Canadians are feeling pretty frugal this Christmas
Canadians are feeling pretty frugal this Christmas
—The average amount Canadians expect to spend on Christmas presents this year, according to a recent survey of 2,006 gift-givers conducted by the Royal Bank of Canada. As reported in the Globe, that’s a three per cent decrease from last year’s average spend of $608.60, and a six per cent decrease from 2012’s total of $628.50. (On the plus side: fewer misguided gifts to return on Boxing Day.)
This sounds quite low as an average. Which makes me suspicious. Is a consumer bank really the best entity to be conducting this survey? I feel like peoples’ answers when asked by their bank “how much do you plan to spend on holiday gifts this year?” will be influenced by a subconscious predisposition to quote conservatively. After all, if I’ve got an overdraft with the bank, or a maxed-out CC/LOC, am I really going to want to make them think that I’ve somehow prioritized holiday gifts over paying down money that I owe them?
Of course not. Which perfectly explains why when I worked in retail, a disproportionate amount of people paid for their purchases in cash during the holidays, as opposed to on card (might I add, in an era where it’s more than common to pay for a cup of coffee with a card). It’s to keep things on the down-low from nosy spouses and/or snooping bean-counters at the bank. I wouldn’t put any stock into this statistic (without a second opinion, that is) for this very reason.