# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/141 "2018-11-27T21:28:59Z")
Chik-Fil-a. There are not many in my area so it isn’t that difficult a boycott to maintain. When I’ve traveling there are often group meal decisions that result in me vetoing a Chik-fil-a choice. Papa-Johns though that’s no longer an active boycott. When I was living a block away from one and the CEO was a giant asshole I avoided going there despite them being one of my closest options. Now they simply aren’t good enough for me to consider driving too. I can’t think of any other companies at the moment. There are a number of companies I am more inclined to do business with because they’ve taken positive LGTB stances. I don’t boycott Walmart but I’ll chose Target over them every time because they’ll been rather good and standing up for LGBT causes. I’ve never had a problem with GM vehicles but when I’m buying new vehicles I lean towards Ford because they’ve been more active in LGTB causes.(GM does have a pretty good record too now, just a shorter history). ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/142 "2018-11-27T21:30:30Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I think that only thing that I am boycotting that would fit the OP, is Brawny paper towels. I would normally buy whichever paper towel was on sale, but since learning that its a Koch product, I try to find something else. Boycotting Koch Industries is pretty futile. Even if you just take Georgia Pacific, it is one of the largest manufacturers of paper products as well as building materials (plywood etc), and sell under many different brand names. From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia-Pacific): [quote] [ul] [li]Angel Soft, Quilted Northern, and Soft n’ Gentle are toilet paper and facial tissue brands.[/li][li]Blue Ribbon, Clutter Cutter, DensArmor Plus, DensDeck, DensGlass, DensShield, DryPly, FireGuard, GP Lam, Hushboard, Nautilus, Ply-Bead, Plytanium, Southern Gold, Sta-Strait, Thermostat, ToughRock, Wood I Beam, and XJ 85 are building and remodeling brands.[/li][li]Brawny, Dixie, Insulair, Mardi Gras, PerfecTouch, Sparkle, Ultra, and Vanity Fair are tableware, paper towel and napkin brands.[/li][li]Advantage, Image Plus, and Spectrum are office paper brands.[/ul][/li][/quote] ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/143 "2018-11-27T21:57:11Z")
> [@road\_lobo](#): > > A 6 day work week does not help them. It is a self-imposed blue law for fundamentalist egotism and prosperity pimp virtue signalling. It is literally a way to say “I am holier than thou.” Eh, major online photo gear specialists B&H and Adorama are closed on Saturdays and Passover because they’re observant Jews. You can’t even order online from them( used to be at all, now I think you might be able to but it won’t be processed until the next open day ). Similarly with my preferred frame shop where I live - closed on all Jewish High Holy Days. I don’t think there is much virtue-signaling going on there. If it is, it is to a small enough portion of their clientele it clearly isn’t worth it economically. I can’t see any reason for people to sweat such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/144 "2018-11-27T22:21:13Z")
I don’t care about Hobby Lobby’s choice to close their stores on Sundays, but I do care about their discriminatory policies against LGBTQ people and reproductive rights. Jo-Ann’s and small-business competitors get all my crafting dollars instead. But I just discovered that my longstanding boycott of Barilla pasta products due to their CEO’s offensive remark about never showing a gay couple in one of their ads is [some years out of date](http://fortune.com/2014/11/20/how-barilla-transformed-into-a-trailblazer-for-corporate-equality/), as they changed their policies right quick after the negative response. Hurray for being able to buy the fancy pastas at the co-op again! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/145 "2018-11-27T22:34:02Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Heh, I’m the same way although I didn’t picket or anything. But I don’t shop at Macy’s. My wife, who is a transplant, has no problem with shopping there and that’s fine by me… except she agrees that it’s a shithole now and everything that she liked about Marshall Fields is largely gone and replaced by generic Macy’s crap. Ain’t that the truth? There used to be about five different department store chains that I shopped at regularly back decades ago here in SoCal. I knew pretty much the type of merchandise each one tended towards, and I’d choose which particular store to shop in a lot of the time. Now? Besides Nordstrom’s is there any department store _other_ than Macy’s??? And generic merchandise doesn’t even cover it. You’re likely to fall into a coma just walking into the store the stuff they sell is so booooooorrrrrrrrrring. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/146 "2018-11-28T00:08:41Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Long story short: not unlike how Walmart puts Mom & Pop, local stores out of business, Amazon does the same thing, but online. Similarly, their workers are subject to conditions that [many would find deplorable](https://www.newsweek.com/amazon-drivers-warehouse-conditions-workers-complains-jeff-bezos-bernie-1118849). If you purchase items from a third party vendor, like my business for instance, you ARE supporting small businesses. However, when I purchase from Amazon, I avoid “Fulfilled By Amazon” if I possibly can, because it came from a warehouse that is basically a sweatshop. The books, sheet music, sewing patterns, and other items that I sell are unlikely to be found in a B&M store, and that’s where Amazon comes in more than handy. The same thing can be said for the items I list on my local library’s Amazon account. Last year, we got a book that we sold for $750. