Another shot has been fired in the Red Bucket war:

Folks dropping money in Salvation Army kettles at Wal-Mart stores can make their money go twice as far. The world's largest retailer announced Thursday it would match up to $1 million in donations.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has more than 3,600 domestic stores operating as Wal-Marts, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Club warehouse stores.

The company said the clock started Thursday on the match and runs through Christmas Eve.

If you have not been paying attention, Target Corp. decided to not allow the Salvation Army to ring bells and collect donations in front of their stores. According to this article, this is the reason for the new policy:

Wal-Mart competitor Target Corp. has joined a number of other major retailers in banning the Salvation Army bell ringers, saying it was not fair to select certain charities and not others for the coveted space.

An interesting display of logic from a company which daily chooses which products it displays and which ones are rejected. The issue has little to do with fairness and everything to do with profits. Target is making this move, believing that their customers either will not care or will prefer the absence of the bucket and bell. Wal-Mart is obviously employing the opposite strategy, trying to bolst their image as a generous company.

I don't feel that the Salvation Army deserves squatters rights to the front stoop of Target stores simply because they have occupied them in the past. However, I do believe that this move will have a negative impact on the company's financials during this busy shopping season.

If you are a Target shopper (which I have no problem with - I'm not big into boycots), you may not have seen many of these, so I have provided one you can click if you want to add something to it: