Military spouses are incredibly loyal to individuals and businesses which are military-friendly. And let’s face it, more often than not, we’re the ones making the purchasing decisions for the household. We’re usually the Chief Financial Officer.
Yesterday, someone forwarded an email to me. A credit union has asked their members to do something wonderful for deployed service members.
Please Help with this Special Cause
In honor of our troops, and in the spirit of the upcoming holidays, [name redacted for now] is asking you, our members, to help Q100′s the Bert Show with the Bert Show’s Big Thank You. The Bert Show’s Big Thank You is a collective effort to receive 375,000 letters–enough for each member of the U.S. military currently stationed outside of the country to receive one. The purpose of the letter is to express thanks to the military personnel serving the United States.
Each letter should be heartfelt, handwritten, original, and free of any political statements. All letters must be on 8.5 X 11 paper or smaller. Do not use glue, tape, staples, cardboard, glitter or otherwise attach anything to the paper. Please do NOT send anything except letters. We cannot accept donations of any kind, and they should not be included or attached to letters.
The deadline to help is fast approaching. Letters must be received by 4pm on Thursday, October 25th.
The email prompted me to act on something I have been thinking about for quite some time. A new monthly segment here at SpouseBUZZ – The SpouseBUZZ Smooch.
As I said at the top, milspouses are unwaveringly loyal to those who bend over backwards for military families. We have highlighted several businesses here at SpouseBUZZ, and on SpouseBUZZ Talk Radio, for outstanding service to the military community. We’ve also spoken with celebrities who are using their celebrity to help our troops. Spouses have a grapevine that nobody can match. Just last week, several of us were discussing two companies which provide the same product. One of the spouses pointed out the long and stellar record with respect to taking care of military families on the part of one of the companies, and it was quickly decided which company deserved our attention. Milspouses will go out of our way to patronize businesses that make us feel special. We do it all the time.
We’re very fortunate to have this blog and our radio show. One of the ways we can use these platforms is to make you aware of who is looking out for you. It’s not a one-way street. We should give back, too, which is why we’re starting The SpouseBUZZ Smooch, one small way to thank those who support us.
Once a month, we’ll highlight a business that has shown its support for the military community. A business which has put the politics of war aside (which is what we do here at SpouseBUZZ) in favor of supporting our community. We’ll tell the story of why they were selected in a blog post and we’ll encourage you to let your fellow military spouses know about the good deed(s) so they can patronize the business. I will print out the blog post and comments, and send them to the business so that they know how much we appreciate their support. In addition, if they would like to come on air with us, a spokesperson for the business will be invited to participate in a segment on SpouseBUZZ Talk Radio. No strings. No stunts. Just a way to highlight a good deed and say "thanks, we appreciate you."
Thankfully, there are so many worthy businesses, small and large, who are doing great things for the military community. This is where you come in. If you know of one, tell us about it in the comment section. Give us a list of businesses which deserve consideration and tell us why. We’ll take your nominations. The business can be local or national. Big or small. Service or product focused. Mom-and-Pop or Chain. Doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the business has a proven track record with respect to caring for the military community. However, we don’t want non-profits to be nominated. We highlight those separately through our In Focus program.
For obvious reasons, we will vet the nominations as fully as we can to be sure that they are worthy candidates. If you have supporting links, etc., please make sure to leave those, too. If you’re more comfortable emailing your candidate, you can email it in.
We’ve highlighted businesses and celebrities on a more informal, ad hoc basis before at SpouseBUZZ. Previous kudos:
A real estate agent in Virginia
So, here we go…..
Nominations?
About Andi
Comments
New York & Company is one of my absolute favorite stores. Anytime I go into a mall with an NY&Co, it's usually my first stop. Well after reading the post you wrote about the store last year, I went to two NY&Co's back home in NJ and asked if they had a military discount. Both times the cashiers looked at me like I was crazy and asked what that was. I guess only NY&Co's near military installations offer discounts. It makes me sad but I'll still shop there! There isn't a NY&Co near my base though.
Don't forget Goody's
or SEARS
What a super idea!!!
In regards to small businesses, I went to a newly opened business in our tiny town, which sells strictly Carhartt stuff. Yes, you likely think 'redneck' when that name brand is mentioned :) But….the stuff is great for being on the farm in winter and it is mega expensive!
