I just received a "free" book from Wodworker's Journal and just returned it to them with their "postage paid label".
I marked it (the book) SPAM so they couldn't foist it off on someone else (and still had to pay the return postage).
I consider this an egregious form of spam.
I will cancel my subscription -- it's a lousy magazine anyway; many of their articles are pure advertizing.
If the book was sent to you unsolicited and without your authorization you have no obligation to pay for it.
Dave
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Ads cost them money. It's self-limiting. And it cost you nothing. This is the opposite of spam.
Spam costs us $50 billion a year.
I liked the book. There are a couple of tips I may try, and it was free. I hope they send me some more.
Zeke
Yeah maybe. As the article says... those are estimates based on guesses. Spam is a waste of time and expensive -- but how expensive is just guesswork.
In the meantime he should have kept the book and enjoyed it... :-)
>
Too much trouble. I'm just keeping the book. No obligation to return it.
Wonder if this was a trial balloon to see how many people would pay for the book despite the fact it was unsolicited as well as how many people would send the book back?
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety Army General Richard Cody +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+You really should do a search for the definition of spam. Not everything you get in your mailbox (real or virtual) that you don't like is spam. Next time your car sputters and coughs, are you going to say it's got a virus?
Clint
On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 21:56:11 -0700, the inscrutable Mark & Juanita spake:
The first time this happened to me (at the ripe old age of 15 with the Columbia Record Club), I questioned it and found that it's illegal to force people to buy something they didn't order.
What amazes me is how many people get mad and do silly things without ever questioning the validity of the program.
Morals of the story: Don't be a lemming. If you have questions, ask 'em!
-- Remember: Every silver lining has a cloud. ----
I was always the nerd and read up on all this stuff as a kid. I got onto some mailing list back then and got some unsolicted "gifts" along with a bill complete with a postpaid envelope. In the best consumer activist tradition of the time, I wrapped up a concrete block and pasted the return mail authorization to it.
These guys must have paid $50 worth of postage before they stopped sending me stuff.
I even demonstrated this and wrote a paper on this in high school. Got an A on the paper too.
Used to work. Postal Service will no longer deliver bricks.
============================================ That is exactly what I intend to do also.... Way too much trouble to return it...I never ordered it and have absolutely no intention of paying for it...
Bob Griffiths
Bob G. states:
============================================ That is exactly what I intend to do also.... Way too much trouble to return it...I never ordered it and have absolutely no intention of paying for it...
I haven't gotten one of these mailings, but from what I was told elsewhere (WoodCentral), the book comes with a letter explaining what to do, along with return postage and label. One of the options, legally required (though notification of the option isn't), is to keep the book and do nothing, after which no more books will be sent.
I don't get the uproar. Essentially, if you want the series, respond. If you don't, keep the book. It's a form of bulk mail, similar to what we all get every day of the week, and has been an accepted part of mailbox contents for decades. It is not a marketing tactic I'd care to use, but I cannot understand why it irritates so many so much. WWJ's marketing department (distinct, by the way, from the editorial department, which is also the case at other magazines) has done about all they can to ease the load for the recipient.
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