I actually set up my second email address because so many companies that I had done business with during the dot com era sold their email lists once they filed bankruptcy. That was the first time I really started to get overwhelmed with spam.
two companies, one selling headbands (Vero Brava) and one selling scrubs (jaanuu). I have a bigger head and the headband I did buy is uncomfortably tight. I’ve bought 3 sets of scrubs,and, while they are fantastic, how many more do they actually think I need?
Many years ago, I ordered something from the Reader’s Digest empire, and started getting an ever-increasing amount of junk mail. When it got to 2 or 3 pieces EVERY DAY, I wrote “DECEASED” on an envelope and sent it back. I then worried about what might happen to my credit rating, etc. but the only thing that happened was that the mailings stopped within about a week.
More recently, a local dealership started calling to ask if I wanted to trade in my car. After I got a 3rd call in a week, I told them that when I was ready to trade in my car, I would, and to please stop calling, in part because if they did so again, I might get my next car from another place. Haven’t heard from them, either.
Now, if anything could be done about applications for extended warranties?
But they’re the only friends I have…
Groupon sends me up to 6 messages a day.
Yep. A 20% off promo code, or up to 80% off sale, pretty much constantly. Who would ever buy anything from Groupon at their regular price anymore, when the sale is the rule rather than the exception?
Omaha Steaks.
Lands’ End.
Travelocity. (By the way, if you don’t use the hotel nights you paid for, as I didn’t six weeks ago, you likely get no refund, as the hotel knows “nothing” about the arrangements.)
Lots of others, but these are the ones that flood multiple emails daily.
@me too.
I get 3 emails a day, 2 from Geek and 1 from Smithsonian. And about 460 spam emails a day. And god-damn Walmart.
@Beckdawrek–I don’t need anyone to handle Wally World for me, as I’ve given them not one cent in an awfully long time. Thanks for the sentiment, just the same.
The ACLU. I belonged for a year. That was back before the Internet, so they had to settle for endlessly cramming my snail mailbox with literature. That was during my stay in Albuquerque almost 30 years ago, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re still trying to send me stuff there.
I lay awake at night hoping for an email from WalMart in the morning. :o
I will tell them you are awaiting their email. I shouldn’t get all the love, it just wouldn’t be fair.
Yea, I am generous that way.
You’re welcome!
P.S. would you like a Fingerhut catalogue while I’m at it?
I rarely look at stuff there, but over the weekend considered a purchase, put the item in my cart and then had second thoughts and deleted it.
So I get an e-mail the next day from eBay wondering if I’d changed my mind and wanted to buy it. :smack:
I have run into this spammy crap before from a couple places where I decided not to go through with a purchase after putting something in the cart. No, it wasn’t a dreadful mistake on my part, retail turds.
I ordered from an online pharmacy at least five years, just once. And they call me on the phone every month or two, soliciting another sale. I tell them to go fuck themselves, but it never helps. I will certainly never order from them again.
I get an email from Kobo at least once a day. The thing is that sometimes they are selling (or pre-selling, more likely) a book I really want to read. If only they would do it less often.
And what really annoys me are the fake journals that seem to be springing up like weeds that want me to submit a paper (and pay page costs, so they are essentially vanity “presses”) often in areas having nothing to do with me. This morning I got one from a journal called Obesity and Diet or some such.
I actually kinda like the Amazon emails I get. The ones that say, “people who bought (something I bought) also bought this”.
I buy some weird things (whoda guessed). It turns out that other people who bought the same weird thing I did also bought things that I’m interested in.
We actually look and laugh at what “people like me” buy.
ETA: as others have pointed out, unsubscribing actually works nowadays.
That just sounds dirty!
We once bought a box of specialty plastic bags. Next thing we knew, we were getting weekly religious glurge from the company. We had to call and tell them to stop.
I create a unique email address for almost every business and website I need to give an address to for this very reason. In most cases, after first signing up, even when I select “don’t email me” I get an ad or two, I unsubscribe, and I never get any more. At current count I have 504 unique addresses allowed, and 115 unique addresses banned.
These are the primary reasons companies get banned:
[ol]
[li]“We have a new newsletter, and thought you might be interested.” Monthly.[/li][li]Continuing to send ads despite several unsubscribe attempts.[/li][li]The address gets spam not related to the place I gave the address. Uh, you guys have a leak in your data pipes.[/li][li]The unsubscribe link is broken.[/li][/ol]
PLONK is the sound that a user made when added to a usenet kill file, and moving a company’s unique address from allowed to banned makes the same sound.
Some of the worst offenders have been Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft would keep sending me “information” I didn’t want, and seemingly completely ignored my attempts to unsubscribe. I don’t remember why I gave Apple my address. It must have been something simple, because it didn’t require creating an account. Apple sent that address multiple ads per week, but I couldn’t unsubscribe because unsubscribing required logging into your account, even though there was no account associated with the address.
Amazon third-party sellers
Groupon is especially annoying about this, although it is usually from phone notifications. Most of the time, I click on an offer and notice the store or restaurant is pretty far away, then I’ll get notifications asking me if I’m still interested.