Old news is old.

An old girifriend of mine was a mall marketing manager; she'd have to get busy getting the Xmas decorations up right after Labor Day - and this was 1997.

Gulper Eel: Old news is old.

An old girifriend of mine was a mall marketing manager; she'd have to get busy getting the Xmas decorations up right after Labor Day - and this was 1997.

This.

TFA: Way before the traditional Halloween and Thanksgiving kickoffs

Those haven't been traditional "kickoffs" in about 25 years.

Christmas cards, not too bad. Overall, I can only give a big hearty "this" to this: "But some experts say the plan could backfire by turning off consumers who don't want to be inundated with Christmas so early."

Anecdote time!

I had a buddy in college who interned at a low power radio station in a very small town. The station was owned by ClearChannel so of course they had the typical bland corporate format. He was told by the manager that he had to play the song "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" some insane number of times (100?) on his shift from Thanksgiving until after Christmas.

He, being a rational person, loathed this song with a passion so he decided to follow the letter of the law and not the spirit. He set up the record to auto-repeat with a bumper that he made explaining what he was doing. The message was that he had to play it 100 times so he was just getting it out of the way so then nobody would have to be tortured by this song.

As the mega-homicidal reindeer marathon was winding down early on Monday morning the general manager of the station heard this and was not amused at all. In fact he was going to fire my friend until people (myself included) called the station praising him for getting that crap off the air at least on his shift. My friend kept his job.

I was at Joann's Fabrics for some thread & I saw all the Halloween stuff was marked down to some ridiculous price (like panne' velvet, usually $7/yard, was now $2. Patterns were $1, marked down from $7.99). I asked why they were marked down so early & the cashier said they needed to make room by Tuesday for Christmas stuff.

I swear, I see this Christmas stuff in the stores and I just want to start ripping it down, handing it to the store manager and saying "here. You're allowed to put this back up in late november."

Rev. Skarekroe: TFA: Way before the traditional Halloween and Thanksgiving kickoffs

Those haven't been traditional "kickoffs" in about 25 years.

That's bullshiat. When I was a kid they were traditional kickoffs. And...wait...[counts on fingers]. Damn! Thanks for reminding me of my age!!


/shakes fist at Rev. Skarekroe

A friend of mine runs a Dollar General. He said he got his first Christmas shipments in two weeks ago and they went on the shelf. I think if Christmas ends up lasting 4 months I'm going to end up murdering someone. You can only take so much before you snap.

Who cares what stores are stocking? Is your experience at your local retailer so important to your emotional state? When I go shopping I find the stuff I need and leave. If they have Christmas stuff up in July, I don't see any way I'd ever find my self feeling homicidal.

You know what I do hate? Procrastinators and people who do things at the last minute.

So if you want to get your Christmas shopping done in September- by all means go nuts.

I've noticed that my local Walgreens already has the Halloween stuff up. They typically will have the Halloween stuff up on the easy to reach shelves until the day after Halloween. The Xmas Santas sit up on the higher shelves...like vultures, waiting to pick the carcasses of the happy ghosts, scary skull candles, and warty witches clean.

I actually find it quite creepy.

A bit behind. Christmas stuff has been out since July in some stores.

It's just annoying, is what it is. Whatever happened to seasons?

I don't even celebrate Xmas, but in the lead up to WINTER (i.e. after Thanksgiving) it's a pleasant seasonal thing to see the decorations, it's almost the end of the year, etc. The twinkling lights, the glass balls, the snowflake motifs when it's actually cold and snowy OUTSIDE.

But in September? No. September should be about fall leaves and back to school, orange and yellow and buying sweaters.

Then Halloween. Thanksgiving has long been completely skipped over in the rush from the new crazy Halloween sales to Xmas sales, but to skip Halloween too in a rush to Xmas in September is just... way too fast.

Bottom line is if stuff is out too long, people are going to get sick of it. They'll remember being annoyed with it in September.

downstairs: Who cares what stores are stocking? Is your experience at your local retailer so important to your emotional state? When I go shopping I find the stuff I need and leave. If they have Christmas stuff up in July, I don't see any way I'd ever find my self feeling homicidal.

If you've ever worked in retail (and everyone should be required to for at least two holiday seasons), the early Christmas items will trigger flashbacks and set months of pent up rage at customers boiling. Think PTSD that a vet would have.

I have a hard time getting stabby over my local store's merchindising. But I can shed some light on the strategy, and why they do it.

