The rocket surgeons who run CarMax, one of the nation’s largest chain of used car lots, think they have a winning sales promotion idea. They believe that an opportunity to buy one of their used cars with a personalized bumper sticker supporting gun control will bring in more customers.
I’ll wait while you stop laughing.
It’s true, though. They put out a press release touting their new sticker promotion in support of their “customers’ passions” . . .
Richmond, VAâIn a recent YouGov survey, CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) found that the number one reason people display bumper stickers, decals or magnets on their cars is to make a statement about themselves, their values and interests. Of the respondents who had not displayed a sticker, nearly a quarter said it’s because they hadn’t found one that represents them. With that in mind, CarMax, the nation’s largest retailer of used cars, is giving customers in Chicago, Las Vegas and Phoenix the option to swap out the signature CarMax sticker displayed on the cars they sell and replace it with personalized stickers that reflect causes that customers care about. Timed to celebrate National Philanthropy Day on Friday, Nov. 15, CarMax is also demonstrating the company’s financial support of customers’ passions with a total donation of $300,000 to nonprofit partners…
Three hundred grand? For a company that pulled in over $18 billion in revenue in 2018, that’s spare change. That .0016% of sales ranks as quite a bold demonstration of the company’s philanthropic commitment.
Put another way, if you made $100,000 last year, CarMax’s philanthropy here is the equivalent of a $1.65 donation. My wife spent about twice that on an Egg McMuffin this morning.
The story continues…
Each customer who buys a car from CarMax may choose from a selection of personalized stickers to display on their vehicle in place of the traditional CarMax sticker. Sticker options highlight the company’s support for nonprofit partners in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Phoenix that are involved in the following causes: animal welfare, arts and culture, city engagement, education, food security, LGBTQIA+, outdoor conservation, safe communities, veterans and military families, and youth sports and play.
In addition to local nonprofit partners, CarMax is also supporting national nonprofits KaBOOM!, dedicated to creating more equitable play spaces for all kids, and The Mission Continues, empowering veterans to continue their service, and empowering communities with veteran talent, skills and preparedness to generate visible impact. CarMax is also donating to Everytown for Gun Safety in support of its program Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, an organization committed to fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence.
And among CarMax’s nonprofit “partners:” Everytown for Gun Control. Disarming the law-abiding victims of violent criminals is supposed to “protect people from gun violence?” Is CarMax headquartered in Colorado?
These “public safety measures” espoused by Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown operation might protect some people from gun violence – if the people we’re talking about are the criminals.
The bottom line here: CarMax has chosen to wade into social justice politics in an effort to curry favor from a tiny minority of the market. Their company leadership must not be familiar with the expression, “get woke, go broke.” Let’s see how quickly they’re introduced to the concept.
Meanwhile, Ed Stack from Dick’s Sporting Goods was unavailable for comment.
Looks like you can stickers from them for about anything. I don’t care for Carmax but this story is a nothing burger. They have free speech as we do. At least supposed to.
carmax is also donating money to the bloomberg/shannon watts anti civil rights group. That’s more than a nothing burger
Maybe not quite a nothing burger, but certainly a yawn completely unworthy of the hysterical shouting and clickbait headline.
Seems someone got a little triggered by a company’s prerogative. When did gun owners become such a bunch of sissies who freak out about anything remotely against their loose philosophical underpinnings? Heck, gun owners argue with each other about who is the most loyal to the (undefined) cause.
The bald bearded dude at my LGS thinks we all should have bazookas, grenades, RPGs and even nukes. And don’t even think about disagreeing with him. Just take it on the chin and keep him away from any nearby microphones.
The bald bearded dude at you LGS is right, Elmer.
I have to agree with the bald, bearded guy. If we, the people, should be able to defend the country from tyrannical government, we need better hardware than rifles. That’s the way the founding fathers wanted it.
Ok, slightly more than a pure nothing burger. Let’s put it in the “Where’s the beef?” category.
The money is spread far and wide. I bet they’re just including Everytown because it has a nice, positive sounding name. It’s like when legislators give their bills lofty, lovable names, regardless what fresh hell you’ll find therein when you read it after passing it.
I’m not saying Carmax isn’t acting irresponsibly with this. They are. I’m just not immediately convinced they have a whole anti-2A agenda in mind.
Either you missed the part in bold type or I totally misread that.
And you missed the part where the donation is a trivial joke as well as the part where the customer gets to choose whatever cause they want from a long list that includes many worthy causes as well as a couple you or I would consider unworthy.
“Causes” that want to take away my rights are somewhat worse than “unworthy”.
Yeah, causes like âfood securityâ. What the heck is that anyway?!?
Most of the causes on that list seem to favor left wing idealism, but carlax would never get my money anyway, so all I could do is complain on the internet about how I donât like their ideals or the way they treat potential customers.
Oh and I agree with the bearded bald lgs guy as well, with the possible exception of the nukes. Iâm not so sure any iduvidual or entity should have one of those. Itâs bad enough that they exist at all.
Bolding something doesn’t make it important. They’re not slapping an Everytown sticker on every car people buy, they’re giving people a menu of ‘individual’ opinions to choose from. Big deal.
