"A Retailer's Christmas Story"

You may have seen on the news or heard by word of mouth the Target and Salvation Army controversey. If you have heard something about it, then you probably only have half the story. If you haven't, then I will summarize it for you. If you don't care, then please go on to the next post below.

Every Christmas Target stores have allowed the Salvation Army to post a bell ringer at the front of each store. But not this year. After refusing other charities that same opportunity, these organizations threatened Target with lawsuits. So Target pulled the plug on the bell ringers to avoid this hassle. The Salvation Army guys were furious and shocked that Target took this "scrooge-ish" postion. They claim that they will lose approx. 9 million in donations by not soliciting at Target stores. This story was reported in the media and unhappy citizens are sending e-mails to consumers urging a mass boycott of Target stores.

O.K., first of all Target should be able to do whatever the hell they want. They are a private business and if they want fifty guys or just one guy soliciting at the store that is there business. I think they should be able to pick and choose who they want and if they want it. Also, the Sal. Army and the idiot public are blaming the wrong people for that lost 9 mil. Because a few charities got greedy, they prevented a perfectly good and legitimate organization from realizing their holiday donation goals. I will also mention that after the decision to bar the bell ringer was made, Target decided to donate money to the Sal. Army. The official numbers are not in yet, but each store could donate to their local chapter and decide how much to give based on each store's budget. (and that varies from store to store.) Our store gave the max. amount of $700. If every store gave at least that much than the company-wide donation would be approx. $910,000. Since this is is considerably less than the supposed 9 mil they would have made, it seems very cheap. But look at it this way, Target didn't have to give anything. With the bell ringer in place, Target pays nothing. Because of the lawsuits, Target donates this meager amount, and the Sal. Army falls short of its goal. Nobody wins here.

The good news for Target is that by next year no one will remember this story or that they were ever mad at Target to begin with. This year however, Target management like my husband will continue to recieve phone calls from customers shaming them for their cold-heartedness. Although not all the calls are negative. Some are actually thanking the store for removing the "annoying" bell ringer. I personally don't mind it much and despite the unfair press they've given Target, I'm sure I'll keep putting my quarters into the red bucket.