Target Stores Ban Salvation Army Bell Ringers

The Salvation Army bell ringers are a standard feature in front of many American stores during the holiday season, but not if you shop at Target. Rather than single out the Salvation Army for special treatment, they decided to enforce their "no solicitation" policy fairly and consistently. This, however, has angered more than a few people.

The Star Tribune reports:

Target said earlier this week that the Salvation Army had been an exception to a longstanding ban on solicitations at stores. The company said that it decided earlier this year to apply that policy consistently and nationally, and that it had told the charity about its position last January. "We don't have a policy concerning the Salvation Army," Target's spokeswoman, Carolyn Brookter, said Tuesday. "We have a policy concerning no solicitations," Brookter said. "We've always had a no-solicitation policy."

The Salvation Army's local headquarters in Roseville had received about two dozen supportive phone calls and e-mails by Tuesday afternoon after an article appeared in the Star Tribune. Target did not return calls about reactions it received. The newspaper received more than a dozen e-mails, almost all of them supporting the charity. People asked how to complain to Target, or they suggested alternatives, such as bell-ringing outside of pricey coffee shops.

David Morrison is a good example of those who are angered:

Well done, Target, in a single move you have managed to halfway rehabilitate Wal-Mart's reputation. Wal-Mart: the company that didn't kick Santa Clause out of the parking lot. Even my parents, who defined themselves as beyond Jesus and Christian belief, used to take me when I was a kid past the bell ringers in front of the downtown department stores and let me drop something in. Doing so is one of my earliest memories and may have been my first conscious act of doing something I knew would benefit people I didn't know, versus "be nice to your little sister because she's your little sister and needs your help".

How do other retailers, which include the widely (and often justly) criticized Wal-Mart, manage? They also must have a lot of folks asking to solicit on their property and yet they still manage to allow the Salvation Army to do so.

In all of the complaints, though, I have yet to see a single explanation as to why the Salvation Army should be treated better than every other charity in America. People like David Morrison don't explain why other religious groups, such as Catholic Charities, can't collect money in front of stores like Wal-Mart. People like David Morrison don't explain why secular groups, such as the United Way, can't solicit funds in front of stores like Target.

And why not? The answer is obivous: there is no good reason for it. The Salvation Army bell ringers are not universally liked or appreciated. A great many people object to their horrible anti-gay policies and agenda. There is no good reason for them to receive special privileges unavailable to any other charity, religious or secular. Many may regret the loss of a tradition, and I can sympathize with that, but not every tradition deserves to be held on to merely because it is a tradition. When a tradition violates basic standards of ethics, decency, and fairness, then it's time to move on and seek out something different.

Target should be praised for choosing fairness over tradition and I for one will be sure to send extra business their way because of it. I thank David Morrison for pointing out that this was going on, even if he chooses to side with tradition over fairness and decency.

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