For the past several years in the United States, retailers have been chipping away at Thanksgiving. For retailers, Thanksgiving is an inconvenient time when their employees want to be home with their families instead of working, a day before the “real” holiday — Black Friday.
And retailers have been waging a war against Thanksgiving, asking employees to come in earlier and earlier each year. Within only a few short years, retailers have done away with Thanksgiving entirely. Employees are required to be at work or lose their jobs. What was once a celebration of family and a reflection on what we are thankful for is being replaced by the crass commercialism of a day of deals and frantic, crowded, miserable shopping.
Please join Sustainable Ballard and the Story of Stuff in thanking Costco and other retailers for closing down on Thanksgiving, and support them by staying home to spend time with your friends and family!
Commercialism has already swamped Christmas, and it is devouring Thanksgiving. Many stores are rolling Black Friday deals into Thanksgiving and even before — attempting to turn the months of November and December into relentless calls to consume. Some, like Best Buy, Walmart, and Toys “R” Us, force workers to clock-in even before the turkey is on the table in many households. It’s time to reverse this trend.
We need to hold up Costco and similar retailers for demonstrating values that more companies should embrace. By thanking stores that close on Thanksgiving, we can both reinforce the importance of this decision, and show other retailers that putting short-term profits over their employees — and their values — is harming their reputations and ultimately their bottom lines.
Thanksgiving is not about shopping. There are so many things we can do instead of fighting over Stuff at malls on Thanksgiving or Black Friday. Spending time with those we love. Playing games with friends. Enjoying a walk outside. Writing personalized holiday messages for those closest to you. Let us count the blessings we have, not the Stuff that we want.
We will run our own contest from October 15 to November 15 and encourage people to stage funny photos using puddles and share them with the #waterspotter hashtag. We’ll have prizes and feature the creative work of local Instagrammers. Are you in? We’ll share more details as we get close to the start of the contest.