Christmas merchandise, red-and-green stuff, reindeer, Santa, whatever - is worthless on December 25th. Chains don't hold merchandise. They get rid of it, at whatever cost. So it's difficult for the seasonal category manager to know with certainty what the final margins will be at the end of the season.

So the early placement results in the intelligent loss of sales. The red-and-green stuff sells out at full margin, without markdown liability. As that product sells through, stores replace the features with items that aren't liabilities the day after Christmas. That's when the giant George Foreman display goes up.

I guess we can all expect a spike in the homicide rates.

My kids, all they want to watch all year round is Christmas dvds. I am so sick of christmas that I doubt santa claws will come ever again to my house.

the local Costco has a section of Xmas shiat out right now. Saw it a few weeks ago.

I'm not going to poop in your stocking until Christmas Eve anyways.

The merchandise and visual marketing doesn't bother me in the least. I can ignore it.

It's the music. The Gosh Awful hellish choirs of the damned singing about goodwill towards men that makes me want to vomit with rage.

No reason for it.

I'm for making the season year round. Santa has to hide the eggs and then he's summarily crucified, in front of the children of course. Life is brutal and short kids. Now open your presents; they're just boxes of sawdust.

For me, it just doesn't have that cold, antiseptic sting of Christmas until I start hearing about:
The War On... the War On Christmas.

Really, it just doesn't feel right to wish someone "happy holidays" until I know it's going to offend someone.

Christmas music makes the baby Jeebus cry.

brigid_fitch: I was at Joann's Fabrics for some thread & I saw all the Halloween stuff was marked down to some ridiculous price (like panne' velvet, usually $7/yard, was now $2. Patterns were $1, marked down from $7.99). I asked why they were marked down so early & the cashier said they needed to make room by Tuesday for Christmas stuff.

At a craft store like Jo Ann's or Michaels, you really need to get holiday stuff out there 3 months early so that people can buy their materials with enough time to make their gifts before Christmas or whatever holiday.

Also, as a musician who plans on performing a number of concerts (in several different ensembles and several solo performances), you're damned right I'm busy now picking out which arrangements I want to play/sing at some of those concerts.

GoshAwful: The merchandise and visual marketing doesn't bother me in the least. I can ignore it.

It's the music. The Gosh Awful hellish choirs of the damned singing about goodwill towards men that makes me want to vomit with rage.

No reason for it.

Thank you for saving me the time of trying to figure out how I was going to phrase the exact same sentiment. +1

brigid_fitch: I was at Joann's Fabrics for some thread & I saw all the Halloween stuff was marked down to some ridiculous price (like panne' velvet, usually $7/yard, was now $2. Patterns were $1, marked down from $7.99). I asked why they were marked down so early & the cashier said they needed to make room by Tuesday for Christmas stuff.

Ha ha, you're a sewing nerd.

/can't wait till fleece goes on sale.

Thisbymaster: My kids, all they want to watch all year round is Christmas dvds. I am so sick of christmas that I doubt santa claws will come ever again to my house.

Just tell them that since some jerks stole the Baby Jebus from the nativity display that Christmas is canceled this year.

downstairs: Who cares what stores are stocking? Is your experience at your local retailer so important to your emotional state? When I go shopping I find the stuff I need and leave. If they have Christmas stuff up in July, I don't see any way I'd ever find my self feeling homicidal.

You know what I do hate? Procrastinators and people who do things at the last minute.

So if you want to get your Christmas shopping done in September- by all means go nuts.

You sound like a grinch

I love Christmas, however.....

1) Seeing egg nog on sale in October is kind of disturbing.
2) It's almost as if Thanksgiving doesn't exist any more....you have Halloween, and then *BOOM*....it's Christmas.

I've never understood Christmas stores nor why they are always more abundant in hot climates (Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Atlanta, etc). I can't even stand going in to cool off because of the obnoxious music and the smell of cinnamon.

Hear that high-pitched hum?

Yeah, that's Jesus spinning in his grave at 125,000 rpms.

Most of my Christmas shopping is done at garage/yard sales. People actually leave the crap they got last year for Christmas in the original package. You can get stuff 90% off retail. Then they can sell it in their garage/yard sale.

I don't care too much about the Christmas stuff in the stores even though I agree that it is way too early for it. I just despise the radio stations that feel the need to play Christmas music all the time and the stations on cable and network TV that start showing those shiatty shiatty shiatty Christmas movies my wife feels the need to watch.

Workers at Cracker Barrel were putting up a Christmas tree next to the Halloween stuff a couple of days ago.

