A while back the Sustainability Club decided to get some polycarbonate bottles to sell as a fund raiser. At the time I lived in APT 101. I requested samples from a few different companies, and decided to order from a company called 4imprint.
At some point before we received the bottles, I moved to the new Apartment (APT 102). 4imprint was the only company or entity that had the address "Ed Hayes, Sustainability Club, Apt 102". I have been receiving more junk mail in the past 3 months than I could ever imagine. Catalogs for motivational and inspirational pins, catalogs for office equipment and supplies, catalogs for headsets, as well as applications for Citi credit cards and American Express Open cards.
About a month ago, I tried to get to the bottom of all the junk mail, so I called 4imprint and asked my sales rep if they sold my name to 3rd parties. She told me no, so I assumed that it must have been another company that I requested samples from. Yesterday, I had enough. I received 5 unsolicited pieces of mail addressed to the Sustainability Club in one day! So I started to call all the companies who send me the catalogs. One said it was illegal to tell me where they got my name. I think it's funny that it is not illegal for them to send me stuff to my address without asking, yet it is illegal to find out where my address came from.
I wasn't getting anywhere with the catalogs and companies sending me crap, so I thought I would give 4imprint a call again. At first I said that I only provided my name and address to them. They worked it out of me that I requested samples from other companies. But I had an epiphany! Those requests were to the old address! So I assured them that they are the only company that has received this mailing address. The marketing department rep I was talking to said he would have to talk to his manager, who was in a meeting, and he would give me a call back.
After I was done playing tennis about 2 hours later, I checked my voice mail and I had a message from the marketing rep that I talked to. He said that he was very sorry, but they did infact did "rent" my name to third parties.
After listing to the complete message, I called him back. We talked for a pretty long time about many things regarding the direct marketing. The one question I asked that stumped him was "Why do you rent or sell private customer information without informing customers that you are? Why do you deny it if they ask?" He replied, "it is industry practice", and they believe that "customers would benefit from the direct mail the receive." I then asked "Why do you assume that the customer wants this information, and opt them in automatically?" He admitted it was a revenue stream for the company and reiterated it was industry standard. How does it being industry standard warrant selling private customer information?
At some point in the conversation I told him that companies that send out unsolicited direct mail do it to gain customers. If they must buy addresses and try to get new customers, why would I buy anything from them? Do they not have any repeat customers; do they not get any good word of mouth advertising or respect? I never buy anything from these companies that send direct mail because it is likely that the products are over priced and/or are poor quality.
He said that 30% of 4imprints business comes from direct mail catalogs. If I knew 4imprint sent out direct mail in the first place, I would not have bought anything from them. Hell, even if I had asked the sales rep if they sent out direct mail, she would have said no. read more