Business Ethics - Companies that you refuse to do business with

Actually, I might never use Progressive ever again either. Back in 2009 a some kid came off the road and completely destroyed my car as it sat parked in my driveway. He was 100% at fault, his insurance company paid me 100% of the commercial blue book value, and aside from the unpleasantness of dealing with a claim's adjuster that was also an idiot (get cancer please) I was made whole. I even got a fancy new rental car to drive around for a few days at their expense. When my insurance came up for renewal later that year there was a 30% increase. I called twice trying to figure what was up and no one had any information for me. On the second phone call I was told that it wasn't really going up by that much. Would I like to renew over the phone?

Arbitrary_sl said:

Actually, I might never use Progressive ever again either. Back in 2009 a some kid came off the road and completely destroyed my car as it sat parked in my driveway. He was 100% at fault, his insurance company paid me 100% of the commercial blue book value, and aside from the unpleasantness of dealing with a claim's adjuster that was also an idiot (get cancer please) I was made whole. I even got a fancy new rental car to drive around for a few days at their expense. When my insurance came up for renewal later that year there was a 30% increase. I called twice trying to figure what was up and no one had any information for me. On the second phone call I was told that it wasn't really going up by that much. Would I like to renew over the phone?

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You should boycott any cheap insurance companies (Geico, Progressive, state farm) because they love to throw aftermarket/used parts on brand new cars so they can save 10 bucks.

fifey_sl said:

You should boycott any cheap insurance companies (Geico, Progressive, state farm) because they love to throw aftermarket/used parts on brand new cars so they can save 10 bucks.

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Allstate did this to my then-new car when I got in a minor wreck. After the wreck, a front headlight apparatus was replaced with an aftermarket one that didn't fit right at all and the light would lose electrical contact all the damn time, meaning I was often without a turn signal on one side during hot weather. After 4 stops to the dealer over 3 years (coincidentally always went out right before scheduled maintenance), they admitted the aftermarket part thing and offered to do it properly again for free, after some bitching on my part.

Had another minor car problem and they tried to cheap out once again. Point is, all insurance companies do it, even the "good" ones.

Yep, the law varies from state to state but all insurance companies only pay for aftermarket parts once your vehicle hits a certain age threshold. Some states require that the car be at least 5 or more years old, some allow it after just a year or two, but every state allows it and every company does it

I don't support McDonalds because I don't know what their hamburgers are made of.

Once my brother showed me a picture of a rat tail hanging off a burger and I never ate there again.

Plus all the ads are targeted towards blacks, which I am not (THANK GOD).

Algiz_sl said:

And generic companies are not much better.This bullshitis becoming a near-monthly occurrence for various generics.

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Sigh.

Generic Levothyroxine has been $4 for 30/$10 for 90 tablets for the three years that I have been working at my current pharmacy. Within the past week or so, the price of 30 tablets jumped to the $10-$13 dollar range, depending on strength.

Good luck refusing to do business with pharmaceutical companies, though.

Just those that say they hold to christian values but does exactly the opposite of what would Jesus do: chik-fil-a for example.

Obtenor_sl said:

Just those that say they hold to christian values but does exactly the opposite of what would Jesus do: chik-fil-a for example.

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Have you been to a Chick-fil-a? Easily the best fast food experience in the country, and the food is generally pretty good too. The people working there are friendly and respectful; I actually got to know some of the managers at my local one (try doing that anywhere else), and every month or so they are hosting some kind of event for people in the community. My personal favorite is cow appreciation day, where anyone dressed like a cow gets their meal free.

As for employee quality of life, they close at like 9 or 10, they get Sunday off, and Glassdoor rates them highly compared to others in the industry. I consider them one of the most ethical fast food companies out there. The gf is pretty far out on the liberal scale and she fell loves the place too. Neither of us particularly cares what the CEO donates his money to.

Algiz_sl said:

I posted aboutNaprelanon FoH, but I'll do it again.

Naprelan is... I think the pharmacy I work at charges $250ish cash price for 30 tablets. The cost we pay for 30 tablets isn't much below that.

Naprelan is a slightly higher dose of Naproxen.

Naproxen isnotterriblyexpensive.

"Greedy fuckers" seems about right.

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Controlling drug release rate isn't a trivial problem, however. There is a lot of time and money spent on the research to make that possible. I don't know a thing about this specific system, but in our lab setting up a controlled release platform for a drug can increase the cost by an order of magnitude. That isn't to say they aren't making buckets of money, but it is definitely more than just a slightly higher dose - there is a lot of technology in that pill to precisely control release kinetics.

Soygen_sl said:

Those are some lofty claims. You should bring this argument to the Fast Foot thread and hash it out with the pros.

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Get McCheese on this.. he's our resident morbidly obese food junkie. He once ate a 90-unit pizza roll bag cold like a bag of chips while dipping them in ranch sauce. He can be the judge of this.

