Yes, you can still celebrate Christmas on the right day, but you need to know that your wallet can’t!
Traditionally, the big Christmas season sales have been around the week of US Thanksgiving. But that’s going to be much different this year. It’s something you need to adjust to if you’re not in the one-third of the population who leaves it until the last minute. That’s for three main reasons:
Shipping charges: With the huge increase in online shopping, the couriers are super busy already. Fedex doesn’t even have delivery guarantees anymore. Maybe your package will be on time, but most likely, it’ll be days late. What does that mean? Huge surcharges from all the couriers for this Christmas season. It’s an issue of supply and demand. So you need to be very careful when shopping online and check the shipping costs before clicking to buy. It may still be free and the retailer is absorbing it. But you may also see that many retailers are passing some or all of these costs on to you! Buyer beware and read before clicking! It’s also the reason retailers will have sales this October to pull forward a lot of their Christmas sales before the courier surcharges kick in.
Amazon Prime Day: Amazon’s massive Prime day has always been in June. This year it’s going to be in October – and that’s likely going to be a lot of early Christmas shopping on that day. That means other retailers need to adjust, because it’s just that big a deal.
Retailers need the income: Since March, retailers have been badly hurt in their sales – assuming they were even open. If there’s any reason to move up Christmas sales to generate some badly needed cashflow, they’ll be on board. Prime day and avoiding the Christmas season courier surcharges are just three of the reasons.
If your routine is to shop the last week before Christmas, your wallet is going to feel the pain this year!