As we all know it’s almost that time of year again. Where everyone is rushing to go shopping for gifts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, these holidays have changed so much throughout the decades, and no one realizes how much online shopping has affected them. 

Growing up, I was familiar with the chaos of Black Friday. People pushing each other over TV’s, getting into fistfights, and watching the news after to see how insane people go just for a discount in a store. I remember my parents used to tell me how people would wait in front of stores just so they could grab that specific item that was on sale. 

It seems like a nightmare if you ask me. 

But, in recent years the whole chaotic Black Friday scene has come to an end. There are no more snatching items from people since online shopping has become a hit. Not only do people believe it is more convenient, but people don’t have to camp outside stores for these big sales. Now all the sales and discounts are online. The percentage of online shoppers has skyrocketed since the pandemic. 

After the pandemic people were afraid to even be near people, which resulted in even more online shopping. According to RAND research “Younger people (those under 35) were most likely to shop online before the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost half were shopping online once per week or more already, and that rose to more than 60 percent after the COVID-19 pandemic began.”

However, we have to realize that online shopping can result in stores or companies that do not own an online presence shutting down. 

According to a study by insurance company Euler Hermes, 41% of retailers have seen their profit margins decrease since 2008. These retail losses “have tracked with the expansion of e-commerce, which has grown well ahead of other retail segments at 10.5% per annum.”

Well-known retail companies were forced to shut down by the rise of online companies like Amazon, Shein, etc. When these companies go bankrupt it creates an issue for the employment of the retail industry. Many people are being let go from their jobs by companies losing money. And my personal worry is that we will eventually come to a point where stores are entirely online. 

Also, do you realize how much environmental damage online shopping causes? 

As college students, we love the feeling of receiving something in the mail from companies like TikTok shop or Shein nowadays, but do people realize how much waste that causes? During holidays like Black Friday, many people will go online shopping and receive a variety of packages. But the sheer amount of packages people receive on a daily basis is already an issue for the environment, so adding in Black Friday online as well as Cyber Monday increases the loads that we already have. 

According to Earth.org, “products’ packaging contributes in large part to CO2 emissions from producing plastics, polluting ecosystems as well as adding enormous amounts of waste to our landfills. 3 billion trees are pulped yearly to produce 241 million tons of shipping cartons, the forest conservation group Canopy found.” 

People have to realize that online shopping can be both a curse and a blessing. We have to shop smart during these holidays and be mindful of how much it can negatively impact the environment. There are ways we can be cautious about when online shopping, like opting for eco-friendly packaging or simply ordering in fewer quantities.

 It’s time for holiday spirit, and we shouldn’t ruin that spirit with extra trash.

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