to ask if anyone has boycotted stores etc

[spence82]

Have any of you boycotted any shops or particular brands because you don't agree with some of there policies?

I often see on things like fb or twitter people saying this. For example people boycotting tesco due to the bad taste 'mental' patient Halloween costume.

I will be honest and say I've never even thought about boycotting somewhere.

[CrohnicallyHungry]

ragwort petty rules and staff who can't use their initiative?

I used to work in a retail store. We did let customers use our staff toilets (regardless of the fact that there were customer toilets in the store next door). However, one day the message came from head office that we were no longer allowed to let customers use our toilets, and allowing it would be a stackable offence. The reason behind the ruling was that in a different store, a customer had gone into the back to use the toilet, and an item had fallen off a shelf and hit them. During the investigation, it turned out that the store were not insured to cover customers in staff only areas. Therefore the staff at head office were frightened of a similar incident happening with more serious consequences, and subsequently being sued.

So while it might seem a petty rule to you, there are usually good reasons behind it. And those staff who can't use their initiative might just be in fear of losing their job if they let you use the toilet.

Yes it sucks, I have Crohn's so I understand the need to use a toilet urgently, but rather than direct your anger at the shop staff (who have no real control over the situation), direct it at the compensation culture, the staff at head office, and at the councils for closing so many public toilets.

[CrohnicallyHungry]

A sackable offence, not a stackable one!

[NotNewButNameChanged]

Goblin the majority of pensioners in that town (I no longer live there) are not computer literate, although give it another 10-15 years and I suspect there will be few who aren't online.

[PartialFancy]

I boycott Tesco because of them using workfare instead of paying staff. (I check other stores too, but Tesco is the one that affects me - and it costs me to boycott them but I do it anyway.)

I also boycott Amazon and Starbucks for tax reasons. There are plenty of other people selling the same stuff, and someone's going to lose out, so it might as well be the tax-dodgers.

[specialsubject]

I dont buy Rimmel because I think you-know-who can afford her own nose candy, and I really detest her attitudes. Not very effective given that I buy makeup maybe once every two years, but even though Rimmel is cheapest i won't use it.

no starbucks, no costa - who can afford that anyway?

as little amazon as possible, only when I really can't get something I need elsewhere.

I did refuse to set foot again in a little shop in a previous town after some really rude treatment.

[ShineSmile]

I've tried to boycott M&S due to their unreserved support of the crimes of the Israeli regime, and supporting the building of settlements on Palestinian land. I am still however tempted sometimes by their desserts and may go in to buy their jeggings that I have heard so much about.

[YouTheCat]

I don't boycott anything. There's places I avoid a bit, usually to do with them being a bit shit.

I think if you look into any large company's ethics and behaviour you'll find something you don't like.

[stupidgreatgrinonmyface]

I will no longer buy from a pizza chain after the manager of their local branch docked the wages of a delivery man who was mugged and badly beaten up whilst on a delivery. The man spent a couple of weeks in hospital and the police did catch and prosecute the offenders, but the company insisted it was the victim's fault and that he had to reimburse the company for the money that had been stolen.

Wherever possible, I also avoid using the post office/royal mail. I begrudge paying for recorded delivery and then , when they lose the item, being told that what I am paying for is, in fact, for them to track the item and not actually to deliver it! Whenever I can I now use a courier company whose prices are usually cheaper than RM, items are tracked and so far, I have never had an issue with items going missing.

Like most people, I also avoid local shops/companies whose levels of service leave something to be desired.

[Filimou]

I boycott anything by Bayer, which can be a bit tricky but I manage.
I also boycott River Island after a shop assistant was really rude when I returned a dress....
"Yes I can understand it would be difficult to get dresses to fit your....errr.shape properly.
I was returning because it was an unwanted gift, not because I have boobs.

[Filimou]

I also boycott Thomas Cook. I worked overseas for MyTravel before it became part if the same group, they treat their staff shoddily and really could not give less of a shit about their customers if they tried.

[FoxyHarlow123]

Lush because they donate to anti fox hunting campaigns and I am pro fox hunting.

[Andrewofgg]

NotNewButNameChanged Village shops were unusual until c. 1830 and when they began they were attacked as a threat to the town markets which were the supermarkets of their day!

'Twas ever thus. The world changes. The railways destroyed the canals and the car and the lorry and in bigger countries the plane have taken a lot of the railways' business.

Remember when every time you opened a magazine an envelope fell out addressed to a photo processing lab? Those labs are gone. The digital camera killed them. Instead of a substantial workforce making at least a living wage there is us at our computers working for nothing.

And I don't suppose the National Union of Monks and Ecclesiastical Operatives was any too thrilled about the printing press.

That's life.

[NotNewButNameChanged]

Andrew Indeed. But there are still markets in many of these towns (including the one I mentioned) and indeed in some rural areas they are making a comeback. Canals are being reopened and there are some railways got shot of in the 1960s that are also being brought back into operation (or at least being seriously considered for reopening). Vinyl records have even been making comebacks.

Progress is right and necessary. But we don't always make the right decisions and end up going back to certain things which suggests that sometimes we look too much at short term immediate gains and not the longer term.

