Did you see the full page "My Pillow" ad on page 3A of today's Strib?

[dflprincess]

It was a "help wanted" ad. Claiming they are now hiring "immediately". It may be so, I'm sure lots of Trumpers are trying to help ol' Mike out ordering his crappy product. Or, Mike is throwing money away pretending he hasn't destroyed his own company.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Maybe they're hiring because employees are quitting

in anticipation of the company going bankrupt.

[dflprincess]

2. That crossed my mind too

My nephew is looking for a job so I told him about it. There was a moment of silence then he asked if I thought I should get my oxygen level checked.

[aeromanKC]

3. I hear David Hogg may be hiring for his upstart Pillow company.

Just an idea.

[progree]

4. ACE Hardware in Golden Valley has a big sign in window: "My Pillow Sold Here!!!"

Yes, with 3 exclamation points. Kuiper's Ace Hardware on Winnetka just north of Highway 55.

Wondering if ACE Hardware is owned and/or CEO'd by an asswipe, like Menards, or if it's just this fuckhead franchisee.

I posted this somewhere else. Someone responded that they are locally owned.

Still I'm just wondering about the head / owner of ACE overall, and whether it's worth writing to them or not.

It's the only hardware store within walking distance (about 1.5 miles away) and I don't have a car, sigh. Though admittedly there's another hardware store (also an ACE) a reasonable distance and time-and-effort by bus, though I'd have to learn where everything is.

[mn9driver]

5. Pretty sure that most if not all the stores are individually owned.

In south Minneapolis the two closest to me are Settergren’s Ace Hardware. I guarantee they aren’t selling My Pillows.

[Blue Owl]

7. What kind of idiot buys their bedding products from a HARDWARE store?

[progree]

8. And what's more, they are fairly small, even for an ACE. They clearly don't have space for

extra kinds of stuff you wouldn't expect to find in a hardware store. Now if it was Menards, at least the one just north of 394 in Golden Valley (2 story monster), that's be different.

[yaesu]

9. I wanted to save a trip to crowded WalMart & the long wait in line to make a quick trip

to the local Ace Hardware to pick up a mouse, big mistake. I bought a wireless one, got it home & noticed that it had been opened & the transmitter was missing, back to the store where they had no others I exchanged it for a USB one. Its one of the cheapest piece of crap mouses I have ever used.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. Ace is a cooperative; the stores are individually owned and operated.

Diamond Lake Hardware in my area doesn't carry MyPillow. Or any pillows, for that matter, although they do sell pickles.

[progree]

11. But like any franchisee, there must be some corporate rules and guidelines

from the corporate parent. Or coop (and coops can be as dictatorial as any corporation. I live where there is a homeowner's association, and their endless rules would make Hitler blush. And it just keeps getting worse year after year. So I don't see coops as some wonderfully wonderful benign thing. Have also read about and worked with electric coops, sheesh).

One reasonable one that corporate or coop parent orgarnizations might be to keep political displays out of the stores, so stores seem welcoming to all. OTOH, "MyPillow Sold Here!!!" on a store window likely wouldn't violate any guideline.

Is it worthwhile to write to Ace corporate is what I'm wondering, about their local franchise prominently advertising and pushing a seditionist's product.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Probably start with the local owner; ask why they are selling

the product of a deranged seditionist; then follow up with the corporate HQ. It's my impression that they leave product sales decisions to the local owner but it doesn't hurt to ask. A retail cooperative isn't like a franchise, though. They use their purchasing power as a group to get discounts from manufacturers; it's essentially a group of independently-owned businesses that pool their resources to purchase in bulky by establishing a central buying organization. Franchises exercise a lot more control over their members than retail cooperatives.

[progree]

13. I'm just not buying it, sorry.

A retail cooperative isn't like a franchise, though. They use their purchasing power as a group to get discounts from manufacturers; it's essentially a group of independently-owned businesses that pool their resources to purchase in bulky by establishing a central buying organization

This sounds like the theory of it, and sales brochure picture of it, and perhaps the "progressive" view of them, and they may have started out that way in the very beginning, but I just don't believe the top of the hierarchy doesn't have a gazillion rules that members must abide by. I'm familiar with some coops and the members are always chafing at all the rules and restrictions.

But yes, of course I should start with that local Ace, but undoubtedly it would do no good.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. It might do some good at this point, now that Lindell is becoming a pariah

and his shitty cheap-ass shredded foam pillows are the subject of an increasing number of boycotts. Maybe you could write a polite letter to the owner to explain that you will not do business with that store as long as they keep selling those pillows (and why is a hardware store selling pillows anyhow?), and you will use your social media presence (even if you don't really have one) to encourage others to shop elsewhere. I think that plus the adverse publicity Lindell is getting these days might be enough. I can't imagine that a hardware store makes a lot of money selling pillows, so if they drop the product when threatened with even a small boycott it's not going to hurt them. It's a place to start, anyhow.

[iemanja]

16. Ace hardwares vary greatly

I don't know how much central control there can be.

[question everything]

6. Have been there for the past several days. Glad that they are helping the strib