Re: You KNOW it's SPAM if. . .

From: Allan Carscaddon <allan_at_carscaddon.com>
Date: Fri 17 Mar 2000 12:15:41 -0500

JORGE WROTE:
> I ask those on this list to make a distinction between
> Spam and UCE. Because, I for one, am grateful for UCE
> that I receive at the office which has provided me with
> contacts that otherwise, I would not have today. At the
> very least, here in North America, receiving an e-mail
> is by far much less expensive than receiving a fax. I
> would much rather hate the latter, and would remind the
> self-righteous Spam haters that when you are open for
> business, you should be open TO business. Receiving UCE
> will always be, for me, an important aspect of my work
> as Marketing Director for an Internet Company.

UCE (Unsolicited Commercial E-mail) and SPAM are
synonyms. I despise the practice, whatever label you
choose to place on it.

I, however, do receive quite a few commercial e-mail
messages. Why are these not SPAM/UCE? Because I have
agreed to accept them and they are sponsored by a
"trusted" source. These are messages that have been
sent by magazines or web sites that I subscribe to as
offers or advertisements targeted to the demographics
of these media outlets. Some of these contain
interesting offers or notifications about interesting
products. So, the answer to getting attention is to
find a community source that will allow you to have
access to the community in some manner.

Your cost issue is disingenuous. You are looking too
hard at the raw costs of mail/fax/e-mail communication
and discounting your time and opportunity costs too
much. As an example, at my billing rate, I estimate
that it "costs" me $0.55 for each unsolicited e-mail
message that I receive. This same message will cost
me $0.30 if it arrives by fax or mail and is
"pre-processed" by my assistant. Factoring the
opportunity cost, the disparity becomes much greater.

I hate spam/UCE for the lack of respect that it shows
for me. It is, however, and excellent marker for
companies that I should not do business with, as a
consumer or business partner.

Best regards,

Allan




Received on Fri Mar 17 2000 - 11:15:41 CST