Dear Friend

Everyone has a favorite Abraham Lincoln quote. Mine is the one he made when asked to sign a death warrant for a young deserter.

Lincoln said, “I will be this man's friend.”

How far we are from that spirit today.

Maybe we can't pardon soldiers like Lincoln did. But we can treat consumers, the ones so often addressed as “Dear Friend,” in a more kindly way.

For starters, that means not renting lists to outfits that prey on sub-prime credit risks.

Some marketers think that people without credit deserve whatever they get, and they prove it by treating them like marks. They offer mortgages with variable rates, and credit cards with all kinds of sneaky add-ons.

They know full well that the victims can't afford these things. But there's money to be made in exploiting this sad fact.

Then there's the marketing done by out-and-out criminals. The victims are sub-prime consumers (or credit derogs, as they used to be called) and vulnerable people of all types.

For example, a friend found that her father had paid $2,000 in response to fraudulent Medicare bills.

The man is over 80, and he's getting forgetful — when he saw bills with urgent warnings all over them, he paid them.

Phony invoices have been around since the mid-1800s, and they have deceived both consumers and businesspeople (remember the toner bandits?). But that's not the point.

The real issue is that these scams can only be perpetrated with the help of legitimate vendors. There's little question that the Medicare mailer obtained an age list. Did he get it through a list broker or from a compiler?

Someone rented it to him, and probably even read the mailing piece.

So here's a New Year's resolution for list pros, service bureau owners and anyone who enables the great business of direct marketing: Protect the consumer. You're the last line of defense.

Think of old Abe. Be a friend.