep the average customer from feeling bad about how much they are spending. In the final days before the holidays the products with the best deals usually end up being the expensive and most requested items, from clothing to Computers, and any gift that you would feel horrible for not getting. But other than squeezing money out of people that work hard on the bottom to keep the world spinning; Companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Walmart, and other giants, have created an artificial invisible hand that doesn’t work out in the way one would think. The way they are generating monetary flow and contributing to the Gross Domestic Products Statistic and other commons, they have created seasonal or cyclical employment. What happens when a huge company fails? Will it destroy our economy? This does help ever so slightly but in further question what happens when their is no market for Christmas? What happens when their is not a single penny for a large sum of people? After all, we lose to those who give, but who is really losing?
Works Cited:
- Bender, Joshua. "Topic: U.S. Christmas Season." Www.statista.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.
- "TRADING ECONOMICS | 300.000 INDICATORS FROM 196 COUNTRIES." TRADING ECONOMICS | 300.000 INDICATORS FROM 196 COUNTRIES. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.
- "United States Department of Labor: Employment & Wage." United States Department of Labor. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.
I really enjoyed the topic you chose, and think it reflects modern society really well. You also blended the economics into the piece well. The only thin I would say is try to find someone else's perspective on it. Maybe a consumer or an employee, add some opinionated/words of the people into it. Otherwise this was a great piece and I couldn't find any other flaws.
ReplyDeleteI don't think people are getting raises around Christmas time because of the big huge deal days that go the month right before it. Also I still don't get on how Amazon generates monetary flow and how that leads to unemployment. Also how much does the percentage of people getting a Christmas raise from year to year?
ReplyDeleteIt’s weird how businesses decide to display more sales during the two weeks before Christmas, rather than on Black Friday. This however, could be due to more individuals believing they are receiving a more significant deal on Black Friday than any other day, which is not the case. There is a higher demand during Black Friday due to all the nonsense about the BIGGEST SALE EVER, but it’s simple for a business to trick their buyers by actually having more sales right before Christmas so they make more and invest in more for the future. If this outcome is ongoing, maybe Black Friday should be removed since it is taking away from the true meaning of Thanksgiving and people aren’t even getting great sales anymore. That will allow people to forget the presents and gifts and understand the true meaning of both Thanksgiving and Christmas which is spending time with your family and celebrating Jesus’s birth.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a very interesting topic that you chose. I can see how Christmas is a prosperous time for the economy since, as you pointed out, some people are willing to spend whatever it takes to please their friends and family members. Although I am not an avid Black Friday Shopper, I totally see why businesses extend their sales beginning on Thanksgiving, and going through Cyber Monday. It is the greatest opportunity for profit and making the most sales. In the beginning when you said Christmas is a popular time to travel, I thought to Spring Break and wondered how the economy is affected during that time of year. Obviously plane tickets increase their prices, but it would be interesting to compare the different holidays.
ReplyDeleteOverall this was a really good piece and an interesting topic relating to economics. It is fascinating how you said that as the holidays approach the items that were the cheapest are now the most expensive and have a higher demand. Personally I tend to leave all the shopping till the last minute and I can see how the prices have been impacted. It is also interesting how companies have more sales leading up to Christmas, this might also be because that they know that people may procrastinate when buying gifts.
ReplyDeleteYour piece was very interesting to read; it made me really think about the holidays and the economics that goes behind them. I can understand how many employees do not receive Christmas bonuses because it is the busiest time of the year, but I do not think it's the most terrible thing not to receive a Christmas bonus because plenty of other people, according to your graph and knowing that many people I know do not receive bonuses around Christmas, have made it through the holidays without the extra money around Christmas time. With events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday right before the holidays, some people can complete all their holiday shopping without spending more than they can afford. It would be nice for the work force to receive the extra money around Christmas for their families, shopping purchases, or just to have a bonus, but even though you've given some great points in your post about Christmas bonuses, I still think it's not the greatest catastrophe if people didn't receive Christmas bonuses.
