Big Retail vs. American Family Values

Thanksgiving used to be a day for families to get together over a big dinner to enjoy each other's company and delight in all the things that we, as Americans, have to be Thankful for. Thanksgiving, is of course, decidedly an American holiday, even though some other countries have somewhat similar holidays related to their own countries.

For us, the tradition used to be that many of us would go to our school's or Alma Mater's annual Turkey Day football game. Where I used to live, that meant East Stroudsburg Cavaliers vs. Stroudsburg Mountaineers. This game is no longer played on Thanksgiving, and East Stroudsburg has long since been divided into two different schools due to population growth caused by the Poconos sort of becoming a bedroom community for people who work in New York City.

Where I live now, the tradition is similar, but the schools are Easton Red Rovers vs. Phillipsburg Stateliners. This is the oldest high school football rivalry in America and it's a pretty big deal for many of the citizens of both towns. The game starts at 10 AM every Thanksgiving and usually ends around 12:30 PM. Then everyone heads off to the family Thankisgiving gatherings.

It used to a relaxing dinner and no one had to rush to be anywhere, but now Big Retail is trying to destroy our American family values and traditions by being open on Thanksgiving Day. There are many retailers to blame, among them Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Sears, Target, and Kohls, just to name a few. Now, some of those family members who happen to be employed by one of these retailers, or others that are open on Thanksgiving, must sacrifice what for some people, is a once-a-year family event. I happen to be employed by one of the retailers mentioned above, and I have made it very clear that I will never work on Thanksgiving no matter what. I am more fortunate than most, because it is not my primary source of income and I could probably still survive without it if I gave up a few perks.

Most people don't have the luxury of being able to tell their employer that they refuse to work, because the threat of termination would be looming ugly over their head. It's a very sad situation and a statement about corporate retail America which says to me "We don't care about you, we don't care about America, and we don't care about families. We care about money and profits, and that's all we care about."

Of course there are certain establishments that have to be open on Thanksgiving such as hospitals and pharmacies, but generally speaking there is NOTHING that anybody needs to buy so bad that they can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving. Stores that are open on Thanksgiving are violating everthing that America and American's stand for, such as freedom and the right to the pursuit of happiness.

"Forget dessert after the turkey dinner this year, Macy’s is opening its doors starting at 8:00p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

For the first time in its 155-year history, most Macy’s stores nationwide will be opening four hours before the official start of Black Friday".source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/10/14/how-desperate-are-retailers-to-lure-holiday-shoppers/

It is an even sadder commentary on what is happening in America when you type the words "Thanksgiving Turkey" in to Google Search and most of the hits are for the movie "Free Birds."

The only way to stop this insanity is for Americans to refuse to shop on Thanksgiving, because if the masses refuse to shop, the retailers will be forced to not be open. I know I;'m probably dreaming an unrealistic dream. I'm one small voice in mass of voices, and as long as there are people who are willing to ruin our holiday by shopping, the retailers will continue to ruin our holiday by being open.

If it continues, every year it will get worse until retailers start opening on midnight the night BEFORE Thanksgiving. Sadly, those retailers that don't WANT to be open on Thanksgiving are sometimes forced to either open or be fined by the shopping centers or malls where their stores are located. As the anchor stores go, so the mall goes. I used to work in one of the largest malls in Pennsylvania and the rule of them was, if the anchor stores don't close, nobody closes. This included not only holidays, but inclement weather also.

So, I am urging all Americans to fight back and refuse to shop in any retail establishment before 4 AM on Black Friday. I still think even this is bad, but it's much better than people shopping at 8 PM on Thanksgiving. Black Friday is on FRIDAY, not on Thursday, so let's at least go back to the way it was before all this insanity started going overboard.

"For the past two years, employees at retailers including Target, Toys R Us, and Walmart have started petitions against those stores' holiday hours, often gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures. But the petitions were never successful."

source:http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/402555/28/Report-Some-Macys-open-for-Thanksgiving

Take this oath with me..........""I (state your name) do hereby promise that I will not, this year, or any year in the future, set foot in any retail establishment earlier than 4 AM on Black Friday." Now, don't you feel better??

