It’s no secret, I love DD. So I was psyched when I heard that they were offering small iced coffees for $.50. I thought sweet, I’m hitting up every one in MA (I only went to two though). When I went in to the store, there was ONE tiny ad tent on the counter advertising the special. When I finally reached the counter I was able to read the ad. Only then did I find, in VERYsmall print that some of the proceeds are going to Home for Our Troops, an organization that builds and modifies homes for severely injured veterans. Only 10% of each sale is going to the charity.
I think it’s great that a large corporation is drawing attention to a worthy organization and cause, but nonetheless I think they went about it the wrong way. First of all, it seems that they are being greedy but with a sugarcoated facade. I would think, or at least hope, that if more people knew that proceeds from this special were going to a special cause, people would make a special trip to contribute. Or maybe even putting out a collection bucket on the counter would draw even more contributions and create more awareness.
Let’s remember that in 2006 DD made $4.7 BILLION in regular day to day sales. My thought is that they could spare more than 10% of sales from this one day promotion if they wanted to do better things. I would guess that they clear a pretty profit from each coffee sold, so why not suck it up and shave off a little of the profit, let’s say half of their $.50 special, and contribute that? I sincerely doubt that they would have to close up shop the next day.
I’m not going to preach about how veterans need help, the war, the effect the economy has on everyone etc. and I don’t like to speak negatively about my precious dealer, nonetheless everyone needs a little help, both financially and emotionally. So I applaud DD for it’s efforts in helping people do a good deed, I just think they could have done more.
