[CMichael]

I found this part interesting

"Gannett Telemarketing Inc., a subsidiary of Gannett Co., said that on Wednesday it closed its five call centers, which had 19 full-time and 400 part-time employees. One center in Springfield employed five full-time workers.






Do-Not-Call Compliance Put at 90%
Fri Oct 3, 9:59 AM ET Add Technology - washingtonpost.com to My Yahoo!


By Caroline E. Mayer, Washington Post Staff Writer

Day two of the national do-not-call registry generated more consumer complaints about unwanted sales calls and prompted top industry officials to warn a handful of firms to stop calling numbers on the list.


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The industry also has one fewer company, with Gannett Co.'s telemarketing unit having closed its doors Wednesday.


Though the government-sponsored list is still in legal limbo, the bulk of the telemarketing industry appeared to be complying, said H. Robert Wientzen, president of the Direct Marketing Association, which represents about 80 percent of the firms that make sales calls.


"The bottom line is we think we've stopped about 90 percent of the telemarketing activity" to the more than 50 million numbers on the registry, Wientzen said.


About 200 consumers have called the DMA, about half with complaints; the rest were asking how to get on the list. Wientzen said those unhappy callers led him and other DMA officials to call the heads of a few offending companies. He declined to identify them, but he said the main problem now seems to be small franchises of larger corporations that didn't realize they were supposed to comply.


The Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites), which is trying to enforce compliance in spite of a court ruling limiting its access to the registry, said it fielded 175 more complaints yesterday. That brings the total so far to 425.


Gannett Telemarketing Inc., a subsidiary of Gannett Co., said that on Wednesday it closed its five call centers, which had 19 full-time and 400 part-time employees. One center in Springfield employed five full-time workers.


"It was no longer cost-effective to keep it operating," said Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell. The subsidiary made sales calls on behalf of other companies, not for the company's newspapers.

[Oleg Volk]

Next thing you know, prohibition on armed robbery would be causing higher unemployment...

Telemarketers steal time...

[CMichael]

So does not mowing down pedestrians.

I hope you realize that this law is taking away people's livelihoods.

[OF]

Of course it is. What's your point?

- Gabe

[Keith]

Isn't there something else just as obnoxious that they can do for a living?


Keith

[Quartus]

Outlawing a bad thing is a good thing. The fact that some people make their living doing a bad thing doesn't make it a good thing.


Was that too complicated for you?

[dustind]

CMichael what is wrong with me saying I do not want to be called by them? Why do they have a right to call me if I say "no"?

[SW 586]

I'm crying all the way to the dinner table!:neener:

[cma g21]

Now, if they could just put the email spammers out of business. :D

[BamBam]

This should actually be good for the telemarketing industry.
Now they won't waste time calling people who hate them.

[DigitalWarrior]

Telemarketing was obviously profitable for the companies involved. If I were a Canadian right now I would form my own company, which would advertise for services for other companies which would pay a "referral fee" to the company. At no point is the American company made aware of how we produced those who desired their service.

The American company would be breaking no American Laws, and I would be breaking no Canadian laws.

[Keith]

They should publish their own home phone numbers and we can all call them at our convenience to ask questions or tell them we don't want their products - or even buy something if we want. Probably best to call late at night if we want to be sure of reaching them...

Keith

[SW 586]

Isn't there something else just as obnoxious that they can do for a living?

Yeah, they could hand out those little cheese and salami samples at the grocery store! Might involve some advanced training, though.

[Trempel]

"Next thing you know, prohibition on armed robbery would be causing higher unemployment...

Telemarketers steal time..."

What?! How can you compare armed robbery with telemarketing? :uhoh:

People want low taxes and low unemployement. They want govt. spending money on something other than welfare programs, and in general to leave everyone alone... except when it comes to telemarketers. Everyone cries foul when the govt. shoves its nose into YOUR business, but it's okay if some one else get haggled.
You don't want to talk to a telemarketer? HANG UP THE PHONE. Why do people find that to be such a distraction in their lives? Either hang up, or get a caller ID and don't answer it? The five seconds that it takes away from your watching of "American Idol" or whatever is not going to ruin your life. At the very least, I don't see it as a reason enough for the govt. to destroy an entire idustry and leave thousands of people with minimal skills without employement.

[DigitalWarrior]

Trempel

Would you care to post your phone number so as to give you the opportunity to demonstrate how easy it is to hang up the phone?

I can place a sign on my propery saying "No Soliciting". I dont get 3 or 4 visits from them per day. I can now place that same sign (virtually) on the other end of my telephone. My installation of a door to my house is not an invitation to knock. My installation of an internet connection is not an invitation into my computer. My installation of a telephone is not an invitation to ring.

