Friday, January 23, 2009
Free The Condoms Meeting - Cancelled
Now that the rallies I envisioned are no longer necessary, I think it best to cancel this meeting. Thanks, Safeway, for ruining a good party.
Success! Mostly!
I got word from Planned Parenthood last week that all but one Safeway had returned condoms to their shelves!! That is fantastic news. I am not sure that we can take much or any credit for it (since I heard barely a word from them at any point) but it is a victory, nonetheless. I, personally, am very excited that I can shop at Safeway again, in good conscience. King Soopers was kinda icky. And Safeway sells gnocchi.
Personal aside to the wonderful folks at Planned Parenthood: I feel awful that our informational table at the inauguration party was canceled last minute. I know you all dedicated time and resources to fliers for that event. It seems like it was the right thing to do to cancel the meeting at my house on Feb. 5th and without a meeting, there was no need to distribute fliers. I appreciate immensely all of your help! And you should be glad you didn't go anyway - it was so crowded and noisy there no one could even make it to any tables. My neighborhood association signed up only one person - the lady sitting next to me from another neighborhood association. Anyway - thanks a million! I'll keep working.
Yes, there is more work to be done. There are still a few stores left that are holdouts: a few Albertson's and one Safeway in the Montbello neighborhood (where, I'm guessing, they don't sell gnocchi). Next steps: to write thank you letters to Safeway (just to let them know we are watching) and Free The Condom letters to Albertson's! Stay tuned. We're not quite done yet.
Personal aside to the wonderful folks at Planned Parenthood: I feel awful that our informational table at the inauguration party was canceled last minute. I know you all dedicated time and resources to fliers for that event. It seems like it was the right thing to do to cancel the meeting at my house on Feb. 5th and without a meeting, there was no need to distribute fliers. I appreciate immensely all of your help! And you should be glad you didn't go anyway - it was so crowded and noisy there no one could even make it to any tables. My neighborhood association signed up only one person - the lady sitting next to me from another neighborhood association. Anyway - thanks a million! I'll keep working.
Yes, there is more work to be done. There are still a few stores left that are holdouts: a few Albertson's and one Safeway in the Montbello neighborhood (where, I'm guessing, they don't sell gnocchi). Next steps: to write thank you letters to Safeway (just to let them know we are watching) and Free The Condom letters to Albertson's! Stay tuned. We're not quite done yet.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Safeway Correspondence
Here is the letter(S) I sent to Safeway. Feel free to print and send yourself! Sorry, this is a letter within a letter within a blog - it might get a bit confusing.
September 22, 2008
To Whom It May Concern:
Please see the following letter I sent to 1200+ members of my friends, family and community. I have asked them to forward to their friends and family as well. We are asking you to please re-consider your decision to remove condoms from your shelves. Because every year:
• half of all pregnancies in U.S. are unintended (3.1 million pregnancies are unintended)
• approximately 750,000 teens become pregnant
• an estimated 19 million people in the United States contract sexually transmitted infections
• at least one in four teen girls has a sexually transmitted infection
I have also been in touch with Planned Parenthood (from whom the above statistics were taken).
We would all like to be able, in good conscience, to shop at Safeway again. Please see the following letter for more information…
Hiya friends and family-
I am so sorry for the mass email but I am writing to request your help with something I have been working on that is important to me.
I recently noticed that some local Denver Safeways have taken condoms off of their shelves. They are now kept behind the pharmacy counter where you have to stand in line to ask for them. As you may know, the pharmacy has limited hours and are closed on Sundays. In that case you must then stand in the customer service line to ask for them where they have only a limited selection. It is not even clear as to where to find them and I only found out this information after speaking with a store manager about it.
I feel strongly that condoms should be easily accessible to the consumer. Being required to stand in line, ask specifically for them, or not even know where in the store they may be at any given time is anything but easily accessible. Even if you don't have any need for condoms, please recognize that this is a huge step backward in trying to solve the problems of unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs. It worries me that Safeway is a huge corporation that has taken this step and I fear that it is a trend among stores.
