Posted on 11/23/2004 11:16:59 AM PST by FairfaxVA
Some consumers and advocacy groups are upset that retailers including Target have banned the Salvation Army's Christmas tradition of bell-ringing volunteers who solicit donations for the poor.
The bans have touched off controversy among retailers. Some top sellers seem to be catering to the charity to win over consumers ticked off at other stores for kicking the bell-ringers off their property.
"The Salvation Army has a remarkable history of providing year-round service to families, and Big Lots is proud to continue our tradition of helping with their fundraising goals," this Columbus, Ohio, retailer said in a statement after Target's announcement it would ban the charity.
They were followed by auto parts chain AutoZone and the nation's No. 3 bookseller chain, Books-A-Million Inc., the Boston Globe reported. BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. has also stepped in to help by allowing the kettles at its stores.
The nation's No. 1 retailer, Wal-Mart, has also welcomed the bell-ringers, but with restrictions: They must stand outside stores and are limited to 14 days, the Globe said.
The bans by Target, Circuit City, Best Buy, Home Depot and others come amid the Salvation Army's 113th year of doing what it can to fend for the poor and unfortunate.
Shoppers "are coming here for a reason, and the reason is not for solicitation of any kind by a third party," said Steve Mullen, a spokesman for Circuit City.
Target's decision "was a huge shock and a huge source of discouragement for us," Lt. David Grindle, a spokesman for the charity, told Fox News Channel.
The retailer pointed to its corporate policy forbidding solicitation.
"Like many nationwide retailers, Target Corporation has implemented this policy in order to be consistent with all the groups that request access to our stores and to provide our guests with a comfortable, distraction-free shopping environment," the company says in a statement posted on its Web site.
"Target does not permit individuals (including political candidates and/or their campaign organizations) or non-profit organizations to solicit donations, distribute literature, sell merchandise, or hold events on our premises.
"Our company has many other means by which it can support organizations whose charitable programs fall within our corporate giving guidelines." Target says it gives $2 million annually to "neighborhoods, programs and schools across the country."
The policy will no doubt be a blow to the charity, which last year collected 10 percent of its $93 million in holiday collections from Target shoppers, Fox News said.
'A Lump of Coal'
It's unclear whether the kettle-kicking retailers dislike the Salvation Army or are merely acting out of concern for customers. What is clear is that not all customers like their decisions.
"It's a disgrace," South Boston resident Phyllis McElaney told the Globe. "The bell ringers remind you of the meaning of Christmas, that it's about love, caring, and giving."
"Call it a safe bet - maybe even a bright-red, bull's-eye, fashionable, smartly priced bet - that American life has become too corporate or complex when Target banishes the Salvation Army's bell ringers," Indianapolis Star columnist Ruth Holladay wrote.
Others say they'll take their business elsewhere.
"I thought it was wrong because the Salvation Army is a good cause. They take care of lots of good people around the country and in our community. I won't be supporting Target this year, at all," once-loyal Target shopper Jeffrey Trimm told Christian World News.
Robert Knight of Concerned Women for America told CWN, "Millions of Christians give Target millions of dollars in their Christmas shopping, and what they've gotten from Target in return? A lump of coal.
"We had one tangible aspect of Christmas, beyond the commercial reason. We had the Salvation Army out there, a Christian charity collecting money for the poor at Christmas. What a great counterweight to the all-mighty dollar which is being worshipped in these stores," he added.
The opposition has even produced a Web site called bantarget.org, calling on all shoppers to spend their money at businesses that support bell-ringers.
Grindle says if the charity can't replace its losses, it will have to cut services.
The word pompous comes to mind reading your posts. Target made a bad decision and it will cost them money the more the word spreads. Don't preach to people about legal jeopardy, when Walmart thinks the opposite. Being a shill for a company is one thing, but your condescending arrogance is quite another thing. Get off your high horse.
How long have you owned Target stock?
And, please backup your claim that Target gives merchandise to SA.
Except, of course, your reiteration that Target gives money & merchandise to the Salvation Army. Someone took the trouble to look up their charitable contributions, back in post 16, and pointed out that the SA was nowhere on the list. You continue to post your drivel even after being corrected.
sorry, my 'drivel' as you put it hasn't been proven wrong. Read the link I posted in response before you make yourself look foolish again.
read my link in response to post 16 -= there is a story posted their for your reading pleasure. It was posted on one of the 20 other 'boycott target' th reads.
never owned target stock, just getting tired of nitwits who cry boycott before they engage their brains.
I guess sticking up for the truth is considered being on a high horse. Maybe then I should get off the horse, grab a torch and pitchfork, and join in storming the gates of target with the other reactionaries around here.
It's amazing how little it takes to get a bunch of freepers to do the lefts bidding and attack a corporation. Some here do it to walmart, now target is the whipping boy. Just like it was a year or so ago when there were calls to boycott target because of the veteran's fiasco that turned out to be a hoax.
Really makes freepers and conservatives look good when they'll readily attack target without bothering to get all the facts - or ignorning them because they don't fit your state of hysteria. Way to go.
target 'caved' because they didn't want to risk a lawsuit to allow fringe groups getting the same access they gave ONLY to the SA.
