How Soon Should Holiday Shopping Start?
The Hampton Roads, Va., Daily Press reports that this year, Target (as well as Macy’s, Best Buy and Kohl’s) announced that it would open at midnight on “Black Friday” for shoppers. And a petition started by at Change.org by a Target employee is protesting this move on behalf of workers. “A midnight opening robs the hourly and in-store salary workers of time off with their families on Thanksgiving Day. By opening the doors at midnight, Target is requiring team members to be in the store by 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. A full holiday with family is not just for the elite of this nation—all Americans should be able to break bread with loved ones and get a good night’s rest on Thanksgiving!” Reuters reported that on Monday afternoon,Target Corp. received six bags full of petitions signed by 190,000 people. Three years ago, a Wal-Mart worker was trampled to death on Black Friday.
So this week, we’d like to ask you: How soon should holiday shopping start? Is it just plain wrong to be camping out in front of a big box store on Thanksgiving night? Is it wrong for retailers to force workers to come in on this holiday under madhouse conditions? Or is having to work or wanting to shop on Thanksgiving just no big deal?
Answer in the comments.
Read the answers to last week’s question: If You Had Eight Months to Take a Trip by Yourself, Where Would You Go?
Featured answer:
Posted by silencedogood20: “My wife and I took four months off before I got back into private practice. We went to six of the seven continents and I have previously been to all seven. I highly recommend unplugging and getting some perspective periodically. If I had to pick one place to spend eight months, I would either go back to Mongolia, bringing a better saddle and the biggest bottle of hot sauce I can lay hands on, or go back to Bali and surf relentlessly.”
Do you have an idea for a future question of the week? If so, contact us.
