It might sound challenging to boycott Black Friday and Cyber Monday. These and the surrounding days have become ingrained in our culture as the days to do your Christmas shopping.
However, shopping on Black Friday and throughout Cyber Week presents moral issues including worker oppression and environmental destruction. Furthermore, it’s easier than you might think to rework your gift giving habits for the holidays. Join me in this boycott – we can do it!
Why boycott Black Friday and Cyber Monday & have a Buy Nothing day instead
I wondered if Black Friday is even as huge as it once was. In short: yes. Yes it is. In 2024, online spending during Cyber Week, the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, reached $41.1 billion – up 8% from the previous year. In-store sales rose 0.7% from the previous year, so not nearly so dramatic a rise as online shopping, but a rise nonetheless.
This means millions of retail employees are working on Black Friday, often understaffed for the amount of traffic and working longer hours than usual.
Particularly objectionable are the number of retail employees required to work on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a day where as many people as possible in the U.S. should be gathering with their loved ones of choice, with exceptions for truly essential roles, such as emergency room staff.
However, many workers who don’t hold these types of roles are not able to do that because they have to work ON Thanksgiving. Last year, Thanksgiving was the 4th biggest spending day of the year. Let’s put a stop to that. Use Thanksgiving to give thanks for what you have – not to acquire new stuff. Purchase nothing on Thanksgiving. Not even your groceries. You are capable of planning ahead! If you are missing an ingredient, do without it.
But don’t stop there! Many retail and warehouse employees work on Thanksgiving even when stores are closed, to prepare for Black Friday. So we must avoid shopping on Black Friday as well.
Don’t think that shopping online rather than in person absolves you. It does not. In order to fill orders placed online, warehouse employees are put through grueling conditions. In particular, here’s some reporting on Amazon warehouses, relevant as Amazon makes up over 17% of Black Friday week spending. Even on a normal day at the Amazon warehouses, employees are on their feet for 12 hours a day, with precisely tracked and rigid breaks. On Black Friday, orders at one warehouse went from 10,000 to 300,000. The former Amazon manager said Amazon “ ignored the long-term problems they had at the fulfillment centers, which is that their associates barely survived the shifts.” He continued, “by the time the Christmas season was over, people were so burnt out that we lost a significant amount of staff. Everyone was beyond exhausted.”
Next after the warehouses are the postal and delivery workers who bring your online orders to you. Online orders during the holiday season create massive pressure on delivery systems, which then pass on this pressure to individual workers. Shifts start at odd hours like 1 a.m. The pressure for speed and efficiency creates dangerous driving conditions for delivery workers, with many forgoing seatbelts; driving shifts 3-5 hours longer than regular working hours and mostly in the dark with increased snow/ice on the roads; and skipping rest and lunch breaks. The influx of packages and orders means that this persists from the entire period from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Here, one USPS employee complained that the postal service is only getting more understaffed and underprepared, and that even as a long-tenured employee he was working over 50 hours per week and not getting home until after his kids went to bed for the night.
Then there’s the environmental cost of all these products being created and shipped across the globe. Clothing and electronics are among the most popular Black Friday purchases – and up to 80% end up landfills or poorly recycled. Even returns of unwanted merchandise are a burden – 5 billion pounds of returned goods end up in landfills, and the returns process at the holidays accounts for 15 million metric tons of CO2. Ugh!
Here’s another troubling issue I just learned about: due to global warming, the cost to keep perishables and cosmetics cool in warehouses and in transit has increased significantly. (And…the energy used to keeps them cool…furthers global warming. Blah.)
So, boycott to avoid contributing to the destruction of our one and only planet.
Boycott so everyone can celebrate this holiday with family or friends or simply rest.
Boycott to maintain your stance against Amazon, Target, and Walmart.
Boycott to know that you have avoided contributing to worker oppression and suffering.
You may often feel powerless in this world, but one asset you do have that means so much in this capitalist world is your wallet. Choose to use that power for good.
How to do your Christmas shopping without Black Friday
If you’re going without shopping from major retailers on Black Friday – also known as Buy Nothing day – and the surrounding weeks, how in the world are you supposed to do your Christmas shopping? Luckily, there are several tactics you can use.
Buy less
The first option is to simply not buy things, or to buy less. Ask yourself: is there any way to cut back on the quantity of Christmas gifts you give in general?
The best way to avoid unethical consumption is to consume less. And just because you’ve done something in the past doesn’t mean you have to do it now. So think about whether there are any gift recipients on your list that you don’t need to give to. Or maybe there are folks on your list you would usually give multiple items to, that you can reduce to just one thing.
