Last-Minute Christmas Shopping is Like Gambling

It's September and the countdown to Christmas began on September 1. One thing worth noting is why I personally hate December is the abundance of last-minute Christmas shopping. There's a lot of traffic to deal with one way or another. It's going to be a year after Odette hit last December 2021. I guess many last-minute Christmas shoppers were crying that they don't get to experience the thrill. This reminds me of a lot of stuff that was presented in regard to poor timing. Yup, timing in the Philippines is notoriously bad and the term "Filipino time" is almost synonymous with being late.

Analyzing the logic behind last-minute Christmas shopping

Here's an article called "The Neuroscience Behind Last-Minute Christmas Shopping" by Jocelyn Solis-Moreira. This is an excerpt that may help explain the mentality of last-minute Christmas shopping:

Gift-giving is stressful. Even if you’re excited to get someone a present, the pressure of finding something they’ll like can make you anxious. Sam Zand, DO, a practicing psychiatrist and chief medical officer at Better U, says that anxiety can make you feel jittery because the brain triggers a chemical called norepinephrine. An anxious brain also decreases levels of serotonin, which regulates anxiety and happiness. People who are serial procrastinators can live with this chronic anxiety, which may shift how the brain functions over time.

Joseph Michelli, Ph.D., a psychologist, author, and organizational consultant, says that about 20 percent of people are chronic procrastinators and tend to use less of their executive function. They have a weaker ability to plan and act on difficult but important tasks without getting distracted by more impulsive and pleasurable items. Research also suggests that people who constantly procrastinate are less likely to learn from past mistakes.

“The brain makes wise decisions for our survival. But executive function has changed from being an industrialized society and having more pleasurable distractions [around]. So, I think what's happened is that our brains have enabled us to get distracted by things that will take us off-task, but that doesn't necessarily kill us,” explains Michelli.

Another brain chemical known as dopamine may reinforce a pattern of procrastination. Dopamine is involved in reward and pleasure and Michelli says that we get limited dopamine from doing difficult and time-consuming tasks such as Christmas shopping.

But when we procrastinate, the brain releases a bit of dopamine to reward us for not doing the less pleasurable task. Dopamine also strengthens reward-related memory, motivating you to do it again because of how good it felt to procrastinate the first time. So, if you scored amazing last-chance deals in the past, your brain reinforces the behavior to shop last minute again.

The details above make me think of the pleasure zone of last-minute Christmas shopping. It seems that dopamine is produced for not doing the less pleasurable task. That's why procrastinating feels so good because people just want to enjoy things now. People tend to take the thrill of doing things at the last minute--never mind that it compromises work. This is probably why people just love the thrill of last-minute Christmas shopping even when it gets so stressful.

Comparing last-minute Christmas shopping to gambling

This reminds me of 1990s movie called Jingle All the Way. I was 11 years old when the film came out. It was where two competing parents, Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Myron Larabee (Sindbad) who were after the hottest Christmas toy, Turbo Man, for their sons. They both asked, "Do you have a Turboman?" and the salesmen simply laughed at them. I feel like laughing at anyone who looks for the hottest item on Christmas Eve. Yet it happened. If Howard decided to buy the toy weeks ago - he wouldn't be in the predicament he got in the movie. I even heard that Schwarzenegger dislikes the role he got caught into. Howard could've avoided all that if he bought the Turbo Man doll ahem action figure weeks ago. Instead, Howard procrastinated too much that in the end, he even forgot to give his wife, Liz, a present.

Then again, there's always the thrill-seeking mind. That's why people gamble even if they know they could lose the money and never get it back. It's not like investing in good stocks or in a stock index fund. A stock index fund can either be profited from by either cost-averaging (putting the same amount monthly or quarterly) or value averaging. Meanwhile, gambling relies on chance. Last-minute Christmas shopping is pretty much a gamble. I can compare it to gambling because it's more focused on thrills than results.

Let's think of this situation. I remembered going to the toystores during the Christmas break (or first week of December) in the 1990s. One of my biggest memories was that I was asked what I wanted for Christmas when November struck. Christmas shopping was usually done in the first week of December as the latest. I still think about the Christmas sale hit a month before to encourage early buying. Yet, we know that certain people prefer thrill over results. It's like how gambling may make you lose millions more than you earn it. However, there's a thrill in winning millions via a risky game of roulette than getting millions via the "boring" world of investments such as bonds and stocks, right?

A scene in Jingle All the Way had the scene where both Myron and Howard joined a raffle. The raffle would get the winner a chance to get the Turbo Man toy. There was more thrill in it than if they bought the Turbo Man weeks ago. The Turbo Man was sold and it's all empty. They even went as far as to cause mayhem in a radio station only to find out it was a Turbo Man gift certificate. Howard should've bought the Turbo Man toy weeks ago. That's why I can laugh along with the salesmen and the shoppers when the two asked for a Turbo Man. I mean, it's the hottest Christmas toy, and finding it on Christmas Eve of all times is stupid.

Basically, it's a gamble to do last-minute Christmas shopping. You go to the mall on Christmas Eve which is pretty much the last minute. I could imagine going to SM Toystore right now looking for whatever the hottest Christmas toy is there on Christmas Eve. I deserve to be laughed at by the salespeople if I asked for it on Christmas Eve. The gamble is there--will I get the toy or will I not get the toy? It's boring to buy the hottest Christmas Toy weeks ago, right? Boring but practical like buying stocks (or stock-related investments) and then waiting for them to grow. I've bought some equity funds and I haven't had a lot of money yet. Some even say it's best to simply cost average into a stock index fund for a certain period of time. Warren Edward Buffett even recommends cost averaging into a stock index fund for beginners. Yet, we know gambling has the addictive thrill that even people who lost a lot will still gamble.

This makes me think smart shoppers tend to buy what they need weeks ago before Christmas. They manage the money all year round. If they live paycheck to paycheck--they avoid practices that will drain their salary after payday (read here). One of the worst ways to lose your money after payday is gambling. Maybe, one has decided to play Axie Infinity instead of buying stock index funds for a start (read here). If one has the lifestyle of a gambler and overspender--it might mean thrill-seeking has overcome reason. It's certainly boring to do early Christmas grocery and shopping. It would be "boring" to get what you need for Noche Buena or the toys you want for your children. However, a thrill seeker could care less about results--they just want the thrill. Then such thrill seekers may start complaining why they're always stuck in debt traps.

Seeking thrills via Christmas shopping is very short-term. True, it can be boring to do things on time in the short run. Yet, the thrill is built up better. If you did early Christmas grocery and shopping--you can now have the thrill of awaiting a well-prepared feast. You now have the thrill of giving the gifts before December 24 to people you intend to give the gifts such as your children, nephews, nieces, and so on. It would also mean having saved time and money. It's really time to reconsider this--it might be "boring" (at first) but it'll build up better excitement later when everything is well-prepared.

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