Black Friday 2013: Leaked Ads Prove Sales Invading Thanksgiving, Shoppers Angry
Black Friday 2013 is transforming into Black Thursday on Thanksgiving Day, making holiday shoppers not so happy.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, a Black Friday Walmart glitch let welfare shoppers go on a spending spree.
We’ve already seen Black Friday leaked ads from Kmart and Sears claiming Thanksgiving Day will be when the shopping deals start. Some malls and even Target, Macy’s and JC Penny will open at 8 PM Thanksgiving Day for the beginning of the Black Friday deals. But the Black Friday Kmart schedule calls for an opening at 6 AM, meaning there will be 41 hours straight of shopping time available.
In response to the Black Friday Kmart decision, hundreds of customers poured their wrath out onto social media, calling the parent company that owns Sears and Kmart “heartless,” “greedy,” “shameful” and “disgusting.” A Kmart spokeswoman claims it was actually customers requesting “flexible holiday in-store shopping times” for those shopping for the best Black Fridays deals. It’s possible this would include customers who normally have Thanksgiving Day off, but work on Black Friday.
But customer Tracy Lane pointed out that moving Black Friday onto Thanksgiving Day takes people away from their families:
“Shame on you, Kmart. I will never set foot in any of your stores again. I have family members that work in retail and because of greedy retailers like you, will not be able to spend the day with us.”
Some reports point out that Black Friday workers will be compensated with overtime and double time pay, so some people may even volunteer for the assignment. But in general the Center on Economic and Policy Research claims “”the United States is the only advanced economy that does not guarantee its workers any paid vacation time and is one of only a few rich countries that does not require employers to offer at least some paid holidays…. Almost one in four Americans has no paid vacation (23 percent) and no paid holidays (23 percent).”
Bloomberg also claims Black Friday 2013 will be harsh toward retailers, as well. Because of the calendar, the holiday shopping season will be shorter by six days compared to 2012, which might explain the sudden incentive to push Black Friday onto Thanksgiving Day.
But Tamara Gaffney, an analyst with Adobe, argues that other nations like England and Canada spend more than Americans during the holiday season so Black Friday may actually holding retailers back:
“Our official start date here called Black Friday, which will eventually be Thanksgiving, is preventing online sales from occurring.”
What do you think about Black Friday 2013 slowly transforming Thanksgiving Day into Black Thursday?
.@Kmart Customers threaten 2 boycott over decision 2 open at 6am #Thanksgiving ! heartless, greedy & disgusting http://t.co/Dun5zrMPDs *ad
— Ashley (@DominateSeoNow) November 6, 2013
