Slashdot Mirror
Direct Marketing Execs Sign Up for Do-Not-Call List
fognugen writes "Here's a funny
twist to the ongoing battle in the US over the government sponsored "Do Not Call" list. It turns out that many of the top executives at the companies which are fighting to stop this list have actually signed up for it themselves. The list, which is supposed to go into effect today, is aimed at curbing unsolicited telemarketing."
Not as I do.
Norris/Palin 2012
Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
The sin of not eating your own dog food.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Do spammers like junk mail? Do garbagemen swim in their own trash? We already hold these people to pretty low social standards, so I don't understand why we'd expect them to practice what they preach.
I would guess that most of the sign-ups were actually done by anti-DMA types who just want to embarass the execs........
CMDRTACO CHECK YOUR EMAIL!
Seriously. Do you think that spammers sign up for all sorts of mailing lists, on purpose, because they love spam? In the court case, both sides agreed that the calls were unwanted (read the brief!), as did the judge (who was also on the list). So why would we expect them to stay off the list?
For what it's worth, I think Nottingham made the right decision. It would be easy to fix the DNC list to block all unwanted calls (not making a special exception for political or charity groups), and that would probably end the first amendment problems. But things that limit a senator's ability to campaign are going to be a quite a bit less popular...... so who're the hypocrites here?
This isn't like the Judge that signed up the list. These people are in the telemarketing business. Don't you think they would need to know if their competitors are following the regulations and how effective the Do Not Call list really is? They've probably ordered several employees to sign up for it.
/. suggest. It doesn't talk a rocket scientist to post their name on the list then just wait or even leak that their name is there.
And if you read the article some of these guys are saying that someone else must have put their name on the list. I know several of you would say "yea right!" but it's well within the realm of things that people on
My Hello World is 512 bytes. But it's also a valid Fat12 boot sector, Fat12 file reader, and Pmode routine.
I swear the whole thing is scam just to collect valid telephone numbers for telemarketers. Wait until the list leaks to the internet.
I know this may be a bit off topic, but I just don't get it. I provide a validated name and phone number to master list that is made available to every telemarketer to use. They HAVE to have access to it, otherwise, how will they know who NOT to call?
So, one of these telemarketers calls me. According to the Do Not Call complaint instructions, I must now talk with the telemarketer to get the company name, and phone number (which aren't always available on Caller ID.) I must then log this information along with the date on a web site to file a complaint. Then, if enough people complain (because my single complaint will NOT be heard) then the agency running the program MAY consider taking further action against the telemarketers. And even then, there are so many exceptions to the program that I will STILL get calls. So, I have to waste my time answering the phone, talking to a telemarketer, logging information, and logging a complaint. Seems to be counter-productive.
Currently, anyone who calls my house, (unless I recognize their number on Caller ID) goes right to the answering machine. If they want to talk to me bad enough, then they'll leave a message. If I recognize them while they are leaving the message, and *I* want to talk to them, then I'll pick up. And isn't that the whole point...to talk to only those people with whom *I* want to talk?
Can someone please explain just how this list can work. I think it assumes that too many people will actually play by the rules.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
If I had sunk so low as to need a job similar to the ones these people are doing, I would
a) Have a responsibility to my employer which would probably mean campaigning against the DNC list, and
b) Still really hate getting calls at dinnertime, and
c) Expect that my presence on that list would be sufficiently private that I could sign up without fearing for my job.
WHY THE HELL ISN'T THIS LIST PRIVATE?
Imagine the embarrassment of calling somebody up at dinner time and being told "I'm the president of the Direct Marketing Association, so I know all about your fradulent tactics and worthless merchandise, so you're certainly not going to get even a penny out of me!" Better to after suckers that have never heard of direct marketing instead, don't you think?
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
The majority of (reputable) telemarketing companies are going to impliment the ndnc list regardless of its current status. The Direct Marketing Assoc. has also urged companies to comply.
Telemarketing companies get paid per conversion not per sale. There's no point in calling someone who has already stated that they won't be buying anything, it cuts into your profit margin.
I'm sure everyone is still going to receive calls about the great new toner cartridge technology that has three times the capacity of a normal cartridge (read reputable above).
... who more or less ignores the phone when it rings?
My electronic secretary screens all my calls. If the caller stays on long enough to leave a message, I then make a quick decision of "do I want to interrupt what I'm doing to talk to this individual?" If the answer is no, I'll call them back when it's convenient for me.
I'll never sign up for a DNC list because I have already effectively removed myself from their lists. As far as they know, I'm never home. Ever. Eventually, they stop calling. I haven't had any non-relative ring my phone for the past two or three weeks, which is about as far back as I can remember right now.
Without you I'm one step closer to happiness without violence.
I make a living with phone books. Customers ("marks") toss computer addressed mail.
I pay stay at home moms to HAND ADDRESS envelopes from phone books. It beats hell out of Occupant Mail, my response rate averages ~6%. A quarter percent is often all you can expect, so my direct marketing techniques are pretty effective.
And phone books are free and the lists are accurate. Consider that mailings lists are $120/thousand and 30% of that is undeliverable.
the GPL license is copyrighted.
Oh gee. Yeah, I challenged an unfair moderation. You better mod me down before somebody see's it!
Meta-mods: Please go up a couple of posts before you mod me down. I was modded as off-topic for a comment that was very much on-topic.
"Derp de derp."
Lots of discussion of if the federal DNC will do any good. My folks live in Colorado with a state DNC in place for some time and their unsolicited calls have effectively stopped. I believe that the threat of substantial penalties is enough for most legitimate companies to behave themselves. Sometimes I have stopped whatever I've been doing in the past few weeks and, sadly enough, my mind has fantacized about being under the warm, fuzzy blanket of the DNC list. I receive a number of work-related unlisted calls during the day, but the majority are unsolicited bulk telemarketers. I've found the phrase "it is our policy not to accept any unsolicited offers" highly effective in terminating these calls. That or talking like the adults in Charlie Brown's world.
Why the fsck isn't this on the main page?
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything." - Josef Stalin
From my point of view, the way the list works is that if anyone I don't know calls me trying to sell me stuff, I no longer have to feel the slightest bit of guilt about being as malicious and abusive towards them as I can possibly be via a phone line.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak