Today marked Remembrance Day. It is always a time of reflection to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. The last of the World War II veterans are now centenarians and only a few remain, but veterans of the Korean conflict and the United Nations Peace keeping forces remain, as well as the Afghanistan veterans. Today our sailors patrol the waters around Canada and international waters around the globe. Our soldiers are on active duty in Latvia. Our Airforce is in constantly ready to defend our skies and transport support personnel anywhere in the world. It is a shame that we spend a scant day in time to remember.
But unfortunately, it also marks a change in the calendar as the world advances on Christmas. Beginning in mid-October television began advertising for Christmas promoting sales and shopping opportunities. Following the U.S. election, retailers and service industries are in full mode for Christmas.
In Fort Frances, Remembrance Day was the day most businesses closed their doors for the morning and began redecorating for the Christmas season.
At the turn of the century retailers discovered the term “Black Friday,” the day following the U.S. Thanksgiving Day weekend. Black Friday was noted for huge discounts on items and marked the beginning of holiday gift buying. It received the name because it was on that day that the ledgers went from red ink to black ink and became profitable. For many businesses, the last thirty days of the year accounted for 40% of sales.
Now “Black Friday” begins on the first day of November with retailers and online retailers offering huge discounts to consumers. And the real “Black Friday” is followed by Cyber Monday. Flyers are now filled with all the notions to make your home more beautiful for the Christmas season, and Walmart produced a catalogue with mid-October distribution to entice toy buying like the now long-discontinued Sears and Eaton’s Christmas catalogues.
Black Friday is the day you decide to spend money you were not planning to spend. The deal looks too good to pass up, and the credit card makes it easy to make that purchase. Even that trip to Europe or Mexico has a black Friday discount that make flying to Europe affordable although you have no idea where you will be staying or how much you will need to spend.
And now that “Black Friday” runs for almost two months, maybe you don’t need to jump at all those fabulous prices. The Christmas selling season is on us.
