Dear Fred Meyers...

My letter to the Fred Meyer Customer Relationship Center:


Dear Fred Meyer Customer Relationship Center,

I have been a loyal customer in Bremerton, WA for the last three years and am generally very happy with your store. I love the employees and your product selection. I go shopping every week and we know many of the employees on a first-name basis.

My discontent is regarding your “Family Friendly” checkout lane. As a mother with small children, I always refuse to use any other lane. You can imagine my shock when I noticed this month in the family lane a “Betty and Veronica: Double Digest” comic book (#199) that showcased the girls in immodest swimsuits on the cover. This image is an objectification of women and is very inappropriate.  I do my best to protect my children from such images. That is why I refuse to check out in any other lane, and now the filth is encroaching on the one-and-only isle that is supposed to be safe for my children’s eyes. Please value the innocence of all the children in your stores and do a better job of selecting material for the family friendly lane.

On a similar note, the family lane in my store is very popular and it is clear to me that your patrons would be happy to see more lanes that were friendly to families. In fact, I find it odd that any of your lanes would be “un-friendly” to families as implied by your need to have one labeled as being “friendly.” All the material that is un-friendly to families should be located in a different part of the store - in a place that is not so visible by everyone. I realize that you have contracts with magazine distributors and you might lose money by removing them from each checkout lane, but I urge you to refrain from exposing indecent material to every customer that has to check out of your store.

I thank you in advance for your attention to these important matters.

Sincerely,
Lindsey St.Hilaire