We love celebrating National Trader's Day. If you are a businessman, then we want you to celebrate and recognize the talents and contributions that businessmen (a term that also includes women in the industry) make to keep America productive and running strong. This year, Owen and others started calling it National Businessmen's Day. Not exactly blurting out, but what counts is the thought.
Editor's note: Check out our article on tools made in the USA.
When is National Trader's Day or Trader's Day?
National Businessman's Day is held on the third Friday of September every year. This year it is Friday September 16, 2022. This marks the 12th anniversary of the first National Traders' Day.
If you want to plan ahead, National Businessman's Day will take place on September 15, 2023.
Irwin Tools started National Craftsman Day back in 2011 to honor the craftsmen who build our roads, homes, businesses and schools. They keep our cars running, our water flowing, our lights on.
National Businessman's Day is the perfect day to say "thank you" to any type of businessman. Whether it's an auto mechanic, home builder, roofer, bricklayer, plumber, electrician, carpenter, woodworker, or anyone who specializes in (or teaches) a skill trade – they make the world go round. Businessmen represent the lifeblood of America. We really believe in that. They make the things that allow us to move, play, drive, ride and live. Without them, America's infrastructure and our way of life would come to a sudden halt.
Mike Rowe on Meet the Businessman
Mike Rowe's testimony/endorsement of the national movement to restore recognition and promotion of trade is especially poignant and heartwarming, you can watch it here:
It would be a rude awakening to stop emphasizing and encouraging businessmen across the country. We don't want that to happen in a generation or two. These trades are respectable ways to earn an honest living. In fact, many have made it a regular art form. Have you seen Bricklayer? How about a master decorator carpenter or cabinet maker? These deals are beautiful. Why more and more young people don't run – really – to the nearest skilled tradesman and seek to learn these unbelievably great skills has always baffled us. In addition to the high salaries associated with skilled tradesmen, the satisfaction level of a job well done is unbelievably high. Try it with a cubicle.
In the past, industry represented the most skilled people in society. Governors and politicians may have power. However, skilled merchants received the highest pay and were responsible for the construction of bridges, arches, cathedrals, and paintings commissioned by the most influential local rulers and leaders. Check out these important passages in Exodus that deal with (literal) state merchants:
"All you skilled craftsmen, make the tabernacle, the tent, the covering for the tent, the hooks, the frames, the bars, the posts, the seats, the ark of the covenant and its bars, the mercy seat, and the screens, as the LORD commanded you. the veil; the table and its poles and all its utensils, and the showbread; the lampstands for the lamps, their utensils, the lamps, and the oil for the lamps; the incense altar, its poles, and the anointing oil, and the incense for the incense, and the entrance of the Tent of Meeting the altar of burnt offering, and its brass grating, and its poles, and all its utensils, and its basins, and its stands; and their cords; for fine garments for the ministries in the sanctuary, the vestments of the priesthood of Aaron the priest and his sons.” (ESV)
Exodus 35:10-19
How do you celebrate National Trader's Day?
So how do you celebrate National Trader's Day? Well, first off, you can join Pro Tool Reviews and Irwin and say "thank you" to traders everywhere (once you start looking, they 're everywhere ). You can also encourage students and young people to consider apprenticeships as plumbers, electricians, builders, bricklayers or other trades. Or maybe you can hand the nearest businessman a refreshing drink and say "hello".
In either case, it's important that you, and hopefully those around you, appreciate what businessmen are doing in America. The hope, of course, is to restore dignity and honor to industries that are rapidly being replaced by offshoring manufacturing and an unfortunate trend in this country that reduces the value and job satisfaction of working with hands. I cannot live without the products of merchants, and therefore – naturally – I cannot live without them.
Other Ideas and Ways to Celebrate
- Call your favorite handyman and simply say "thank you for all you do".
- Stop by the local jobsite where the tradesman works and leave a box of donuts or cookies behind.
- Buy a cup of Merchant Coffee while passing by a convenience store on National Merchant Day.
- If your friend, husband, wife, daughter or son is a businessman, make September 21st special for him/her.
- Support trade schools that train America's future businesspeople and urge Congress to pass workforce development policies for the technology industry.
- Talk to your kids about the endless career opportunities in the technology industry, and visit SkillsUSA.org to learn more about the national organization that prepares teachers, high school and college students for technology, skills and service careers.
final thoughts
Be grateful. Thankful. Pray for and thank a businessman on National Tradesman Day!
Check out the Irwin Tools facebook page for more information on National Tradesperson Day.