The ongoing battle between profits and moral principle has been put to the test this holiday season as big box retailers form their Black Friday plans. These expanded hours are an overreaching intrusion on Thanksgiving and are not grounded in a sound business strategy.

Stores with the most generous inventories like Wal-Mart and Target have announced some of the longest hours on Thanksgiving Day yet. Wal-Mart is open all Thanksgiving week and moved its doorbuster deals time back two hours from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Turkey Day, the same time Target will be opening its doors. Toys R Us, Best Buy and Kmart have similar new hours. Other companies are showing desperation. Radioshack plans to open 3,000 stores on Thanksgiving, starting at 8 a.m. and running until midnight. The struggling JCPenney chain will open at 5 p.m.

This is all in response to what company spokesmen would call increased demand. According to a Wednesday Washington Post article citing a study from consulting firm Accenture, 45 percent of Americans plan to shop on Thanksgiving Day, up from 38 percent last year.

However, that same article cited another study saying that over 60 percent of Americans dislike the idea of stores opening on Thanksgiving and taking employees away from their families. This leaves us with a conundrum: shoppers dislike the idea of stores being open on Thanksgiving in principle, but by large will tend to show up and go deal-hunting, regardless.

But for every store opening early, there’s another that won’t be open at all that Thursday. Barnes and Noble, Costco, Lowe’s, Marshalls, Nordstrom and TJ Maxx are just a few of many that give employees Thanksgiving off to be with their families. It’s the right strategy. These stores show an appreciation for tradition and disregard the temptation of profits in favor of long-term brand favorability.

I don’t believe there’s any significant value in having inaugural doorbuster deals on the evening of Thanksgiving. This, more than anything, is simply borrowing revenue that would already be accrued the following day. Of course, if employees are willing to work and show enough support of coming in on Thanksgiving, then there isn’t much of an issue. But it’s doubtful that Wal-Mart and Target incorporated this strategy when determining what their operating hours would be.

The justification for Thanksgiving night hours is that they are a response to increasing demand. This implies that consumer behavior comes first and companies mold their strategies to it. That is an ideology based on a falsehood. Retailers have the power to manipulate consumer behavior, and the Thanksgiving night strategy simply draws more people out who would likely have no problem waiting 12 hours until the next morning. All buyers are looking for is a deal, but when that deal is available is up to the seller.

Stores have been expanding Black Friday deals for years. Asking cashiers to come in at 6 p.m. is a stretch too far, just as 8 p.m. was. If it was as necessary as Target or Wal-Mart would proclaim, then wouldn’t every company be doing it?

The long term benefits of taking the high road and closing on Thanksgiving will usher in more support and favorability for these companies than six hours of Thanksgiving deals will ever provide.

Phil Kramer is a sophomore finance and economics major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at [email protected].

Published on November 17, 2014 at 12:01 am