By Rita R. Robison
Which consumer happenings cheered you this week and which ones made you want to scream or weep?
Here are my best and worst consumer experiences this week:
My best: Having a place to store paper towels and toilet paper
Although I’ve seriously cleaned out my garage two or three times, work still needs to be done.
However, when my daughter came to visit this summer, she sorted her boxes in my garage and helped me sort some of my boxes, too.
One positive result is that I now have space to put the paper towels and toilet paper I buy in cases on the shelves. That works better than leaving them in boxes on the floor.
My worst: Safeway telling me how to vote in a sign on its front door
In Washington state, citizens will vote Tuesday on Initiative 1183, a measure that would privatize liquor sales thus allowing supermarkets to sell it.
When I went to my local Safeway on Halloween, a sign on the front door said “Yes on 1183, Benefits Taxpayers & Vital Public Services.”
When I asked the assistant manager about it, he said his store received the poster from Safeway’s corporate headquarters. The instructions that came with it said to post it on the front door.
The assistant manager didn’t seem concerned when I told him that I, a 30-year customer, would be taking my business elsewhere.
On Tuesday, I wrote a post about it on my blog, the Boomer Consumer, a reader blog on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website. Wednesday, I called Safeway’s corporate headquarters to request a comment from its CEO Steven A. Burd on Safeway’s policy for putting political advertisements in its stores.
It’s Sunday, and I’ve received no reply, although I called about it on Friday and send an e-mail to the Safeway Press Office.
I’m outraged that Safeway has the audacity to tell citizens how to vote.
We all know corporations rule the world, but when my neighborhood grocery store tells me in a sign on its front door how to vote, it’s too much.
I oppose I-1183 because it would make more places where under-aged teens could buy liquor and I don’t trust corporations not to jack up the price when they get control.
After Costco, Safeway is one of the biggest contributors to the Vote Yes on I-1183 campaign, with a $50,000 contribution. Costco’s contributions are so enormous, a record-breaking $22 million, they’re currently being featured in the advertisements against I-1183.
