An observation on the direct-mailing inefficiency of charities and catalogues
An elderly relative died three years ago. For this brief writing I'll mention two things about her:
1.She was a member of the Humane Society.
2. In her last years she wasn't able to get out much. She enjoyed shopping by catalog, mostly for knick-knacks and clothing.
And thus she was put on every mailing list for "Save the Various Types of Mammals," and she (by definition) was on the catalogs' mailing lists.
For assorted and changing reasons* her name wasn't sent to the DMA** right after her death, nor were letters sent back with "deceased" written on them.
Three years. I'd have thought that by now the volume of charity beg-letters and catalogs would have diminished at least by a drop. That they'd stop sending guilt-nickels and quarters (currency to make you feel guilty) and shiny address labels and Christmas cards with Various Types of Mammals on them. That they'd have noticed that it isn't working.
Nope. If they're set up to notice a lack of response, they don't care.
I'm now about to take care of writing "deceased" and all that, but I'm not feeling charitable to any of the groups who've been sending all those letters. I like my charities to be efficient.
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* grief at first, then dealing with probate, then dislike of having to register my credit card with the DMA, and now just plain curiosity
** Direct Marketing Association
1.She was a member of the Humane Society.
2. In her last years she wasn't able to get out much. She enjoyed shopping by catalog, mostly for knick-knacks and clothing.
And thus she was put on every mailing list for "Save the Various Types of Mammals," and she (by definition) was on the catalogs' mailing lists.
For assorted and changing reasons* her name wasn't sent to the DMA** right after her death, nor were letters sent back with "deceased" written on them.
Three years. I'd have thought that by now the volume of charity beg-letters and catalogs would have diminished at least by a drop. That they'd stop sending guilt-nickels and quarters (currency to make you feel guilty) and shiny address labels and Christmas cards with Various Types of Mammals on them. That they'd have noticed that it isn't working.
Nope. If they're set up to notice a lack of response, they don't care.
I'm now about to take care of writing "deceased" and all that, but I'm not feeling charitable to any of the groups who've been sending all those letters. I like my charities to be efficient.
--------------
* grief at first, then dealing with probate, then dislike of having to register my credit card with the DMA, and now just plain curiosity
** Direct Marketing Association