[OF]

All I want is to be able to hang a 'no solicitations' sign on my phone number. This call registry is all that is. The only people on the registry are those that don't want to be called.

I want marketers to stop interfering with my life. Gov't is there to protect my rights. One of those is my right to be left alone and not harassed by those who wish to harass me. There are posts on this very forum from people who get called 8 times a day or more. That's not harassment? They have no recourse for that?

- Gabe

PS: Right on, DW.

[Hkmp5sd]

Hey, where was the uproar when "Self-Service Pumps" at the gas station put all of the gas station attendants out of work? At least I liked that service.

[dustind]

How does this destroy an industry? Everyone who wants the service can still get it, the rest of us can be left alone.

If I am not mistaken people could awlays demand that the companies do not call them. The problem is that the companies ignore that request. No one has the right to harrass anyone else. I do not have the right to call you every hour, neither should a corporation.

We should not have this law, the old law should be enforced. If you tell someone to not call you and they keep on doing it, then file charges. For some reason the companies were never brought to justice.

[Trempel]

Mr. Digital,

I demonstrate that ability almost every day, 3-4 times per day, although it seems to me that some other members of this forum could use quite a bit of practice.

[DigitalWarrior]

If you post your number I promise not to call more than 4 times daily.

[Sean Smith]

I hope you realize that this law is taking away people's livelihoods.

I hear poking strangers with a sharp stick isn't profitable either. Boo hoo.

[SW 586]

I demonstrate that ability almost every day, 3-4 times per day, although it seems to me that some other members of this forum could use quite a bit of practice.

I think I'll start practicing right now. There's an ignore button around here somewhere.:evil:

[standingbear]

8 times a day...try at least 12 times a day.their computer hangs up automatically on the 3rd ring.this IS very annoying checking all those hangups while im at work..incidently...the house soliciters stopped one morning when the dog met eye to eye the lawn service sellers peering in the door window.very big shepard.weve had nadda since. i kinda looked forward to the cheap entertainment.especially when the door was open and i yell through the screen.."oh..hes just smiling at you":D

[Quartus]

We should not have this law, the old law should be enforced. If you tell someone to not call you and they keep on doing it, then file charges. For some reason the companies were never brought to justice.



The reason is that few know about the law, and even if a person knows about it, there are no criminal penalties for ignoring it. If you want to nail a violator, you have to spend your own time and money to sue them.

[Hkmp5sd]

eye to eye the lawn service sellers peering in the door window.very big shepard
That's why I've always wanted one of these as a pet! :)

http://www.reisebilder.ch/bilder/io114-400.jpg

[Standing Wolf]

...19 full-time and 400 part-time employees...

Sounds like a sweat shop to me.

[No4Mk1*]

Now they can become productive members of society.
IRS and accounting jobs would be lost if out taxation system was simplified but the country would lose no net productivity, just gain efficiency. These individuals could then find a job that is productive and actually helpful to others.

[swifter]

I'm not in the least sympathetic. :cuss: k 'em. Had a few of the jerks get insolent. Now have electronic watchdog that refuses blocked calls.:D
There's plenty of hamburger joints & car washes out there, maybe some of those losers will upgrade their employment and do something useful.
Or starve... For some, that might be the most useful thing they could do.:what:
Miserable sacks of :cuss: anyway.:evil:

Don't ask me for time: I can't replace it - not a second...

Tom

[XLMiguel]

Why is it so hard for the marketing morons to grasp that those who opt out are not a good use of your selling time? They don't want to hear from you, ain't gonna buy from you, are going to be rude/abusive to you, are going to waste your time. Why do you think it's appropriate to bother and annoy people who aren't going to buy from you?

re: Gov't involvement - It is appropriate for the people to seek redress from the .gov for wrongful things (like being bothered needlesssly).

"Do not call" should be embraced as the "telemarketing productivity act", and those who fall out shoud be seeking useful employment that actually produces a real value add to the economy under any circumstance.

[Bruce H]

I hate to tell the complainers this but there are several jobs that could be done without. There are several positions that chase a portion of the pie that have no useful purpose.

[C.R.Sam]

Should be a boon for the marketers.
Less calls to folks like me who really resent the intrusion.
Higher percentage of calls to potential customers.

Sam

[Tamara]

When did the WJB populists take over the GOP?

"America will not be crucified on a cross of a lack of annoying phone calls!"

[Stinger]

I just can't hear/read WJBryan and not think of the cowardly lion from Oz. I betcha most people don't know why.