If target knew what it did today, they probably wouldn't have started giving the SA access, because for all their years of helping out the SA, now they get crapped on and threatend with a boycott because people have short memories.
Well, the people have the right to spend their money where they wish. If the corporation offends them, there is no obligation to buy products from the corporation. If Target thought this through, they would announce a cash contribution to the SA. They choose not to do that, for reasons they know and others can make assumptions about. I know what I assume about their corporate thinking and therefore choose to spend my holiday money at stores that do not try to make social policy. And this year, that spending will not take place at Target.
Fine. Here's the article. In full, with a link:
http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=336231&nid=25
WASHINGTON - You won't see Salvation Army bell ringers outside Target stores this holiday season.
"We are grateful for what they have allowed us to do," says Major Todd Smith, chief operating officer for the Salvation Army in the D.C. area. "It's disappointing for this year."
Salvation Army uses the donations to provide toys for needy children, holiday meals for families and clothing and shelter for the homeless.
Nationwide, the Salvation Army estimates the decision by the nation's No. 2 retailer not to allow the red kettles outside stores will mean the loss of several million dollars, Smith says. In 2002, Red Kettle donations totaled almost $90 million nationwide.
"Frankly, I can't say that we're going to make up anything that the Salvation Army made outside our stores," Target spokeswoman Carolyn Brookter tells WTOP.
Last year in the D.C. metro area the Salvation Army raised $63,000 outside of Target stores. That figure jumps to $319,000 if you add in all of Virginia and Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland.
"Just imagine the amount of toys, the amount of Christmas dinners you can put together for $63,000. We won't have that this year," Smith says.
In the Washington area, about 12,000 children will receive toys from the Salvation Army this Christmas.
Target, which made an exception to its long standing no-solicitation policy outside its stores for the Salvation Army, decided to make the policy consistent, Brookter says.
"In the last several years we've an increasing number of requests from groups around the country to solicit guests outside our stores," Brookter says. "To be fair to all groups, we can't have any outside our stores."
Target notified the Salvation Army of its decision in January.
"No other non-profit depends on Target to make their budget or to their goal .... They have to find another way to fund-raise," Brookter says.
"Our relationship with the Salvation Army has not come to an end. What we are looking for is a different partnership," she says.
Brookter tells WTOP Target will contribute to the Salvation Army by donating merchandise it doesn't sell. Brookter also says some employees spend time volunteering for Salvation Army-related charities.
The retailer also donates $2 million to charities nationwide, including the Salvation Army.
As the Salvation Army loses its bell ringers at Target, the crafts store Michaels agreed to allow them. And, Circuit City is starting a pilot program in Richmond, Va.
The Salvation Army hopes to raise $900,000 for the D.C. area this year.
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Notes of interest from the article:
"Target notified the Salvation Army of its decision in January. "
They had since january to prepare for this. It looks like they screwed up and didn't find replacement locations. Now there is an effort underway to make target look like a bad company for the SA's screwup.
And also:
"Our relationship with the Salvation Army has not come to an end. What we are looking for is a different partnership," she says.
Brookter tells WTOP Target will contribute to the Salvation Army by donating merchandise it doesn't sell. Brookter also says some employees spend time volunteering for Salvation Army-related charities.
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Big, bad evil target. How dare they continue to donate and work with the salvation army in a way a small group of freepers don't approve of. It's time to boycott them!
Target has no right to take credit for what employees do on their own time. How big of them.
I don't know that walking past someone ringing a bell on your way into a department store is any more or less distracting that battling the chaos inside the store during Christmas season.
They aren't distracting anybody. They just stand there and ring their bell. They're a lot less pushy than the Girl Scouts selling their cookies outside of stores, because they don't come up and ask you to donate anything. They just stand there and ring their bell. You don't have to give them anything.
Yes, people can do whatever they chose with their money.
Target should be able to do whatever they chose with their stores.
However, when people misrepresent what a business is actually doing by only telling one side of the story (target bans SA bell ringers) and ignoring the other side of the story (target still donates money and merchandise to the SA, Target had an exception solely for the SA for years, and target gave the SA a full years notice of their itnent), then it's morally dishonest of the people trying to make the case for the boycott.
If people were holding themselves to the same standard as target, they should be pilloried for not dropping some money in the SA kettle one time, even though they have made donations every time they passed a kettle for years. There is no attention paid to the reason for their decision, their past history with the SA, or their work with them (And many other charities) in the present.
The truth is that by christmas of 2005, there will still be no bell ringers at target, target will still be giving money and merchandise to the SA, and 90% to 95% of the people who promised to boycott target will have bought something from target or a related store at least once.
ah, ignore everything else and focus on one thing from the article that you can pin your hopes to. Good job!!!
Screw Target, Circuit City and Home Depot.
I'll shop at Walmart, Best Buy and Lowes.
You have NO IDEA how much any of us is putting in those buckets, but you're not above leaping to unfounded accusations anyway.
Yeah, right.
That's called capitalism. We are voting with dollars.
BTW, the stockholders won't like that 5-10% drop in sales do to a poor management decision.
The legal threat argument is bogus. Other companies just have a spine and a belief in the good work of the SA.
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