Why I Still Boycott Publix and How It Has Changed My Life

To Publix, I am Case Ref # 1758234.

I triggered that moniker when I wrote the grocery chain after reading in my local newspaper that the Florida company had contributed “more money to Adam Putnam’s gubernatorial bid than any other candidate since at least 1995 and likely for the entirety of the company’s history.”

Tampa Bay Times reporter Steve Contorno reported that Publix, the heirs to the company’s founder and its current and former leaders had given Putnam a whopping $670,000 in the last three years, “or enough money to buy 74,527 chicken tender subs.”

I was not the only one who was outraged by this story. Putnam, who was running as a “proud NRA sellout,” was not popular with those who favor more strict gun regulation. News that Publix was pouring money into his campaign coffers sparked calls for a state-wide boycott. The store quickly released a press release insisting that its support of Putnam was not an endorsement of the National Rifle Association, but merely the support of a fellow hometown boy. Both Putnam and Publix trace their beginnings to the same rural area in Florida: Polk County. 

But that didn't stop the bleeding. Teenagers from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas in Parkland announced that they were going to stage a "die in" at their local Publix. They had recently experienced gun violence in a very directly and took Publix support of a "proud NRA sellout" personally.  “I guess I should’ve bought my flowers for the memorials somewhere else,” tweeted Alex Wind, who had survived the horrific massacre at the school that killed so many of his classmates.

Pictures of students lying down in the aisles of a South Florida grocery store was a public relations nightmare. Wisely, Publix didn't interfere with the students' peaceful protest and immediately announced that it would suspend all political contributions and review the matter. 

That seemed to do the trick. Things quieted down and most people went back to shopping at the place “where shopping is a pleasure.”

I didn’t.

I was alarmed that Publix had gotten away with leaving unanswered the really disturbing issue raised in Contorno’s story which had nothing to do with guns. Contorno had outlined how the man whom Publix was showering with mammoth political contributions had worked on the grocery store’s behalf to hide reports of health infractions at their stores from the public. Those contributions sounded awfully like a simple quid pro quo. We scratch your back and you scratch ours.

Putnam was not only Publix's hometown boy, he was its mole in state government. Putnam heads the state's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services which conducts health safety inspections at grocery stores. In other words, as head of that department, Putnam was overseeing the regulation of Publix’s 785 stores in Florida.

And in 2016 that hometown boy did Publix a big favor.

According to Contorno’s story, in 2016 WFTS- 
Channel 28 had reported that seven Tampa Bay area Publix stories had failed the department’s health inspections. In those stores, food inspectors found rodent droppings, bugs and hundreds of pounds of meat and other food stored at unsafe temperatures. They found that employees were not washing their hands, as instructed in every retail bathroom I have ever been in. WFTS-Channel 28 found out about those health hazards at Publix stores because at that time the Department of Agriculture -- yes, the department headed by Putnam -- routinely posted on its official website the names and addresses of all the stores in the state who “failed” inspection.

The next day after the TV report — the next day! — Putnam scrubbed the department’s website of all the notices of failed inspections and announced that he was eliminating the department’s pass/fail grading system which had been in place to warn the public of infractions. Now that it was Publix that was on the list, Putnam no longer wanted the list to be public.  Publix was an “industry leader” and “ought not be mislabeled based on minor infractions,” Putnam explained to WFTS-Channel 28. He failed to mention that Publix also was one of his major political contributors.

Six months later, Putnam launched a new approach to informing the public about the results of his department's inspections. Instead of receiving a failing grade, which might imply that it was so bad the establishment needed to be shut down, the worst labeling a supermarket now would face is “re-inspection required.”  Putnam (apparently a proud Publix sellout) decided that it was more important to protect Publix than to let the public be informed about which stores have rodent droppings or are leaving meat unattended.

I emailed Publix, raising my concern about this apparent quid pro quo and the lack of transparency that it now created. I received this email back, marked Case Ref. # 1758234. Note that the letter addresses me by my last name only, but signs with a first name only, as if from a friend:

Dear Ms. Hammond,

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. We regret that we have failed to meet your expectations. We would never knowingly disappoint our customers and we appreciate the trust you have placed in us to address your concern.

We recognize that our political contributions have caused an unintentional customer divide, and for this, we sincerely apologize. As we shared last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend corporate-funded political contributions, and reevaluate our processes to ensure that our giving better reflects our intended desire to support a strong economy and a healthy community.

We hope we have answered your question to your satisfaction. Should you have additional follow up, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care department at 1-800-242-1227. You may also contact us via email at www.publix.com/contact or write us at Publix Super Markets, Inc., P.O. Box 407, Lakeland, FL 33802, ATTN: Customer Care. Please be sure to reference your case identification number. We look forward to hearing from you again soon.
 

Sincerely,
Hannah
Customer Care

Here’s how I responded:

I was disappointed to receive this email which obviously was just a computer-generated response to anyone who sent an objection to the recent disclosures about your political activity. “Hannah” clearly did not read my email nor did she “answer” my concerns. I had already explained in my letter what I thought of Publix’s statement about “suspending” corporate-funded political contributions and, no, “Hannah” did not address the questions I raised. 

As I stated in my previous email, I was not thrilled that you gave such a large contribution to a “proud NRA sellout.” This country desperately needs more sensible gun control. Those Parkland kids have got it right.

