Today is Cyber Monday. The pundits are saying this will be the biggest shopping day EVER. People will be surfing the web, looking for those screaming good deals. Can you blame them? Not really. But consider this, when you shop online at some of those big companies, NONE of the money you spend stays in our community. Or even in the state. That money goes to a faceless corporation who could care less that that money is being taken away from local businesses and communities.
Small, local businesses work hard and often times make only a tiny profit by the end of the year. On the other hand, the CEO of one large online retailer just became the richest man in the world on Black Friday when shares of his company exploded through the roof because of the overwhelming demand of shoppers looking for deals. His worth as of Friday night? Right at 100 BILLION dollars. Does he care that our local businesses didn’t see a penny of the money that was spent with his company? Nope.
This holiday season, let’s make a pledge to shop local and support our LOCALLY OWNED businesses. Shopping locally means that the money you spend stays in the community, supports LOCAL folks who live here and helps our communities grow and thrive. And the taxes paid by those businesses helps our state and counties.
So please do me a favor. Before you hit that checkout button when you are shopping online, stop for a second and reconsider. Gather up the family and make a fun day out of shopping at our local businesses and helping them and our community to be successful!!
I hope you and yours have the best Christmas season ever.