Black Friday specials can wait until Friday, not Thanksgiving

I remember when Walmart first opened up here in Mountain Home. It was my final year of high school. The day after Thanksgiving my mom went to Walmart super early and purchased microwaves, toasters, plates, cups and other things my sisters and I would need once we started college the following year.

It was quite the Black Friday haul for my sisters and me and none of us could be bothered to join our mother in the madness that awaited her as we slept in on our Thanksgiving Break early that morning.

It seems that Black Friday has started earlier and earlier since then and it's only a matter of time until Black Wednesday becomes a thing.

Last year I took advantage of a ridiculous sale at Macy's and walked out of the store with $600 of clothes for under $200. That sale started at midnight and I didn't think Black Friday specials could start any earlier, but I was wrong.

This year stores are opening earlier than ever before with some stores opening as early as 6 a.m. (Kmart) or 6 p.m (Walmart). Only in America do we rush out to stores to buy more things we don't need on the very same day we set aside each year to be thankful for the things we already have.

Major retail stores are in a showdown to see who can open first to beat their competitors. In the process, they are turning a holiday into a workday for their employees to make a few extra dollars a few hours earlier than they otherwise would.

OfficeMax is requiring its employees to report to work at 6 p.m. today to open the store by 8. Then they will open hours before they normally do at 5 a.m. tomorrow.

There is absolutely nothing in this world anyone needs from OfficeMax at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving day that can't wait until 5 a.m. Friday morning. There is probably very little anyone needs from OfficeMax at 5 a.m. Friday that can't wait until 8 a.m., when it normally opens, but its competitors are opening up early then they must too.

Retail stores that open up early to get a head start on Black Friday are different than other stores and industries that are required to remain open year round. People understand that certain businesses need to remain open around the clock, but the idea retail store employees should have the day off to spend with their families comes from retailers themselves.

For years Walmart posted signs on its doors stating its stores would be closed on Thanksgiving Day so that its employees could spend the day with their families. Christmas was the only other day of the year Wal-Mart closed, a big deal in a small town.

By opening its doors on Thanksgiving Day, they have effectively replaced those signs with ones that read "Walmart no longer cares if our employees spend the entire holiday with the families because we've decided that we would rather make more money selling people things they probably don't need before they can buy them anywhere else a few hours later."

That's different than a store or business remaining open on holidays for reasons of necessity, convenience or its production schedule. Holidays don't need to shut down the country's workforce, but I refuse to shop at a store on Thanksgiving that gives its employees the day off to spend it at home then revokes that time off in the name of profit.

Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year. It should be its own day without the start of Christmas shopping creeping up on it earlier and earlier each year. It's bad enough that a lot of stores start decorating and selling Christmas merchandise before Halloween nowadays.

Stores that would rather make a buck than allow their employees to continue to spend the day at home: Walmart (6 p.m.); Target (8 p.m.); Macy's (8 p.m.); Best Buy (6 p.m.); Toys "R" Us (5 p.m.); JC Penny (8 p.m.); Kohl's (8 p.m.); Kmart (6 A.M.!); Old Navy (9 a.m.); Sears (8 p.m.).