I have been in contact with the Safeway corporate offices about this policy but I have been unsuccessful in getting any answers as to why this decision was made and how far reaching it may be (how many stores it has affected). I was told by a store manager that this is to prevent theft. While I can appreciate a store trying to protect their bottom line, I feel that the bottom line should always include the health and well-being of their respective communities.
Please, if you have just a moment, send Safeway an email to let them know that this policy is unacceptable and that you would like to see condoms back on the shelves where they belong.
http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/Comments#iframetop
Or better yet, write a letter to their corporate offices:
Denver Division President
Safeway, Inc.
C/O Customer Service Center
2750 S. Priest Drive
Tempe, AZ 85282-9969
And in the meantime, you can also do what I have been doing: Shop at King Soopers where they value their customers and the health of the community enough to keep condoms on their shelves. They are more kid friendly, too!
Sincerely,
Nicole Sullivan
Letter to the Business Ethics Department
o Safeway Management:
Members of my community recently sent letters and emails to your corporate offices, expressing concern about your decision to remove condoms from some of your store shelves. To date, we have received absolutely no response from you. My inquiries about why this decision was made and how many stores have been affected have also gone unanswered so I conducted my own research into the matter. I called fifty metro Denver Safeway locations to find that roughly half of those stores have removed condoms from their shelves and have placed them either behind the customer service desk or under lock and key in the pharmacy. From what I understand, these stores are either in low income areas or located near high schools or colleges – the exact demographic that can benefit most from convenient, easy access to birth control.
Because I have received no response from you, I am prepared to take this cause to the next level with backing from a few organizations, the media, and concerned citizens like myself. I still welcome any input from your store and urge you to re-consider your decision to remove condoms from many of your store shelves. This is a dangerous and irresponsible trend that I am determined to reverse.
Sincerely,
Nicole Sullivan
And the only non-canned 'I received your email' response I received:
Dear Ms. Sullivan:
Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the location of the condoms in our stores.
We, in no way, are discriminating against anyone. Also, condoms are purchased by many, not just students and low income customers. The reason that we have begun putting condoms behind the counter is due to a high volume of theft that has occurred. Condoms are one of the top items that get shoplifted on a regular basis.
We have moved the condoms in stores that have a higher theft rate, not based on who the customers are. We welcome all of our customers to purchase condoms and any other items that they want.
We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause anyone. It is not meant to do so, it is a business decision made due to theft and nothing else.
If you would like to discuss this further, please respond to this email or contact our toll free number at 1-877-723-3929. One of our associates will be happy to assist you.
We appreciate your business and hope that we will see you again soon. Thank you for shopping at Safeway.
Sincerely,
Teresa McDaniel
Customer Service Center
My Response to that response:
Dear Ms. McDaniel:
I appreciate your response as I have not been able to get a response from the general corporate office in this matter. I can understand that you are not intentionally discriminating against anyone and I can understand the reasoning behind this as purely a business decision. However, Safeway and other large corporations have a responsibility to the health and well-being of the communities in which they operate. Removing easy and convenient access of birth control from shelves, for whatever reasons, jeopardizes the health and well-being of communities. Condoms have been proven to reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies as well as the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Moving condoms from shelves to behind the counter, under lock and key, where customers must stand in line and specifically ask for them lessens the likelihood that birth control will be used. This is obviously unfortunate and I am concerned about the trend this sets for other stores. Currently, Target and King Soopers, which are located in the same neighborhood as two of the Safeways I mentioned below, still have their condoms on their shelves, easily accessible. This speaks volumes about where their priorities lie when compared to Safeways'. I am sure you must be aware that your bottom line is not your only priority.
I was once a loyal shopper of Safeway and am confident that your store does not wish to be associated with corporate greed at the expense of it's shoppers in 'high theft risk' (which, of course, happens to be lower income, high student population) locations who deserve just as convenient and easy access to birth control as your 'low theft risk' store shoppers. Again, I urge you to reconsider this decision as it reflects poorly on Safeway's ethics.