And they’re giving a portion of every sale to Everytown for Gun Cofiscation, which IS a big deal. F Carmax.
Okay, where is the choice of NRA, GOA or SAF stickers? What about donations to some pro-rights groups? Carmax took a stance supporting a group that wants to strip away my human rights. Now I know where to not go when I need a car.
Agree with Minuteman. It’s their company and they can do what they want. I prefer it that way, not only for free speech issues but to allow anti-gunners to make their intentions known so we know how to spend our dollars wisely.
Not that I’ll ever be in the market for another vehicle anytime in the near future. I bought my truck brand new many years ago and treat it like gold, and expect to have it the rest of my life. I’ll be that guy driving the restored and maintained “new vintage” truck from the turn of the century when I’m in my ’80s.
Gotta agree with Haz. The flip side is the proliferation of places I can buy another vehicle. These guys are bottom feeders that I would be happy to send an anti-gunner to, since that leaves them with less money to spend on political donations to unworthy causes. Carmax will give the least value for the most money, and likely leave them with a fat stack of repair bills to fix what wasn’t right with the car to start with.
I was never dumb enough to bite but that was the exact experience at the Tampa store from a lot of people I know. Especially the repair bill part.
“Itâs their company and they can do what they want.” Is just spineless drivel. Go by a pair Nancy.
Just a PR stunt. They just want to be in the news. Another “Save the (fill in the blank) animal” or “Stop global (fill in the blank)” “Love this, Hate that”. I’m more ‘woke’ than you are…blah…blah… I’m special…..
I think somebody needs to switch to decaf. As Minuteman says, CarMax is supporting a wide variety of things across the spectrum.They’re not “wading into social justice politics” (I guess social justice is why they’re supporting The Mission Continues, right?). Mr. Boch’s kind of hyperventilating hysteria isn’t going to help fight gun control.
If Carmax wanted to take the broad view like Amazon and offer customers the choice to fund Moms Destroy Civil Rights, or the SAF, or Students for Concealed Carry, that would be acceptable.
Including just one side of this debate, along with a host of other SJW causes, and including a few nonpolitical causes does not cover up the fact that they’re campaigning against our rights and our country, unless you’re being willfully blind to it.
“Including just one side of this debate, along with a host of other SJW causes, and including a few nonpolitical causes does not cover up the fact that theyâre campaigning against our rights and our country, unless youâre being willfully blind to it.”
Bingo! They are supporting those who would deny you your enumerated civil rights with no thought to supporting those who enable them. “Live and let live” end where my civil rights begin.
Cant buy from Amazon, Walmart, Dicks and now Carmax. That sucks. Those were my four favorite places to spend money.
Iâm in your court, too. Keeping a running list of the anti-Second Amendment retailers. They have a right to their opinion and I have a right (so far) to not patronize their places of business.
NO they have a right to the opinion of the majority of their shareholders. Absent knowledge of what that is they need to STFU and conduct their business as adults.
They can protect you from gun violence by making sure you donât survive! Dead people canât get shot!! They win!!!!
Grossly overpriced used car’s? I would never buy from THESE diot’s anyway. Plenty of progun dealer’s out there. As an aside Gordon Robertson on 700Club went on an anti-2A tirade today as in “no one needs an ASSault rifle,hi-caps clips and no one under 21 should have a gun”. That’s beyond FUDD…
If you actually watch that stupid shit you deserve whatever your eyes and ears deliver to you.
Now I’ll apologize in advance if you simply saw this as a news item or such.
Otherwise, If I don’t get a 2019 Beech Baron G58 before Christmas, God is going to call me home. I have a Go-FundMe page if you’re interested in saving my life.
God bless!
Erich Johann Klaus v.Schmitto
This is timely for me; I was in the process of purchasing a car from them.
For the first time, I actually get to go to someone and say “Your company’s virtue signaling is literally the only thing stopping me from giving you a commission, right now, today. Bye.”
Normally I just stop dealing with companies that piss me off, but I’ve already got an appointment, so….
Ooo, nice. Please provide a follow-up report to tell us how it went. I’d like to do that, too, if I were ever planning to buy another vehicle soon (which I’m not).
Let us know.
Carmax is a ripoff. I went to them a couple of years ago looking for a decent used car. They had a model that I like advertised at a nice sale price. Started going through the paperwork hoops and they have a long list of extended warranties, roadside service, etc, etc that added about $5,000 to the price of the vehicle. I asked the young lady who was helping me what would happen if I didn’t purchase all the added programs. Well, that nice sale price just went up by, you guessed it, $5,000. I said “Thanks, but no thanks” and walked out.
Another outfit that next year will try to explain away their loss of revenue by pullin some obscure excuse outta their butts!đ€„
What is their “outdoor conservation” charity? Could be a good place for them to fit a pro gun organization to balance it out if they decide to step back from the cliff.
They picked a local organization in each city. For Chicago itâs one for protecting the river. (I didnât look this one up.)
One promotes outdoor gardens at schools; generally a good idea, but not exactly âconservationâ in any kind of broad sense. (And yes, they encourage people to âvote for green politicians.â)
The third is called âTrees Matterâ because theyâve allied themselves with Black Lives Matter.