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/147 "2018-11-28T03:50:22Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Sorry, I thought my location would give you the nation. > > As for the cite, I don’t know how to copy and paste on this device. > > I googled Walmart and Mexico, and a NY Times article was the first hit. > > “How Walmart used pay-offs to get its way into Mexico “. December 1912. > > Sorry I cannot paste. Sorry to break it to you, but [here’s the article,](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/business/walmart-bribes-teotihuacan.html) and you were only off by 100 years 🙂 And of course your point stands. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/148 "2018-11-28T04:40:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > How do you feel about them refusing to comply with laws requiring them to provide health coverage to their employees? For “religious” reasons. Hobby Lobby never refused to provide health coverage for anyone. In fact, they are one of the few retail chains that has always provided health insurance for cashiers and other low-level employees. Before Obamacare was passed, there was no requirement that employers provide health insurance, and most big retail chains didn’t. I’ve worked a cash register at K-Mart, Krogers, and a bunch of other places, and none of them even mentioned the idea of insurance. Cashiers and other working class employees at Hobby Lobby were among the few were lucky enough to receive health insurance. Many people believe that Hobby Lobby’s insurance didn’t cover birth control. This is false. It did, and still does, cover birth control and other than a short list of methods that they consider abortifacients. So certainly people rant and rave against Hobby Lobby for providing health insurance that covers most but not all forms of birth control, but don’t say a word about companies that don’t provide any health insurance to their employees. It’s more proof of the old saying: no good deed goes unpunished. (Since the passage of Obamacare, employees who don’t get insurance from their employer can get subsidies, but employer-provided care is generally better.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/149 "2018-11-28T05:18:29Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Sorry to break it to you, but [here’s the article,](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/business/walmart-bribes-teotihuacan.html) and you were only off by 100 years 🙂 And of course your point stands. Yeah, find me any major commercial project that went up down there without payola. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/150 "2018-11-28T09:53:20Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Another one: Dollar General. I used to go to the one near my home fairly regularly, because it was convenient. However, in recent times, they have been building stores in any town big enough to have a “Welcome” sign, and are putting mom & pop owners out of business, just like Walmart did with bigger towns and cities a generation ago. I have also heard that they don’t exactly treat their employees very well, either. Dollar General opened two stores in my town in different store-fronts that had been closed for decades much like you said. However after 4 months they both packed up and went, even my crappy town was too poor for them. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/151 "2018-11-28T13:32:25Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > It did, and still does, cover birth control and other than a short list of methods that they consider abortifacients. Strange that they had no objection to covering what they call abortifacients until the contraceptive coverage mandate was introduced with the ACA. Even these forms of birth control have off-label uses – treating fibroids, for example – and yet Hobby Lobby gives no consideration to people who are using these prescriptions to address a medical condition. While they aren’t as extreme as companies like Eden Foods\*, Hobby Lobby still deserves scorn for what amounts to interfering with the healthcare of its employees in the name of religion. - I didn’t include this company on my list because I already have preferred brands for the products they sell; it wouldn’t have occurred to me to try Eden Foods before I learned about their antiquated views on birth control, so I can’t really say I’m boycotting them. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/152 "2018-11-28T15:57:56Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Sorry to break it to you, but [here’s the article,](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/business/walmart-bribes-teotihuacan.html) and you were only off by 100 years 🙂 And of course your point stands. Thank you mi Luna. Kind of lost track of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/153 "2018-11-28T16:52:46Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Not quite a boycott, but I have to be literally starving and weak-legged with no other options to eat at a Chik-Fil-A. I despise their policy of being closed on Sundays, and the whole gay treatment episode. I concur, Hobby Lobby too. And Jimmy Johns given their pride in hunting threatened animals in Africa. And when I say hunting I mean being driven out by a guide and cowardly shooting the animal from the car. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/154 "2018-11-28T19:23:00Z")
