<p>I’ll bet the Costco founders ARE Nordstrom shoppers! 
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<p>@flossy ok we get it, you dont mind the stores being open, you are entitled to your own opinion, but dont act as if we are making up facts. It is all hands on deck. I worked at a retailer when this Thanksgiving opening mess first started. So yes employees do work shifts, but at some point during day the regardless of your shift you are still working on thanksgiving. And no, there is no option, as has been pointed out many times. You either show up or lose your job.s Also the department stores are not open all day, it starts early evening for most of them, which means as soon as your family is getting ready to eat, its time for you to go in to work.</p>
<p>Okay, not all families eat at the same time and not everyone minds working. Really, I don’t care one way or the other and would rather go to the movies than shop. I just don’t like the assumption that everyone is the same and everyone is put out by this just because someone is put out by this. It’s just not true. People volunteer for these shifts. People apply for seasonal work because of the opportunity to make some extra money. In my area there are many residents who are not even American by birth and Thanksgiving is not a big deal at all for these families They are happy to be off on Christmas, though. Mostly, the Costco press release bugged me because it doesn’t really make sense.</p>
<p>Flossy, I have to wonder if the Costco press release doesn’t make sense to you because you don’t want to believe that they are really making this decision for the benefit of their employees. This is why you have to give all sorts of reasons that Costco wouldn’t benefit from opening on Thanksgiving, etc., etc. I don’t know for sure about Costco, but I’m confident that Chik-Fil-A would make more money if it were open on Sunday. Some business owners consider elements beyond profits.</p>
<p>True. I don’t believe it. Because bragging about it in a press release doesn’t benefit the employees at all.</p>
<p>It’s nice to have the luxury of a paid day off on a holiday like Thanksgiving, but for some, the opportunity to work that day can make life a lot better. I worked holidays for a number of years, and celebrated on the weekend day afterwards. I made out well that way. My friend ran a high end catering business and she’d pay a premium for me to work for her those actual holidays, plus I got as much of the excess food that I wanted. THose bonuses went a long way in paying for a tree that was dangerously dead and needed to be professionally taken down yesterday, car repairs, roof repairs, appliance replacements, furnace replacement one year. It brought in much welcomed funds, not to mention no uptick in grocery spending for the holidays Yes, I worked New Years Eve, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving Day and the eves for prep. Wasn’t even gift money as I tended to buy, make gifts throughout the year as I saw deals, had time to put together things. It went for big expenses that cropped up unexpectedly. </p>
<p>Last year, the stores here that opened for Thanksgiving day asked for volunteers, and they tended to get more than they needed. So people often want to work that day A lot of lower paid employees have trouble getting the hours they need to make even close to a living wage. It’s not that they get holidays “off” as much as they don’t have the opportunity to work those days, something that can really hurt at the end of the year for those who do not get to work a day they ordinarily would have because it is a holiday. It’s not as though they get another work day to compensate. You can see how the days off for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, so close in succession can wreck a low paid person’s budget. That is 3 days of no pay in a little more than a month. Getting to work those days with a bit of a bonus could really make a big difference on the bottom line.</p>
<p>Also, when it comes to the businesses, every dollar a competing store gets of something you are selling on the day you are not open is money permanently lost. Look up what the president of Modell’s had to say about his decision to open last year on Thanksgiving. The money they made that day, could have gone to competitors who were open.</p>
<p>In NYC, there is a lot of foot traffic on Thanksgiving day due to the Macy’s parade. Crowds and crowds of people, so stores open right along there are likely to get some of those Black Friday dollars. A lot of folks eating out that day too and stores open along their routes will get the business. Like stores, not open will not. If the revenues and bottom lines show it’ snot beneficial to open those days, then they will not. I personally think it makes no sense if you have a store right along the parade route with all of those people there, not to be open. Open and offer some apple cider, hot chocolate, coffee and cookies, is what I’d do, and pay the staff extra to come on a voluntary basis.</p>
<p>I will be standing on a football field for my son’s last game this year. His school has a tradition of playing a rival on Thanksgiving day which goes back so long that the WSJ dedicated a page on it one year. Senior moms get honored at half time, so I don’t want to miss Will pop the bird in the over at low temp and run back home after I get my corsage. Doubt protesting the date of that game is going to get anywhere. </p>