Anyway, as I always do, I asked if they gave a military discount. The response was, "I never thought of that, but we should do that." The nice lady said that since they hadn't implemented a discount, she would give me one product free. She said "that is how country people give discounts." I thought that was cute, but I was more than grateful, they expressed their thanks for all the military does. I will go back and shop there again and spread the word around our installation.
See, it never hurts to ask for a discount! :)
Don't forget Goody's
or SEARS
Niki – I've shopped at four NY&C stores, the most recent was this past Saturday, and it wasn't located in a military town. You should press them, it's my understanding that this is a national policy. The clerks may be unaware of it, but you should press them on it…
I love LMT's story above! A business which, on the fly, made a policy to accomodate military families. Awesome.
And by the way, let's not just focus on businesses which offer discounts, but also those who go out of their way to help us. Two years ago, a milspouse told me her story of being stranded on the side of the road during a snowstorm. The towing company came to get her and her kids. During the drive, she told him that her husband was deployed. It was near Christmas. As a Christmas gift and a way to thank her family for their service, he didn't charge them for the tow. How awesome is that? She insisted on paying, but he wouldn't hear of it. I wish I had the name of that company now, they would be a great candidate for a SpouseBUZZ Smooch.
Andi, that story you mentioned is just awesome. It just brings chills and appreciation!!
Hot Topic not only has 10% off in stores, but they will honor that for online purchases, too. You have to call them and get a code, but they do.
HSLDA offers a discount for homeschooling military members, AND they work darn hard to help with transition issues for us.
Not all the military friendly business's I've been contact with offer a discount or money off, but sometimes it's just an acknowledgement or a sign that says, "Thanks to our troops and their families!" that will keep me coming back indefinately.
Ruth's Chris Steak. We went there for our last meal. I had made the reservations online and clicked the "special occasion" box not thinking much about it. The waiter was wonderful and asked what the special occasion was. I told him. Turned out he was former Army himself. Wonderful meal. The waiter told us to order some desserts on them. Great! Then the waiter delivered the bill and said there was something special inside for us. OK.
Needless to say, I was not expecting in a million years what I found inside.
It was a check with zeros. And no other numbers. And a thank you card. They took care of our dinner that night and made life-long customers for special occasions.
What a great story, BW. Reminds me of the time my husband and I were dining and a prom couple was eating across from us. My wonderful husband anonymously picked up their tab. They were so cute and we loved watching the look on his face when the waiter told him his tab was paid.
At any rate, love the email submissions, too. Plenty of smooch-worthy candidates in the making. Keep em coming…
USAA. they were incredibly helpful when DH was TDY overseas, and when he was deployed, they were very responsive. And now, with the PCS – again superb service.
LAW
I have to agree with Andi. I LOVE USAA!! They were absolutely wonderful when my husband deployed. I notified them when he was coming home so they could unsuspend him from our insurance and add him to a new checking account. They were so helpful and even sent a "deployment" coin.
I was actually looking for a website that posts military unfriendly stores. I would love to see one start up as I had the worst experience with Hannoush Jewelers and will never shop there again! When the manager saw my military ID card as I pulled out my wallet, she actually made a horrible comment about the troops in Iraq being criminals. Needless to say, I left immediately!
On a lighter note, my girls love the Hot Topic discount and we also love our fabulous T-Mobile discount (15% and no activation fees)!
Just thinking locally, Baskin Robbins offers a 10% discount. And they know me well. hee hee
You can add Equifax to military unfriendly companies. I wanted to dispute my credit report. Neither their website nor the automated phone service recognize my Euoropean armed forces zip code and promptly terminated my inquiry.
Be sure to add HP as a severely military unfriendly employer. I have worked for them for over six years and am on my second reservist activation. They changed their military leave policy to state that employees cannot accrue vacation time while on military leave (even though federal law states otherwise). I was not informed of this change until I was already on military leave waiting…and waiting…and waiting for the vacation time I had put in for (and had approved) after I was activated. In addition, my pay stub after my last activation indicated over 250 hours of accrued vacation time. Once they caught their "mistake" of allowing it to accrue (when I wanted to use it on my current activation), they actually RECOUPED it. They took it away as they "claimed" they had made a mistake by allowing it to accrue during my last activation. I'm sure they have re-written their policy very recently to reflect that employees will not accrue vaca time while on mil leave. If you are in the marked to buy a pc, BUY DELL!!