Questioning Christmas

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.

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