Peter J. via email – Kate. A short time ago we did the boycott on Chiquita bananas and the above company was linked as being anti-oil sands also.As I tend to do. I sent a civil little hate mail and got this reply :
Dear Mr. J******** my name is Greg Dyer and I oversee Bed Bath and Beyond operations in Canada. I apologize for not getting back to you earlier, I just landed in Toronto.
Bed Bath and Beyond has no opinion on the Alberta Oil Sands. Any suggestion that we do by the media or Lobby Groups is incorrect.
Unfortunately the media has never asked me or our company if we have any kind of stance on the Alberta Oil Sands. Back in early 2010, the Lobby Group Forest Ethics linked us with their stance on the fuels derived from the Alberta Oil Sands. A little time after that the CEO of U.S. Grocery Chain Whole Foods announced he was banning the use of fuels derived from the Alberta Oil Sands in his fleet of trucks. After that, every time Forest Ethics and or Whole Foods spoke out against the Oil Sands it was linked to us. We attempted to clarify we were not associated with either and they did not speak for us.
We believe we should focus on retail and have no right or expertise to comment on the Alberta Oil Sands. I previously lived in Alberta, my wife is from Alberta and both my children were born in Alberta. Most of my family and closest friends live and work in Alberta with many of them working in the Oil and Gas Industry. Its positive economic impact is one of the primary reasons Alberta is a great place to do business. I/ we would like to see the Alberta economy continue to prosper.
Thank you for taking the time to express your concern! Please be assured we do not have and never have had any kind of boycott of the Alberta Oil Sands and the fuels derived from them.
Sincerely,
Greg Dyer
Senior Vice President
Bed Bath and Beyond Canada
Just helping to set the record straight.
Courteous reply; I may even be tempted to discover what the “Beyond” is. I could use some new towels and maybe another change of sheets.
Sincerely,
“We believe we should focus on retail and have no right or expertise to comment on the Alberta Oil Sands.”
Precisely. I wish more businesses would stick to what they do best and leave the tripe for the professional rent seekers.
It just so happens we have three new beds (kids are moving up to a double, and wife and me up to a king) arriving this weekend and we need new bedding. I’ll be driving the 40km to the next town over so I can patronize this fine business that hasn’t lost its focus.
cbc’s own blonde bimbette Heather Hiscox this am,questions former US ambassador Wilkins re the pipeline: ‘Wouldn’t it be better to delay this decision until the proper studies have been done?’..then goes into a poor Obama scenario for the Rep.’blaming him for killing the project’ Gad..painful to watch.
Guess I’ll have to find a BB&BC store and support a business that supports Canada.
Bed Bath and Beyond…no longer boycotted by my wife and I.
They’d had an announcement previously to that effect either in one of their stores or in the paper or somewhere — can’t remember off the top of my head. At any event, the end result is that I added to my stainless steel cookware through them (induction cooking — love it). Good store, with a good selection. Oh, and for all you induction cooking types beware, “stainless” on a label doesn’t necessarily equal “stainless steel”. If in doubt get the staff to check with a magnet.
Anyone in the shopping mood?
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/default.asp?
They just gained my business.
It appears that Forest Ethics is a little short on ethics when they add the names of companies to their list of supporters.
Very nice response. In fact, I have not shopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond, due to what appears to be erroneous information. I will enjoy checking them out.
Makes one wonder how many other companies have been the unfortunate pawn of the enviros. As I said to my husband this morning, the truth seems to be elusive when used by enviros making it almost impossible to defend against.
And when you have a media who leans left, they are only too happy to be mouthpieces for the enviros and when the truth comes out, they have no interest in promoting that side of the fight.
WOW! I am so impressed with that letter. I gotta go shopping, and there is one of these fine establishments just down the street. I sure hope they have a sale on king-size stuff.
It appears as though Bed Bath and Beyond has been libeled by these scum bags. I do hope they file suit .
Fortunately my No Frills store had Del Monte bananas which I bought. The day before I was in Safeway and they had a huge pile of Chiquita bananas which I bypassed.
There is a BB and B not far from my house and I purposely avoided them because of the supposed boycott. Maybe they should have tried a little harder in the clarificatiion department.
Ditto; Cheers
Good to know! Now I won’t avoid that store…
Oh, all right. Call off the Jihad on Bed Bath and Beyond.
For your shopping ease & pleasure
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.ca/storeLocator.asp?utm_source=&utm_medium=&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&
There are oil rigs and pipelines in around HALIFAX and what bugs the hell out of me is that Megan Leslie for the ndpq has the audacity to condemmed the oil sands pipelines and jobs where many Halifaxans and maritimers work.
Megan Leslie went to the States to speak to Pelosie and Waxman (both Democrats) to LOBBY and BOYCOTT AGAINST HER COUNTRY CANADA LIVILHOOD AND JOBS. That woman Megan Leslie is only of many of the ndpers who NEEDS TO BE BOYCOTTED.
Any canadian politician mp who leaves this country to lobby, boycott or speak against their own country in foreign lands is not a canadian.
Elizabeth May is a new found environment for the Tuvaluans; she too favours the Tuvaluan government over her own yet she stands in HOC. GET LOST Elizabeth May.
I see a BB&B trip in my near future even though it’s an hour long drive, AND will let my family know BB&B are off the naughty list.
Some businesses do get it!
So who is “whole foods”?
Good to know. Not a bad store for kitchen gadgets. Now I can get that new lemon zester I’ve been saving up for!
