Junk Mail Masquerades

Junk Mail Masquerades by Doug Chick I receive somewhere between 5 and 10 computer part magazines a week, 3 or 4 phone calls and 1 to 3 pieces of junk mail disguising themselves as packages. My wife calls these types of Spam, "The Dead Tree Editions." because they come in the form of paper instead of electronically. Like commercials that irritate me, filling my company mailbox with computer parts magazines does not impress upon me to buy from these companies. 

Most Network Administrators and IT Directors battle spam, junk mail and unsolicited sales calls on a daily basis. Having to throw away their constant barrage of junk mail, delete their spam and speak to their sales people is not only aggravating and inconvenient but it takes time and resource away from my company and me. 

Recently, one such company has been contacting me with what I call heavy handed aggressive sales tactics. They've sent me catalogs, catalogs pretending to be "Networking Magazines", Calendars, a book about Fred the helpdesk guy, and Spam. And just this week something new; E-mail quotes for products that we have purchased in the past and sales solicitations from other departments. To me this is nothing more than Masquerading Spam. These types of techniques to solicit my business are not making my job easier, it is making it more difficult. 

I contacted one company and explained to them that I wasn't happy with their aggressive sales policies and informed them that I would be writing an article on excessive sales approaches and would give them the opportunity to answer to some of my complaints. I sent the 8 questions:

1. Are your sales people required to send unsolicited quotes or do they act on their own to do so?
2. Does your customer contact information go into a pool of names and get distributed among other departments.
3. Are your customers e-mail addresses given to every sales department to be used for Spam?
4. Are your customers e-mail addresses sold to other companies?
5. What is your company privacy policy?
6. Has your company recently undergone a change in management?
7. How does one get off of your company's mailing list if they do not want to be spammed or sent junk mail?
8. How can a person or company stop unsolicited sales calls from you?

We'll see if they reply with any answers. Either way I'll name the company on Friday, the 28th of December, as that is the dead line I have given them. 

There seems to be very little anyone can do to stop these companies from burying you in junk mail. My only satisfaction is the exercise I receive once a week taking their mailers to the dumpster and not buying from their company.