Target Employee Tells Company: 'Close on Thanksgiving'
Justin Mills would like Americans to take a break from shopping this Thanksgiving.
The Target employee started a petition on Change.org to urge the Minnesota-based retailer to reverse its decision to open its doors on Nov. 27. More than 93,000 people have signed the petition so far and Mills’ effort is just one example of a growing movement to halt plans to open on the holiday.
“Target employees work very hard during the stressful holiday season but do not get the chance to enjoy the holidays for themselves,” he writes in the petition. “With store hours getting longer for the busy season, don’t you think their employees deserve one day with family and friends?”
A Boycott Black Thursday Facebook page has drawn 100,722 likes and groups such as the Fair Workweek Initiative and Retail Action Project are pushing companies to be more mindful of their employees’ schedules during this busy shopping season.
"Retailers are opening on Thanksgiving to boost their bottom line at the expense of workers," Retail Action Project spokesperson Janna Pea tells Yahoo Style. "It’s clearly about making money."
Target is one of 15 national chains that will be open on Thanksgiving. Others include Macy’s, Kmart, RadioShack, Walmart, Sears, Best Buy, and Kohl’s. But some stores are bucking the trend – and getting accolades for doing so. Costco, Nordstrom, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Crate and Barrel, Barnes & Noble, Dillard’s and Neiman Marcus will all be closed on Thursday next week.
Americans are certainly shifting their spending habits as more and more retailers choose to staff their stores on Thanksgiving. In 2013, 44.8 million Americans shopped on Turkey Day, an increase of 27 percent from 2012.
The driving force behind this trend might be that retailers are experiencing FOMO (fear of missing out).
"It’s definitely not demand from consumers," Phil Andrews, director of the Retail Organizing Project, explains. “Retailers are worried about losing money to competitors. They’re saying ‘I can’t let my competition be open an hour before me.’”
“This is the most important shopping weekend of the year and we’re just following the industry,” Molly Snyder, a Target spokesperson, tells Yahoo Style. “The majority of our employees volunteer to work [on Thanksgiving]. It’s a very exciting day in the business.”
Snyder notes that two-thirds of Target’s employees will be working on Thanksgiving and all of the company’s 1,800 U.S. stores will be open (Targets in certain states like NJ, Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts will be closed because of “blue laws” that prohibit large supermarkets, big box stores, and department stores from opening on Thanksgiving). She adds that employees who are assigned a shift would be paid overtime. Target is opening at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, up from 8 p.m. in 2013 and 10 p.m. in 2012.
As for Mills, he will be enjoying this Thanksgiving holiday without the stress of rushing to get to work. And he’s hoping more of his Target colleagues will be able to do the same next year.
"Many of my coworkers are very supportive and appreciate that I am standing up for them," he said in a recent interview. “Many of them don’t like the idea of working on Thanksgiving, so they are supportive and think what I am doing is awesome.”
