Call me Scrooge, but when radio stations begin to play Christmas music on Halloween, I'm not okay with that. When my scholarship hall unpacks the "holiday tree" and displays it prominently in a light-lined front window and strings garland and tacky red bows up the staircase, I'm not okay with that either. Two of my formerly-programmed radio stations have even been replaced because I am just not ready to listen to Christmas music and I won't be until after my stomach is full of turkey and I see my Jayhawks defeat Missouri at the end of this month.
It is a conspiracy created by merchandise retailers and perpetuated by radio stations across America.
Wal-Mart has already chopped prices on holiday toys by as much as 50 percent and plans to cut prices weekly until Christmas. Starbucks busted out their Christmas cups, Christmas blends and Christmas music. And, Star 102 and KUDL in Kansas City have flipped their formats to all-Christmas all the time.
Christmas is not in October. Or November. Someone needs to tell Corporate America.
Market research firm NPD Group tried on October 9 by releasing a survey announcing that 40 percent of consumers – 10 percent more than last year – said they don't anticipate beginning their holiday shopping until after Thanksgiving.
There, it's obvious. No matter how retailers try to entice consumers to begin their holiday shopping, it won't work. I'm not the only Scrooge out there.
As our economy continues into a recession, the retail industry becomes more nervous each year because sales are lagging heading into November and December, the months that account for as much as 50 percent or more of merchants' annual profits and sales. Some are scared that the lack of a "must-have item" will cause sales to drop. Others cite the decrease in nationwide mall traffic, high gas prices or more online or bulk-buy purchases as reasons why they must begin the Christmas season when I shop for school supplies.
I don't buy any of those excuses though. Last year, national retail sales in November and December rose 4.6 percent over the same period a year earlier. The NPD survey also showed that only 5 percent of respondents said they would spend less over the next two months than they did last year, so the state of the economy is not impacting sales as much as some worry.
Therefore, retailers quit freaking out and let me enjoy my Fall season without seeing a jolly fat man (that may or may not be a pedophile) dressed in a red suit or hearing jingle bells on my way to work. Merry freaking Christmas.