Easter

Most people who celebrate Easter love this holiday because it falls in line with the beginning of Spring.  The weather is usually pleasant, and after being forced inside to seek refuge from the snow and cold all winter, it's literally a breath of fresh air.
With all holidays these days, the emphasis has shifted from religious celebrations, to the main focus being secular celebrations.
Well, having said that, what I saw at Target this week would make Peter Cottontail cry.  The markups on their Easter supplies (candy, baskets, decorations, etc.) have gone through the roof.  Items that are normally a dollar or two are now going for 3 or 4.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
More and more I'm seeing that the average joe is being priced out of anything.  Look at sporting events, for example.  You can't go to a pro game unless you're willing to spend at least a couple hundred dollars, between tickets, parking, food, etc.  Prices for everything are going up at a much higher rate than normal inflation and in the same time, people are losing their jobs or having to take pay cuts.  Most people consider themselves lucky to have their pay remain stagnant. 

Well, all was not lost.  I can proclaim that Walgreens has saved the day!  They have several reasonable alternatives.  Being on the buying side, I can see how these companies are putting the squeeze on retailers to increase prices, but Walgreens has sidestepped this issue by carrying off brands of staple Easter items that can retail at several dollars lower than their name brand equivalents.  Target, for some reason, has not bought into this philosophy. 

I can't help but think that this wouldn't be necessary except for the buyer at Target must not be very good at analyzing their business.  Every holiday there is so much stock left over that you are forced to deeply mark down the stock at a loss just to clear the way for the inventory that you have to bring in for the next holiday.  If they would just cut their buy in half, then they would be able to sell almost all of their inventory before it had to get to the mark down phase and they could charge a more reasonable rate from the get go.  At some point, the Target seasonal buyer has a margin to protect.  My guess is that since they are taking such a blood bath with all of the inventory that they have to mark down to 75% off, that they have to take an increased markup initially in order to make any money at all.  The little guy ends up paying for these increases, which is just disappointing.  The consumer has to make up for companies that are telling buyers that they have the greatest thing this side of Mason-Dixon and buyers who don't analyze their business deeply enough to realize that they are marking down at least half of their inventory.

Unfortunately, the only reasonable solution is to take a stand and celebrate holidays a couple of days after the actual holiday.  That way you can buy your Easter candy on Easter Monday at 75% off, and the consumer is finally a winner!  Somewhere, Clark Griswald is nodding his smile of approval!