Letters to the Editor

[Re: Loose Cannon, "Don't Blame The Messenger, Blame the Recipient," Direct Newsline, Monday, April 16, 2007, (directmag.com/loosecannon/loose-cannon-blame-messenger-recipient-041607/)]:

Once upon a time, around 1960, I was asked by a Chicago Wall Street Journal space salesman to take part in a debate he was organizing of Space vs. Junk. I said, "Sure," figuring the WSJ must supply a better lunch than I could afford. They did.

Afterwards I listened to my opponent damn us junkers as inefficient wasters of advertisers' money. When it was my turn, I held up a mailing I (by a happy coincidence) recently received from WSJ and read it to them. Then sat down.

About the same time, I was asked to give some how-to advice on a mailing the regional heads of a major charity organization were planning. (Sorry, I don't remember which one.) I opened my presentation with the words, "Welcome to the world of Junk Mail." They were shocked and let me know it.

As you point out, it's all in the eyes of the beholder.

Fred Hahn
Marketing Consultant
Golden Valley, MN

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Your column on cause-related & political mailings is thought provoking. Certainly there are instances in which I as the target have opted for the direct (or junk) mail channel vs. other communications. When I receive phone calls interrupting my work, my leisure or my dinner and it is for a cause I care about, I ask them to send me something in writing. Indeed, as a generous donor to one cause, I became so fed up with their frequent and urgent phone calls that I cut them out of my heart and checkbook.

Similarly, I prefer to receive mailings from Greenpeace than have to deal with their earnest young innocents bearing reams of environmental threat handouts who come knocking at my door. Receiving a mailing can be the best way to mull over information that requires a decision or to become informed of an important upcoming event.

I guess this all adds up to positive news for direct mailers (and the USPS) that despite the multi-channels available, there will always be a place for good old fashioned print mailings.

Lauretta Harris
Write Communications Inc.
Scarsdale, NY

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You're a little heavy, it seems to me, in making this a "blame the recipient" issue.

Except for Assemblyman Colton's unfortunate use of the j-word in connection with legitimate direct mail advertising, it seems that his attitude represents good customer relations, i.e. "voter relations." He is saying, "We know you receive a lot of advertising mail, but we hope you will look for our special mailing that concerns you as a Brooklyn householder."

If he said this in an email or postcard to residents of the Brooklyn zip codes, we would compliment him for doing a nice two-stage mailing. It's very much okay for a major mailer to pre-announce in the media that you should look for their mailing piece.

Fred Morath
Fred Morath Direct Marketing
Natick, MA