Quoth I,
Dear Home Depot,
Looking at my personal financial records, I see the following breakdown for home repair and improvement expenses since 1/1/2004:
Lowes $3500
Home Depot $450
Both stores have a wide variety of products at good prices, and they are equally convenient to my house.
The difference?
In 2004 it became obvious that Home Depot was a major contributor to the Republican party. I remember seeing George W. giving a campaign speech on a Home Depot parking lot, with the big orange sign carefully placed above him in the style of a Mission Accomplished banner, and thinking how crass it was to have a political candidate selling himself as a TV commercial actor.
continued . .
Public records show your political donations continue near 100% Republican.
At this point it's not George W's image that's in question. It's the image of Home Depot, and whether you are comfortable being associated with the war party, the party of corruption, the party of failed oversight, the party of economic irresponsibility, the party that covered up Foley's child abuse, the party of Macaca and Abu Ghraib.
Personally I'm not willing to have my consumer dollars end up funding people like Tom Delay, and I am offended at what his redistricting did to my city.
My $3500 is just a drop in the bucket for a big company like yours.
But others are watching too.
Sincerely,
To which Home Depot responds so eloquently
We appreciate receiving feedback from our customers and want to thank
you for taking the time to forward your concerns. We apologize for not
meeting your expectations.
Our goal is to provide every customer with an exceptional experience
every time they come into our stores. Please know that the feedback you
have provided will be taken very seriously and will be used in the
overall evaluation of the services provided to our customers.
I also wrote to Lowes, more or less the same letter, editing out the anti-Repub rant in favor of more positive language
...I prefer to let my consumer dollars flow in a direction that supports a better-run country for everyone...