Does spending less hurt jobs?

Published 10:29 pm Thursday, November 27, 2008

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, Buy Nothing Day — whatever you want call it — today will find me at my usual hangout. I plan to be at work.

That’s OK, it beats the most talked about alternative — shopping. Don’t look for me at Alderwood mall when stores open at 6 a.m. And no way would I have stayed up after my turkey feast for a “Midnight Madness” shopping spree at Seattle Premium Outlets, near the Tulalip Resort Casino.

Compared to a frantic scramble for parking and gift bargains, doesn’t a routine Friday at the office sound relaxing?

Wait though, what was that other option? It’s Buy Nothing Day. Observed the day after Thanksgiving in the United States and on Saturday in other countries, the campaign urges us to buy nothing for one day, consume less every day, and make a permanent shift away from materialism.

Buy Nothing Day started in the early 1990s by Adbusters, a nonprofit magazine in Vancouver, B.C. The goals are green — create less waste and use fewer resources. There’s a social aspect, as buy-nothing proponents replace shopping with spending time with family or neighbors.

This year, Buy Nothing Day has new appeal for people reeling from a rotten economy. As so many of us work to pinch pennies and pay off debt, we’re buying less out of necessity.

At Zippy’s Java Lounge, a coffee shop in downtown Everett, owner Marilyn Rosenberg won’t sell a thing today. For the second year, she’ll open her business for a Buy Nothing Day potluck and gift-making party. Visitors are asked to bring food, beverages and art supplies to share.

At some point today, Rosenberg said, “we’ll be cutting up credit cards.”

“People got really excited about it last year,” she said Wednesday. More than 30 people came to last year’s gathering, some traveling from Mount Vernon after hearing about Buy Nothing Day on KSER, Everett’s public radio station.

“Simplifying can be such a treasure,” said Rosenberg, 43. “I see the good out of having to buy less. Maybe it’s even more fun.”

I can’t argue with that. Almost everything is more fun than fighting crowds to buy gifts I’m not even sure recipients will want. Still, I’m a little worried about Buy Nothing Day. If we get too comfortable buying only necessities, what will become of businesses and jobs that depend on our admittedly over-the-top spending?

It’s a paradox we encounter when we get a stimulus check from the federal government. Should we save it and improve our personal financial health? Or spend it and boost the overall economy? Will thrifty new habits put economic recovery in peril?

I wondered about that last year, when I started hearing radio ads for “waste-free holidays,” an idea pushed by King County and the city of Seattle. The campaign urges gift buyers to “give experiences instead of stuff.”

As much as I’d like to find concert tickets in my Christmas stocking, I’m concerned about the jobs of countless people in our region who are in the business of selling, if not making, “stuff” — from toys and ski equipment to diamonds and cashmere sweaters.

A King County Web site touting waste-free gift ideas mentions “keeping room in the landfill for the garbage that really needs to be there.” If thousands of retailers slash jobs, our headaches will be far more painful than any worries over where to put crumpled Christmas wrap.

Adopting green habits is good, but so is having green — a paycheck, that is.

Kevin Giboney teaches economics one day a week at Henry M. Jackson High School through the Junior Achievement program. He works as an Allstate personal financial representative in Mill Creek and is on the Everett School District’s business advisory board.

In the near future, Giboney said, the economy will likely suffer as people spend less. “Look at the economy for the last five years, and what helped sustain us was the housing market and consumer spending,” he said.

“Unfortunately, Americans spend about a dollar and a quarter for every dollar they make,” he said. “People are living off of debt.”

Taking a longer view, Giboney, 40, said that if we save and invest more, companies will have more capital to expand business and hire more employees. “It won’t be real quick, but by the middle of next year we’ll see some recovery,” Giboney predicted.

And the holiday shopping season? Will it be a buy-­nothing Christmas?

“I think people will be a lot more conservative with their spending when they see their financial statements in the mail,” he said.

Even so, he expects to be watching his children today — while his wife goes shopping.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.

Buy Nothing Day

Zippy’s Java Lounge, an Everett coffee shop, hosts a Buy Nothing Day event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at 1804 Hewitt Ave. Nothing will be for sale. Visitors are asked to bring food and beverages for the potluck gathering, and art supplies for gift making.