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For many of us, Thanksgiving is no longer a holiday to enjoy a home cooked meal and catch up with family and friends. 

BLOG: SAY NO TO “BLACK THURSDAY!” Thanksgiving Is For Family, Not Cheap Electronics!

Each and every year we’re bombarded with advertisements about super deals and extended store hours to buy anything that our heart (and greed) can desire for a discounted price. This infamous day is known as Black Friday, the largest day in retail. 

Corporate conglomerates spend millions of dollars in ads to lure us away from spending our post-Thanksgiving dinner sleeping off the itis and instead, opt to leave our warm homes to drive through traffic and wait on outrageously long lines to catch a deal that might be to die for — literally. 

For many people, you have to wait hours outside in the cold before you’re sucked into a chaotic search for coveted sale items. When and if you find everything you want before it’s all sold out, you then have to wait in line to purchase it. 

This type of madness has lead to violent outburst, stampedes, fights and death. In 2008, a man was killed in Long Island, NY during a stampede at Walmart. Last year, two people were shot in armed robberies for their Black Friday goods and an off-duty police officer used pepper spray to calm shoppers at a Walmart in North Carolina.

Still, some of us argue that the savings are worth the craziness and the sacrifice of personal comfort and quality time with our loved ones. But for others, it’s a nightmare fueled by corporate greed, which is even worse for the retail employees that have to endure the madness for minimum wage salaries.

This year, a number of major retail stores will open earlier than last year, like Walmart, which will open its doors two hours earlier at 8 pm on Thursday, forcing employees to cut time with their families to come to work.

And though some people welcome the money that they make working long shifts, many workers are deliberately hired as part-time employees so companies can avoid giving them benefits like time-and-half pay when they work on a holiday. On top of that, is it fair to make workers endure irate and impatient customers in the midst of chaos for unlivable wages?

When you think about it, the delirium is not even worth it for shoppers who are deceived into thinking that they will save tons of money when, in actuality, stores only carry a limited number of heavily discounted products and a lot of doorbusters are for off-name brand items. According to Decide.com, Black Friday is actually not the best time to purchase most items: 

“Nine of the 11 major consumer product categories averaged a lower price leading up to Black Friday, the week after Black Friday or the week before the Christmas holiday. Overall, shoppers save a substantial amount of money on popular products by skipping Black Friday and Cyber Monday.”

In turn, the real winners on Black Friday are the corporate executives that rake in millions of dollars. Last year, Black Friday sales grossed a record breaking $54.2 billion. In return, companies like Walmart reward their employees with minimum wage pay without benefits.

STORY: Uh Oh! Wal-Mart Workers Scheduled To Strike On Pre-Black Friday Sales!

Walmart has policies that prevent workers from reaching ovetime pay by making them work less than 34 hours per week. The average Walmart worker makes $15,080 a year, meanwhile Walmart is the largest retailer in America and the 6 people who own it have more wealth than the bottom 41.5 percent of Americans combined.

On Friday, thousands of disgruntled Walmart employees will spend Black Friday in protest to demand higher wages and benefits, and fight back against the company’s retaliation against labor-union workers. In addition, the nationwide strike will protest Walmart’s decision to open its stores on Thanksgiving at 8 pm.  

So before you decide to shop on Black Friday, ask yourself if the capitalistic glory, family-tradition breaking and worker abusing sales are really worth a new electronic or item that will eventually go on sale.

And if it is, please tell us why in the comment section below.

Selena Hill  

Selena Hill is the Special Election Coverage Reporter at GlobalGrind.com. She’s also a radio host at Let Your Be Heard! Radio where you can hear more of her views and opinions. Follow her at @MsSelenaHill and @BeHeard_Radio.