However you go about it, giving fewer gifts can mean:
- Spending less money, which you can use to pay bills or put in a savings account, important during this uncertain economic time
- Less clutter in your home and others’ homes
- Less time spent finding gifts – always a plus to cut down on your to-do list in the holiday season
- Less environmental impact as discussed above. By the way, wrapping paper is a huge environmental burden, too. For the gifts you do give, save gift bags to re-use. Or wrap them in something recyclable, like a paper shopping bag, or something less disposable, like a cloth bag, scarf, or tea towel from the thrift store or your closet. Skip extra ribbons, packing paper, etc. whenever you can.
- And of course, avoiding contributing to causes you oppose by giving money to corporations who then spend the money on furthering their interests by donating to political candidates, lobbying, etc. This can be achieved by only shopping from sources whose stances you trust and agree with…but also by avoiding shopping.
I understand that gifts are a love language for many people. It can take some mental adjustment to get used to the idea that you can still show others how much you care for them without gifting an object.
You can! Focus on the love and connection you feel to the people you gift to. Make time to celebrate the holidays with your friends and family, and/or schedule potlucks and at-home coffee dates for January when it’s less busy. We could all use something to look forward to in those gray days.
If you do wish to gift something, start your ideation process with DIY gifts.
DIY more
Next, consider whether you can DIY any of your gifts.
I see you looking at me. What, like knitting and sewing? I hear you telling me you’re not that kind of Pinterester. Hey – me neither! There are plenty of things you can make, assemble, etc. that make wonderfully personalized Christmas presents for friends and family, AND do not require any crafting skills.
Things like:
- Handwritten letters
- Playlist gifts
- Photo gifts
- Homemade simple syrup (it’s so easy!)
Here are 14 ideas for easy DIY Christmas gifts that don’t require crafting skills.
Gift experiences, not things
Next in your gift-giving arsenal are experience gifts. Now, tread the line carefully here. There are plenty of ways to purchase experiences that involve shopping on Black Friday and/or supporting the mega-corporations you want to boycott. So make sure you focus in on small businesses, local businesses, or even “DIY experience gifts” as sources for your experiences.
Experience gifts can include anything from concert tickets to a cheese making class to kayak rentals.
You can gift them in the form of gift cards, individual tickets, or an IOU – as long as you’re prepared to follow through. I’ve even gotten some cash along with the menu to a restaurant, when my mom wanted to give me a gift card but the place didn’t sell them!
Here are 67 ideas for experience gifts!
Shop directly from other consumers
Next up, if there are any physical objects you’d like to gift, see if you can sidestep supporting corporations by purchasing them directly from other consumers like yourself. This can include used items. I personally am glad to receive used items as gifts! I understand this can be uncomfortable, depending on who you’re gifting to and your relationship with them, as well as what the object is, so rest assured that you can find plenty of new, unused gifts this way as well. Here are some ideas:
- Regift from your home – probably obvious, but the easiest thing is to regift items that you have received and haven’t used. It kills two birds with one stone, both getting rid of an item and crossing a gift off your shopping list. I keep items like this in the same closet as my wrapping paper – it currently contains a copy of a board game we already owned and a makeup bag I don’t need. If you want to be particularly organized, when you put something in this closet, put a post-it note on it marking who it was from, so you don’t accidentally gift it back to them. I participate in a white elephant gift exchange with my husband’s extended family every year, which is a great event for regifting.
- Community sharing groups like Buy Nothing – Buy Nothing groups are the best! If you’re not familiar, these are extremely small and local groups focused on giving away items you aren’t using to others in your community for reuse, to reduce consumption and save money. You can find your local Buy Nothing group here, which may be on Facebook or via the Buy Nothing app. Similar communities can be found on Freecycle, free items on NextDoor, free items on Facebook marketplace, and Facebook groups focused on freebies (which are often sharing marketplace postings, but not always). While most items in these groups are used, occasionally there are new items, too. Right now up for offer in my local Buy Nothing group are the following items that could make good gifts: a new-in-box pair of men’s sneakers (good for a son or husband), an unopened electric wine bottle opener, an unopened perler bead set, shrinkwrapped Mary Kay lotion, and a fake plant.
- Resale marketplaces – I have found new items on all of these sites for a discount, but if it’s in good condition, used may be acceptable too. Use them to search for specific items (for example, my husband got a movie poster from That Thing You Do) or for general ideas on a theme (“movie posters”).
- Ebay – a great resource, with many people (like me) selling items they have on hand. Just beware that some sellers list and fulfill items directly from Amazon – I just had this happen with a nightlight I purchased. To avoid this, skim the seller’s listings and see if all the images could have been pulled directly from Amazon. “Dropshippers” like this will also often offer free shipping, since Amazon offers free shipping.
