BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty

Subject: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - great idea!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Jul 15 - 05:46 PM

I suppose most of us are overwhelmed with the advertising mail and email we get every day. I'm afraid to discard much of it unopened, since it might be a business matter I need to attend to. This applies especially to companies I do business with - is it an ad, or is it a bill or a check?

So, today I got a piece of mail from Kaiser Permanente, a medical care company. Under their name, they put "This Is an Advertisement" - letting me know right off what the letter was about. I have to say that in this day and age, such corporate honesty is refreshing, and would make me want to do business with such a company.

Any other examples of corporate honesty and ethics that impress you?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 14 Jul 15 - 08:31 PM

Not a whole lot, but that was refreshing to read.

I throw it all away, well, recycle it all, unopened. If it's important, they can address me by name.

I am sure I have missed stuff!

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Jul 15 - 09:58 PM

I hate it when I get so behind in my mail that I miss checks. A while back, I found a two-year-old check that I hadn't opened....

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Jul 15 - 10:18 PM

We use direct deposit. That way we don't get any checks we're not expecting.

Nearly everything that comes to the house, and about half of what comes to the PO box, gets recycled. The post office even has a locked recycle bin by the sorting table.

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 14 Jul 15 - 10:53 PM

I haven't had a cheque book for 11 years now, and never encountered a time when I've regretted not having one.

The only cheque I can remember receiving from anywhere in the last 6 years was last year....a cheque from the UK Revenue for a tax rebate. The last cheque I received prior to that was 6 years ago, again a tax rebate from the Revenue.

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Jul 15 - 11:40 PM

I've used direct deposit for most payments for over 20 years, when I became single and traveled a lot on the job. But some people still send me checks now and then.
Even rebates don't come on checks very much any more. They come on those prepaid Visa cards that are such a hassle to use - I use them on my phone bill since I know AT& T will take them. Still, valuable things come in the mail every once in a while - only to get lost amidst the junk.
Heck, I even get a letter in the mail every now and then.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 01:59 AM

Our local paper recently published an overheard comment from one Gen X to another saying she had received a lovely bookmark for some work. Wiser friend told her it was a cheque (or check in American) & to take it to the bank!

sandra (who often sends out personal cheques as well as making direct deposits, & also receives lots of cheques as Secretary of a small organisation, which also accepts Direct Deposits)

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 05:52 AM

I had a cheque just a few days ago - from a fellow 'Catter who bought my tenor guitar CD!

I know a number of old neighbours who rely on cheques and the post as a payment method for paying some bills, as they don't have computers and don't do telephone banking.

So I hope the banks will bear these people in mind before they withdraw the facility - which they keep threatening to do.

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Janie
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 06:19 AM

Joe, no matter who it is from, if it was mailed 'standard' class, you can toss it without opening.

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 06:22 AM

Getting away from cheques but staying with corporate honesty, Stella Artois pilsner lager was advertised in the UK for a while as "reassuringly expensive".

DC

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 06:34 AM

Carlsberg you to claim, "The best lager in the world, probably."

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 06:55 AM

"This is a holdup!"

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 12:14 PM

Statements from credit card companies now come in envelopes prominently marked "Statement Enclosed". Years back, they came in envelopes indistinguishable from junk mail, which meant you had to open anything from any company you had a card with to avoid throwing statements away. Now, if it doesn't say "Statement Enclosed" or feel like it has a card in it, it goes in the recycle bin.

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: Joe_F
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 04:01 PM

I get my credit-card statement online and pay it online (no charge -- my bank has a direct connection; all I have to do is fill in the date & amount). I was driven to this when a couple of checks of mine were stolen out of the mail (I am happy to say that the letter-carrier was arrested), but it would have made sense as soon as it was possible. My rent check and all my recurring bills are paid automatically from my bank account. It has become a great rarity for me to write a check or, indeed, to send anything by snailmail. I do still receive a couple of magazines. Almost everything that appears in my mailbox goes straight into the recycling bag.

Subject: RE: BS: 'This Is an Advertisement' - Corporate honesty
From: GUEST,#
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 12:30 AM

I save junk mail until some company is foolish enough to send a prepaid return-mail envelope. I then put all the junk mail into a bundle and affix the return-mail envelope before sending it on its way. Keeps the postal system going and gives the junk mail to a single deserving contributor. Doesn't take much to amuse me.