Disenchanted employees of Target, Best Buy and other retailers who are facing the prospect of working Thanksgiving evening – and we mean all evening – should stop complaining to their managers and instead write their councilmen.
Lawmakers do have the power to control store hours, at the end of the day. Just ask the folks at Best Buy in Fox Point, Wis.
The retailer plans to open its network of stores at midnight on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, following the lead of Target, Macy’s, Walmart and Kohl’s. But Best Buy cannot do so in Fox Point, because the law prohibits any retailers from opening before 5 a.m., the Milwaukee Business Journal reports.
So, in Fox Point, Best Buy will open at 5 a.m. – an hour, it depresses me to say, that is far more humane and reasonable for its employees there.
And its employees should be especially thankful, because Best Buy could have pushed the issue and submitted a request to open earlier. It chose not to. Apparently, Best Buy’s decision to open at midnight is a reluctant one, forced by the early opening hours if its rivals. Some, including Walmart, are opening Thanksgiving night.
Personally, I think retailers should treat the idea of consumerism on Thanksgiving much like this week’s turkeys: they should stuff it. But the onus is really on us, the consumers – to not show up, to not create the demand, to basically stop the madness.
After all, the Internet never sleeps.
