Thanks, PC Richard and Son

I feel like a bad blogger for not giving as frequent of updates, but that’s going to change. I’m also going to write shorter blogs, that way it’ll be easier to read and quicker to write. To sum up my Thanksgiving, I’m full.

There was one interesting conversation that came up at the Thanksgiving dinner table yesterday though: the PC Richard & Son Thanksgiving blog post/announcement/advertisement. This is the quote that really struck me in this four-sentence posting, which now doesn’t show up on their blog feed, under the bold text “Save Thanksgiving Day!”.

“It is our opinion that retailers who choose to open on Thanksgiving Day show no respect to their employees and families, and are in total disrespect of family values in the United States of America.”

I’m all about giving hard-working employees as easy of a time around the holiday season as possible. And mind you this conversation consisted of my mother, grandmother and a bunch of my distant uncles/cousins/that person that shows up at Thanksgiving who you don’t know going in and forget once you leave. They delved on into a conversation about how the corporate moneymaking machine has affected the way that Americans live.

I find that to be true, which made me think about the monetary costs of PC Richard & Son being open on Thanksgiving. My answer: they’d lose a lot of money. Why? Nobody buys a dishwasher or TV on Thanksgiving. And what does the appliance store think about Black Friday?

PC Richard & Son

They only up at 4 am on Black Friday, which means that they allow their employees to spend Thanksgiving with their family, but can’t do anything too late or travel to see family since they have to get to the store at 4 in the morning. And of course PC Richard & Son has sales on Black Friday since that’s when everybody does their Christmas shopping. Let’s see how much profit they make on Black Friday.

Before preaching about how “anti-America” it is to be open on Thanksgiving, think about how your employees can’t enjoy their Thanksgiving if they have to run around all day or take a long drive or flight to see their families. Using the patriotism card is such a cliched advertising move.

Let’s get back to what Thanksgiving is truly about: food!

PC Richard and Son

And yes, there’s also a stack of business cards amongst the leftovers.