Many retail outlets, grocery chains, and food chains close for Christmas and New Year. These include retailers as large as Walmart and Costco. McDonald’s and Starbucks will ignore the holidays, at least as far as their employees are concerned.

Except for what their management knows about holiday revenue, why Starbucks and McDonald’s stay open is a matter of conjecture. The two days out of the 365 that make up the year are less than half a percent of the total. However, this is hundreds of millions of dollars of sales for Starbucks and McDonald’s, based on their annual revenues,

Presumably, some people would like to buy consumer electronics and food on these two holidays but will wait. People want their coffee and hamburgers every day, particularly if they are part of a ritual, which for millions of people, they are.

The Starbucks and McDonald’s decisions are part of the business schools’ “airline” theory. Every time a plane takes off with even one empty seat, that seat can never be sold again. The chance to sell that seat is an opportunity lost. The plane still needs to operate on its route. needs the same number of crew members, the same amount of jet fuel, and the same number of ground personnel. A plane with unsold seats is an aircraft that operates short of its maximum financial margin.

Perhaps the people most affected by the Starbucks and McDonald’s decisions are the workers at their retail outlets. But, a dollar is a dollar, at least as fair as their executives are concerned.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.