Word: thrift
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...Despite the fact that many Americans' only contact with the Salvation Army is its holiday season kettles or its more than 1,300 thrift stores, these programs represent less than 15% of the charity's annual revenue in the U.S. (Most of the rest of its 2007 income came from in-kind donations, government funds, and direct online or mail contributions.) The Army is the second-largest charity in America - the United Way is number one - a fact that's astounding when you consider that it isn't even based in the U.S., but is headquartered in London...
Adding to the pressure on retailers is a shorter window to shop and a suddenly thrift-minded shopper. Black Friday--when the holiday shopping season traditionally begins, the day after Thanksgiving--falls on Nov. 28, far later than usual. Compared with last year, stores now have five fewer shopping days and one less weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Looming layoffs and tightening credit have crushed consumer confidence, making shoppers more discerning than ever. Before buying a gift, 71% of shoppers ask themselves, Is this a smart use of my money? according to an October survey on how America shops, conducted...
...into this recalibrated value system--one based on caution rather than the branded excess of Christmas past. "The American consumer is trading downward in the most dramatic fashion ever seen," says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a retail-consulting firm. What's more, the thrift mind-set has seeped into all income levels. Saks Fifth Avenue, for instance, had a 16.6% drop in sales in October. "Saving is cool right now," says Candace Corlett, president of WSL. "Conspicuous consumption is out, and people have lost their passion to buy." (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...wealthy parents don't always grow up to be self-indulgent, feckless adults, just as deprived children don't always become driven overachievers. But literature and media are stuffed with rich-kids-gone-bad stories, and there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that cosseted offspring can lack the thrift, independence, ambition, persistence and entrepreneurial spirit that contributed to their parents' success. Most people have heard of the "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves" curse, which holds that family wealth, once accumulated, is typically dissipated by the third generation because trust-fund babies, having little regard for the money that has come to them...
...Frugal Life I commend Nancy Gibbs for using her column to state what we are unlikely to hear from any elected official: that thrift is an important virtue and that our failure to practice it has helped bring on the current economic collapse [Oct. 13]. Those who lived through the Great Depression endured a scare that prompted them to scrimp and save, something the current generation does not do. Now Americans generally believe they are entitled to whatever they want without regard to whether they can afford it. The list of what we have come to consider necessities would stun...