To buy, or not to buy? That is the question this holiday season.

Recently on NPR, I was listening to The Diane Rehm Show. The radio spot entitled, Holiday Shopping and the Economy, featured Ylan Mui of The Washington Post, Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation, Professor James Roberts of Baylor University and Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytic. I was intrigued due mainly to the fact that the retail industry has extended the holiday shopping season by opening doors on Thanksgiving, rather than the traditional Black Friday morning, and the out pour of negative response from consumers.

According to Mui, retailers have extended the season by including extra days, “So we've got Thanksgiving openings. We've got Black Friday. That's followed by Small Business Saturday, then Cyber Monday, and now there's a new thing called Green Tuesday.” Green Tuesday, what’s that? Apparently it’s the day that we, as consumers, are encouraged and enticed to buy green, sustainable products, hopefully at a deeply discounted price.

Callers were outraged at the prospect that Thanksgiving is now part of the commercial holiday buying season, where people are forced to work Thanksgiving night. They were outraged that they were consistently referred to as “consumers” rather than “citizens.” They were outraged because the economy is already swimming around in a nasty toilet threatening to flush out everything we’ve worked so hard to gain due to careless, overspending. They were outraged because the quality of the merchandise to be displayed in their shiny packages is only a tactic to get consumers in the door so the retailer can deploy dishonest bait-and-switch practices. They stated that this year, retailers should back off and listen to the 99%. They stated that they will occupy the retailers in protest because the only people that would be affected positively are the fat cats who will pocket the profits in the form of bonuses and leave the rest of us continuing to struggle.

Having worked in the hospitality industry for close to ten years where I was required to work most Thanksgivings, Christmas Eves, New Years and countless other holidays, I simply do not agree. And neither does the GDP. It’s during these times of the year that I wish I still worked in the hospitality industry because, quite frankly, I banked. I would walk out of the restaurant at the end of my shift on these glorious days having made rent plus some. If you choose to work in the hospitality or retail sector, you shouldn’t be surprised that you are most likely going to have to work days when everyone else and their grandma is off.  It is good and simple business strategy: supply meets demand. Not to mention that with unemployment hovering around 9%, according to the last statistic released by the US Department of Labor, we should feel lucky to have a job.

According to Zandi, “Consumer spending is a vital part of the economic activity.” He continues to state that consumer spending accounts for roughly about 70% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Since the GDP is used as an indicator for economic growth, we can assume that personal consumption expenditures is a huge factor in how well we recover from the current recession.

I think what bothered me the most was how every caller who called into the interview blamed the retail industry for all their woes, how the retailers are the ones pocketing all the money that we indiscriminately throw at them for products we don’t really need. What no one talked about was how this holiday season, almost every industry you can think of will be affected. What no one talked about was how because every industry you can think of will be affected, we all will profit in one way or another. Those in the publication world will make the bulk of their profits from the advertising dollars they will receive from such retailers and the consumers who buy the publications to seek out their holiday steals. The transportation industry will profit from the increase in traffic due to commercial loads trucking across the nation and the consumers driving on toll roads. The hospitality industry will profit from the increase in foot traffic by the consumers who need a coffee break or need to get a quick bite before they skip off to the next big box to find their next big purchase. People themselves will profit because of the increase in demand for warm bodies to make all of this happen. I could go on and on.

Personally, I’ve already done my holiday shopping. I have two more things to get, but so far, I’ve spent a whole whopping $5. I bought my gifts for the kids at a garage sale. I found things on clearance for a dollar. My son and I will make the rest to give to family on Christmas day. That might cost me another $5. 

My suggestion? If you don’t like it, vote with your feet. Walk in the other direction. Spend wisely. Create a budget that fits your lifestyle and don’t go over it. Give from the heart. Tip your servers and buy from your local businesses—your friends and those in your community. Creating picket lines are only going make the hourly worker suffer when you turn off consumers from entering a store, not the CEO. Donate what you don’t need to those who have less. And most of all try and have a happy holiday season with those you love, despite our financial difficulties. Spread cheer, not spite.

© 2011 Kara O'Ferrell
May not be reproduced without prior permission.

