For the last week or so, I have been getting deluged by industry catalogs. I knew something was strange, especially when I received this 1 kilo package from a French anechoic absorber manufacturer.
Last night, the flow continued. I received eight more packages, with a postage cost of about US$25. Typically, a couple were duplicates of what I already had in my files, a couple were useful additions / updates. And the rest were a total waste for me. A careful look at the mailing labels shows "ITEM 99 Dist. 1" printed on some of them. That does seem to narrow down the list of possible sources. (In their defense, I must add that, having checked interest boxes for ITEM's dating back to 1974, this is the FIRST time that anything like this has ever happened.) What really bothers me is the waste. Postage, printed materials and labor all add up, and are multiplied by the number of recipients in this flood. In the end, the manufacturers pay, with lower profits. And if the manufacturers aim to stay in business, they have to pass this inefficiency on to their customers. And that's you and me. Ed ------------------------ From: "Jon D. Curtis" <j...@curtis-straus.com> Subject: Re: Spam Mail Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 16:56:51 -0400 To: Michael Taylor <mtay...@hach.com> Cc: emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org > > Hi Michael, > > (Disclosure: My company publishes Conformity Newsmagazine, a possible > competitor > with ITEM.) > > Something similar happened to one of my employees when they subscribed to > ITEM. > We didn't know what to do with all the stuff we got. I looked into it and > found > that there was a "trick" involved. On the ITEM subscription card it says > "FREE > SUBSCRIPTION QUALIFICATION - Answer ALL questions in this section", below this > is a list of stuff like "Antennas" with check boxes. Just above the check > boxes > it says "FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...". So, you check boxes about your > interest to get a free subscription AND you also get tons of info from all the > people that make the stuff for the boxes you checked. It could have been a > confusing mistake in the way the form was put together, but I doubt it. > > In ITEMs defense, advertisers place way too much credence on how many leads > they > get back today. Most people who respond to an ad are wired in and either call > the company direct or hit their web site rather than using the old, slow lead > generation system. Companies that advertise need to qualify incoming leads by > asking them where they came from when they come in by web or phone or fax or > email. That's the only way they are going to figure out what advertising is > working today. Most magazines are having to educate their advertisers to > expect > lower traditional lead generation and it must have been very tempting to juice > the lead generation up. > > Michael Taylor wrote: > > > Greetings All. > > I have recently been inundated with catalogues & phone calls from vendors. > > After some sleuthing I discovered I had been slimed > > by one of the magazines we (all) receive. It appears they are attempting to > > increase there customer response index by sending > > advertisers false sales leads. In my case, vendors reported that I had > > responded via a "Reader Response Card" to recent ad's, which I had not. > > I am concerned enough about this practice to send this note. I believe that > > it represents the lowest form of deception and must be stopped. > > > > The magazine is free and performs a valuable service in keeping the EMC > > community informed. Vendors are nice enough to support > > this magazine through advertising. This symbiotic relationship benefits > > everyone as long as everyone plays by the rules. When I need information > > about I a product I expect to receive a prompt reply. With false leads > > vendors are needlessly burdened and replies take too long. Additionally, > > I got a "note" from the manager of our mail room about the extraordinary > > volume of mail I was receiving. The large number of voice mails > > from vendors overloaded the voice mail system. (I heard about that also). > > If any other members of the group have received the same treatment I urge > > you to contact the vendors and tell them you were slimed > > and inform the magazine you want it stopped. > > > > I'll step down from my soap box now and go lock myself in the chamber. > > > > Best Regards, > > Michael Taylor > > Principal EMC Engineer > > HACH Company > -- > Jon D. Curtis, PE > > Curtis-Straus LLC j...@curtis-straus.com > Laboratory for EMC, Safety, NEBS, SEMI-S2 and Telecom > 527 Great Road voice (978) 486-8880 > Littleton, MA 01460 fax (978) 486-8828 > http://www.curtis-straus.com > -------------------------- Ed Price ed.pr...@cubic.com Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab Cubic Defense Systems San Diego, CA. USA 619-505-2780 List-Post: emc-pstc@listserv.ieee.org Date: 07/16/1999 Time: 08:25:51 Military & Avionics EMC Services Our Specialty Also Environmental / Metrology / Reliability -------------------------- --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to majord...@ieee.org with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to ed.pr...@cubic.com, jim_bac...@monarch.com, ri...@sdd.hp.com, or roger.volgst...@compaq.com (the list administrators).
