Thanksgiving: The Recent Trends

Thanksgiving has been celebrated in the United States since before we even were united as a country. Today it's a significant holiday that grants time off from school and work, requires a whole lot of shopping, and is followed up by major shopping events (Black Friday and Cyber Monday). How does the holiday affect the average consumer?

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the average cost of a dinner for ten people in 2018 was about $48.90. This was a 22 cent decrease from the previous year. This may be due to a change in the price of the most expensive item, the turkey, which saw an average price drop of 3%. Around Thanksgiving, the demand for turkey increases. This seems like it would drive the price of turkey up, but it actually goes down as the agricultural industry prepares for the massive increase in demand each November. Turkey is actually at its lowest prices in November and December, right around Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner time. However, in 10 years, the per-pound price of turkey has risen 50 cents.

Consumers are also spending their money on airfare as people fly to see their families. The amount of passengers flying on U.S. airlines during the twelve day Thanksgiving period has been increasing each year. In 2018 it was about 30.6 million people, an increase of 5.7% compared to 2017. One of the busiest travel days tends to be the day before Thanksgiving.

Black Friday is the day right after Thanksgiving when many stores slash their prices in hopes of attracting customers. In 2017, about $2.9 billion was spent on Thanksgiving, and about $5 billion on Black Friday. However, Cyber Monday, a similar retail holiday, brought in $6.6 billion. Clearly, this time of year brings an increase in consumer purchasing behavior. The average American spends $175.65 ($10.51 up from the previous year) per person on Thanksgiving, largely due to travel costs.  Though the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner is decreasing, the cost of the holiday overall is on the rise.

Source:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/the-economics-of-thanksgiving/
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/11/the-economics-of-thanksgiving-dinner/383046/