More Covid Crassness By Menards

Menards at 8110 W. Brown Deer Rd. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Last week the federal Environmental Protection Agency ordered Menards to “immediately stop the sale and distribution of unregistered pesticides” in violation of federal law. Menards was selling two products online, “Antimicrobial Filter” and “Allergen Filter,” that are treated with unregistered pesticides, the EPA noted, and wrongly claimed “that these products could or should be used against COVID-19.”

The two products are manufactured by Excell Air of Ashland, Ohio, and had been withdrawn, but were still being sold by Menards, the EPA noted, as the Winona Journal was the the first to report.  The EPA said unreasonable risk to human health or the environment was possible even when the products are used according to the label directions.

It was only the most recent controversy caused by how the 350-store, home-improvement chain based in Eau Claire has handled the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. Early on, in March 2020, Menards was accused by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel of price gouging on products in high demand during the pandemic, in violation of Michigan law, as the Wisconsin Examiner reported.

Nessel’s office issued a cease-and-desist letter charging that “Menards appears to have grossly elevated prices. Items like bleach that were sold at one price were apparently sold minutes later at prices approximately twice which others had paid. The price consumers were charged for the face masks, whether with or without the rebate, appear grossly in excess of the prices for comparable masks our investigators found for sale at competitors like Lowes and Home Depot.”

Adding insult to injury, the grossly elevated price for bleach was for a product which then-President Donald Trump had suggested could help prevent Covid, but which health officials had warned could be fatal for someone drinking it. The company responded to complaints with a public apology related to its sale of face masks, but denied price gouging for bleach.

Wisconsin consumer protection officials also got involved, saying they had investigated price gouging for hand cleaner products at a Menards store in West Milwaukee, Lysol wipes at a Burlington store and Menards online prices for N95 masks.

One month later Nessel’s office wrote another letter of warning to Menards charging that the company’s stores were engaging in business practices that violated Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order, which required businesses to temporarily limit or suspend on-site operations to only those necessary to sustain or protect life.

The letter cited “multiple complaints about Menards current business operations” which “suggest Menard’s is intentionally marketing and advertising to drive additional business into its stores in violation of the Governor’s Order… Some of these complaints have been sent by Menards employees who fear for their safety.”

Menards is a private company owned by John Menard, Jr., who has “a reputation for keeping a tight grip on his business, requiring even top executives to punch a time clock every morning,” as Forbes has reported.

In short, the pandemic-related policies that have gotten the company in trouble were undoubtedly approved by Menard himself, and helped him become Wisconsin’s leading pandemic profiteer, as a report by the Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies found. Menard saw his net worth increase by $2.7 billion between March 2020 and February 2021, increasing his total net worth by 24%, to $14.2 billion.

The report found “the combined wealth of the nation’s 657 billionaires increased more than $1.3 trillion, or 44.6%, during that period, while almost 80 million Americans lost work and 18 million were collecting unemployment as of Feb. 27, 2021.

Menard’s recent run-in with the EPA is not the first for him and his company. In 2006 he was hit with an administrative order from the federal agency for damaging a stream that ran through the company’s property in South Dakota. Menard also had a long history of run-ins with state Department of Natural Resources, more than any other Wisconsin company over a 20-year period. All told Menards was fined $1.7 million for 21 environmental violations. Perhaps the classic example of John Menard’s style was a 1997 violation, when he was caught using his own pickup truck to haul plastic bags filled with chromium and arsenic-laden wood ash to his own home to dispose in his household garbage.

All of which have helped him reduce costs and increase profits. As of April, John Menard’s net worth was $25.2 billion, according to Forbes. He is now the 79th richest person in the world.