TOMAS BORSA
Opinions Editor

In the United States, “Black Friday” — which falls on Nov. 26 this year — marks the busiest shopping day of the year and the unofficial beginning of the Holiday shopping season.

It’s a time for families to band together in the spirit of the holidays (that is, consumerism and cranberry sauce), and spend, spend, spend.

While the vast majority of Canadian retailers do not observe Black Friday, the somewhat lesser-known “Cyber Black Friday” is about our closest equivalent and in recent years has marked one of the busiest days of the year for online retailers. Statistics show that worldwide, online shopping as a whole is ballooning in popularity, at a rate that traditional retailers are struggling to keep up with.

For a desk-bound computer slave like me — one who does the vast majority of his shopping online (sorry, ozone) — the convenience of online shopping is the biggest draw. Online retailers are available 24 hours a day, frequently offer rush shipping and can even wrap gifts and include personalized cards (though a laser-printed adhesive-label reading “mry xmas hunny” doesn’t exactly smack of holiday cheer).

And for those in a pinch for ideas (or who are too lazy to think of any thing themselves), many larger sites even offer suggestions tailored to specific interests or age categories.

The selection offered by online retailers is often far greater than that of a traditional retailer.

Consider this: shortly after toying with the idea of placing an order for what was described as “Jar of Purple Pickles TOTALLY UNEDIBLE” for $1.99, I found a website that offered online exorcisms.

Really — just about anything can be found online.

Next, there is no need to leave the house when shopping online, which saves gas and a whole lot of the effort it takes to shovel — and is ideal for those with limited mobility. This also means there is no dress code. My computer screen doesn’t mind me shopping in my underwear (though my roommate might be a little less supportive), nor will it ever pressure me toward buying a second Donkey Cigarette Dispenser “just in case.”

And you’ll never have to worry about misplacing little Jimmy in aisle six!

All other factors aside, perhaps the biggest draw for consumers is the price difference between online and locally-purchased items. Owing to the fact that presentation and upkeep of a brick-and-mortar retail location do not factor into the budget of an online retailer, they are free to put this surplus toward securing new collections, or offering identical items at heavy discounts.

However, shopping online also comes with some serious disadvantages — the least of which being that your family will forever label you the “lazy Yuletide-procrastinator” too caught up in their own business to muster an hours worth of gift-hunting in the mall.

The biggest barrier to the growth of online shopping will always be that it is impossible to try, feel or wear before buying. Many people (particularly parents, old people and other neo-Luddites) also feel hesitation in sharing their personal and credit card information online, though most reputable online retailers have tried to quell these fears by offering encrypted password protection.

Remember how I said that a huge advantage to online shopping is that it’s possible to find just about anything? Well, that’s also one of its downfalls. Amazon recently recalled an e-book by Phillip R. Greaves’ entitled The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct, which had risen to number 96 in their sales charts.

There are also well-documented cases of illicit products becoming available online under various pseudonyms. At the end of 2004, a new designer drug called “Explosion” appeared in the Netherlands. Marketed as a room deodorizer, it was available for shipment anywhere in the world for about $20. Testing later revealed it was, in fact, the illegal psychoactive drug methylone. Oops.

According to the U.S.-based National Retail Federation, about 40 per cent of online retailers began their holiday promotions right after Halloween. Traditional retailers — particularly locally-owned or independent merchants — rarely have the stock, let alone the purchasing power, to undercut these prices, putting them at an enormous disadvantage with regards to attracting customers.

Whereas tax from locally-purchased goods will eventually find its way back into the local economy, transactions made online seldom result in the province or city getting taxes they are owed. Both literally and figuratively, the roads which lead to traditional retailers are slowly crumbling.

As much as I adore the convenience and selection of shopping online, I do so with a pang of guilt. After all, not only does it drain money from the local economy and divert it across the globe, the process of shipping items across the world also comes at an enormous environmental cost.

I recently ordered a backpack from Hong Kong. In monetary terms, it cost $30, but over the course of its 10,833 km journey, 1472.2 kg of carbon dioxide was spewed into the atmosphere — a far greater cost, in my estimation.

And so I’m left wondering: is it really worth swimming through polar melt-water in 60 years just to have a new T-shirt or camera in time to put under the Christmas tree?