Arbitrary_sl said:

Actually, I might never use Progressive ever again either. Back in 2009 a some kid came off the road and completely destroyed my car as it sat parked in my driveway. He was 100% at fault, his insurance company paid me 100% of the commercial blue book value, and aside from the unpleasantness of dealing with a claim's adjuster that was also an idiot (get cancer please) I was made whole. I even got a fancy new rental car to drive around for a few days at their expense. When my insurance came up for renewal later that year there was a 30% increase. I called twice trying to figure what was up and no one had any information for me. On the second phone call I was told that it wasn't really going up by that much. Would I like to renew over the phone?

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Insurance companies, especially Progressive, raise their rates all the damn time, and no one can tell you why exactly (it's to make more money).

Soygen_sl said:

Those are some lofty claims. You should bring this argument to the Fast Foot thread and hash it out with the pros.

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I have to agree with Gauss' claims about Chick-fil-a. Disregarding the food itself, I think anyone would be hard pressed to find an overall cleaner fast food chain with employees who are as polite and hard working as Chick-fil-a.

To be fair to McDonald's, Wendy's, and other national fast food chains, I think a lot of Chick-fil-a's cleanliness is simply a result of it being relatively new to the fast food scene. For example, I know of some McDonald's establishments in my area that have been operating for 50 years. Even with regular remodeling, a place that old will never match the shininess of the 2 - 3 year old Chick-fil-a restaurants down the street. That said, in my frequent visits to Chick-fil-a I have noticed that things just look more organized than most other places. The condiments area is a perfect example of this: the sugar, salt, straws, etc. area of my local Chick-fil-as look like they are maintained by someone with OCD; everything is nicely organized with nary a stray packet of sucralose out of place. Compare this with the Burger King and McDonald's in my town, where it's not uncommon to find torn straw wrappers littering the condiment counter and multicolored packets of various sugar substitutes intermingling with each other and sprinkled around the floor.

The cleanliness is reflected in the demeanor and work ethic of the employees (or, perhaps, the other way around). The most noticeable thing for me about ordering at Chick-fil-a is that the cashier actually speaks to me and smiles. The last few times I ate at McDonald's, for example, I approached the register and was greeted with...nothing. No "Hello", no "Welcome to McDonald's", not even a "What can I get you?" This was repeated after I received my order, when I didn't get so much as "Enjoy your meal". Meanwhile at Chick-fil-a I'm always greeted with a "Hello" or "Welcome to Chick-fil-a!" and a big smile. The work ethic, too, is noticeably better at Chick-fil-a. I'm a HUGE milkshake fan and I order milkshakes almost everywhere I go and let me tell you, fast food workers fucking HATE making milkshakes. If I order a shake at any place OTHER than Chick-fil-a I can almost see the distaste on the cashier's face and I almost NEVER get offered whatever condiments (cherry, whipped cream, etc.) come with it. At Chick-fil-a, however, I can't remember a time that the cashier didn't ask me "Would you like a cherry and whipped cream on that?" despite the fact that it makes more work for them.

To me, Chick-fil-a hearkens back to a time when fast food workers took pride in their job, their restaurant, and the food they served. When I eat at Chick-fil-a I feel like I'm being transported to a 1950s Whitecastle, where workers wore all white to show off their cleanliness and they genuinely took pride in their job. The fact that Chick-fil-a gives all employees Sundays off is just a cherry on the proverbial milkshake for me; as someone who worked many years in the service industry and constantly heard shit about "putting family first" despite having to work all weekend every weekend, it's nice to see a place that places actions before words.

I won't go into the aforementioned events and community outreach that Chick-fil-a does. I'll just say that I think it's nice to see a "big chain" place still trying to keep some semblance of community connection.

As Chick-fil-a continues to expand and grow I have my doubts that its dining experience will remain as high-quality as it currently is, but for the moment it offers the best dining experience of the nationwide fast food chains. I think it's telling that McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, and KFC have all become "get in, get your food, and get out" styles of places, while Chick-fil-a is "slowing down" fast food, so to speak, and creating an atmosphere that you're happy to bring your family to, sit down, and have an affordable, leisurely meal. As long as Chick-fil-a maintains this high level of fast food service I'll continue patronizing their establishments and overlook whatever controversies their owners might be stirring up.

Does Chick Fil-A have a whites only hiring policy? I've never seen an old mexican woman or spunky black teenager at Chick fil-a but every other FF restaurant has them.

It definitely can seem that way, but I've seen black teen girls working there too, and I think some latino as well. What's more interesting to me has always been the nice (usually white) attractive young teen girls they pull in, somehow in much greater proportion than other fast food. And half the male managers there seem like they are probably gay, which is sorta ironic I guess.

Mark 12:31

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.