# Stores/Merchants you stopped business with due to Moral or Political reasons **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2018, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885 "2018-11-21T11:27:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/41 "2018-11-21T20:43:36Z")
We like Walmart. Chick-fila? We like their cool billboards, but dont go out of our way to eat there. My wife doesn’t like their politics and frankly there is better chicken now (they used to be one of the best, sure, but others have caught up). **Sizzler** is one I boycott. They declared bankruptcy decades ago, closed their doors without warning. Only FT staff got any $, and only managers were FT there, Sizzler deliberately made everyone under FT so no benefits, etc. I knew two very nice people who were badly hurt by that. Laid off without warning, and it took ages for their earned compensation and tips to be divulged and both rcvd a tiny % what they figured their tips had been. Sizzler also paid waitstaff less than Minimum, based on Tips, but their system did not encourage tips, since you ordered at the counter. Another place I boycott is **Cheesesteak factory** , due to their policy of making you wait to make the place look more in demand. They will make you wait 30 minutes or so even if tables are immediately available. Not to mention the food is expensive and just OK. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/42 "2018-11-21T20:45:24Z")
Not a store, exactly, but I don’t knowingly buy Nestle products, after the whole baby milk scandal (unethical marketing of formula to extremely poor and uneducated folk, resulting in avoidable baby deaths). I also sorta boycott a local toy shop chain, which I did visit before finding out that the owner’s ‘Christian morals’ not only insist it closes on Sunday, which I don’t have an issue with, but they refuse to sell any Harry Potter merchandise as it ‘promotes witchcraft’, and I don’t like my money going to someone so publicly idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/43 "2018-11-21T20:53:32Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Please explain what exactly is so horrible about taking a day of rest. Nothing. Feel free to take one when you wish. Now imagine somebody else was telling you that you had to follow their religious practices. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/44 "2018-11-21T20:56:54Z")
I was visiting Philadelphia a few years ago and I wanted to have an authentic cheese steak sandwich. Not having a dog in the fight, I got in line at Geno’s because it was closer to my parking space. Then I saw a sign saying “This is America. Speak English.” So I went to Pat’s and ordered a cheese steak sandwich in English. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/45 "2018-11-21T20:57:33Z")
I have no problem with Hobby Lobby or Chik-fil-A. There is a local car wash that I no longer go to, though, since I learned first-hand that the owner is an asshole. mmm ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/46 "2018-11-21T21:01:53Z")
I find Walmart’s business model to be repugnant. They treat their employees horribly and have a detrimental effect on the local community where ever they open. I will gladly pay more money for the same item at a locally owned store. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/47 "2018-11-21T21:04:48Z")
Hobby Lobby doesn’t sell anything I want to buy. I have eaten at Chick Fil A a couple of times and I do not like their food. These decisions do not rise to the level of a boycot ---
**Author:** ![CapnPitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@CapnPitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CapnPitt)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/48 "2018-11-21T21:09:23Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > There are a couple local/small businesses though --------- for example, because of how they talk about minorities of all kinds I will not go near any of the motorcycle shops around here owned by one certain family (starting with a G ending in an O and having an ATT in the middle). I have heard the owner and a lot of the staff make everything from “jungle bunny” to “tinker bell” to whatever offensive comment you could dream of about many of their best customers. I can’t prove it but I am sure the value and quality of the work depends on how you look to them or what they think about you in those terms. I’ve taken it up with people I know at the Mother Company but at this point nothing has been done for more years than I can remember. So they will not see a penny from me and I actively try to discourage others from doing business there. I don’t disown or belittle folks who do buy there because I feel we all have to get to Hell by our own path. But to say I am not a fan would be an understatement. Tarentum! I used to work in Upper Burrell. /hijack ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/49 "2018-11-21T21:13:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Nothing. Feel free to take one when you wish. > > Now imagine somebody else was telling you that you had to follow their religious practices. You don’t. They are not telling you that you have to have Sunday as a day of rest, they are just closed then- you can do anything you want, just not buy their product. Many stores close on the weekends. Hell almost the whole US government shuts down. Do you boycott USPS because it is closed on Sundays? ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/50 "2018-11-21T21:26:19Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Many stores close on the weekends. Hell almost the whole US government shuts down. I was in Berlin a few days ago, the huge, cosmopolitan capital city of one of the most athiest-leaning countries in the Western World, and trying to find a business establishment other than a hotel or restaurant open on Sunday was virtually impossible, everything from huge supermarkets to tiny souvenir kiosks were shuttered up tight, but somehow the Germans aren’t up in arms about archaic, oppressive religious beliefs infringing on their freedom, but instead seem to believe that a gov’t mandated day off for the vast majority of citizens results in a net positive for society as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/51 "2018-11-21T21:27:45Z")
Wetherspoons. Picture a UK national pub chain that specialises in high quality real beer produced by small independent breweries. And _very_ inexpensive. Which is also a pub chain which buys and renovates - beautifully, I might add - historic buildings to site its pubs in, from the Imperial Hotel in Exeter, to the Opera House in Tunbridge Wells - there are many, many examples of this. Even when the buildings are of lesser significance, they are renovated to preserve local history, like the Jack Fairman in Horley. The founder is a very vocal supporter of Brexit. A (very rare) poster-boy businessman for it. So, done with all that. > **[Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin loses millions on Brexit result after...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/wetherspoons-tim-martin-loses-millions-brexit-result-leave-eu-referendum-a7114231.html)** > > The founder of the pub chain saw millions wiped off the value of his shareholding after the vote to leave the EU but is confident Brexit will be good for the firm in the long run. j ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/52 "2018-11-21T21:32:09Z")
Burger King, since they bought Tim Horton’s so they can move their headquarters to Canada to avoid paying US taxes. Chik-Fil-A for obvious reasons. I was boycotting Target when they were contributing to Mark Dayton’s homophobic opponent in the Minnesota gubernatorial race (ironic since Dayton is the scion of their founding family), but they changed their view on the subject so I have started going back. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/53 "2018-11-21T22:12:38Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Burger King, since they bought Tim Horton’s so they can move their headquarters to Canada to avoid paying US taxes. That doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/54 "2018-11-21T22:14:35Z")
Years ago, I was a Walmart customer. Then I found out they were number one on the NLRB’s violations list year after year. Denny’s restaurants consistently claims it’s not company policy, but I kept reading of black people being hassled or simply ignored at Denny’s. I like the food, but I don’t go there. I’m a big supporter of separation of church and state. Domino’s and Hobbity Lobbity have owners who donate heavily to those who lobby to destroy it. I go to their competitors’ stores. I quit a local gym that had unethical billing practices. Instead of sending out annual membership bills, they’d have a collection agency do it, with an undeserved late fee tacked on. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/55 "2018-11-22T05:15:23Z")
> [@CapnPitt](#): > > Tarentum! I used to work in Upper Burrell. /hijack The Old Man put the business at the bottom of the hill knowing scum like George would naturally flow that direction anyway. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/56 "2018-11-22T05:24:02Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Not a store, exactly, but I don’t knowingly buy Nestle products, after the whole baby milk scandal (unethical marketing of formula to extremely poor and uneducated folk, resulting in avoidable baby deaths). Same here. Every few years I check around to see if they’ve gotten any better. [Not yet](http://www.babymilkaction.org/nestlefree) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/57 "2018-11-22T05:32:48Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Same here. Every few years I check around to see if they’ve gotten any better. [Not yet](http://www.babymilkaction.org/nestlefree) Most places dropped the boycott. > **[Why was a Nestlé boycott launched?](https://www.nestle.com/ask-nestle/our-company/answers/nestle-boycott)** > > A decline in breastfeeding in the 1970s led some groups to question the marketing practices of infant formula manufacturers like Nestlé in developing countries. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/58 "2018-11-22T09:37:44Z")
I used to have Greenpeace on my regular charities list. Then they fucked up some Nazca lines and gave a piss-poor response to criticism, too. Now their share of my charity money goes to buy whale steaks and seal pup fur coats. OK, not really, I just increased other charities’ shares, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/59 "2018-11-22T10:25:32Z")
My favorite hot dog brand is Nathan’s Famous. I switched to Hebrew National, my second favorite, when I read that the owner of NF was a big friend and supporter of President Chump, even holding a fund raiser for him. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/60 "2018-11-22T10:27:57Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Yup. Once again demonstrating that so many people on this board have no idea what an actual boycott is, and are simply virtue signaling. > > If you never went to a place anyway, **you are not boycotting them!** I disagree. There are several stores very close to my house that I don’t go to and where the reason I don’t go became evident before I’d bought from them, but which I would have bought from otherwise. Namely, greengrocers specializing in local produce: I go to several others, but not to those which offer unpasteurized milk. There are a couple I’d actually entered and started shopping at before seeing the sign. None of my former clients is a retail chain, but several of them make end-consumer products. There are several whose products I won’t buy, or whose products from certain types I won’t buy, if an alternative is available. Bad production practices, bad safety practices, or just considering them a bunch of murderous %/(%&($·/&$·/(!V=·. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885.md?page=4)