Perhaps by now you've seen or heard the story (verified by Snopes) of the soldier who received a rude reply from Discount Mats after inquiring as to whether they shipped their products to APO addresses:

SGT Hess,
We do not ship to APO addresses, and even if we did, we would NEVER ship to Iraq. If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq.

Bargain Suppliers
Discount-Mats.com

First, be aware that Snopes has NOT yet heard back from Discount Mats, so it's possible that the person sending the response was not actually the person authorized to handle such inquiries. It's happened before.

Second, I want to take issue with this comment by PoliPundit:

Contact DISCOUNT MATS and let them know how wrong they are. Freedom of speech?

And who exactly protects that right?

This is NOT a freedom of speech issue. Discount Mats is NOT a governmental organization. They have the right to say whatever they want, including setting shipping policy, being rude to their customers, and telling soldiers what they think of their mission.

On the other hand, they deserve no protection from the CONSEQUENCES of their free speech. Including boycotts and angry e-mails. So feel free to sound off to contact@discount-mats.com. But do be aware that they seem to be dealing with a large volume of mail right now, so you may not receive a response.

If you DO decide to e-mail them, please be aware that a LOT of companies don't ship to APO and FPO addresses, simply because it requires a lot of extra work on their part to ship the items. In most cases, it's a matter of economics and shouldn't be assumed to reflect any sort of opinion of the troops or their mission.

So if you want to contact them, please try to stick with the facts and allow for the possibility that there's some sort of misunderstanding underlying this episode. Consider asking for clarification rather than making accusations. Personally, my e-mail consisted of a simple inquiry: "Do you ship to APO addresses?".

I think they got the message.

Assuming their e-mail server hasn't melted down by now.

ADDENDUM (from Snopes) - Sgt. Hess has already found an alternative supplier for his mats, and is snowed under with supportive e-mails. There's no need to contact him.

UPDATE: I should credit blogson Contagion of Miasmatic Review for pointing out to me that Snopes has a mailing list you can subscribe to, which is how I first found out about this story.

Posted by: Harvey at 08:37 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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