Face to Face with “War-Mart”

I have held a boycott against Wal-Mart for about eight years now. The reasons are varied, but grew consistently over the years. I know that I, myself, cannot bring the conglomerate down to its knees solely on the basis of my measly $300 per month grocery bill averted from them and cashed in at another large conglomerate, albeit a less evil one. My boycott started in college, as a Business Administration major, early in my matriculation. My beliefs in fair labor laws and a penchant for anything feminist led me to shun the entire company for their spending more on antiunion tactics than on employee health insurance when 80% of their lower level employees are women and the sole providers for their families, not to mention the store’s hesitance to promote women into the ranks of management. Also, Wal-Mart is just such an ugly, ugly eye sore with their vast buildings that are reminiscent of a warehouse stocked with a bunch of useless, plastic crap made in China that no one really needs.

However, after being a mother for four years and living in a recession for two, I have started to rethink this boycott. Had it not been for the fact that Wal-Mart donated a substantial amount of money to a women’s group that I belong to, I probably would have had a harder time accepting the inevitable: it is cheaper to shop at Wal-Mart. And at least once a week my son starts a conversation that goes something along the lines as this:

“Do you wike War-Mart, mumma?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t like the way they treat their workers.”

“But you can save more amb weve better! And they have Toy Story toys, too. I wike War-Mart. Nana takes me there.”

It’s hard to argue with a four year old. They have no sense of priority yet, no real, concrete common sense and they exhibit fickle tastes. Their world revolves around themselves and the few people they have a real connection with. Those people (along with television, of course) are the foundation in which the child will form his or her ideals, beliefs, and brand preference. The reverse is true as well: Parents have an overwhelming sense of obligation to give their children what they themselves never had, whether it is a good education or a MacDonald’s Happy Meal and we will turn 180° to make them happy, healthy and well rounded, literally throwing our dollars away with each purchase that promise such sentiments, true or not.

After nearly a year of nagging from my tot, I braced myself for a brand transition on a Saturday afternoon. I pulled into the busy parking lot, filled with vehicles moving slowly in the two acre lot—we had a birthday party to attend and needed a toy fast and cheap. I assisted my toddler out of my modest, low-emission sport SUV surrounded by mini-vans, soccer moms, the elderly and others that looked to be transients. I took a deep breath and marched up to the ugly face of iconic American business tactics and stepped inside the steel structure, ominous with beams and lights looming overhead, casting shadows in its wake. A man with a gut twice the size of my once pregnant tummy pushed his way ahead of us, donning flip-flops, a wife beater t-shirt and a scowl that made John Wayne Gacy’s mug shot a little less scary. And then I was lost—but only for a moment because I had a well-informed child at my side.

“This way, mumma. I show you,” reassured my son.

“I’m glad you know where you’re going because I have no clue,” I replied.

My son took my hand and proceeded to the toy aisle after weaving in and out of clothes racks, end stacks and sales displays. I was wide-eyed at how much crap they could cram into such small places and amazed that they had installed sensor lighting in their refrigerated/frozen aisles. We had $15 to spend and chose a “My First Laptop.” From there we preceded to the check out isles. They seemed like tiny, crowded islands, so far and out of reach. During the 20 minute wait for our turn to throw money away on the evil conglomerate, I had the chance to take a look around. There is one nice thing I have to say about Wal-Mart—they certainly do not discriminate against any one customer. Kids were running around in pure bliss, hyped up on sugar and awaiting their plastic prize. Large, small, fat, skinny, black, white, young, old—they were all there shuffling in single file lines keeping capitalism alive.

Overall, the experience wasn’t as bad as I had imagined it. I still think that Wal-Mart has rubbed out the little guys and holds women back from any progress that they may have gained had they been employed somewhere else. I certainly won’t be doing my weekly grocery and household shopping there, but I might run in quickly to find a fast and cheap birthday gift sometime in the near future if I’m out in the boonies where it’s the only option to shop for goods. And just maybe, I’ll take my son there on a field trip after a super awesome week at school, all the while explaining how I feel about the importance of fair labor practices. I mean, after all, I do want him to be happy and well-rounded.

© 2011 Kara O'Ferrell
May not be reproduced without prior permission.