What companies will you never give another dollar to?
What happened that put them on your blacklist?
I go by more of a criteria than a list. This criteria is followed personally but fits even more at my own workplace in the protocol. The criteria is really just things like “these businesses do not follow courtesy”, things like GoodWill, Autism Speaks, and Catholic Charities. There’s a charity ranker that has listed Catholic Charities as the top charity almost three years in a low. That’s on the blacklist too, we’ve known better all along. I can give a much larger list if asked.
It’s one thing to treat your people like fools, it’s another to run on gifting by members and still do it.
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Caledonian Sleeper who carefully wriggled out of paying a refund on a booking cancelled by the March 2020 C***d lockdown.
BP. Obvious reasoning.
I think it’s easier to say which ones haven’t made my blacklist
Amazon - human rights violations in their warehouse
Not that I have progressed enough financially yet to be in a position to buy a Tesla Model S, it’s gone from a dream car to something I’d be ashamed to own because of being disillusioned by who Elon Musk is over the past few years.
I just got the job I’ve been striving for since 2015. Early on, I said I wanted to get a Tesla when I could afford it. Now I can and don’t want one. I’d take one if it was given to me, but I’d just resell it. I don’t want anything to do with Musk.
There are plenty of other cheaper, better made cars out there, that don’t have stupid bullshit like charging you to replace the entire backseat because the seatbelts stained.
I still deal with every company people here are listing. I even really like some of them despite the owners views etc. (if you make a good chicken sandwich and beat your wife, I’m still gonna eat that sandwich while hoping you go to jail).
I have not seen anyone mentioning Reddit yet though, and that kinda shocks me. I know it’s not the same as giving them a dollar but they’ve received no eyeballs, add revenue or obviously content from me since the exodus.
I also eat at Chick-fil-A occasionally, but it’s mainly because there are so few places I actually like the food. I do feel bad each time because I know the profit from my meal is going to fund some pretty awful lobbyists. It’s not just giving money to a bigot, it’s giving money to a bigot who is very active in politics.
It’s increasingly hard to avoid that though. It seems like every single owner of each company in the fortune 500 is actively trying to drag us back into feudalism.
All of those shitty Big Tech companies including Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle and many others, all corporate Social Media platforms (including Reddit of course, fuck Spez), those shitty Hollywood media corporations, CDNs like Cloudflare or Akamai, Tesla and everything related to Elon Musk, Starbucks, basically all fast food chains, every Chinese or Russian company, every Israeli company, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Nestle and many others. I also try to stay away from PayPal, banks and insurance companies as much as possible, they are criminals.
We shouldn’t just focus on shitty companies. Foundations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are basically tax-exempt billionaire investment funds in disguise. This is a great video about the lies of billionaire philanthropy: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OH4uh8cHuto
Sounds like you’re left with almost no modern conveniences or technology. I don’t mean this disparagingly, but I am curious how you live your life and ensure you are truly not using any of these companies or their subsidiaries, or even those shitlist companies if they are a white box supplier of someone else not on your list. Or even if a mom and pop shop down the street is using technologies, software, or appliances from one of these companies to run their local business…
Doesn’t seem possible in reality. Or at the very least seems like a full time job that would get really futile after a while.
As someone who attempts to do the same, you’re right, it’s not possible to completely avoid doing business with these companies. But, I still make an effort to avoid them, I won’t give up and start buying directly from Amazon’s site, just because I can’t avoid them 100%. Nothing is black and white, we all live in the gray zones.
Sounds like you’re left with almost no modern conveniences or technology.
You are right, I forgot one exception. I do use a Google Phone because these have the best support for alternative operating systems. I replaced the Stock Android which is filled with Google spyware with GrapheneOS, an entirely open-source version of Android which makes many privacy and security improvements and gets rid of any Google services. Watch this video to learn more about it: https://piped.smnz.de/watch?v=yTeAFoQnQPo
On my laptops/computers, I exclusively use Linux. I refuse to touch any bloated, ad- and spyware-infested Windows computer. Yes, even at work. As a DevSecOps and Senior Linux engineer, I am free to choose whatever operating system I want. Free and open-source software is the way to go.
I use Firefox (LibreWolf, a better version of Firefox to be percise) with DuckDuckGo as my search engine, I watch YouTube videos through Piped, I use Signal as my messenger, I use Proton for Email, I self-host Nextcloud for my files, contacts, calenders, etc.
For entertainment, I simply pirate the content which gives me much more freedom compared to shitty streaming services like Netflix. That way, I also don’t have to give these shitty corporations any money. I use the open-source Jellyfin media server to consume content from my media library. I do the same thing using Navidrome for my music.
Regarding Social Media, Lemmy is probably the only thing I use. I don’t need Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or TikTok.
And the list goes on and on. I could write an entire book about avoiding proprietary software and shitty corporations.
ensure you are truly not using any of these companies or their subsidiaries
I do everything in my control to avoid it. I can’t 100% guarantee it, but that’s also not my goal. Not giving them my money or my data is enough for me.
Or even if a mom and pop shop down the street is using technologies, software, or appliances from one of these companies to run their local business…
Well, that’s out of my control.
I’m going to go classic and name a company that personally wronged me: Noodles & Co. I used to work in a mall and every single restaurant in the mall had a mall employee discount. It was usually a token discount between 5-10% but still it made a difference on your lunch break during an 8 hour shift. Noodles & Co. had no discounts for mall employees and one time I found a hair in my food there. It’s petty but since then I have never returned to that restaurant
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Shell ExxonMobil
Netflix Spotify
Why the last two?
Netflix for me because some of their good shows only lasts a season or two while the bad ones gets to 4 or more. Spotify because of how low they pay their artists.
This is a colossal list
Easyjet. They sent us an update in their app saying they delayed our flight a few hours due to ill pilot. We were waiting near the gate (nearest cafe) but not quite within view, and no flight boards nearby. They decided not to delay after all but did not send an update to the app, and nothing over loudspeakers. My paranoia got the better of me so i wandered down to the gate around the original time of flight to take a look. When I saw they were boarding after all i called the family down, but we had missed it by a minute or so. They would not let us board. They preferred to delay the flight while they unloaded our baggage. We had to pay for and book with another airline to arrive at our hotel at midnight losing a day of our Greek Island holiday. When we complained to their service desk, they refused to refund us, and said “we DO suggest you always keep up to date by watching the flight boards”. There was a giant sign by their desk that literally said “download our app to keep up to date on your flights”. I will never give those fucks another dollar, and I tell this story to anyone who will listen.
They preferred to delay the flight while they unloaded our baggage
Thats the part that would have me launched to the moon on a red hot rage rocket.
Cant take 30 seconds to let me board because your shitty fucking service told me it was delayed? But you’ll delay the plane 20 minutes to dig my baggage out of the hold and make everyone elses day on board miserable?
What kind of United Airlines level of pure customer hatred is that?!
