I’m not entirely on the boycott Target bandwagon. I’m kinda thinking aloud, but am interested to see Target is a big giver. I’m a Salvation Army fan, but there certainly is legitimate defense for not having kettles outside their stores–i.e. not wanting to have to say yes to one, and no to others, etc.
Here’s one interesting e-mail:
I’ve been wondering who to write to about this ever since the story “broke”
and you guys are the lucky winners. I just don’t understand what all the
hoopla is about surrounding this bell-ringer ordeal.
It was only within the last two Christmas seasons that local Wal-Mart –
yes, Wal-Mart — stores here in Wyoming, conservative capital USA, banned
Salvation Army bell-ringers from its store property. The reason? The same
reason they banned Girl Scouts and church groups as well… they banned
every group that was soliciting something. No more bake sales, bell
ringing, cookie selling, etc. Why? Because legally, if they allowed one
group on the premises, they had to allow any other group the same amount of
allotted space. So, to curb the problem before it got out of hand, they
just banned all soliciting….And now that Target has done the same thing, there are thousands of people
up in arms about it….The real story here shouldn’t be that Target made the same decision that
dozens of other retailers, including Wal-Mart, have already made. The real
story ought to be invasive laws passed by our government that force stores
to make those decisions or have their customers bombarded with solicitors
when trying to enter the building. Let’s not demonize Target without
understanding the whole situation.
I don’t see the Wyoming story, but see this about Wal-Mart’s limits on the Sal Army.