they are private businesses and it is none of my business when they open/close. Zillions of people work on Christmas, firemen, police, prison personnel, street maintenance people, ( could snow you know) airport staff, air traffic controllers, pilots, cargo handlers, military(all of them), hospital staff, nursing home staff, state hospital staff, so who are we to be upset that retail merchants and their employees want to pick a few extra bucks....employees usually make double, or more, time so just leave them alone....they are not out ther alone in the wilderness.
Your post covers about everything I was going to say.
The only thing I might add is that a lot of people don’t get paid if they don’t work. As you mentioned...not only is the loss of pay important, but oft times the holiday pay is very important.
No doubt being with loved ones is great on a holiday...but being able to pay the rent and keep the electricity on is even better.
....”employees want to pick a few extra bucks....employees usually make double, or more”....
Not so fast....this was true at one time, and employees who wanted volantered because there were enough to do so. Not so in the retail climate today. You don’t have that leisure to choose.
Further office politics come into play....”Favorites” get time off and choice select days and hours while the others get slammed with brutal work hours.
When the box stores decided to open Thanksgiving Evening....the favorites worked from eight to midnight and were paid time and half for four hours. Those who worked midnight til 8:00 black Friday morning...( staying up all night to great the additional busiest day of the year) were paid regular time even though they had twice the workload. Further they had to come back into work that day by 3:00.
Many in the store I work had no time to even squeeze Thanksgiving in....it was not fun by any means and many were disgusted enough to begin looking for other work....enough was enough.
Additionally the week after Christmas any money you is lost as they cut hours dramatically.....some to just four hours that week and throughout January and Feb. So your basically loosing, and then some, anything you might have made that one day.
There were other variables that also come into play.....so I vote no to Holiday shopping. I just came off a ten hour day today...non-stop back to back...to go into work yet again tomorrow til close....close to forty hours in four days....and I’m “Part-time”. The full time people did not work half as much.