Friday · June 27 2003
The FTC released the "do not call" list today and, as expected, the web site was immediately swamped by thousands who are sick of being constantly bugged by telemarketers. This is what I refer to as 'doing it the hard way.'
How about a "please call me" list? By default, nobody can be called for telemarketing purposes. The FTC can set up a site at pleasecallme.gov and those lonely souls who wish to be bothered can sign up. No web site swamping, no annoying calls, and those who wish to get calls from the Chicago Tribune everyday during dinner can register for that privilege.
I really cannot get over how much hard-copy junk mail I get on a daily basis. Michelle gave to some animal shelter thing once like 2 years ago. And since then, every single animal 'help-us' place has sent us stuff every other day. And it's not just asking for donations, it's those stickers, photo albums, an umbrella, and a t-shirt. And we've only sent one place money before we got all this stuff.
So we go through that discussion-- Me: 'Okay, we're keeping this, but not sending money'
Michelle: 'No, I'm not keeping it if we don't send them money'.
'Okay, so we'll throw it in the trash and now it's gone to waste AND we're not sending them money?'
'Yeah, I'd feel guilty keeping it'.
'Okay, I'll keep it, and you can say I did, and if you need the umbrella, I'll let you use it. And we're not sending money. It's raining out, here's the umbrella'.
They've spent considerably more on the crap we get and the mailings than the $10 or $20 we gave one time. It's horrible.