- Facebook marketplace – you have the option to search nearby items for pickup, or search anywhere for shipping.
- Thrift stores – a great source for a unique gift for someone who would enjoy a secondhand item, but you can also often find new items at thrift stores, too.
- Mercari – an online resale marketplace. It’s pretty straightforward, and unlike a lot of the marketplaces, does not focus on clothes but is more broadly inclusive of all sorts of items. Use this link for $10 off your first purchase.
Shop earlier
If you must purchase anything, particularly anything you’re ordering online that needs to be shipped, do so early in the season to avoid contributing to crunch time for warehouse and delivery workers. I am aiming to acquire all Christmas gifts I’m giving this year by November 15th, well before Cyber Week and Black Friday.
Support ethical stores
Last on our list are stores and marketplaces that are not mega-corporations, the worst offenders for many of the reasons we’re boycotting Black Friday. Do your shopping early, before Thanksgiving.
- Independent brick-and-mortar stores near you – seek out independent small businesses near you, including grocers, bookstores, clothing stores, and gift boutiques. I am lucky enough to live near a Zero Waste store – see if there’s one near you. Ask around in local forums online to find favorite small businesses.
- When considering a new small business to purchase from, I would check whether they’re listed on PublicSquare, and avoid if so. PublicSquare collects listings for “non-woke” businesses, so if it’s on there, assume they’re pro-MAGA.
- Craft fairs and farmer’s markets – a great way to find and meet local creators. My area typically has holiday craft fairs throughout November and December. You can find all sorts of handmade gifts, from wall art to jewelry to soap to food to wood carvings. Even if you can’t make it to the craft fair, you can use their list of vendors as a resource to find local creators. I would also ask in local forums online for favorite creators in your area.
- Etsy – if you can’t find local creators selling the handmade gifts you want, check out Etsy. I’m partial to these pens made from vintage knives, weird candles like this one that looks like a corn cob, and these literary coasters. Just be wary when looking at items and reviews and make sure the item actually seems handmade, as some sellers are using Etsy as a platform to resell cheap goods from places like AliExpress. Note: Etsy has recently been under scrutiny for failing to block Alligator Alcatraz merch from their platform, so you may choose to add them to your boycott list.
- Earth Hero – a great resource especially for sustainable gifts. I personally would love to receive their cork wallet, zero waste lip balm, or alcohol-free cocktails.
- Ten Thousand Villages – a fair trade store that sells handcrafted items from makers around the world and pays fair, living wages to low income communities. They have a variety of beautiful giftable items, from tablecloths to robes to journals to soaps.
- Good Store – founded by John and Hank Green, who I love for using their fame and influence in a number of good ways. Good Store donates 100% of their profits to charity, including Partners in Health projects around the world and the Coral Reef Alliance. Their giftable offerings include socks, tea, coffee, and soap (I’ve given this one!).
- Bookshop.org – Books! Everyone can use more books. Bookshop.org supports independent bookstores, and I’ve long used them for physical book purchases. Need recs? I loved Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green (what, him again? Yes.), and Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera.
- Libro.fm – if your gift recipient is more into audiobooks, check out Libro.fm, a great alternative to Amazon-owned Audible. Libro.fm is a certified B corp, Social Purpose Corporation, and 100% employee owned company that shares profits with local bookstores. It is easy to gift memberships or credits in various denominations.
- Costco – Costco is often lauded for treating its employees well with higher than average wages and more comprehensive benefits than other large corporations. You’ll need a membership to shop there, but you’ll have no problem finding gifts edible and otherwise once you’re in.
- Penzeys – Penzeys, a spice company, has been outspoken against Trump and the Republican Party for years (interesting reading on their site). They have a number of gift boxes that could really be given to anyone on your list.
- Check out Ethical Consumer for more ideas!
If you’re considering purchasing from a company and want to check out its ethics, try the following:
- Open Secrets – a database that shows how companies have donated money to political organizations and candidates. One thing to keep in mind is that donations by individuals who own or are employed by the organization may show up here, so review with care.
- Goods Unite Us – another site that tracks political donations from executives, board members, and PACs
- PublicSquare – for businesses to avoid. This conservative website lets businesses self-list as “non-woke”, so if it’s on there, assume they’re pro-MAGA.
So, ready to join the boycott with me?
If you do still have gifts on your list, consider grabbing a copy of my Christmas Shopping List & Budget Notion Template to help you create a budget, status checklist, and share the load with a partner.
How are you changing your holiday shopping habits this year?