[Rhine]

I boycott our local convenience store because the manager is a rude cow who speaks to customers like shit and bullies the staff beneath her. She gets away with it because she's shagging the owner.

[CQ]

I boycott Starbucks because of the tax avoidance and also because our local one is the filthiest germ pit I have ever seen.

I also boycott a local pub which we used to love going to for Sunday lunch. Until one week when the PIL's were staying, and I called ahead to check that they could do MIL a jacket potato. The answer was no. When I explained that she is 89, has a multitude of dietary ailments and is consequently a v fussy eater, and their ovens were on anyway and could they just pop a potato in for her - the answer was still no. And when I said, 'OK, I'll just cook one at home and bring it along for her' the snotty barmaid told me that food from outside was not allowed to be consumed on the premises.

I cancelled the table and have never been back. I wrote to the landlord and explained why. Heard nothing.

Sadly I feel my one-family boycott is not hurting them but I am still livid with them for being so petty and inflexible. She's 89 FFS.

[Andrewofgg]

As you say NotNew but the point is that you cannot forbid change and that if you want to boycott somewhere go ahead but don't expect to make too much difference.

In fact there is a difference between not going to a shop because you prefer a better one and a true boycott which involves a personal or financial sacrifice. When I was a lad (and I sixty-plus) there was no citrus fruit in the house when only Outspan was in the shops; we did without. That was boycott.

[pinkie1982]

I will not support the Red Cross. That sounds awful of me but the way they treated my grandparents after 'helping' them after their house burned down at Christmas a few years ago was terrible and caused unnecessary stress and extra costs to them.

[NotNewButNameChanged]

Andrew when did I propose you forbid change? The thread asked if anyone had boycotted a shop. I boycotted our local Tesco when it arrived because I didn't agree with it, was sure it would destroy our existing town centre (it has) and would have been a hypocrite to have then used it. I therefore continued to buy from the local shops at more expense or had to travel elsewhere to buy it, again at my expense. Years later when I discovered their practices, I decided not to use their stores at all. That is my choice.

[Andrewofgg]

Understood NotNew!

There have been councils who have tried to forbid their staff from e.g. going to apartheid South Africa (which I considered unpleasantly East German) or going to hear Bernard Manning when he played their town. Not on at all.

[annielouise]

Starbucks for the reasons given by others.

Debenhams although I can barely remember why - I think I returned an item I'd bought and for some reason, I think as it was less than £5, they put it on a gift card rather back on my card meaning I'd have to spend the money with them. I was really annoyed and won't shop there again, mainly as I rarely shopped there anyway so had no reason to buy anything with them. I've still got that store credit somewhere in my handbag - this happened about 5 years ago. I should go in and get some socks or something. I won't shop there again though on principle.

Santander, Barclays and Lloyd's. Santander for being utter crap a few times and stopping my card on holiday when I'd told them I was going and Barclays for putting me in constant overdraft each month when I was very young - I'd gone beyond my overdraft once. I topped up my account but they took the extortionate charges out towards the end of the month when the funds were low just before my wages went in again so they put me in the red again which meant the following month the same thing happened - they took the charges out just before wages went in to in the red again with a month's worth of charges. It was at the time of the 15%+ interest rates on mortgages so money very tight. It was a vicious circle for a few months, greedy bastards wouldn't give me a couple of days break for my wages to go in so they could take the money when I had enough funds in there. No letters about it either so I could make plans for it. They wouldn't get away with it now but they got away with a lot 25 years ago. Lloyd's because the day my university course finished the bank manager called me in and told me to clear my university overdraft that day or I wouldn't be able to continue with the bank. He bullied me in his office about it despite giving me no time to even find a job. If it happened now I'd tell him to fuck off.

[BoomBoomsCousin]

Back in the 80s when I was young and idealistic I would join a boycott at the drop of a hat. e.g. I didn't buy South African and I went on anti-apartheid marches (but also loads of less well known stuff). Later in the 90s and 00s I became a bit cynical about that sort of activism.

But I made friends with some South Africans a few years ago and visited South Africa. Most of the South African's I spoke to said the marches and the boycotting were a big deal in putting pressure on the government and the white population and provided a lot of moral support. So I've come back round recently and am once again prepared to engage in that way. I'm more particular about the cause though and only do it for something very personal or very big. And things where I don't have any ambiguity in my opinion on what's happening and thoroughly support the issue (which would have been the case for anti-apartheid activism, but I didn't really even fully understand some of the causes I was signing up to when I was young).

[SavoyCabbage]

I do t buy things in shops that sell golliwogs. Harder than you think where I live. I once had to drive to three different chemists to buy antihistamine for my dd.

[ohmymimi]

Barclay's, since the apartheid era;South Africa and its produce, during apartheid; Israel and anything it, or its citizens, produce; anything Murdoch owned/related; Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, et al ( I hate the Americanisation of our high street) but I loathe fast food, anyway.

[littledrummergirl]

I boycott waitrose after the security guard followed ne around the store. Its been 12 years now since I have been in my local store.

Ds1(13) refuses to wear clothing by Gap or Tesco on account of child workers.

We also refuse to give our pets Iams. Morally they are just wrong.