ReplyDeleteYour blog post covered an interesting topic and you also made some good points. I never noticed that as it gets closer to Christmas that the prices of gifts decrease as there are more sales. However, I have noticed that after Christmas, even the day after, there are lots of sales.
ReplyDeleteThis is quite an intriguing post. It is quite surprising that the prices actually decrease, one would think that store-owners would jack up their prices, because they know that a huge influx of sales is bound to show up. But that is perfect competition, everyone is scared that they are going to lose sales to the next store, because they lowered their prices minimally.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a very interesting topic. I never actually noticed that the true deals were the two short weeks right before Christmas rather than Black Friday which is supposed to be the biggest day for deals. I can see how this is true since some people will spend whatever amount they can to get the giving feeling to their friends and family. It makes sense why businesses extend the day into Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday because they are able to make the best profit and trick their customers to buying more and getting the "best deals."
ReplyDeleteBlack Friday has seen drastic changes since I started going shopping on this horrible, but fun (call me sadistic) day of commercialism. Deals no longer start and end on the day after thanksgiving. Stores such as Bath and Body Works and Forever 21 started their deals two days before thanksgiving and kept them straight through cyber monday. This didn’t stop Brookfield Square mall from being packed at 6 am on Black Friday though. As the years have gone on, stores have become wise to the fact that even if their deals are awful (I’m looking at you Bath and Body Works), the shoppers will still come in hordes. It’s not so much about the deals, it’s just a cultural thing that America has, but it may be in its final stages.
ReplyDeleteI did not realize how few people were getting a Christmas bonus lately, but honestly, I do not think it is really that big of a deal. Yes, people may have less money to buy Christmas presents than they originally would, but people should not have been spending all of their Christmas bonuses on presents in the first place. I think that is ridiculous how many people are focused on the spending part of Christmas over the family part. Especially when you mentioned Thanksgiving at first and how many people are probably choosing Black Friday deals over a family dinner. It’s extremely sad to see society heading in this direction. Holidays are not supposed to be all about money, but that seems to be all that our country cares about anymore and I suspect that it will only get worse in the future.
ReplyDeleteChristmas is a really expensive time in general. Buying presents for friends and family, buying food to prepare for your holiday get togethers, and even buying plane tickets to visit close ones can make for a fairly large price tag. I feel as though this is why stores advertise for “sales” so often during the holiday season, because they think people will be more likely to buy things if they think they are saving money, even if the sale isn’t that great. (This is why my Dad thinks Kohl’s is a scam, because they have high prices but then say everything is on “sale,” even though the sale price is the same as a normal price at a different store). I do not think that sales such as black friday and cyber money are having a negative impact on society as a whole though, I actually think that it improves the economy as more people are buying goods during those times, even if the sales aren’t as good as the two weeks before christmas.
ReplyDeleteInstead of Christmas bonuses, more and more people are receiving things like jelly of the month club certificates than Christmas Bonuses, leaving families without the money they rely on to buy Christmas gifts. Quite a few people would theoretically be unable to purchase the plethora of presents for their loved ones, however, the sale allows them to do so. That’s why the sale extends for so long. On that note, I for one personally despise the idea of black Friday - it should be a holiday spent with family and not at the stores, and I believe it's a paradox. Literally the day after we're supposed to give thanks (something rare, these days), we go out on a spending spree, telling ourselves that we need something. And now black Thursday is becoming a thing. What a juicy nugget of irony.
ReplyDeleteI Found it interesting that a lot of people buy there Christmas gear before December even start what surprising it me. This is because when you still talk about Black Friday shopping, people are still excited for all the deals that you could get. My question still remains, why are people more excited for Black Friday when you have more deals during November? You would have more time in November for all the great deals rather than just in one night. Stores like Target are one of the popular stores that people go to when Black Friday hits and so I know their long term spending is high even when November is over and Black Friday with layaway.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting topic and it personally surprised me. I am curious as to why the Christmas bonuses have been lacking recently hopefully they pick up although that wouldn't really affect me I suppose but it would most likely make the economy change if more people started to get Christmas bonuses all of a sudden so I could see why it hasn't been happening.
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