Rhode Island is the fifth state to get more than 50% of its population fully vaccinated against covid-19. Four more states have passed South Dakota in full vaccination rates, pushing us to 23rd in the nation at 42.36%.
So for the 57.64% of you still dawdling about doing the most practical patriotic act you can this year, maybe free groceries from Hy-Vee will help:
Hy-Vee announced they will start giving out gift cards to individuals who get a COVID-19 vaccination at a Hy-Vee pharmacy or pop-up Hy-Vee vaccination clinic.
According to a release, individuals will receive a $10 Hy-Vee gift card when getting a vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccination must be completed between June 1 and November 11 to receive the gift card. Free COVID-19 vaccines are available at all Hy-Vee Pharmacy locations with no appointment necessary.
If an individual receives a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shot, they must complete the second dose at Hy-Vee to receive the $10 gift card. If an individual receives the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, they will receive the gift card once the vaccine is administered [Sam Sanderson, “Hy-Vee Giving Away Gift Cards to Vaccine Recipients,” KCAU-TV, 2021.05.31].
The more people who get their shots, the better. If Hy-Vee’s gift cards put shots in people who otherwise wouldn’t have rolled up their sleeves, then hooray! Come on, Marshals and everyone else: get your shots… and get some Hy-Vee Cocoa Peanut Butter Spheres!
Why can’t we get one in Rapid City ??
Not a fan of Hy-Vee. By far the worst Covid-19 response of all the Madison, WI, grocers. Hy-Vee was slower, less complete, less customer caring than other grocers. Now that they can make money off the vaccine, they are trying to be a bit more caring. Maybe the corporate response was affected by being based out of a red state, where the priority was “freedom to die,” but they couldn’t get away with it in my city, where we value life.
Kwik Hy-Vee story (I worked at the old Cherokee Hy-Vee nightmares on Elm Street warehouses as a senior in school and a few years afterward). A female classmate married the grandson of co-founder Dwight Vredenberg and is living happily ever after(divorced).I, also, do not like HyVee. I prefer Fareway and Fiesta Foods products and meat departments.
I’m surprised by the anti-Hy-Vee sentiments of a few. The Hy-Vee in Yankton is very involved in the community, regularly contributes to, and assists with, local charities, and makes a point of hiring workers with disabilities.
Chris S., My experience with Hy-Vee was quite the opposite. We tried to get Hy-Vee to hire disabled workers. They came into our market making a lot of promises to hire people with disabilities, but delivered very few hires. Fine, we thought. They are trying to feel out the market, hire big for the big opening, then cut staff as things settled down. We assumed they didn’t want to hire those with disabilities only to lay them off in three months. They told us they would hire the disabled in 6 months. Uh, no. It became a year. No. They opened up three stores in 5 years with very few hires of disabled workers. Finally, in one of the few things Governor Scott Walker did that I approved, he started pushing hiring of disabled workers. Hy-Vee was a big Waller support. Not sure how much state money they reaped from him. Then and only then did Hy-Vee start hiring disabled workers.
Not a fan of HyVee with their many gimmicks to make it seem you are getting a deal buying their overpriced inventory. I used to shop there years ago but this last thing requiring a card where they track everything you buy really annoyed me. Also, HyVee used to sell food products but now when you go in there is a huge display of junk food as far as the eye can see. You have to shop the perimeter of the store and even then you will find a lot of junk. They have a huge special liquor section in each store as well that rivals small town liquor shops. I will occasionally go there for a sale item but I shop elsewhere. BTW, contacting them is like dropping a message in a black hole. No response, ever.
Hey anyone, if I send you my vaccine card would you get me a six pack of brewski?
I drive by the Hy-Vee distribution center on Hiway 3 bypass NE of Cherokee, iowa regularly. I will say they employee many minorities in all phases of their operation, but they are not fond of people with back problems, whether inherited or job related. They seem to be hiring all the time. and Cherokee is a nice smaller town from what I remember of living there decades ago.
Donald … I knew you worked placing people in jobs but didn’t know you helped disabled workers, too.
Kudos to you and that work.
ps. In Colorado we have Kroger (It’s called King Soopers, here) and Safeway.
Both gave a $10 coupon if you got your vaccine from them. (Why not. They got $45 from Uncle Sam to do the jab.)
Both stores are very good about hiring disabled workers and place them doing a variety of jobs.
Many have had livelong careers at the stores I’ve used, over the 45 years I’ve shopped there.