<p>Again Flossy,NO ONE SAID EVERYONE IS PUT OFF BY THIS, you keep assigning adjectives when it isnt necessary. You also assume that department stores are fully staffed with seasonal workers, that isnt true either. I have told you personally Ive worked at a large department store and others have given you anecdotes, yet you insist, that people are allowed to volunteer, and seasonal folks are grateful to work. There are a lot of seasonal employees in department stores, but the majority of folks are not, they are permanent full/part time employees. The DO NOT have an option to decline working on Thanksgiving, thats just not true. I will no longer address this issue, because clearly you cling to your set of facts, even though you have former retail employees tell you otherwise.</p>
<p>As Daniel Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”</p>
<p>Well, I never said any of that and I think both are true. In other words, there are people who want to work and people who don’t pretty much like any Saturday night. Do I think a store should be required to stay closed because a couple a cashiers would rather stay home? Well, no. Sorry.</p>
<p>Some people just like to stir the pot.</p>
<p>Some people genuinely disagree for reasons you may not understand fully. </p>
<p>Personally, I do like for employees to be able to have Thanksgiving off. Yes, I do like being able to pick up groceries at the last minute even though it’s my own fault I didn’t think further ahead. Sigh. </p>
<p>Beyond Thanksgiving discussions and looking at other holidays, people here and in the US are not all one and the same culture so there will be disagreements what is the best route to go, period.</p>
<p>I think it’s sad for an establishment such as Macy’s to lower themselves to the level of WalMart and door busting hordes. Ugh.</p>
<p>Seems like many retailers have trouble just staying afloat these days.</p>
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<p>I also disagree with your statement–it DOES benefit Costco employees if people decide they will shop there over, say, Sam’s Club because Costco treats its workers better. More customers = more opportunities for employees. It’s pretty simple.</p>
<p>I think Black Friday is stupid and would never set foot in a store on that day (although I do like Small Business Saturday–I try to shop locally anyway). As for stores being open on Thanksgiving, I don’t have a strong opinion one way or another. In some ways it seems like more of a national holiday than Christmas, when almost everything is closed. And part of me bristles at the idea of closing for a religious holiday that not everybody celebrates anyway. </p>
<p>Is nothing sacred? It isn’t about who may or may not want extra hours it’s about having one or two days a year as a nation that are set aside as sacred time (in a secular way). A million years ago when I was an exchange student in Germany department stores in downtown Hamburg were only open the first Saturday of the month in addition to week days. I imagine that’s changed, but there was time set aside when commercial activity didn’t take primacy. I would like to think that as a nation shopping isn’t the only thing that we can come together around. I think of China where even the lowliest of workers travels to their home village for the Lunar New Year and is granted time off. Americans have little enough time off as it is without allowing the few days that we have to be further encroached upon.</p>
<p>Sadly, I think we are past the point of agreeing as a nation on secular/sacred days, saintfan. </p>
<p>Why don’t people object to NFL football games being held on Thanksgiving or Christmas? All the workers in the stadiums have to show up, and they’re not getting paid what the athletes are. I’d personally have a hard time scheduling a family gathering around a sporting event if people had tickets. And I don’t think gathering around the electronic hearth to watch a game is a worthwhile family tradition either.</p>
<p>I work for a major retailer (niche business). We close on major holidays to accommodate our employees and because it is what our somewhat unique customer base expects from us. </p>
<p>“Why don’t people object to NFL football games being held on Thanksgiving or Christmas? All the workers in the stadiums have to show up, and they’re not getting paid what the athletes are. I’d personally have a hard time scheduling a family gathering around a sporting event if people had tickets. And I don’t think gathering around the electronic hearth to watch a game is a worthwhile family tradition either.”</p>
<p>I don’t really care all that much since these sports could all go away and I wouldn’t care, but when I think about it, naah, I don’t think it’s so great that we “have” to have football on Tgiving or Xmas. </p>
<p>We did go to a bowl game one Christmas Eve. We were happy never to repeat it, tho sad it was because our team was too weak toques lift or be invited to bowl games most of the time. I don’t have a strong feeling one way or another. </p>
<p>To the extent holiday work is better-compensated and TRULY voluntary, it sounds like it helps some budgets. To the extent it is mandatory and a condition of keeping your job, that seems tough. </p>
<p>I know many people who are living on very slim budgets and have difficulty cobbling enough hours to pay bills and loans. Some work multiple jobs. It’s a tough economy out there for MANY!</p>
<p>But why blame big business, there must be people who shop on Thanksgivings day and the day after otherwise why would they open if there is no demand.</p>