I am at Whole Foods right now! (I am not going to boycott because of one guy.)

[LoZoccolo]

Just got finished eating breakfast from their hot bar!

But listen, the boycott is short-sighted if anything, for the following reasons:

1. No one is going to change their opinion on this issue because of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's opinion. The Republicans can't even keep their own rank-and-file from wanting health care reform. It seems to me that the only people against it even within their own party are hard-core libertarian ideologues and people gullible enough to believe in death panels. If someone wants anti-Obama propaganda there are plenty of other places they will find it. This one guy doesn't matter.

2. Whole Foods' suppliers are some of the most progressive companies from which you could buy food. All over the place here you read the labels and find out how they are supporting environmental food production and sustainable farming. Are you really going to get this kind of selection at a conventional supermarket?

3. Whole Foods itself supports environmental values.

4. John Mackey voted for Libertarian candidate for president; Libertarians are like the right-wing counterpart to the Green Party and extinguishes otherwise-Republican votes. If he does influence Republicans to waste their votes on the Libertarians, that's a net win for us.

5. The conventional supermarket that you would shop at instead is not necessarily going to have a CEO that is more liberal anyways.

[Bonobo]

1. Can you get me some milk? I'm out. nt

[G_j]

2. John Mackey makes something off of every purchase.

correct?
that's enough for me to go elsewhere.

[LoZoccolo]

15. Not sure.

But even so - if I started buying "normal" groceries from Jewel and Dominick's, then Con Agra and the like would be making money off of every one of my purchases. That is worse.

[geek_sabre]

33. His compensation is $1/year

since 2007, and his stock options are donated to the company foundation, The Whole Planet Foundation, which gives 100% of its funds to promote innovative entrpreneurship in developing countries, in essence giving back to communities who give to the stores.

They also give low-interest loans to local farmers.

Regardless of what you may think of his solution for health care reform, he is probably one of the few "good" CEOs out there.

If you want to protest to deny him 1/1,000,000,000th of a dollar, then go for it, but you have a better chance of hitting the pockets of his employees.

[MattBaggins]

3. Please turn in your membership card to the Democratic Party

to the receptionist as you leave please.

[imdjh]

4. I'm boycotting Whole Foods because of one guy, and their prices, and because of bullshit, and...

... because I don't have the slightest idea where the nearest Whole Foods is, but if I did I probably wouldn't shop there because it's expensive and I'm not impressed with Nabisco and Nestle's organic back door.

[donco6]

5. Knock yourself out. n/t

[GentryDixon]

6. And they are the only ones to carry my dog treats.

Whole Paws little bitty biscuits.

[donco6]

42. Well, I'm glad our priorities are all aligned.

LOL! Gotta have those doggie treats. Whatever will little Chelsea EAT?

[GentryDixon]

43. Get a life,

My dog has a deformity with his mouth. He cannot chew other biscuits.

It's easy to sit back and judge when you feel so superior, right?

[donco6]

44. Brother.

Like there's NO OTHER BISCUITS in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE he could eat.

Do whatever you want. But you're the one who posted the quintessential bourgeoisie response. You might as well have said, "Let them eat cake."

[Dreamer Tatum]

49. The fate of the progressive movement doesn't depend on one goddmaned dog

Why don't you lighten up and leave them alone?

[donco6]

50. He posted; I responded.

That's how it works.

[LoZoccolo]

56. Don't you know, you should put your dog to sleep to stop this one guy and his non-unique opinion!

Don't you care?!

[Ilsa]

7. Sounds reasonable to me. I don't have a WFM within 140 miles, so

it's no big deal to me. I still have to shop with a budget, and alot of WF doesn't fit in it. But I can understand why someone would want to support some of their wholesalers.

[MadHound]

8. Somehow this doesn't surprise me at all

Not coming from you.

I also imagine that you would cross union picket lines to either do business at a particular place, or to work there as a scab.

Stay classy LZ!:eyes:

[LoZoccolo]

14. I suppose that I cannot stop you from imagining whatever you'd like. n/t

[donco6]

40. +1

[noamnety]

9. did you happen to run into an employee

with blue rhinestone catseye glasses?

[LoZoccolo]

46. I don't remember.

Is this in Chicago?

[noamnety]

47. Yes, the chicago store.

(my kid works there)

[Junkdrawer]

10. Have you thought of sending a child up in a balloon....

Be sure to pick a major airspace - increases the drama..

[asdjrocky]

11. Wow, just unbelievable.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

12. Go for it

I choose not to go there anymore because of that one person, that happens to be the CEO.

[hobbit709]

13. Whatever.

[Stevenmarc]

16. WOW you went to Whole Foods, is Twitter broken?

[LoZoccolo]

41. Ha

I'm not on Twitter, but I've considered starting an anti-Nader feed.

[Robb]

17. LOL. "It won't make a difference if just one guy crosses the picket line to work."

:eyes:

The short-sightedness is in you, not us.

[LoZoccolo]

18. Completely different.

In your scenario the business itself is possibly hurting it's employees, in the case of Whole Foods, some guy is expressing an opinion outside of work that is likely to have almost no impact. The business itself is a net win for the environment, and it seems like their employees are happy as well because I know at least one cashier has stayed there for nine years.

[Robb]

24. "Likely to have almost no impact?"

...Which explains why this is the first I've heard of it, right? :rofl:

[LoZoccolo]

28. You're free to point out these people who were actually swayed by John Mackey's statement. n/t

[Robb]

34. You think anything in the public sphere that long *doesn't* influence people?

You really think it made *no* difference?