Sincerely,
Nicole Sullivan
No further response from Safeway
September 22, 2008
To Whom It May Concern:
Please see the following letter I sent to 1200+ members of my friends, family and community. I have asked them to forward to their friends and family as well. We are asking you to please re-consider your decision to remove condoms from your shelves. Because every year:
• half of all pregnancies in U.S. are unintended (3.1 million pregnancies are unintended)
• approximately 750,000 teens become pregnant
• an estimated 19 million people in the United States contract sexually transmitted infections
• at least one in four teen girls has a sexually transmitted infection
I have also been in touch with Planned Parenthood (from whom the above statistics were taken).
We would all like to be able, in good conscience, to shop at Safeway again. Please see the following letter for more information…
Hiya friends and family-
I am so sorry for the mass email but I am writing to request your help with something I have been working on that is important to me.
I recently noticed that some local Denver Safeways have taken condoms off of their shelves. They are now kept behind the pharmacy counter where you have to stand in line to ask for them. As you may know, the pharmacy has limited hours and are closed on Sundays. In that case you must then stand in the customer service line to ask for them where they have only a limited selection. It is not even clear as to where to find them and I only found out this information after speaking with a store manager about it.
I feel strongly that condoms should be easily accessible to the consumer. Being required to stand in line, ask specifically for them, or not even know where in the store they may be at any given time is anything but easily accessible. Even if you don't have any need for condoms, please recognize that this is a huge step backward in trying to solve the problems of unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs. It worries me that Safeway is a huge corporation that has taken this step and I fear that it is a trend among stores.
I have been in contact with the Safeway corporate offices about this policy but I have been unsuccessful in getting any answers as to why this decision was made and how far reaching it may be (how many stores it has affected). I was told by a store manager that this is to prevent theft. While I can appreciate a store trying to protect their bottom line, I feel that the bottom line should always include the health and well-being of their respective communities.
Please, if you have just a moment, send Safeway an email to let them know that this policy is unacceptable and that you would like to see condoms back on the shelves where they belong.
http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/Comments#iframetop
Or better yet, write a letter to their corporate offices:
Denver Division President
Safeway, Inc.
C/O Customer Service Center
2750 S. Priest Drive
Tempe, AZ 85282-9969
And in the meantime, you can also do what I have been doing: Shop at King Soopers where they value their customers and the health of the community enough to keep condoms on their shelves. They are more kid friendly, too!
Sincerely,
Nicole Sullivan
Letter to the Business Ethics Department
o Safeway Management:
Members of my community recently sent letters and emails to your corporate offices, expressing concern about your decision to remove condoms from some of your store shelves. To date, we have received absolutely no response from you. My inquiries about why this decision was made and how many stores have been affected have also gone unanswered so I conducted my own research into the matter. I called fifty metro Denver Safeway locations to find that roughly half of those stores have removed condoms from their shelves and have placed them either behind the customer service desk or under lock and key in the pharmacy. From what I understand, these stores are either in low income areas or located near high schools or colleges – the exact demographic that can benefit most from convenient, easy access to birth control.
Because I have received no response from you, I am prepared to take this cause to the next level with backing from a few organizations, the media, and concerned citizens like myself. I still welcome any input from your store and urge you to re-consider your decision to remove condoms from many of your store shelves. This is a dangerous and irresponsible trend that I am determined to reverse.
Sincerely,
Nicole Sullivan
And the only non-canned 'I received your email' response I received:
Dear Ms. Sullivan:
Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the location of the condoms in our stores.
We, in no way, are discriminating against anyone. Also, condoms are purchased by many, not just students and low income customers. The reason that we have begun putting condoms behind the counter is due to a high volume of theft that has occurred. Condoms are one of the top items that get shoplifted on a regular basis.
We have moved the condoms in stores that have a higher theft rate, not based on who the customers are. We welcome all of our customers to purchase condoms and any other items that they want.
We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause anyone. It is not meant to do so, it is a business decision made due to theft and nothing else.
If you would like to discuss this further, please respond to this email or contact our toll free number at 1-877-723-3929. One of our associates will be happy to assist you.