I’ve “soft-boycotted” my local Kroger because they took away the express lane. I’ll sometimes go there if I’m just not in the mood to go further to the superior Meijer store, hence “soft.” I boycotted a 7-Eleven location many years ago, because they illegally refused to allow me to return my stupid Michigan deposit cans one day. I don’t really think I boycott Walmart, but I never go, at least not in the USA. The quality and cleanliness is way too inconsistent. Why can’t they all be as nice as the Mexican Walmarts? I refuse to fly Southwest. I’m not sure if that qualifies as a boycott or not. Air travel shouldn’t be like Greyhound travel. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/155 "2018-11-28T20:32:25Z")
Uber. We deleted the Uber app in our household last year and haven’t used them since. Most drivers drive for both, and several have said they like Uber better (better targeting on where the app sends them), so I make sure to tip my Lyft drivers well. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/156 "2018-11-29T01:22:35Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yeah, find me any major commercial project that went up down there without payola. :dubious: I am not an expert, but that was a pretty glaring example of payola at the cost of some major national heritage. Whether other people do it too is a whole different discussion. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/157 "2018-11-29T06:17:31Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > Strange that they had no objection to covering what they call abortifacients until the contraceptive coverage mandate was introduced with the ACA. Even these forms of birth control have off-label uses – treating fibroids, for example – and yet Hobby Lobby gives no consideration to people who are using these prescriptions to address a medical condition. While they aren’t as extreme as companies like Eden Foods\*, Hobby Lobby still deserves scorn for what amounts to interfering with the healthcare of its employees in the name of religion. Every company that provides health insurance to its employees offers coverage for some things and not for other things. I have employer-provided insurance. I have to take some non-prescription meds including Aspirin and Saint John’s Wort. My health insurance does not cover them. So what do I do? I buy them myself with my own money. If I were to claim that my employer was interfering with my health care by not covering them, or that my employer was denying me access to those things, that would obviously be false. The Hobby Lobby case is no different. The employer covers some things and not other things. If an employee needs something that’s not covered, they can buy it with their own money. In the 463,724,187,982 rants against Hobby Lobby that I’ve read on this issue, nobody has provided any evidence that the employees are unhappy with the insurance that they receive. And of course, if any employee was unhappy, they would be welcome to get a new job elsewhere. But more likely, if any employee needs something not covered by Hobby Lobby’s insurance, they buy it directly, just like I do. The recreational outrage about this issue is ridiculous. I’d note also that you didn’t address the main point of my first post: Hobby Lobby provides insurance to its employees, which like all insurance covers some but not all expenses. Many other retailers don’t provide health insurance at all, at least not to their poorest employees. Are you angry at those retailers that don’t provide insurance at all, or only at Hobby Lobby which does provide insurance? As I said, no good deed goes unpunished. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/158 "2018-11-29T07:41:17Z")
To take IUD’s as an example of birth control that Hobby Lobby finds objectionable, the cost without insurance can exceed $500…hardly the equivalent of a bottle of aspirin. I assure you that my concerns about Hobby Lobby and other employers with such attitudes toward birth control is hardly “recreational”. Keep shopping there all you want, but I’ll continue to avoid them. And thanks for the explanation of how insurance works. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/159 "2018-11-29T16:42:41Z")
I go into Hobby Lobby all the time - and don’t buy anything but move things from one end of the store to the other, misshelving stuff, while I evaluate future internet purchases from other retailers… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885/160 "2018-11-29T16:57:08Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I go into Hobby Lobby all the time - and don’t buy anything but move things from one end of the store to the other, misshelving stuff, while I evaluate future internet purchases from other retailers… Interesting hobby. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-merchants-you-stopped-business-with-due-to-moral-or-political-reasons/824885.md?page=9)