Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Economics of Spam

Posted by michael on from the i-am-clearly-in-the-wrong-line-of-work dept.

higgins writes "The Wall Street Journal has the best story I've ever seen on the economics of spam. A self-described "spam queen" (Clean link; should work for non-subscribers) talks about not just the millions of emails she spews, but what it costs per mailing ($250 for 500k emails), what the response rates are (1-2 one-thousandths percent) and what she actually makes. (40% of each sale of one product: anti-spam software)."

1 of 726 comments (clear)

  1. Can't be done; values fine by zanerock · · Score: 2, Troll

    The statement contains no non-subjective, non-conditional objective statements, and therefore can't be "proven" wrong.

    I don't like spam, but neither do I hate it. It is no more "evil" or indicative of lack of values than commercials. If you're a mother and have found a way to make a living that let's you stay at home and provide a quality, loving and supportive atmosphere for your kids, that's great. You might not have the most noble job in the world, but then, neither do I right now.

    This lady's made a trade off, which is a necessary consequence of living in the real world, and it looks like a pretty good one to me. If spam is terrible, then get a spam filter. or lobby your representatives to outlaw it.

    She looks like she has a fairly mature, well thought out, and open understanding of what it is she does.