The Green Sheet Online Edition
August 24, 2026 • 26:08:02
When the calendar changes, follow the customer
Once upon a time, Labor Day drew a fairly clear line across the calendar. Children returned to school after the holiday. Families squeezed in one last trip to the beach or lake. Backyard grills got a final workout. Summer clothes began disappearing from stores as merchants turned their attention toward fall.
That line has blurred. Most children now return to classrooms weeks before Labor Day. Back-to-school shopping can begin in early summer, encouraged by online promotions and consumers eager to spread out expenses. Yet Labor Day itself hasn't lost its appeal. Americans still travel, gather with family and friends, eat out, fire up their grills and shop holiday sales.
The season didn't disappear. It changed. That's worth remembering in merchant services, where familiar assumptions about when customers shop, what they buy and how they pay can linger long after consumer behavior has moved on.
New purchasing patterns
Labor Day offers a good example. For some merchants, the weekend may still bring customers buying picnic supplies, outdoor gear or one last swimsuit. For others, opportunity may be found in fall clothing, home projects, entertainment, travel, dining or services that have little to do with saying goodbye to summer.
Payments have changed along with purchasing patterns. A consumer might book a Labor Day getaway on a phone, use a digital wallet for gas along the way, tap a card at a restaurant and order something they spot during the trip for delivery after returning home.
There is no single Labor Day customer anymore—if there ever was. For ISOs and merchant level salespeople, that's an invitation to look beyond traditional seasonal campaigns and help merchants understand what's actually happening in their businesses. When are customers arriving? What are they buying? Are they shopping online, in person or both? Which promotions are working?
Labor Day may no longer signal the end of summer quite the way it once did. But it can still remind us of something important: Seasons change, traditions evolve and successful merchants, and the partners who serve them, change right along with them. 
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