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Blackballing Black Friday: Target, Best Buy employees protest the earlier thanever, Thanksgiving-threatening sales

Each year, Black Friday draws hordes of bargain shoppers anxious to get a headstart on holiday gift-buying.
Photo by John Partipilo
Anthony Hardwick started a petition to push back Target's open time to a morereasonable 5 a.m.
Photo via Change.org

It's Thanksgiving week. As families around the United States make travel plans and perfect recipes for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, retailers are gearing up for a supersized Black Friday.

Sometimes it seems that the much-too-early start, the crowds, the blatant consumerism and the competitive rush sometimes bordering on outright violence outweigh the epic deals on electronics and toys. This year, some retailers announced that stores would open their doors at midnight, eliminating at least one of those deterrents.

But some retail employees aren't so enthusiastic about this cut into their holiday time. Anthony Hardwick, a Target employee from Omaha, Neb., initiated a petition to "Save Thanksgiving" and push back the store's opening time to 5 a.m.

According to Hardwick,

A midnight opening robs the hourly and in-store salary workers of time off with their families on Thanksgiving Day. By opening the doors at midnight, Target is requiring team members to be in the store by 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. A full holiday with family is not just for the elite of this nation — all Americans should be able to break bread with loved ones and get a good night's rest on Thanksgiving!"

The petition has received more than 190,000 signatures, but that's not slowing down Target's midnight opening plans. The store is even getting a lead on the early holiday sales with a four-day sale of pre-Black Friday deals.

Target isn't the only big retailer sullying the sanctity of the holiday. Best Buy employees are complaining, too.

Toys "R" Us will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving, and remain open 26 hours straight. Walmart opens at 10 p.m., with staggered specials throughout the night and into Black Friday.

Do you think that retail employees deserve Thanksgiving night off? Will you be hitting the deals at Black Friday turned Thursday?

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Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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