Because you've asked me to find "proof" (whatever that would be that could convince you) of someone swayed by Mackey? I could challenge you to find "proof" of anyone swayed by *any* public statement by *anyone*.

I could then argue it wouldn't constitute adequate proof.

For example, I could point to dozens of posts on FR where they say things like they're going to shop at Whole Foods now. Does that "prove" they will?

You're an odd bird.

[LoZoccolo]

38. No, I can't see anybody changing their mind becuase of him.

Besides, other people are expressing the same opinion anyways. If it wasn't John Mackey it would be someone else. You'd do better to have a better opinion than trying to stop someone else from expressing theirs, because it is likely larger than them tobegin with.

[Robb]

45. I wish I could take back my unrec

...Your kind of logic needs to be on wider display.

[LoZoccolo]

57. lol I think you're probably being sarcastic.

But suffice to say I've been pushing game theory and strategy off and on to DU for years.

[Liberation Angel]

39. +1

[kestrel91316]

19. It's not so easy to get to my nearest WF now, without the car, but when the

new one opens up half a mile from my home, I will shop there in preference to Von's or Gelson's. WF is indeed a much more environmentally conscientious company, and supports in a large, tangible way the sort of food production/processing I want to see lots more of. They also label their produce for locale of origin, even down to what county if it's in CA. Von's and Gelson's do not (Von's has the nerve to call Mexican tomatoes "local").

I have to eat. I also have NOT forgotten the way Von's and Ralph's conspired to hurt union employees in the strike a few years ago. All these corporations are run by Republicans, I suspect. WF has too many other positives associated with it for me to justify going elsewhere once I can get there easily.

[mitchum]

20. You just keep telling yourself that

[LoZoccolo]

22. You're free to convince me of your own opinion in addition to dismissing mine. n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

21. It is the uptown Walmart

Non union, destructive of local business, controlling of prices and competition. But like Walmart, many people live in awful areas where only these goniffs are available to use, so knock yourself out and know that I don't have to go to such a dump, nor deal with such companies to get far better food than the swill they are fleecing you for!

[Faygo Kid]

23. That "one guy" is the smug multi-millionaire who wil ultimately destroy his employees.

I won't ever again shop at Whole Foods. His "Libertarian" values means destruction of workers' rights. Why are you on DU, anyway?

[LoZoccolo]

25. I'm sure the CEOs of the other places you shop at are über-progressive.

I'm sure they don't hold the same opinions. I'm sure you've done all this research too.

Maybe you can tell me about one of your friends who stopped supporting health care reform because of what John Mackey said.

[JVS]

27. Unlike most CEO's, the whole foods asshole is vulnerable because he depends on granolaheads...

letting themselves be fucked in the ass on price. One should always strike the weak among the enemy.

[LoZoccolo]

32. Not at a net loss to onesself. n/t

[Codeine]

53. Granolaheads!

:rofl: I love you, man! :hi:

[noamnety]

35. The other CEOs are worse

They are more actively fighting against employee's health insurance, from what I've seen - and if you look at the nearest competitor, Trader Joes, their CEO is a McCain supporter. I view that as worse than being a libertarian who at least backs up his idealistic-we'd-all-take-care-of-our-employees-without-regulation bullshit by walking the walk.

In reality, no, most CEOs would not take care of their employees without being forced to. We all know that - except the WF CEO. But to his credit, he does take care of his employees. It's one of the few companies that pays 100% of the insurance premiums for employees. That's better than the deal senators get, and better than the deal I get now as a state employee.

And he covers benefits for domestic partners.

And they get profit sharing.

I'm guessing the employees there get better benefits than the employees where most folks are shopping as part of their "support worker rights" boycott. I'm not sure what to make of that.

[JVS]

26. Do you like getting ripped off all the time, or just when it benefits an enemy of working people?

[AllentownJake]

29. +1

[LoZoccolo]

Do you like saving money at all costs, or just at the expense of the environment?

[freddie mertz]

30. Well goody for you.

Get a good deal on soybeans?

[Ichingcarpenter]

31. Don't forget to fed the horse you rode in on

[Brickbat]

36. Go you.

People rationalize all sorts of things.

[Me.]

37. Have Been To WF Recently

at Columbus Circle in NYC. Haven't been in a while. Usually very busy at all times. This time it wasn't. Also found that service has slipped. Really surprised at that as in the past it has been excellent. Less people serving and at checkouts, much longer wait time. Also on packaged desserts found the portions smaller but prices the same.

[Hekate]

48. They just came to town here, so I haven't had a chance to boycott them yet ;-)

;-) Your OP is a reminder that I should mosey on over and check them out. I hear they're good.

Hekate

[Celebration]

51. I shop there all the time

I don't agree with their CEO about healthcare, okay? Guess what? I would LOVE to boycott Comcast, but I have almost no choice. I am an unhappy Comcast customer. Whole Foods has got to be a better business than Comcast. I honestly don't "get" the Whole Foods boycott at all. People can express a single opinion that I don't agree with, do it publically, and that doesn't mean I boycott them.

My boycotting Comcast would be next to impossible. I'm not sure that the more expensive alternatives are any better, either.

[EFerrari]

52. I bet you run with scissors, too.

:)

[LeftyMom]

54. I shop my local cooperative grocer. Their workers are union, the quality is better,

they carry more local organic produce, they're cheaper and their politics are MUCH better than WF.

[Horse with no Name]

55. self-delete

really not worth it.