The Circle of Life

Today is Boxing Day in Canada. Boxing Day is traditionally the day that stores have all of their big sales on pretty much everything, kind of like the poor man’s Black Friday.

There are a few theories as to how and why it came about, but the one I like the best is that since the servants and trades people had to be available to cater to their bosses and other rich folk on Christmas day, they were given the day after Christmas to spend time with their own families. They were also given a box that could contain money, small presents and some food to take home to the families. I suppose it is also the basis for the Christmas bonus which I never received because the Post Office were a bunch of cheap, tight fisted, miserly…

Today, Boxing day is as I said, a day of sales of electronics, clothing and a chance for merchants to get rid of all that Christmas crap they ordered but couldn’t sell. I suppose there are good sales, but there are also crowds of people who are trying to save a buck or two. I can’t blame them of course, but there isn’t anything I want bad enough to go shopping on Boxing Day. I am cheap, but I draw the line at lining up with a store full of cheap people like myself to spend money so I can save a couple of bucks.

 

I have never been able to time things to wear out or break down just in time for Boxing Day. I just can’t buy something on the off chance that the old one will need to be replaced in a week or two after Christmas. My fault I guess.

 

This is the first year that the retailers embraced the American tradition of Black Friday which happens on the Friday following Thanksgiving. Up until this year, Canadians have crossed the border in droves to take advantage of the Black Friday sales. I never crossed the border because I don’t like crowds…remember. There is some speculation that this might be the last year we will have any really good sales on Boxing Day, because the retailers just can’t offer big sales two months in a row. They could abandon Black Friday, but unless the consumer abandons it as well, they will have made their large ticket purchases online or when they crossed the border. No, Boxing Day will have to go.

Sure, they will still have Boxing Day sales, but they won’t be very good and most of us will have spent our sale money on Black Friday. I may even partake, because now there is online shopping and a lot of the stores are selling the same merchandise at the sale price. The benefit of course is that I can shop from home in my underwear if I so choose. Just a few clicks of the mouse, a paypal password typed and my new big screen 3D TV will be delivered to my door in under six working days. Another benefit is that with online shopping, the packages will come through the mail which in turn will employ people in the Post Office who will contribute to my pension. It’s the circle of life!

Boxing Day or Black Friday, it doesn’t matter to me, I will buy online.