Regards,

Stinger (wondering what it would be like if he were king of the forest)

p.s. NO MORE TELEMARKETERS!!! :neener:

[Mike Irwin]

"When did the WJB populists take over the GOP?

"America will not be crucified on a cross of a lack of annoying phone calls!"


Now there's an historical reference you don't see every day! :D

[Mike Irwin]

You know, I don't recall ever hearing that I have the DUTY to provide someone with a job that allows them to annoy me at their discretion.

The telemarketing industry brought this on themselves

[citizen]

I REALLY wish there was also a "Do Not Spam" list........:cuss:

[Oleg Volk]

I just can't hear/read WJBryan and not think of the cowardly lion from Oz. I betcha most people don't know why.

Why, please tell.

[Bill Hook]

IIRC, The Wizard of Oz was written as an allegory/satire about the Gold Standard, which WJ Bryan opposed ("crucify mankind on a cross of gold").


Some character representations I found:

The scarecrow was the dimwitted farmer.
The tin man of the mechanical industrial worker.
The lion was William Jennings Bryant's version of blowhard populism.
The Wizard was the Wall Street manipulators.


more detail:

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~marcum/wizard1.htm

[Moparmike]

As an ex-telemarketer (way back in the day in high school, 2.5 years ago), I have this to say: Waaahh. Cry me a friggin river.:fire: :cuss:

I went to telemarketing because it was a get-hired-immedeatly job that supplimented the income my other employer stiffed me out of after surgery. It was low pay, low satisfaction, no-joy kind of job that I celebrated my departure of. Hell, some of you may have recieved my Discover Card sponsored calls:p .

[Byron Quick]

I politely tell them that I work at night in an ER and that they have not only stolen my time but my sleep. Then I politely offer to call them back at 2AM on my nickel at their home and give them the opportunity to make the sale during my waking hours. More than equitable and fair, no? Isn't it peculiar that not one of these hard working folk have been willing to take me up on my offer?

I've had folk call back up within thirty minutes after having this conversation with me.

I'll pick up aluminum scrap on the highway shoulders before I do such "work."

[Quartus]

I've been wondering if the telemarketing industry has been keeping an unofficial "do not call" list for years. I noticed a remarkable reduction in TM calls, like, down to almost ZERO, after I educated myself about the laws and started making life miserable for them when they called.

Asking for their full REAL name, and quoting the statute that says they have to give it to you, is a great way to wreck their day. Then when you ask for their supervisor's name, and then talk to the supervisor, and lay some other legal trips on them, they seem to get the message.

But you can't do that to EVERY company out there, so it makes me think they have an unofficial blacklist for people like me. Oh, dear, my feelings are hurt! :D


http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs5-tmkt.htm#part12

http://www.junkbusters.com/telemarketing.html

[ARperson]

Whether or not you think this is a good thing, the bottom line is that there's no jurisdiction for the FEDERAL government to do this. That's my biggest beef. Several states have already implemented Do Not Call lists successfully. And that's as it should be: left to the states to decide. Show me where in the Constitution it says the federal goverment should do this.

[Stinger]

Okay, there is a lot of symbolism in Wiz of Oz, to say the least, and I am by no means an expert, but here goes with a few. An internet search could almost certainly pull up more/different answers.

Kansas = Great Plains (dry and dreary-remember, the first of the movie is not really Black and White, more of a brownish haze covering everything.)
Dorothy = your everyman (something always in the way of their dreams)
Scarecrow = Farmers (intellectually challenged)
Tinman = Factory workers (they can't get him going without oil)
Lion = WJ Bryan (seems strong, but actually a coward)
Wicked Witch of East = Eastern Industrialists/Bankers
Wicked Witch of West = Railroads
Flying Monkeys = Plains Indians (just listen to them as they fly off)
Oz = Eastern US
Emerald City = D.C.
Wizard = William McKinley
Yellow Brick Road (Gold Standard)
Silver Shoes (unlimited coinage of silver- on the Populist Platform) The shoes are not ruby in the book.
Munchkins = maltreated Eastern workers, possibly child labor (remember how happy they are when the witch is dead?)

Who knows? I don't think the author (Baum) actually ever said, but I guess if you look hard enough, you can find something in nothing. :confused:

But it's fun to think about,

Stinger

[Stinger]

BTW,

Pause the movie while the Lion, Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Tinman are walking through the Haunted Forest.

I threw that in just to keep this thread firearm related. :neener: :evil: :what:

Regards,

Stinger

[Mike Irwin]

"Show me where in the Constitution it says the federal goverment should do this."


United States Constitution, Section 8, Clause 3, also loosely known as the "Foreign and Interstate Commerce Clause."