I've received a ton of responses, too many for individual replies, so
thought I'd attempt to summarize:
At 05:15 PM 2/20/01 -0800, Rick Snover wrote:
>How many of y'all who, like me, have never had any contact whatsoever with
>Healey Surgeons received their flyer/catalog in the mail this past weekend?
>I wasn't particularly displeased to get their ad...
Many folks seemed to misinterpret my post as a complaint against Healey
Surgeons. It wasn't. Like I tried to say (unsuccessfully I guess), this was
one piece of unsolicited mail that wasn't unwelcome, and when I eventually
do need parts I'm sure I'll find it a valuable resource. Again, I'm not
criticizing Healey Surgeons here. They merely sought to get the most for
their advertising dollar by acquiring focused lists of potential customers.
Sound business practice.
>...but I DO want to know how they got my address....
It's the purveyors of those lists that I'm displeased with. My complaint is
that someone I'd trusted with personal information had apperently given it
out, or sold it, without my permission. Who else already has my address or
will get it, and who might they then give or sell it to? How much more
unsolicited mail, increasingly off-topic, can I expect in the future?
Anyway, I think the mystery's solved: Inan of Healey Surgeons wrote me that
he had "talked the clubs into selling me the membership." Clubs, plural.
Well, I guess I won't be quitting both national clubs over this, especially
since it appears to be too late for me to exercise any control over my own
mailbox, but I hope they'll both consider allowing members to specify that
their info is to be kept private, for internal club use only. I don't see
any sort of "keep private" option on either national club's renewal form.
If there was, I would certainly have selected it. We (AHCSD) keep our
members' info private. I guess I kinda expected the same from other
organizations. Silly me.
Oh, well. Thanks to everyone for your feedback.
Rick
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