With Christmas only a month away, Thanksgiving makes for the perfect time to do some gift shopping. Thus came Black Friday; a day full of the hottest deals in every store with must have items, which is just another holiday to some crazed shoppers.

However, with the popularity of Black Friday growing, stores have began to open on Thursday nights in order to beat out their competitors and make the deals last longer. The biggest shopping day of the year has turned into a day and a half, so can we really call it Black Friday anymore?

Along with changing from just Friday, this also creates a problem for many employees who now have to work on Thanksgiving instead of spending it with their family. Of course, Black Friday takes a lot preparation, so some employees need to be at the store the day before to help set everything up, but now it requires more of them to be there all day on Thursday while dealing with angry customers instead of playing games or hanging out with their families.

While the reason for Black Friday beginning on Thursday is a never ending question, there are many other parts of this day that have changed from its original purpose. For instance, online shopping has hit a boom and stores are using this to their advantage.

One of the most thrilling parts of Black Friday is waiting in line outside of your favorite store for hours, maybe even overnight, to ensure that you can get in and get the limited quantity items you saw in the ads, but this has changed over the years. With online shopping available, it takes away the excitement of going out early in the morning and pushing through crowds of people because now you can get the same amazing deals while at home with one click of a button.

Another downside online shopping has brought to Black Friday is the time difference between the openings. With stores typically opening the evenings of Thanksgiving, Black Friday deals begin in the store at that time. Online however, the deals may start at the beginning of the day.

For example, Kohl’s Department Store opened at five p.m. on Thanksgiving night, but the online deals started at 12 a.m. Thanksgiving morning. Not only does this eliminate the need to go out and shop at the store, but it creates a lot of angry customers and here is how:

For Black Friday, Kohl’s was selling a vacuum cleaner that is usually around $250 for $99.99 along with receiving $15 in Kohl’s cash for every $50 spent. What a deal right? Well because this is an amazing deal, the store only received about 20 vacuums for Black Friday. Anyone who wanted one of those vacuums could order it online for that price anytime throughout the day Thursday. Because of this, by the time the doors to the store opened, there were only about four vacuums left, making everyone who actually waited in line for the vacuums very upset, and rightfully so.

I think online stores should not open their deals until the actual store opens to eliminate this issue and create a fair game for everybody. If the store is advertising that there will be vacuums for $99.99, holiday socks for $1.99, or any other good deals, then that store should still have multiples of those items in stock when they open their doors.

If Black Friday is going to transition to begin on Thursday night with the low prices available online, then all deals should begin at the same time to ensure a happy and fun Black Friday for everyone.