Freedom to Create my own Policies

Last week there was an uproar in the homeschooling community over Subway not including homeschoolers in an essay contest they were holding. Then a couple of days later, I saw a post in a forum where someone was complaining about the application process required to join the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce.

Subway’s contest is for “legal residents of the United States who are currently over the age of 18 and have children who attend elementary, private or parochial schools that serve PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted. Employees, and members of their families of Scholastic and Subway, their parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and their advertising, promotion and production agencies are not eligible to enter.”

The VACOC has a detailed application process which includes a 500 word minimum essay. There is also a $50 per month membership fee.

In both cases, I was a bit bewildered about what I thought were over-reactions. First of all, I was not at all offended by Subway’s decision to exclude homeschoolers from the contest (and yes - as a conservative, Catholic Christian, I will be homeschooling my son). And second, the application process for VACOC does not bother me in the least (no - am not a member of VACOC, nor do I plan to become one any time in the near future).

You see, I am a business owner. I have my own boundaries and standards. I make my own policies and get to choose whom I will work. I get to choose in what direction I want my business to go. If someone doesn’t fit in with those choices, then he or she doesn’t work with me - and that’s okay.

Shouldn’t I afford that courtesy to others? Baring illegal discrimination - which is wrong, wrong, wrong - private businesses and business owners have the right to their own policies and boundaries. If I don’t like the policies or practices of a given company, I don’t do business with them. It’s that simple.

To be fair, I can understand why a lot of homeschoolers were up in arms over Subway’s choice - considering the recent rulings in California. Still, I think we need to be careful not to over-react to every little choice a company makes.

So, what do you think? I’d love to hear your comments on this. Do you think Subway was wrong to exclude homeschooling families from the essay contest? What do you think about the VACOC application process? What are your thoughts about standards and policies in general?

By the way (in regards to standards and boundaries), check out Stacy Brice’s post about how she dealt with her apartment building owners. I *love* this story!