But that was not my biggest concern. As I stated in my previous email, I am even more disturbed about the quid pro quo that you received, thanks to your generous contribution to Adam Putnam. Thanks to your political pressure through a substantial contribution, you were able to change the transparency that was in place to let the public know about health infractions at our grocery stores. Having any mention of such citations scrubbed clean from the Agricultural Commissioner’s site is not reassuring. I realize every industry does some political lobbying, but your getting away with such a blatant quid pro quo is very alarming to me. 

I am not so naive as to think that all grocery stores in Florida don't benefit from your political lobbying on this issue and that the grocery stores I have chosen to replace you could now also have health violations without my knowing, but as the 800-pound gorilla in the room, you were the one who pushed your weight around (with your greasing the palm of Adam Putnam) and made it impossible for me to know which stores have passed and failed inspections. In this era of political lies, corruption and unaccountability, I feel I need to draw a line in the sand. I need to hold you responsible for your actions.  Continuing to patronize your stores while you simply “reconsider” your political contributions is akin to letting you get away with what you have already done. I realize that my boycott will make no difference to you, but it is a stand I feel I need to take in order to send a message that such corporate influence on politicians is not acceptable.

So, I will be “suspending” my shopping at your stores and “reevaluating” whether you are putting the concern for your profits over your commitment to the needs of the general public. I assure you, I will be back as your customer the moment I see that you have used your considerable influence over politicians to assure that the results of the inspections of your stores — and others — are made public and that your industry is made accountable for health infractions. 

Meanwhile, I am shopping at Winn Dixie, Aldi’s and some small local produce markets. Believe me, I would rather be giving you my business. Like a lot of Floridians, I always thought you were the good guys. You treated your employees well. Your stores were clean. And, yes, shopping at Publix was a pleasure. So, do the right thing. Don’t just put out a lame public relations press release. Let people know that you support inspection transparency. Let people know you are for more reasonable gun control in this state. If you did that, it would then be truly a pleasure to return to your stores.

Sincerely,

Margo Hammond

Publix never answered this second email. I have continued to boycott the store. 

Meanwhile I have added a number of other grocery stores to my list of where I shop: Trader Joe’s, Lucky’s, Gordon Food Service, Walmart, Mazzaro’s, Meat House of St. Pete, Whole Foods, Earth Fare, Spiro’s Pasadena Produce and the Saturday Morning Market in downtown St. Petersburg.

In some cases, I had never set food in these stores before boycotting Publix. Ever since moving to Florida 25 years ago, I had only shopped at Publix, trekking there once a week for a big blowout shopping excursion. Now I shop in spurts, popping into a store whenever I can: before or after meeting with friends, before or after attending a concert or lecture, while I'm running other errands. I feel like a European who seeks out speciality shops and places with exceptional produce. Of course, I am retired and have this luxury of multiple shopping stops, but to my delight I find shopping has become for me more of a pleasure than devoting my whole Saturday morning to Publix. 

I also have discovered amazingly good buys. 

I have become addicted to the French Vanilla ice cream at Trader’s Joes, the fruit at Spiro’s (where do they get those delectable grapes?), the $5 sushi at Lucky’s on Tuesdays, ham hocks at the Meat House of St. Pete, potato salad at Gordon Food Service and $5 whole pump chicken at Earth Fare on Fridays.

I also learned that my husband really does listen to me when it counts.

I never asked him — or anyone else for that matter — to join my boycott, but he, too, has not set foot in a Publix except to pick up his free medicine at the pharmacy.

Early in my boycott, when I mentioned to a Winn Dixie cashier that I was boycotting Publix, she said, “You do realize, don't you, that your boycott won’t make any difference?”

If she meant financially, of course that is true. Publix's bottom line did not suffer as a result of my staying away. The company’s profits are up and it is doing so well, it recently announced, that it is expanding its Lakeland headquarters and adding 700 new jobs there.

But that Winn Dixie cashier was wrong. My boycott has made a difference. To me. Sometimes it has been inconvenient. From my house, I pass two Publix to get to any of the stores I now frequent. Sometimes I miss the croissants I used to buy at Publix. I have never found any as fluffy and crusty, and believe me, I've tried. But for all the bother, my private boycott has proven to me just what I am willing to do when I see something I think is wrong. For once I put my money where my political mouth is. 

And, as it turns out, doing what I think is right has had benefits I never would have imagined. My boycott has gotten me out of a shopping rut, forced me to explore the town I’ve lived in for more than a quarter of a century and showed me that my husband will stand with me.

On November 6, we all have a chance to voice our protests over what we have seen as wrong in these past two years. We have a chance to express our political opinions at the ballot box. Adam Putnam will not, despite all those Publix contributions, be on the ballot. In the Republican primary, he lost his bid to become his party's gubernatorial candidate. And after November 6 Putnam also will longer be the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture. Term-limited, he could not seek re-election to a third consecutive term.

So this is no longer about Adam Putnam. 

Instead, Floridians have a chance to elect an Agriculture Commissioner who might actually put consumers ahead of profits. In her bid to be our next Agriculture Commissioner, the Democrat, Nicole “Nikki” Fried actually puts protecting Florida consumers at the top of her list of what she would do if elected. As a bonus she is not the candidate endorsed by the NRA. And, yes, that is a marijuana leaf that she's holding in her ad below: She vows to fight to fully implement Florida's medical marijuana law.

I didn't ask anyone to join me in my boycott of Publix, but I am asking everyone who reads this blog to join me in voting for Nicole "Nikki" Fried for Agriculture Commissioner.

If she wins, I've decided to end my Publix boycott. I will never return, however, to only shopping at Publix. My boycott has changed me. I'm a diversity shopper now and there's no going back.