We appreciate your business and hope that we will see you again soon. Thank you for shopping at Safeway.
Sincerely,
Teresa McDaniel
Customer Service Center
My Response to that response:
Dear Ms. McDaniel:
I appreciate your response as I have not been able to get a response from the general corporate office in this matter. I can understand that you are not intentionally discriminating against anyone and I can understand the reasoning behind this as purely a business decision. However, Safeway and other large corporations have a responsibility to the health and well-being of the communities in which they operate. Removing easy and convenient access of birth control from shelves, for whatever reasons, jeopardizes the health and well-being of communities. Condoms have been proven to reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies as well as the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Moving condoms from shelves to behind the counter, under lock and key, where customers must stand in line and specifically ask for them lessens the likelihood that birth control will be used. This is obviously unfortunate and I am concerned about the trend this sets for other stores. Currently, Target and King Soopers, which are located in the same neighborhood as two of the Safeways I mentioned below, still have their condoms on their shelves, easily accessible. This speaks volumes about where their priorities lie when compared to Safeways'. I am sure you must be aware that your bottom line is not your only priority.
I was once a loyal shopper of Safeway and am confident that your store does not wish to be associated with corporate greed at the expense of it's shoppers in 'high theft risk' (which, of course, happens to be lower income, high student population) locations who deserve just as convenient and easy access to birth control as your 'low theft risk' store shoppers. Again, I urge you to reconsider this decision as it reflects poorly on Safeway's ethics.
Sincerely,
Nicole Sullivan
No further response from Safeway
Free The Condoms Coalition Meeting Feb. 5th
Please attend our first meeting:
February 5th, 7-8:30 p.m.
3501 Wyandot St.
Denver 80211
-Find out what you can do to be more involved in this issue
-Brainstorm our next steps
-Sign up for our mailing list
-Enjoy food and drinks provided by Planned Parenthood
-Participate in lively conversation about birth control
RSVP to:
sullivanic@yahoo.com
303-321-7891
February 5th, 7-8:30 p.m.
3501 Wyandot St.
Denver 80211
-Find out what you can do to be more involved in this issue
-Brainstorm our next steps
-Sign up for our mailing list
-Enjoy food and drinks provided by Planned Parenthood
-Participate in lively conversation about birth control
RSVP to:
sullivanic@yahoo.com
303-321-7891
Why Should I Care About Having Easy Access to Condoms?
I don't know why you might care. But I know why I do.
I want my kids to grow up in a world where their friends (and potential girlfriends and boyfriends!) don't have STDs
I don't want them to ever know or even know of anyone or even know of anyone who knows of anyone who is dying from AIDS
I don't want them to attend a high school with a daycare
I don't want any of their friends to have to drop out of school and take a low paying job because they have to support a baby they hadn't planned for
And, oh my God, the possibility of my own children... I don't even want to think of it
Or maybe you might find your own self in need of condoms. I hope that you do! And I hope you can easily buy them.
I want my kids to grow up in a world where their friends (and potential girlfriends and boyfriends!) don't have STDs
I don't want them to ever know or even know of anyone or even know of anyone who knows of anyone who is dying from AIDS
I don't want them to attend a high school with a daycare
I don't want any of their friends to have to drop out of school and take a low paying job because they have to support a baby they hadn't planned for
And, oh my God, the possibility of my own children... I don't even want to think of it
Or maybe you might find your own self in need of condoms. I hope that you do! And I hope you can easily buy them.
Letter Writing Campaign & Fact Finding Mission
After talking with a Safeway store manager, I went home armed with a website and a corporate address and, honestly, thought that was all I would need to reverse Safeway's policy to remove condoms from their shelves. I imagined them receiving a flurry of letters from concerned shoppers, realize how silly they had been and restock their shelves, apologizing for our inconvenience and maybe giving me some valuable coupons for my time and feedback. I knew there was a chance that would not happen but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that there would be NOT ONE SINGLE RESPONSE from the Safeway corporation about this issue. Not one. I alone sent several emails, letters and made a couple of useless phone calls. Then I reached out to friends, family and acquantances who sent dozens more letters and emails. None of them got a response either. I encouraged a Safeway boycott (which really annoyed my husband since it is the closest store to us - I think he snuck there sometimes just for a gallon of milk), waited a few weeks then sent more letters. Nothing.
