This Week’s News and Views: The Real “Black Friday” in 2008

For retailers, the day after Thanksgiving is nicknamed ”Black Friday.” It’s called this because retailers look for their bottom line to go from red, (losses) to black (gains).  Actually, this is not the biggest shopping day of the holiday season, but it kicks off the shopping frenzy of the month prior to Christmas.

Retailers often bambozzle shoppers into standing in lines as early as 4am--fighting shoulder-to-shoulder crowds for a limited number of big ticket items like video game systems, computers, audio-equipment and such.  This is retail manipulation at its highest level. 

Tempers flare, fights break out over who grabbed it first and shoppers can be reduced to tears upon hearing that the store has run out of that special prized item.  Why put yourself through that kind of hassle?

This would be the time that black folks can excercise some financial clout.  Why not withold our precious dollars on a day that is aptly named to suit our goals?  Why not show the retailers how much they need our dollars and how important our millions of dollars are to the U.S. economy? 

Why not go for it in 2008?  We have a whole year to save up and find bargains for our holiday gift-giving.  We don’t have to wait until the day after Thanksgiving.  The day could be better spent working off that big meal at the gym, or just vegging out in front of the DVD player, if you are lucky enough to have the day off.  Retailers routinely run sales all through the year and the internet and E-Bay are great places to find bargains on coveted items.

Pass the word along and see if we can come together on an issue that won’t cost us a dime, but might save us a boatload of money in the long-run.  I’ll be reminding you from time to time.

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