I’ve owned this stock since it was Dayton Hudson Corporation. I’ve added to my holdings over the years and, what with splits and dividend reinvestment, it’s gotten to be a tidy little nugget. I think I’ll sell.
I don’t shop there anymore. I don’t need more stuff that will break in three months. Last time I was there, the florescent buzz got to me. The goods in shiny packages made me think of sweatshops, of young heads bent over piecework in Asian cities. I was ruined already for big box retail.
After years of outstanding performance, being a Target stockholder isn’t so great anymore. In this last recession Target got caught with its pants down; big losses on credit card defaults. Wal-Mart out-performed Target. Wal-Mart. I wouldn’t own Wal-Mart stock. I did shop at Wal-Mart in August 2009, but it was Nevada and I needed to equip for Burning Man.
Of course, even the most Spartan consumer must eventually procure toilet paper and gallons of 2% milk. Lately, I’ve been going to Costco where the House of Balls has a business account, free samples substitute for Friday night happy hour and they put “Mrs. Lucky”, my nickname, on my membership card. These are untraditional indicators that it’s time to adjust a stock portfolio, but they work for me.
So I’m not, strictly speaking, selling my shares because of Target Corporation’s support for the reactionary, anti-worker, bumbling Republican Candidate for Minnesota Governor, Tom Emmer. But that sure makes it easy.
Target Corporation isn’t going to miss my measly capital investment. But, I might kind of miss having it in my mix. It used to be a company I was proud to own.
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