Black Friday vs. Boxing Day

Today I thought I would adress an issue I've been having in regards to Black Friday, the biggest discount sale day of the year in the United Stated.  Every year it comes on the Friday just after Thanksgiving, allowing the masses to congregate outside of their chosen retail location for a massive door-crasher event upon opening.  Some lineups even stretch for whole city blocks!  No word of a lie, some of those sales are truly amazing and the envy of many Canadian citizens.

Now here is the issue I spoke of.

On the various blogs I've read (not naming any in particular), of all the reviews and customer comments I've perused, there is one common sentiment that seems to pop up over and over and over.  It seems everyone likes to complain about "waking up early and freezing their ba**s off".  I laugh at this.  I laugh long, and hard, and I envy.

Up here (as well as many many countries in the world), we do not celebrate this "Black Friday".  We instead call it "Boxing Day", and it comes to us in glorious fashion the day after Christmas.  26th of December.  This versus the end-of-November in the States.  Our biggest sales day of the year (as well as most of the rest of the world) comes in the midst of treacherous and slippery roads, well below zero temperatures and often enough a snow storm.  Maybe we're just made of sterner stuff, I don't know.  Most likely we're just crazy (and I tend to lean towards this one).  You see, I'm not ragging on the USofA for their choice of timing, I just wonder why Black Friday doesn't simply become a global idea?

I'm not saying we should take away from the true meaning of Boxing Day (yes, it has a meaning and no, I'm not going to get into it.  It's not just about sales, as Black Friday is), it should still be celebrated.  Just move the big sales events a month sooner is all  I'm saying.

For now, I'll just sit back and wait my turn to purchase an apparently discounted television from my local Best Buy for yet another month, trying to digest the sheer volume of disgruntled comments from American consumers.

Just my thoughts on the matter,

-Dan