I was asking basic questions and expecting basic answers. Questions like: how many stores have adopted this policy? When did this go into effect and why? Is this nationwide or local? Silence. One afternoon, while my daughter was sleeping and my son was watching Nemo (I know, I hate the electronic babysitter, too, but it was for a good cause), I called 50 Metro Denver Safeways and asked them where they keep their condoms. Almost half of all stores (nearly 25!!) had removed condoms from their shelves and placed them, under lock and key, behind either the pharmacy or customer service counter. I looked at my resulting spreadsheet with all of the phone numbers, addresses and yes's or no's in their respective 'Condoms on Shelves?' column and noticed a troubling trend. It appeared that all of the no's went with addresses in the city - stores in lower income areas or near high schools or colleges. The yes's fit comfortably with the more affluent, suburban locations. It occurred to me that Safeway's Business Ethics Department might want to know about that. They were only mildly interested. You can read the correspondence in the correspondence blog.
Now with a list of Safeways who have restricted condom access and dozens of unanswered letters, I felt that it was time to reach out for help. I contacted Planned Parenthood and recapped the previous month's efforts. They were alarmed, to say the least, and were able to provide ideas, experience, knowledge and resources that I had exhausted. They suggested we start a coalition. Not only does that sound cool but it is a tangible step to getting, at least, a response from Safeway. They also helped me with some research and found that not only does this affect Safeway stores, but Alberstons stores, too - almost half of them in the Metro Denver area, as well! After digging around online we discovered a few other small, grassroots efforts nationwide that have begun to take notice of stores removing condoms from their shelves. Our next step then: to build a local coalition and reach out to other efforts nationwide. Stay tuned! Safeway might even answer one of my letters!
I was asking basic questions and expecting basic answers. Questions like: how many stores have adopted this policy? When did this go into effect and why? Is this nationwide or local? Silence. One afternoon, while my daughter was sleeping and my son was watching Nemo (I know, I hate the electronic babysitter, too, but it was for a good cause), I called 50 Metro Denver Safeways and asked them where they keep their condoms. Almost half of all stores (nearly 25!!) had removed condoms from their shelves and placed them, under lock and key, behind either the pharmacy or customer service counter. I looked at my resulting spreadsheet with all of the phone numbers, addresses and yes's or no's in their respective 'Condoms on Shelves?' column and noticed a troubling trend. It appeared that all of the no's went with addresses in the city - stores in lower income areas or near high schools or colleges. The yes's fit comfortably with the more affluent, suburban locations. It occurred to me that Safeway's Business Ethics Department might want to know about that. They were only mildly interested. You can read the correspondence in the correspondence blog.
Now with a list of Safeways who have restricted condom access and dozens of unanswered letters, I felt that it was time to reach out for help. I contacted Planned Parenthood and recapped the previous month's efforts. They were alarmed, to say the least, and were able to provide ideas, experience, knowledge and resources that I had exhausted. They suggested we start a coalition. Not only does that sound cool but it is a tangible step to getting, at least, a response from Safeway. They also helped me with some research and found that not only does this affect Safeway stores, but Alberstons stores, too - almost half of them in the Metro Denver area, as well! After digging around online we discovered a few other small, grassroots efforts nationwide that have begun to take notice of stores removing condoms from their shelves. Our next step then: to build a local coalition and reach out to other efforts nationwide. Stay tuned! Safeway might even answer one of my letters!
Where have all the condoms gone?
