A Really Bad Fundaising Idea:
I normally don't like using a blog to complain about random stuff in life, but here's one that might be of interest to readers. (And obviously, if that sort of post isn't your cup of tea, just skip it.)
Yesterday's mail included a postcard indicating that there was a certified mail letter waiting for me at the post office. I haven't received such a letter in years, so I figured, hey, who knows, might be important. So I made a special trip to the post office to pick it up, drove over, found a parking spot, and waited in line. And waited, and waited. And when I finally got to the front of the line, the postal employee took a few minutes to find my letter in a large stack of envelopes that were all obviously from the same source. So finally the employee finds my letter, and it's . . . . drum roll please . . . a direct mail fundraising letter from the RNC. Yup, just a form letter. I opened it, and it explains that the letter was sent certified mail because it's critically important that I received the letter in person so I could take "immediate action."
Of course, the only "immediate action" I wanted to take was to send the RNC a bill for the 40 minutes or so of my time that I wasted just to get a form letter. As Adam Sandler might ask, who are the ad wizards that came up with this one? Any, so goes my complaint about random stuff in life today. And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Yesterday's mail included a postcard indicating that there was a certified mail letter waiting for me at the post office. I haven't received such a letter in years, so I figured, hey, who knows, might be important. So I made a special trip to the post office to pick it up, drove over, found a parking spot, and waited in line. And waited, and waited. And when I finally got to the front of the line, the postal employee took a few minutes to find my letter in a large stack of envelopes that were all obviously from the same source. So finally the employee finds my letter, and it's . . . . drum roll please . . . a direct mail fundraising letter from the RNC. Yup, just a form letter. I opened it, and it explains that the letter was sent certified mail because it's critically important that I received the letter in person so I could take "immediate action."
Of course, the only "immediate action" I wanted to take was to send the RNC a bill for the 40 minutes or so of my time that I wasted just to get a form letter. As Adam Sandler might ask, who are the ad wizards that came up with this one? Any, so goes my complaint about random stuff in life today. And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Don't forget negligent or intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Probably the same one that slipped McCain a mickey so he forgot how many houses he owns. :)
Anderson,
I give the staff Fridays off in August; that must have been my mistake!
Eli Rabbet complains that after he has given money, he gets solicited for more. That is undoubtedly true. A first fundraising letter (particularly if from a rented list) will often barely pay for itself, if that. However, the donors have now shown interest in the particular cause--and can be expected to give more in the future.
They haven't formulated a policy because they want to keep as much "opt-out" as possible. That's WHY with postal rates as high as they are, they can still afford to sell you a subscription at $1 an issue. Selling their lists is an important revenue stream without which magazines wouldn't survive.
If you don't want your address info sold, buy it off the newsstand.
Because Harper's was selling your name, not giving it away. They are perpetually cash-strapped.
Not that it's okay of course.
Our Catholic parish has apparently done something similar, because not 2 weeks after we registered as parishioners, we began getting a deluge of mail from every cloister of nuns and foreign charity organization out there asking for donations. While I don't mind giving to the Church, I expressed my disappointment to the (lay) parish administrator....
Anyway, yeah, the RNC has their head up their ass thinking this is a good idea, but I'm amused by the vanity on display here, in thinking something important might be dropping out of the sky from an unknown source (an invitation to meet the President? join the Obamessiah's team? accept a million dollars from Ed McMahon in recognition of outstanding blawg work?)
After all, anyone who knew you would use some other method to find you in an urgent situation, like telephoning. So it had to be a stranger. You may already have won!!!
[OK Comments: Get up on the wrong side of the bed today, Splunge? I was assuming it was bad news, not good news. I've heard of notice in civil suits being filed by certified mail; I thought perhaps I was being sued. If that strikes you as "vain," I think we disagree on what vanity is.]
Legal documents are sometimes served by certified mail - it's never a good idea to ignore such letters.
Heck, his rich great-uncle could've passed away and left him seven homes. Or possibly nine.
Certified letters are used for important things, like notice of a lawsuit, notice of zoning hearings, notice that you are named in a will, etc
Most people do not expect to receive junk mail via certified mail. A certified letter costs $2.70 + first class postage.
I hope the RNC sent out a *lot* of those.
Because I don't have a contractual arrangement with the RNC that would justify me charging them for my time.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I can't imagine anyone getting a summons except by direct personal service. I would be astonished if a certified first-class letter would be sufficent.
Notices of this and that are certainly sent by certified mail, but, er, if it was not sufficiently time-critical that it could be sent by mail, then why would it be time-critical enough for the recipient to make a special effort to go pick it up, instead of asking the PO to redeliver the next day?
I suspect Professor Kerr's annoyance springs more from being made a fool of than from the actual waste of time involved, which is likely not to exceed the time he might waste watching (say) a week's worth of campaign ads on the TV mixed in with his favorite show.
I have a client that is about to be screwed because he didn't go pick up a piece of mail that was sent to him RRR by the other side (and further has failed to return my phone calls or emails).
Things that are sent certified mail tend to be things that the sender wants proof that they either got to you, or made a reasonable effort to get it to you. Especially in the second category, failing to go pick it up, much like my client, has a good chance of leaving you in a tricky situation.