1. More and more retailers are opening on Thanksgiving to try to complete with online retail sales.
2. The American family tradition of a relaxing Thanksgiving dinner is rapidly losing ground.
3. Macy's will be open on Thanksgiving for the first time in it's 155 year history.
4. Petitions by employees of retailers that are open on Thanksgiving to try to stop the practice have been unsuccessful even though they have gotten hundreds of thousands of signatures.

Want to help stop all this craziness in the retail industry? Do your part and start doing your Christmas shopping before Halloween. As indicated in the chart above about 30% of Americans are already doing that. If more of us would do that and skip all this Thanksgiving Day madness we could send a message to the retail community that we as Americans are no longer going to support any retailer that is open on Thanksgiving Day. Instead, we are going to watch football, eat a relaxing family style sit-down dinner, and enjoy social interactions with our relatives instead of fighting heavy traffic, crowded stores, over-worked and irritable store employees, and Christmas music that plays way too loud in your store loudspeaker system.

Let that be a lesson to you Big Retail, we are not going to lay on our backs and let you walk all over us so you can earn an extra dollar by destroying our family values. Now it's our turn to fight back!!!

Wal-Mart Was One of The First of the Major Retailers to Encroach on Family-Time

Although Wal-Mart is not the ONLY retailer to blame for this increasingly devastating phenomena, Wal-Mart should take the biggest share of the blame because they were one of the first department stores to be open on Thanksgiving. They were also one of the first department stores to be open 24 hours a day. If it wouldn't have been for the fact that Wal-Mart continues to persist in attempting to destroy American family values, we wouldn't have the necessity for other retailers, such as Kohl's, Sears, K-Mart, Macy's and others following in their footsteps.

You'd think that a company where the CEO makes a total compensation package in excess of 35 million dollars per year, could have some compassion for it's hourly employees, who on average, earn less than $14,000.00 per year. Inf fact Wal_Mart hourly associates makes so little money across the board, that their employees have established a special fund for the neediest of them, to which Wal-Mart hourly employees themselves have donated over 5 MILLION dollars. The Walton family (the heirs to Sam Walton's fortune) donated only six THOUSAND dollars to this special fund. This just shows how little the Walton's care about the welfare of their employees and how much they care about their own greedy selves.

"An advocacy group called Organization United for Respect on its website challenged Walmart, which made profits of more than $15 billion in 2012, to pay its employees enough to feed their families without having to use charity to do so.

"Walmart is asking us to donate food to our co-workers. Why can't Walmart pay us enough so we can feed our families?" the OUR posting says." Source: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2013/11/19/Walmart-offended-by-criticism-of-employee-oriented-charity/UPI-89421384875398/

Isn't it bad enough that Wal-Mart and others encroach on American family values, but when Wal-Mart comes to town, they force smaller business that are paying their employees a livable wage to go out of business, thus driving local incomes down and making life in general worse for everybody.

The prices at Wal-Mart aren't really that much better than the prices you can find elsewhere, especially if you happen to live in close proximity to a farmer's market. The last time I bought beets in a Wal-Mart, they were $2.28 for a pathetically small bunch of 3 beets. I buy beets at the farmers market, that are good-sized, weighing close to 1 lb for each beet for $1.79 per bunch. Seedless grapes were $2.88 per pound at Wal-Mart and $1.39 at the farmer's market. Apples are rarely less than $1.49 per pound at Wal-Mart, and at the farmer's market $0.99 per pound. Today I bought 2-1 lb bags of broccoli flowerettes for $1.50 each bag, a 2 lb bag of spinach for $0.99, and two bunches of broccoli for 0.69 each. Nearly any food item is cheaper at the farmer's market than Wal-Mart and fresher too!! The only thing that is more expensive is meat, which is all grown without antibiotics or hormones. Who knows what unwanted things are contained in Wal-Mart's meat.

Again, I implore you..............DO NOT SHOP AT ANY STORE, EVER, THAT IS OPEN ON HOLIDAYS. If we Americans band together, we can force these corporate monsters of greed to either shut down on holidays, and if they refuse, I will be relentless on my attack, and we can force them to shut down for good, so smaller retailers can rule again and offer people wages that they can live on.