nature travel info

In recent decades, the day after Thanksgiving—known as “Black Friday”—has become the biggest shopping day of the year. Although no one seems to be able to say for sure how the phrase originated, some believe it stems from the notion that it’s the day retailers finally go into the black after being in the red almost all year. And, indeed, according to the National Retail Federation, 86.9 million of us shopped in stores or online on Black Friday 2014.
That’s why it came as a bit of a shock when the outdoor gear co-op REI recently announced that it will close all 143 of its stores on Black Friday this year, giving its approximately 12,000 employees a paid day off. In addition, REI launched a campaign on its website that encourages all of us to forgo shopping on Black Friday and spend time outside instead. With the hashtag OptOutside, you are asked to share what you’re doing outdoors on that day on social media.
The company says that its store closings are meant to quell the frenzied consumerism that has come to dominate our holidays. Critics, however, say it’s merely a marketing ploy to increase the stores’ sales.
But if the tactic does get more Americans to enjoy the outdoors for even one more day, does it matter if it also helps REI’s bottom line?

Feeding the criticism that REI’s Black Friday closings are merely a stunt to actually improve the company’s holiday sales by emphasizing its co-op status and do-goodism is the fact that on the same day the company made its announcement, it launched a new logo that includes the word co-op for the first time since 1983. And last year, it also rolled out an in-store line of apparel called REI Co-Op.
Some believe that an act is not altruistic if it helps you or serves your best interests in the long run. But isn’t that what altruism is: helping others in the hope that they may come to your aid or consider you kindly in the future?