I got sick of Christmas years ago. I get through it, put up with it, then breathe a sigh of relief.

Yeah, I'm a grinch too

Faps_in_the_kitchen: I don't care too much about the Christmas stuff in the stores even though I agree that it is way too early for it. I just despise the radio stations that feel the need to play Christmas music all the time and the stations on cable and network TV that start showing those shiatty shiatty shiatty Christmas movies my wife feels the need to watch.

"Jingle All The Way" was on this weekend.

\IT WAS STILL AUGUST!!!!
\\needless to say, I was slightly annoyed.

Ive always said, if the government wants to release a stimulus package and ensure that it goes straight back into the economy instead of being used for bills, they should release it right before xmas.

/government? anyone? want to send me money? I promise to buy shiat with it.

I like Christmas music...around Christmas. September isn't around Christmas, though, and being subjected to it in summer is the aural equivalent of having someone take a great big dump on you...a Mannheim steamer, if you will.

Urge to kill... rising...

//consumerism blows

If I walk into the Safeway and hear that goddamn "All I Want For Christmas" song by Mariah Carey, I will get all kinds of black out rampagey.

Bek: downstairs: Who cares what stores are stocking? Is your experience at your local retailer so important to your emotional state? When I go shopping I find the stuff I need and leave. If they have Christmas stuff up in July, I don't see any way I'd ever find my self feeling homicidal.

If you've ever worked in retail (and everyone should be required to for at least two holiday seasons), the early Christmas items will trigger flashbacks and set months of pent up rage at customers boiling. Think PTSD that a vet would have.

When I worked retail, I always made deals with the managers. I would work Christmas Eve (which was always dead - we never had too many last minute shoppers) because all the other full timers wanted to have family time on Christmas eve. My family didn't do anything until Christmas day anyway, so in exchange for volunteering for Christmas eve, I'd get the day after Christmas off.

This was monumentally important because the day after Christmas contained two things - people returning things, and people using gift certificates. Both were a huge pain in the ass, and made for a very long day.

Anne.Uumellmahaye: Ha ha, you're a sewing nerd.

/can't wait till fleece goes on sale.

Have you seen Fitch's cosplay stuff? She's a damned talented sewing nerd.

/hates Christmas music so very, very, very much.
//wife, on the other hand, owns a Christmas with Rosie O'Donnell CD that she put on for our one-year-old to try and get him into the festive spirit. It includes songs by Elmo and Dora.
///I'm pretty sure it's grounds for divorce.

Oh_Enough_Already: Hear that high-pitched hum?

Yeah, that's Jesus spinning in his grave at 125,000 rpms.

Umm, I'm pretty sure he's not in there, dude. It's kind of the point.

I don't even want to THINK about Christmas until it's actually December.

/went on a trip to Michigan earlier this year that included a stop in Frankenmuth. Did not stop at Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland, but when I got back, everyone asked me if I went to Bronner's.
//bluh

Faps_in_the_kitchen: I don't care too much about the Christmas stuff in the stores on July 4th even though I agree that it is way too early for it. I just despise the radio stations that feel the need to play Christmas music all the time and the stations on cable and network TV that start showing those shiatty shiatty shiatty Christmas movies my wife feels the need to watch.

Thisbymaster My kids, all they want to watch all year round is Christmas dvds. I am so sick of christmas that I doubt santa claws will come ever again to my house.


I'm glad I never had to deal with santa claws when I grew up. He sounds hardcore. I was always a fan of his better known brother, Santa Claus. That dude knew how to distribute toys without leaving a scratch.

The Christmas spirit died in 1998. It might have had its resurrection during the dotcom boom but not many got to enjoy that. Office parties are gone. No more bonues. No gifts. No booze allowed on the 23rd/24th. The "party" is some dull affair after hours at a Greek restaurant and you have to pay for it. There's been no hot temps in 9 years to get drunk and join the "closet club" with you.

1998. Miss ya.

personally i think they should leave holiday stuff up all year long. Think of all the man-hours saved from having to put it all up and take it all down every year! year-in and year-out!
The savings would be incredible!
Ho-ho-ho.

I love christmas..it's my favorite holiday. I just wish it weren't so commercialized that they feel it necessary to put out decorations in August.
But..there's no sense in letting it bother me.

Pxtl: Oh_Enough_Already: Hear that high-pitched hum?

Yeah, that's Jesus spinning in his grave at 125,000 rpms.

Umm, I'm pretty sure he's not in there, dude. It's kind of the point.

Oh, snap!