The evidence

Bargain Bins Anniston: Where accessibility issues sit ignored

I believe Doug Henderson and Breanna Danielle Henderson, the owners of Bargain Bins Anniston, are discriminating against people with disabilities. I base that view on the store’s Friday line, as posted and as they have defended it, and on the accessibility of their website.

This is a conclusion, not a court ruling. The store is at 1556 Greenbrier Dear Rd in Anniston, Alabama. The first person in line on Friday receives $100 off. The posted rules allow no one to hold a place and no one to leave the line for any reason. The record of those rules and of the owners’ public comments is set out below. A separate note explains why I read that record this way. The site bargainbins.net is part of the same concern.

The line policy posted on the storefront door.

What the door posts

These are the posted rules, not an interpretation of them.

An outdoor security camera aimed at the sidewalk where the line stands.

Merchandise bins inside Bargain Bins Anniston.

1
Go to the end of the line
The posted policy sends every shopper to the end of the line.
2
Nobody holds a place
No one may hold a place for anyone else.
3
Cannot leave for any reason
Leave the line for any reason and the place is gone. The posted rule does not make an exception for the restroom.
4
No chairs inside once the doors open
Chairs are a separate question from leaving the line. Co-owner Breanna Danielle Henderson has said chairs are welcome in line. The door policy still says no chairs inside once the doors open.
5
Barred for the day
A shopper who breaks a line rule is barred from shopping that day. The store enforces the line with outdoor cameras.

The $100, and who can win it

A Bargain Bins Anniston post congratulating the person first in line and offering one hundred dollars off. — The store’s post: congratulations to being first in line next Friday, and $100 off the total. The shopper’s face is blurred.

Nobody may hold a spot. Nobody may step away, including for the restroom, without losing the place. Under those two posted rules, the $100 goes to whoever can stay in line the longest without a single break.

What Doug Henderson wrote

These are public Facebook comments by co-owner Doug Henderson. They are quoted as he wrote them.

Screenshot of a public Facebook comment by Doug Henderson that reads, There is nothing about ADA in this. — “There is nothing about ADA in this.” Doug Henderson, co-owner.

Screenshot of a public Facebook comment by Doug Henderson about paying someone to hand out line numbers. — Doug Henderson said he does not think the store should have to pay someone to hand out line numbers. He wrote that he is “done being nice or political correct on the line cheaters.” Doug Henderson, co-owner.

Screenshot of a public Facebook comment by Doug Henderson about crying and excuses. — “The crying amazes me with all the excuses folks can come up with.” Doug Henderson, co-owner.

What the store’s page replied

This comment is from the Bargain Bins Anniston page. It is not attributed to Breanna Danielle Henderson.

Screenshot of the Bargain Bins Anniston Facebook page refusing restroom exceptions and referring to story tellers. — A customer said people should not lose their place for needing the bathroom, and that disabled people who cannot stand for long should be allowed a chair. The Bargain Bins Anniston page replied that everyone who walks up late will claim they went to the bathroom, and “that don't work because of story tellers.”

Read plainly, the page refused a restroom exception. Its reason was that people who walk up late will say they were in the bathroom, and that those claims are “story tellers.” The page treated the request as a lie.

What Breanna Danielle Henderson wrote

Co-owner Breanna Danielle Henderson answered in public as well. She said customers choose to line up, that nobody is required to stand, that chairs are welcome in line, and that nobody is forced to stand in the cold. She wrote that the store is “happy to accommodate customers with disabilities.”

That statement is hers. It does not appear in Doug Henderson’s comments, and his comments are not hers.

Opinion

The two owners are not saying the same thing

Breanna Danielle Henderson says the store is “happy to accommodate customers with disabilities.” Doug Henderson says “There is nothing about ADA in this,” says the store should not have to pay someone to hand out line numbers, and calls the people raising the problem “line cheaters” and people with “excuses.”

Her statement also does not mention the rules that do the excluding. A chair in line does not help a person who needs the restroom, a person whose condition requires a break, or a person whose caregiver could hold the place. The store’s own page said it will not make the restroom exception, because it assumes the person asking is lying.

A numbered ticket, or a held spot for a documented need, would cost almost nothing. It would not change what a bin store sells. If the store is truly “happy to accommodate,” it can adopt one of those in public and end the conflict between the door and the comment.

Their website

Their website (bargainbins.net) has widespread accessibility issues.

WAVE accessibility report for bargainbins.net showing 10 errors, 9 contrast errors, and an AIM score of 6.4 out of 10. — A WAVE evaluation of bargainbins.net reported 10 errors and 9 contrast errors, with an AIM score of 6.4 out of 10. The errors include a spacer image missing alternative text, missing form labels, an empty heading, empty buttons, and empty links. Nine items failed for very low contrast.

Read the legal concerns, and how to report them