Being English, not American
Black Friday is a relatively new thing in the UK because it has never been an opportunity for us to shop.
I work full time, in the UK. We do not have Thanksgiving day, there is no bank holiday in November and, because we don’t have that celebration, we did not have it fixed to the fourth Thursday of November by the American President F D Roosevelt in 1939. This strategy, a planned date for Thanksgiving bank holiday is that it fits in with two goals.
Goal 1: the American tax year runs January to December. Without this bank holiday where people traditionally shop (since 1939), shops find it difficult to keep going. Clearing stock for the tax year is very beneficial to the American business model and many retail organisations return their figures with the tax year dates.
Goal 2: It was done to boost Christmas shopping figures for shops. Like most other celebrations in our modern world, this was done for commercial reasons. The Christmas decorations are out in all towns and indeed Turkeys are the favourite fare on the American tables.
Globalisation has meant American companies have made the discounts globally available. But unless you have a computer, that’s pretty academic, until this year, and things were tagged up in UK shops.
Why? This is completely artificial for us in the UK. Our big shopping day, for similar reasons, is Boxing Day.
So I was not desparate to be parted with my cash yesterday.
Posted: November 30th, 2024 under 42.