Could my “safe communities” charity be JPFO or GOA?
Silly rabbit! Carmax money is for gun grabbers!
I sometimes wonder if our enemies feint stupidity to throw us off guard.
It really makes you you wonder doesn’t it?
Car Max needs to be boycotted out of business. Business may think taking “socially conscious” action might be nice and P.C. BUT it takes out the business realm and exposes them to potentially unwanted and perhaps retaliatory action. If they claim free speech so can the retaliatory.
It’s a tax deduction. Figure it out.
Let them know why you won’t buy from them.
We probably won’t make a big impact, but letting them know why might cause them to reconsider (if they were not dedicated, but just bandwagon hopping).
https://www.carmax.com/about-carmax/contact-us
Just one less merchant for me to ever bother with.
No loss on my part.
Although in truth I haven’t bought a car since 2002 don’t needem.
Motorcycle or trike 365 days a year.
Aint it great in the sunshine state??
I do have a 1997 Cougar in 100% perfect shape in the garage. But with only 66K on it.
It will outlast me.
It depends Jay. I’m in Wesley Chapel (for 25 years) but it was 27 degrees Tuesday in my home town of Ft Walton beach. My Nephew in Crestview is a bike only guy and I texted him and he said it was 25 on his way to work. My bones can’t take that shit anymore.
I want a “Nuke the whales” bumper sticker. I haven’t seen one since the 80’s.
One of my favorites – “Stop the Violins, Visualize Whirled Peas”.
I always liked it because it’s a humorous stab in the eye for a lot PC BS, but only when it was on someone else’s vehicle. Too many angry, humorless idiots out there these days and it’s not worth risking passive aggressive damage to your ride unless you’re intentionally driving an old beater.
Before I drive off the lot, I have the dealer, remove their dealership sticker, and stupid license plate frame anyways .
Comparing expenditure to revenue is dumb. You should look at net profits.
This. And comparing company’s revenue to personal income doesn’t make much sense either.
Faux outrage.
And saying 300k is nothing makes no sense… itâs not the percentage of their profits that you care about… itâs the 300k… if someone donated 300,000 to me I wouldnât bitch that they are a millionaire.
I hate to see this. I bought a vehicle through CarMax this year and it was a good buying experience. Some marketing twit has decided that tapping into liberal sensibilities is a good ploy. The stickers don’t bother me, but the donations does. Sick of this feel good bullshit.
Overpaying by 20%. How it that good.
Carmax business model is aimed a divorced soccermoms who are too weak to negotiate. Support by millions of $ is TV adds (who do you think pays for that).
CarMAX is one of the most overpriced dealers I can think of. I don’t even bother looking at their inventory.
Their offer on a trade or buy is even more insulting than most dealers.
CarMAX, CVS, Dicks, and a few others will never see another dime from me… They are free to support whoever and whatever they want, and I am free to not patronize their businesses with my hard earned money. That’s what America is about, freedom of choice. But when someone tells me you can’t have that gun because they don’t want you to have what they don’t like, well, I buy 2 or more of that… Keep telling me I can’t have guns and ammo and I will just buy more and keep supporting the businesses you hate…Put up a “No Guns” sign (30.06/30.07 sign), well I’m going to spend twice as much at your competitor.
A LGBTTQQIAAP decal? You’re gonna need a bigger bumper.
Personally I’m partial to “LGBTQIA2+”
I had to look that one up, LGBTQIA2+ really exists. Seems they ran out of letters and moved on to numbers now.
And other characters. That’s what makes me laugh.
That’s the whole point of the insanity rabbit hole.
Give an inch, take a mile. See how much bully can be gotten away with before the blowback occurs, which may be never.
Carmax is the way to buy a car if you don’t know much about cars and don’t want to bother trying to get a good deal. The customers there aren’t going to care either way.
It’s almost worth buying a car from CarMax to have the opportunity to tell them to fold their bumper sticker until it’s all sharp corners and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.
So what? Hopefully everyone of you turds are showing your true colors on in your everyday life as well.
Its not what the anti gunners are doing to piss us off, its what we the people should be doing to piss off the anti gunners!!!
I think they overlooked the irony that cars kill way, way more people than gun violence.
Another company I will not spend my money with. THX.
Every week theres a new letter in the acronym for the sexually confused snowflakes…
That just shows you egg mcnutties are way over priced.
Carmax can donate to whatever cause they want. Go ahead. I personally, choose to not support those businesses that I can see are trying to undermine my rights. I’m only one person but this is the only way I have to show my disagreement with their policy. Just like Nike, Levi Strauss (both of whom I’ve supported by purchasing for about 40 years), the Dick’s and others; I no longer support or buy from. My personal boycott will likely have zero effect on their businesses but it’s what I choose.
BTW, would these discussions be any different if the companies now virtue-signaling with their actions/policies against the 2nd Amendment were advocating for attacking other rights? Like the 1st Amendment, or the 4th Amendment or the 5th?
And before you think, “That would never happen.” Did anyone ever think we would be where we are now in this country, say 40 years ago? I know I never considered it.
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