This is an open letter to all retailers out there! Please, stop making Christmas come earlier and earlier every year.
We, the consumers of this world, get it. We realize that you make most of your yearly income during the Christmas season. We also understand that, to increase the value of your business, you need people to hop on board the ‘buy more’ bandwagon. We get that the earlier you get people to buy your products, the more they will purchase, and the more money you will make in the long run. And yes, we even understand that your business, which you swear is all about us—the customers—is really all about the shareholders who make a mint off us.
But here’s the thing! We are all sick of Merry Freaking-Hallow-Thanks-Christmukkah EVE! We are tired of feeling the rush of the holidays approaching earlier and earlier each year. Just one year, we would like to go ‘back to school’ shopping without seeing holiday streamers in red, green, and gold sitting on the top shelf. We would like to buy Halloween costumes without being forced to dress our kids as Mrs. Claus or an elf. We would like to get through Remembrance Day, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving, and enjoy the commencement of fall and the changing seasons without being bombarded with songs about snowfalls or seeing red ribbons in your mailers and store advertisements.
Let Us Enjoy the Holidays, One at a Time
Just one season, we would like to sit down with our families on Thanksgiving, enjoy the turkey and the football game, and not stress and freak out planning our Black Friday shopping route, only to pretend we are saving a ton of money on one item you won’t even have in stock when we stand in line at 3 a.m., while a house full of our out-of-town family members sleep in our beds. Even worse, a few years ago, the sale flyers didn’t come out until after Thanksgiving, and now they are littering our inboxes and mailboxes, making the traditional Black Friday seem like nothing but a ploy to confuse and stress out the human race.
And speaking of 3 a.m.! Could you have some respect for your employees—who are also your customers—and stop opening earlier and staying open later just to get more people to come in and shop? The season is supposed to be about spending time with family, not spending money on family, and definitely not spending time in your store. Seriously, if people can’t find time to shop during regular business hours, then perhaps they really don’t have the desire to shop. After all, how many people are really visiting your store at midnight?
Since we, the consumers, ‘get’ what you are doing by pushing up Christmas every year, we would like you to know that we know when Christmas is. Christmas is December 25th, and all the shopping that any family needs to do can be done in a few weeks, if not in just one day. Is it really necessary to start advertising for a holiday 2, 3, or 4 months before it even comes? Do you think we are stupid? Have you seen the current state of the economy? Do you realize that if things continue the way they are, no one will be able to afford Christmas altogether, even if you start advertising in July? Do you really think we are falling for all those cozy holiday bulletins, million-dollar commercials with cute little songs, and visions of puppy dogs, Santa, and happy kids? The truth is that your creation of Christmas as an overgrown season rather than a holiday is doing more harm than good by causing people to stress out beyond belief.
We, the consumers, believe a law needs to be put into place that says companies can only advertise for the holidays after a specific date. That stores cannot ruin Canadian and American holidays—holidays that have nothing to do with Christmas—by decking the halls with bells, holly, and Christmas trees months in advance. We would all be happy to get into the holiday spirit if you would just wait and let us live one day at a time, one month at a time, and one holiday at a time. And since there are no laws, we, the consumers, will have to start taking a personal stand—to get our own warm feelings of Christmas back!
We also believe that if you would quit rushing us and pressuring us, we would be able to enjoy the true Christmas holiday spirit. We would gladly accept eggnog at the doors to your store, ooohhh and ahhhh at the fabulous decorations, and sing along as we spent money in your store to the tunes being pushed through the media system. Heck, we might even throw a few coins in the buckets of the bell-ringers who stand in front of your doors to welcome us! In fact, we believe that if you would slow down, stop bullying us into sales, and stop making us feel like we have to shop till we drop three months before the big day, we would be less Scrooge-like and might even WANT to spend MORE money in your store.
The time has come for us—the consumers—to speak up! There are millions of us who are sick and tired of Christmas being a 3 or even 4-month event. We will refuse to shop your stores, write on your Facebook walls, leave ‘un-jolly’ messages with your bosses on Wall Street, and band together with other shoppers who just want to celebrate Halloween, fall, Remembrance Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas… in that order, in a timely manner.
