Four Ways Geolocation Will Save Your Thanksgiving This Year

You know the saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.” No matter how well you plan for that big Thanksgiving Day feast, something unexpected most certainly will happen. Last-minute additions to the dinner guest list. Burnt green bean casserole. Missing pieces of Great-Grandma’s silverware (the ones you ONLY use at Thanksgiving). The dog lapping up his share of sweet potato casserole-before the guests. And, by the way, did anyone buy cranberry sauce?

Thanksgiving can be a stress-filled, sometimes “unforgiving” day. Fortunately, geolocation technology is available to help save you from some of the Thanksgiving trials and tribulations that may come your way.

• Knowing you’ll be making a trip out-somewhere-on Thanksgiving Day to buy those last-minute items, you log on to your home computer that morning to check store hours for your favorite grocer. The website automatically displays store locations in your ZIP code area with hours of operation for Thanksgiving. Eureka!

• Now that you don’t have to run all over town looking for groceries, you have a few minutes to steal yourself a latte at the local coffee shop. You’ve even got time to log on to WiFi and check the football line-up for the day. What’s this? An ad from the local day spa suggesting you give “the Thanksgiving cook in your life” a day off from the kitchen. You’ll be king (even if you did forget the cranberry sauce)!

• Since you’ve previously opted in to receive in-store specials (it is your favorite grocer after all), you get an ad on your smartphone while shopping with a buy-one-get-one-free offer on select organic items. The four “cousins twice removed” from California that are now coming to dinner only eat organic. You must be the luckiest guy in the world!

• And, while it’s probably too late to save this year’s sweet potato casserole, after dinner you use your favorite mobile app on your tablet to find a list of dog training programs in your area in preparation for next Thanksgiving. Oh, look buddy, school starts on Monday!

These are just a few ways that geolocation touches our lives-not only for Thanksgiving, but each and every day.

Here’s to a healthy, happy and stress-free Thanksgiving holiday to one and all.