These are tough times for those of us who really dislike shopping. We are not only bombarded by holiday shopping advertising everywhere we turn but are told by economists and those who report what they say that shopping is practically a patriotic duty. Apparently, the economic health of the country is largely dependent on how robust consumer activity is. The more we buy the better it is for the economy.
Now I understand retail makes up about a third of retailers’ annual revenues between Thanksgiving and Christmas and that $465B is expected to be spent on gifts, food, and decor this year alone. Clearly the 8% of the GDP driven by retail needs consumer spending. But I cannot help but to be bothered by some consequences of an economy so reliant on consumerism. For example:
Material Overindulgence: Do we really need all the stuff we have? American households are bursting with things, many of them tangential to what is necessary for survival or even a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. We collect, clutter, and hoard more and more items to fill all the space made available by our ever-larger houses.
Resource Depletion: To build, make, and produce all this stuff we are consuming vast amounts of the planet’s resources. From oil to water to minerals and beyond we voraciously harvest the earth for the by-products needed to leave ourselves saturated with products.
Global Reputation: It does not take Henry Kissinger to see why the rest of the world resents us. We consume vastly more than most of the world’s other countries. We have an insatiable per capita appetite that leaves an impression we are selfish and bottomless.
Does this holiday season again have to mean that we feel pressured to spend money that in many cases we do not have? Look how many of us cringe every January when we get that credit card statement. So much for the previous month’s Happy Holidays.
The buying binge will help retailers, (many of whom are now becoming required to work on Thanksgiving) but it comes at a cost to a society that could be placing its monetary value on more substantive and meaningful purchases.
Maybe we can temper our consumerism so that the dollars we spend reduce waste and hoarding while at the same time going into the pockets of as many of our fellow citizens as possible. Buying locally produced consumables whenever possible is one important way of strengthening our local economies. Consumables like show tickets, restaurant gift certificates, and locally grown produce put money into our communities while stemming the tide of junk purchased from national big box outlets.
But more importantly let us give serious thought to mitigating the frenzy now occurring every holiday season. Black Friday near riots and Cyber Monday shopping while “at work”?! What are we doing to ourselves?
We seem to accept that working ourselves into a holiday shopping mania is the new true meaning of Christmas. Can we just chill? Let’s bring holidays back to a simpler time of recognizing family and friends in a more calm and loving way. Can it be possible to have a season of spiritual warmth without dumping a truckload of detritus on our loved ones?
Finding a way to spur economic growth that does not rely on binge buying will be significant challenge for a society hooked on ho ho ho=dough dough dough. If I had the answer, I would print it here. All I know is that there is a downside to the type of consumerism characterizing the current state of the holiday season.
I wish my friends in retail, marketing, and manufacturing happy holidays, but I also hope that the way they approach the last two months of each year will eventually change to something less frenetic.