O.k. o.k. I'll admit it. I was trying to buy condoms. I keep telling everyone, who asks how this all got started, that I just 'happened to be walking through Safeway (on 44th and Lowell) and noticed that they had taken all of their condoms off the shelves.' Not true. I wanted to purchase them for myself. Why am I embarrassed to admit this?? I am a 35 year old, married mother of two children. I was just trying to prevent pregnancy after my second (and last) child was born. Since I was still nursing, I had few options for birth control. I shouldn't be embarrassed about this and I shouldn't have been embarrassed about having to ask someone where the condoms were. But I was. But I asked anyway. I was told they were now kept in the pharmacy so I would need to get them there. Uggh. I was in a hurry - the last thing I wanted to do was go to the pharmacy but then I imagined the horror of finding out I was pregnant again before my daughter even started eating solids. I went to the pharmacy. There was a line. This was ridiculous, I decided. I put my package of English Muffins (my condom decoy - because you really can't just go in and buy nothing but condoms) back on the shelf and left, annoyed and frustrated. My husband and I would just have to resort to watching reruns of 'The Office' in our sweats tonight after we put the kids to bed. (and we did).
I went home thinking about my Safeway experience over the next couple of days and began to get angrier and angrier. I thought about how if I, as a responsible adult, balked at asking someone for condoms and then just gave up, rather than stand in a pharmacy line with old people getting their blood pressure meds - then what about horny highschool boys? Or girls? Or college students who have their whole lives ahead of them and just want to get through graduation without STDs or babies to weigh them down? Then I thought about how the pharmacy has limited hours and what you do if you go in after the pharmacy is closed? I decided to do more investigating. I went to another Safeway (this one on 26th and Federal) and asked to speak to a manager. She told me that the condoms had been removed due to theft. Huh? What does this say about our society that people are reduced to committing a crime to obtain birth control - and then having even that option taken away? And aren't they like, $7 at most? Anywho - she said that if the pharmacy is closed then they move 'some condoms' to the Customer Service desk. But wait! Don't they close? Yes, they do. Then you have to page a manager.
So here is what happens if I walk into Northwest Denver Safeways at 9:00 p.m. I go to the condom shelf, find that they have been removed, go to the pharmacy, find it closed, go to the customer service desk, find it closed. Then if I am still persistent enough to ask someone what the hell I'm supposed to do - they have to page a manager who then 'helps' me with my purchase under a watchful eye. The condoms really may have well just been removed from the store all together. Does this make any sense? Is this happening elsewhere? Why are we trying to teach our children to practice safe sex and then taking that option away? Shouldn't these things be as easy to purchase as toilet paper or dog chews? These are the things that were going through my mind when I watched Barack Obama's nominaton speech downtown. The moment he said "
I went home thinking about my Safeway experience over the next couple of days and began to get angrier and angrier. I thought about how if I, as a responsible adult, balked at asking someone for condoms and then just gave up, rather than stand in a pharmacy line with old people getting their blood pressure meds - then what about horny highschool boys? Or girls? Or college students who have their whole lives ahead of them and just want to get through graduation without STDs or babies to weigh them down? Then I thought about how the pharmacy has limited hours and what you do if you go in after the pharmacy is closed? I decided to do more investigating. I went to another Safeway (this one on 26th and Federal) and asked to speak to a manager. She told me that the condoms had been removed due to theft. Huh? What does this say about our society that people are reduced to committing a crime to obtain birth control - and then having even that option taken away? And aren't they like, $7 at most? Anywho - she said that if the pharmacy is closed then they move 'some condoms' to the Customer Service desk. But wait! Don't they close? Yes, they do. Then you have to page a manager.
So here is what happens if I walk into Northwest Denver Safeways at 9:00 p.m. I go to the condom shelf, find that they have been removed, go to the pharmacy, find it closed, go to the customer service desk, find it closed. Then if I am still persistent enough to ask someone what the hell I'm supposed to do - they have to page a manager who then 'helps' me with my purchase under a watchful eye. The condoms really may have well just been removed from the store all together. Does this make any sense? Is this happening elsewhere? Why are we trying to teach our children to practice safe sex and then taking that option away? Shouldn't these things be as easy to purchase as toilet paper or dog chews? These are the things that were going through my mind when I watched Barack Obama's nominaton speech downtown. The moment he said "
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