Wow. that’s all, just wow.
Just out of curiousity, when you’re holding a personal boycott of a major store ore chain, if you’re the only one, does it honestly do you any good? Or the company any harm?
I don’t shop at K-Mart, because they fired my girlfriend after a week on the job saying that she had stolen $100.
Yes, mentally. Yes, but very, very, very little. Look at it the other way: if I didn’t boycott that company I’d do them very, very, very little good. If I want to harm them, it’s obviously better to do them a little harm than a little good.
I’m this close to boycotting Amazon, but they’re getting one more chance. I still ordered my last D&D books from Gamer’s Attic, even though the price was higher, because the owner is a nice person who quickly responds to emails.
I used to boycott Wal-Mart after they screwed up the oil change in my sister’s car and cost her a $3000 engine and refused to pay for it, but I go there now. I don’t like it, however, and if a SuperTarget opened up closer, I’d go there instead.
I boycott most of the grocery stores that have loyalty cards, but especially Albertson’s, since they had my loyalty until they started the card. I was willing to pay the higher prices there instead of going to the Wal-Mart across the street until they started that card crap.
Was it that article in Harper’s a couple of years ago?
I still don’t buy music from Wal-mart, ever. (yeah, I’m not able to boycott Wal-mart completely)
If I had money, I’d buy more Dixie Chicks stuff. I’ve already got their album Home. What do you call the opposite of a boycott?
All of mine continue unabated.
I won’t buy Pet milk because of a problem they had overcharging schools for their product a while back. While I am aware that sometimes the store-brand milk that I buy is provided by Pet, a take solace in the fact that they are getting at most a tiny portion of my money from it.
I don’t shop at Food Lion because of the way they handled the undercover investigation into their rotting meat products a few years ago.
There’s a McDonald’s in Columbia, SC, I won’t shop at because of the horrific way I was treated there once. The fact that I no longer live in Columbia makes this one easier to keep up, but still.
I have a personal boycott of Walmart and Kmart around the holidays. I hate to have to walk over piles of things left around the floors. They are loaded with extra staff at those times, all just milling around, while the place is a mess.
I also boycott any store that won’t bother to put things of the same size together. How clever does the Old Navy staff have to be to realize that when jeans aren’t in order, even at opening time!, it just frustrates and slows down their shoppers. I refuse to dig through a complete bookcase full of jeans because the staff won’t put sizes together.
You do know they’re the same company, right?
i don’t boycott, so much as actively support things i like.
thus, i buy fairly traded chocolate, coffee, orange juice, rice, tea and drinking chocolate.
i buy gifts for family and friends from Oxfam and Tearfund, as it supports craftspeople in the developing world.
i don’t buy things that are made in china.
I’m boycotting Autozone, Red Lobster, and any other company that advertises on Rush “I couldn’t go to Vietnam because of an anal cyst” Limbaugh’s show.
Evidently, freedom of speech only applies to spewing hate, and not to people who are opposed to your politics.
I boycott Exxon. I have to be on empty, with the car sputtering and no other gas station in sight to buy gas there. I try to buy only animal-friendly personal care products. I don’t eat or shop at Cracker Barrel.
Strangely, I never thought about girl-cotting (thanks for the term, Spurious George!) companies that promote the values I possess, but from now on I’ll be sure to shop where I know the corporate philosophy holds a pro-life stance.
StG
Hmm…then may I assume you went out and bought a John Rocker baseball card???
I don’t buy music at Walmart because I don’t believe in secretly censoring what people make a concious effort to buy.
I don’t buy Nike shoes because they are over-priced.
I don’t eat at KFC because every single time I bite into any piece of chicken from there, I bite into a nice chunk of gristle that jars my brain into my ear canal.
I don’t eat at Red Lobster because the service consistently sucks nationwide.
I will not travel to Mexico because I don’t particularly like the idea of getting arrested by a corrupt police force in a corruptly-run country and having to “buy” my way out of jail as has happened to several people I know.
I will never step foot in a Black Eyed Pea as long as I live. I can eat canned corn, leftover meatloaf, mashed potatoes and rolls at home and it would be a helluva lot better than their massproduced crap.
Wow, this is great!
I thought this thread sank into oblivion, crushing my fra-gile self esteem, yet, here you dopers are, boycotting everything that is against your principle.
Now, what I want to know is, what is the deal with the floral shop’s flowers? Inquiring minds need to know!
Well, it’s been a while since I looked into this, and it might take me a while to find cites again if you want them, but the basic idea is that many of them are mass-produced in central american countries, by local workers that are, of course, paid squat, but also exposed to incredibly high levels of pesticides. The workers are mostly women, and the rates of miscarriage and birth defects among them are appallingly high.
My boycott seems kind of petty compared to some of the others posted here.
I boycotted a grocery store across the street from my house because they advertised on their awning that they were closed for Shabbos, but, in fact, they were open seven days a week.
My boycott lasted until I moved out off the street, about five years.
Zev Steinhardt
Wal-mart,Chrysler,Franklin Mint,Wells Fargo. I boycott Wal-Mart because of the horror stories I’ve heard about their treatment of their employees. The other three companies have gone out of their way to earn my disloyalty. I am fully aware that my actions have little effect on their bottom lines. It makes me feel good, though, to not spend my money for their products and services.
**Thanks Lucretia **, I’ll probably google it and find something…when my fingers have enough energy …
I do try to buy Fair Trade coffee when I can find it to balm my conscience over the slave labor trading practices of the coffee industry.
StGermain, what’s wrong with Cracker Barrel? It’s the only place around I can find Burt’s Bees products.
Mithril - Cracker Barrel had a well-publicized policy of not hiring gays, and firing them if they found out the worker was gay or lesbian. They said they were trying to promote a “family atmosphere” and that gays and lesbians didn’t fit in with their corporate image. :rolleyes: Where do they think gays come from, anyway? Eggs, maybe?
I can find Burt’s Bees products at my local Farmer’s Co-op, and they’re cheaper there than elsewhere. You might try their website for alternate sales locations in your area.
StG