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December 1, 2009

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Our man in America talks turkey about shopping stampede and greed

By Wan Lixin | December 1, 2009, Tuesday | Print Edition

THOUGH we did not partake of any turkey last Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, many of us felt very excited in anticipating of seeing how early morning specials and door-busters would make Americans go crazy on Black Friday.

We were told three weeks ago when we first arrived here that the Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday, which marks the official start of the make-or-break holiday shopping season that lasts till late December.

It is called black because on the strength of steep discounts and frenzied shopping, retailers would start turning a profit, or they would be in the black.

Traditionally stores are expected to close during turkey day, but they open very early the next day with special deals. Some purchasers get up early and queue in front of the stores to get the limited best deals when the stores open.

Last year a 34-year-old Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by stampeding shoppers in New York shortly after the doors were opened at 5am. Partly as a crowd-control measure, Wal-Mart and many other retailers opened during the Thanksgiving Day this year.

Empty-handed

One female trainee in our group rushed to Best Buy and Macy's at 4:30am, in time for Macy's morning specials from 5am to 1pm, but returned home empty-handed, and concluded that the Thanksgiving Day seemed more like All Fool's Day.

Although full-page Macy's discount advertisements appeared in several newspapers, my colleague, a seasoned shopper known for her impulse purchases, did not find anything there worth buying.

The real bargains were probably 13 used books and magazines (including one illustrated copy of Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales") I got for US$3, at a nearby Arlington community Library, the day after Black Friday.

The holiday sales figures are closely watched by economists, for this is the season when retailers earn an important chunk of their revenue for the year, and whether Americans are willing to spend would in a measure dictate the momentum of the economic recovery.

Few of us have been reminded that this holiday, like the Christmas, originally had little to do with shopping, but is an occasion to gather with the family and to remember the things for which Americans should feel grateful.

Last Friday USA Today cited a national oral history project as suggesting that families sit down together and talk about their lives, instead of hunting for bargains.

Materialism

This quintessentially American holiday was originally meant to show the first pilgrims' gratitude to the American Indians whose generosity had helped the first settlers survive the harsh conditions in the New World in early 1600s.

Today Americans have more reasons to be grateful. Dana Milbank observed last Wednesday's Washington Post that "The nation's bankers have much to be thankful for as they sit down to their turkey dinners on Thursday."

As the financial sector has stabilized, these bankers, while feasting on their booty, are now trying hard to fight off any efforts at subjecting the rotten sector to stricter regulation. The explanations can go deeper.

As Armstrong Williams observed in his column in the Washington Times on Wednesday, "We call ourselves Christians because our parents call themselves Christians, but somewhere along the line, we lost the ability to practice gratitude. Our sense of vanity and materialism get in the way, and prevents us from achieving the truly beautiful possibilities of life."

When Americans are navigating their shopping cart through a labyrinth of goods they do not really need, and feel frustrated confronting so many choices, what is the correct attitude towards those who made these so abundantly, and cheaply, available to them?

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