I haven’t bought anything from Chick-fil-a in years. I don’t agree with their business practices and their stances on gay marriage and who and where they give their money. I therefor refuse to give my money to them to use for things I cannot support. I rarely get anything at Walmart unless I cannot help it. Target and Hobby Lobby are the same, though I’d do without before ever spending a dime at Hobby Lobby and Target is just a ‘if I don’t have to I won’t’ store.

I just discovered McDonalds uses prison labor to make their uniforms. That’s a big no for me, since I consider prison labor a modern day form of slavery, and it’s disproportionately affecting minorities. Sorry, Micky D’s, but you’re out now too.

The truth is, every business has something I’m sure I could complain about–then where do you shop?

I give most of my grocery money to Thrive Market and Imperfect Foods. I feel good about Imperfect Foods–it saves waste, uses items that would otherwise have gone bad or been thrown out, and it makes me feel good about feeding my family. Thrive bypasses advertising and consumerism. I need to learn more about them but so far, I’ve been pleased.

plus, I like bamboo toilet paper–yes, bamboo. It’s renewable, it’s cheap to produce and it’s soft. Thrive sells it at a good price. Who knew? Bamboo toilet paper. Bamboo is going to be a new up and coming renewable crop for a lot of paper and cloth products. It grows faster than trees and takes less land and about the same amount of water. I’m learning about bamboo still but it seems promising.

I’m digressing here…. the point was about boycotting businesses because you don’t like some of their practices. Have you ever done it?

I believe in this instance, you vote with your wallet–if you don’t spend money at a business, you don’t ‘vote’ for them. Enough people choose not to vote for them and they change their business practices or they go out of business.

There will always be enough people who don’t care one way or another or people who think the opposite of you and spend their money in place simply because you don’t. I know people who eat at Chick-fil-a simply because they agree with the Christian values and anti-gay rhetoric that comes from them. They eat there to show their support, and that makes me sad, but it’s their right. Chick-fil-a isn’t hurting for business. I loved their chicken nuggets and lemonade is amazing, but their politics leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

I have to do what I can live with. That’s something I can live without. My integrity is worth more than a lemonade at a fast food joint. And now I willing give up egg mcmuffins, which I do love and they have better coffee at McDonald’s than Starbucks does. But no more supporting slavery with my pocketbook.

Starbucks–now there’s a company with a lot of talk about it and a lot of rumors about it too but every time I drill down the research, I find there is no merit to the rumors. They don’t use prison labor. They support gay and trans rights. They hire hard to hire individuals. They give free coffee to the military. They give free coffee to their employees. They pay a living wage in the area they are located. They train and hire from within whenever possible. I just haven’t found anything that would stick on them, and though they have been rumored to, they do not actually use prison labor for anything.

What about you? Is there a store or chain that crossed the line and you simply won’t shop or eat there any more because of what they did or do?

Love and stuff,

Michy