I throw away at least 3/4 of the mail I receive every day. Credit cards, auto insurance, and the newest product of the bunch- voice-over-IP long distance telephone service are the kind of offers that fill my mailbox, and I've been too cool about it for too long.
Credit cards are proven to be effective at preventing people from achieving real financial health. They promote the "I want it NOW" patience of a 5-year-old in a toy store rather than the prudence of a wise investor. I don't have as much to say to them now that they aren't allowed to call me on the telephone. It's much more convenient to just throw away the piles of pointless mail they send me every day. For those of you who don't think President Bush has done anything useful, please remember that he signed into law the legislation that banned telemarketing.
Now on to auto insurance. I get flyers advertising "$425 in annual savings over Allstate, State Farm, etc.". This is entertaining to me, because my annual auto insurance premiums barely cost that much. Not to mention the multiple-policy discount I have from insuring home and auto with the same provider. You'd think that with the information they can legally collect about us, they'd somehow realize that there's not enough margin in my premiums to cover the hassle of a provider switch, or the postage for the 5-7 letters they send me each week.
Voice-over IP long distance telephone is a new product that I enjoy throwing offers in the trash for every other day. It might be a decent product, but how can they make enough money from $20-$30 per month to afford the marketing costs of sending out millions of full-color ads and TV spots that we're all inundated with? If I'm interested in this product, I'm going to do some homework on them. Advertising is not a reliable source of information. I'm choosing the provider that advertises the least, because my price will be lower and the company's profits higher without all the titanic marketing expenses.
If you're as sick of mail-marketing as I am, there's two things you can do about it: To stop credit card offers, call (888) 567-8688 and let them know to stop selling your credit report information with the army of marketing zombies that clog our mailboxes every week.
To declare all-out war, read what King Maddox has to say: "How to piss off credit card companies and get away with it!"
4 comments:
Very thoughtful. I'm definitely one to share your frustration with such garbage. That Capital One bullshit is the most annoying of them all. I think I will follow Mr. Maddox's advice and begin to piss them off. Good read!
your best bet is to shred the stuff you do get in the mail. make sure you use of of them cross shredders cause identity thieves tape those little shreds together and eureka! you have lefty's ssn. not cool at all.
an even better option would be to burn the offers or to throw them in the garbage disposal.
How anti-American of you. Without the ability of huge corporations to market to and take advantage of gullible and impatient consumers, the American economy collapses.
Speaking of advertising bullshit, its always a good time to take a look at this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-I8RkOuYjA
I sent that link around to some of my friends and family. I got a response back from my Aunt who tells me that her husband (A FORMER Republican) has been doing that to Capital One for quite some time and it hasn't stopped them from sending him crap. But they are happy that C1 has to pay for overweight packages since they stuf tons of shit into the envelopes.
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