If it took them 2 years to respond to having their name sullied, they might be just a little to focused on retail. But, better late than never. They’re back on my worthy-of-my-money list.
@ Abe Froman
Whole foods is not as big as I thought with no stores in Alberta, 3 in Ontario and a couple in Vancouver. Looks like a real tree hugger operation proudly saving the planet with every sale.
http://wholefoodsmarket.com/values/
the left wing has learned the lessons of dirty politics quite well from the right.
Bought a pasta roller from them last year. They did not have the advertised one in stock so the customer service manager drove to Washington State and brought it back to the BC store. I only like them more now.
Just once I would like one of our esteemed “professional” “journalists” ask the Ethical Oil spokespeople exactly what are their standards for “ethical” oil. How can I learn to recognize it?
Shaken….you haven’t been paying attention, have you? First of all, oil is probably one of the most ethical commodities on the face of the earth. It keeps billions from freezing to death, it keeps billions cooler in the summer. It is responsible for the growing, gathering and distribution of the world food supply. It is responsible for the movement of virtually every transaction of trade in the world (including the manufacture of solar panels and useless wind turbines).
As for Canadian oil being ethical, it is. Canada believes in human rights. It believes in worker safety. It believes in environmental standards and it does not engage in terrorism.
If you need any more than that, you are beyond hope.
Sounds to me that the Bed and Beyond folks are clearly in ‘favor’ of the Alberta oil sands. Why not just say that?
Well said,Joey.
Nice of them to make the statement. It would be even more of a statement if they were to make it publicly, much like the announcements that dragged them into the mess.
Until they have publicly declared their position they get to enjoy the warm fuzzies for their anti-oil stance in public, all the while defusing actions such as ours with personal disavowals.
They are both having and eating their cake.
“Sounds to me that the Bed and Beyond folks are clearly in ‘favor’ of the Alberta oil sands. Why not just say that?”
Well Abe, seeing as the left hates corporations already, BB&B might be a little leery of being in the sights of morons who like to wear black masks to hide their cowardly faces while they vandalize stores and businesses.
Spread the word. A company that supports Canada and supports the hard work of the majority of Canadians deserves our business.
Just one more piece of evidence that the anti-oil sands radicals are grossly exaggerating support for their cause.
We’ve already seen it with some of the Hollywood stars that they falsely claim supported their boycott, we’ve seen it with the mountain of fake names submitted for the public review, and now they are falsely representing support from different online sites and linking to them. Yet there is not a peep about the fraud from the consensus media like CBC or CTV, not to mention the security implications of foreign interference from OPEC oil monopoly dictatorships like Venezuela and the Saudis (hey CSIS, are you paying attention? — non-interference in Canada’s economic security is part of your mandate to protect!).
How would the eco radicals react “if the shoe were on the other foot” — if pro-oil sands people used the same fraudulent tactics? There would be a “Royal Commission” to investigate, the RCMP would be called in, plus the U.N., et cetera, et cetera.
Anyway, their fraud can’t last forever — when it crashes it will be like a giant redwood thundering to the ground in the left-coast forest. In answer to the perennial question, “When a tree falls in the forest does anybody hear?” In this case, many people will hear because many people are listening for it. The eco-religion fanatics are lying, they are lying deliberately, and the whole world will see it…backwards “taqiyya” (religious deception) is a dumb political tactic to use in the West, especially in the easy fact-checking Internet age.
And I think the big “China” debate is a cute diversion: China investing in Canada’s oil sands means that they have to follow our rules — our human rights law, our labour, environmental, health and safety laws, etc. I’d like to see the Chinese government try to charge a Canadian oil sands worker with “sabotaging socialism” and take him/her out to the back parking lot to face a firing squad, simply because he/she screws up. Because that’s what they do in China — simply not gonna happen here, my friends.
The problem is when it is the other way around — when Canadian companies invest in places like dictatorial China (or OPEC dictatorships) we have little control over the human rights/environmental issues (although I think Canadian companies should at least try by insisting on certain basic standards in their companies/investments abroad).
If you want BB & B to understand which side their bread is buttered on, it’s important that when you make that purchase, they know you have been motivated to do so by their pro-Canadian stance.
You’d probably be amazed at what it would mean if a few hundred customers actually stated that “I made my purchae here today, because…..”
It would quickly filter back to head office, reinforcing their business decision. If they don’t know specifically why you shopped with them, then it’s just another of tens of thousands of item sales.
Being pro-active means being vocal.
Speaking of boycotts,there has been NO sign of Chiquita bananas in our local Metro store since the boycott was announced.
Somewhat related:
Peter Foster challenges claims by some of the ‘radicals’that Oliver has referred to.
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2012/01/19/peter-foster-follow-the-money-then-expose-the-misinformation/
I’ll repost this in Readers tips tonight.
I think the oil companies should take a page out of the “blackout” yesterday protesting SOPA: pick a day and stop selling gas to protest unfair trading practises.
I think the glitterati will be ok, though: their private jets run on unicorn farts of course.
Good to see, one of my favorite stores. Purchased many items during my last house renovation/redecoration. Just moved a few weeks ago, and plan to reno the new place, and was a bit sad there would be no new 650 count sheets, or towel sets from Bed Bath and Beyond this time. Guess I have a reason to visit Crossiron Mills again.
I am glad that BB&B has clarified their actual position. I think that there are more “environmental” groups spreading false rumours around more than anything, they seem to have an endless supply of money to spread the BS and way too many people believe them without checking the facts. I will be shopping here again.