Yes, babes! With the Black Friday madness, you can even rest at ease and feel joy during the hyper-shopping season. Are you not convinced yet? Keep reading.
BF IT'S NOT GOOD FOR YOU
It is not worth your time to be in the line to shop the shocking deals instead of being cozy at home.
How about online shopping? It takes time for you to go through all the product pages, compare the prices and so on. This can bring some anxiety, and make it an stressful moment.
It is not good for your health, both physical and mental health. You know, the COVID-19 pandemic has not ended yet, imagine shopping in the middle of the crowd. Not to mention that there are possibilities of in-store injures. It is not worth risking your health bby.
Thanksgiving is the one day a year that we are supposed to take a moment to reflect upon everything that we are grateful for, and because the day of crazy sales is just next to, your mind is distracted. It might be filled up with all the rampant materialistic thoughts. How ironic!
It is not good for your financials, in other words, your pocket. Because of the significant discounts on products’ prices, you might lose control, fall into the “buy now or cry later” trap and totally forget about your shopping budget.
You might think those are deals that you cannot afford to miss. In fact, plenty of research recently has proven that Black Friday deals are not the lowest price on the highest quality products. That is the money you have been working hard for. So, spend it wisely!
IT'S NOT GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Lots of research have proved the enormous number of greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation of goods and home deliveries during Black Friday. When we say “enormous”, it means the figure is in hundred thousand metric tons!
There are connotations between Black Friday and waste, pollution, and climate change. The hyper-consumerism during Black Friday result in a rocket high demand on manufacturing which leads to “overproduction”. And the hyper-consumerism, at its tipping point, causes “overconsumption”.
The deep discounts on Black Friday are so tempting. Those (seem like) tempting deals often blindfold the consumers’ consciousness when they are making their purchase decisions. Eventually, we end up buying things that we don’t need. What’s next? Perfectly usable things are unused and become burdens and then, will be sent to the landfill.
*Fact: Up to 80% of our Black Friday purchases are simply thrown away after just one or even zero uses!
IT'S NOT GOOD FOR THE PEOPLE
Especially factory workers, logistics and store assistants. They have no choice but giving up their time to serve the tidal wave of restless shoppers.
Many employees are forced to agree with unreasonable demands on maintaining adequate staffing in the stores, warehouses, and in the manufacturing infrastructure during the highest traffic days of the year.
Even if they can get paid extra for the exceeding overtime hours, it is still unfair and exploitative to require them to work. Do we feel comfortable shopping at the expense of someone else’s leisure? There is one and only right answer: “NO!”
SO, WHAT TO DO INSTEAD?
Let’s make Friday green again!
You already do good by opting out from the overconsumption lure of Black Friday. But you can do it better by turning Black Friday into the green sign. Here are some ideas for Green Friday:
- Educate yourself and other people about the “dirty” truth of Black Friday, overproduction and overconsumption, and how severe these contribute to climate change.
- You can experience the peaceful and enjoyable shopping experience right at home. As it’s also the end of the year, it’s time to do a storage “audit”. Maybe you will find a dress that has been forgotten deep inside the closet and fall in love with it again. Or it can be a gear that you bought last Black Friday sale and forgot where you put it, now you find it and you have just completed your shopping wishlist.
- If you need to buy new stuff, try to find a deals from brands that align with your values, brands that have committed to fund part of their sales during Black Friday to charities or reliable organizations.
- Another meaningful way to spend money on Black Friday is giving back. Choose one or two trustworthy social and/or environmental projects and make a donation. You may or may not be happy with things you purchase but you will find happiness sparks in your heart when you can help someone.
If you read the journal until this point, we hope you got some insight about how Black Friday works and at what expense, and make smart choices if purchasing anything. As being said, “No Black Friday, No Problem!”
References
Forbes. David Vetter. This Is How Black Friday Hurts The Planet – But Attitudes Are Changing.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2020/11/24/this-is-how-black-friday-hurts-the-planet-but-attitudes-are-changing/
BBC News. Laura Foster. Black Friday: Brands opt out for environment reasons.