Well, you certainly win the Profoundly Silly Comments Award today. I went to the PO to pick it up because I'm out of town this weekend, and I didn't want to worry all weekend about what bad news might be coming my way when I returned. And yes, I was really annoyed by the 40 minutes, as it interrupted a project I was trying to finish (creative theory about TV, except the only TV I watch with any regularity is C-SPAN). Finally, if I thought I had been made a fool of, I'm not sure why why would I announce that in front of 25,000 readers.
Anyway, congrats on the award.
In my county, a Jury Summons comes by regular 1st class mail. No personal service. Just a lot of big red (ominous looking) printing.
Probably explains why many go straight to the shredder.
... which make me not sure you're qualified to be writing books about the internet.
Jim Lindgren
its seems reasonable if certified mail has become cheap enough to be abused like this.
i really don't see a downside-who does it harm? not the fund raisers who certainly arn't going to get more money like this.
Hilarious. Nicely done.
I merely visited a local non-denominational church, and filled out the 'visitor' box on the attendance pad (which at every other church I've attended was merely to keep accurate attendance and update active membership rolls).
Now, I get bombarded with ads for what seems like every one of these floozy churches in a 20 mile radius. And they are all extremely annoying, with garish bright color patterns and families of surprisingly indeterminate ethnic composition (yet strangely with radioactive white beaming teeth). It's like a freaking drug company commercial crossed with a community college brochure.
Oh, I dunno. You could probably make an implicit contract out of their inducing you to spend time presumably to receive something of value, or at least significance.
I bought a Diet Dr. Pepper with it. I figured, correctly, that the notoriously picky drink machine would accept this beautiful currency.
This soda windfall is just about the most I can expect from a McCain presidency, I figure.
California CCP 415.40: "A summons may be served on a person outside this state in any manner provided by this article or by sending a copy of the summons and of the complaint to the person to be served by first-class mail, postage prepaid, requiring a return receipt. Service of a summons by this form of mail is deemed complete on the 10th day after such mailing."
I've used this several times when serving out-of-state respondents. It works exactly once, per case. There's nothing, you'll notice, that says the summons can only be mailed in an envelope; we've had some success, where we think the Respondent (I do family law) is going to avoid service, with sending the Summons and Petition, by certified express mail, in a box, preferably colorful. From time to time, I've even thrown in a handful of peanuts, so the box rattles provocatively.
I've received exactly three registered letters, and it was bad situation that would have been worse for my inattention each time.
Nice!
Mr. Gould-Saltman, you include a common allergen with your summonses? Sounds like something from an LA Law episode. Or maybe LAPD Blue.
Me too!
J-Mac is never going to see that dollar again. I gave $200--which puts me right at the disclosure limit. If I give any more--maybe even if I give the dollar back?--that would make my donation/name/employer/etc. public knowledge. In my field, donating to Republicans is very not cool. I can't start donating openly to the GOP until/if I go to work for defense firms.
*( you are capable where as I am not)
Do you think he might possibly be talking about a different kind of peanut? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foam_peanut
Regardless, I'm definitely laughing at the thought of legumes bouncing around on a summons inside a box. Common allergen indeed... Ya kook!
You should send him his award via certified letter to make sure he gets it.
Nine more, Splunge, and you qualify for the toaster. I've enjoyed mine!
We looked in the sender block, because years ago we got another such letter. My wife was worried about what it might be. As a lawyer, I wondered if some former client was disaffected. Waiting at the post office made me late for work. When I got back to the office, I wrote an angry letter to the RNC, telling them of the inconvenience and that, if they could afford to send such letters, they already had more money than they needed. Alas, all to no avail.
But, the RNC (actually, the Senatorial subset) did this to me repeatedly decades ago, I learned a defense. A clerk told me if I refused delivery, it would be sent back and the sender would be on the hook for return postage, though this may not be entirely correct. So the next four times I insisted on seeing the return address before accepting, and refused delivery.
****
I think there is. I got a notification "slip" in my mailbox today for "certified mail" being held at the post office. I caught up with the carrier, and asked her, "what is this?"
She said she had tried to deliver it yesterday, but no one answered the door. I told her that I wasn't inclined to go to the post office to pick it up, so she asked me to sign the slip, which I did, and she checked a box for redelivery. I told her to plop it on the porch, and she said she would.
Since I am not expecting anything important, I'll bet it is a political fundraising solicitation.
I doubt it is a Jury Summons. The county is too poor to send those by any means other than regular mail, and that is a good thing.
Boo E'fn Hoo.
It was indeed a solicitation from the RNC, sobbing about how they are 9 million dollars short of their August fundraising target, and could I please slip them $150.00 or more if possible.
I don't know how many of these were sent out at three plus dollars each, but it seems to me they probably could have saved a hell of a lot of that 9 million by using 1st class mail. The "genius" who authorized this ought to fired forthwith before the RNC goes broke from mal/mis-management.
The sob letter was signed by Carly Fiorina. Not sure, but didn't she leave HP under a cloud?
Oh, and although it's probably not germane, isn't Carly the daughter(?) of a 9th CCA judge? Sneed(?)
Since (as I said) I never respond to these solicitations, I am convinced that this is not real fund-raising activity. I believe that the RNC (and some related groups) are being milked by professional mass-mailing operators, who get paid by volume. They probably kick back party of their take to the RNC staffers who contract with them.
IOW, it's a racket.