labels.
|
Last
spring, I made the mistake of sending a certain charity organization a
small
donation in response to a mailing. The
first repercussion was an increase in junk mail, both from that
specific
charity and about a half dozen others. I
can just picture the person opening the envelope with my check in it –
think of the
scene in Ghostbusters where the
secretary slams down the phone, yells “We got one!” and smacks the
alarm
button. Now that I’ve demonstrated the
smallest little bit of a bleeding-heart tendency, the whole world of
charity
organizations is looking to cash in. The
second and more frustrating repercussion is all the junk these people
are now
sending me to encourage me to send them more cash: calendars, notepads,
and,
most of all, address labels. Literally
not a week goes by that I don’t get
another fat envelope stuffed with a stack of return address labels with
my
information on them. They come in all
kinds of themed designs: patriotic (bald eagle, statue of liberty,
flag),
seashore (lighthouse, seagull, tall ship), fruit collection (apple,
pear,
orange, berries), transportation (the venerable planes, trains, and
automobiles),
and seasonal: summer (beach umbrella, sand pail, beach ball), fall
(pumpkin,
autumn leaves, scarecrow), and winter (fireplace, snowy road, bare tree
by a
snow-covered fence). On
the one hand, I understand these things are dirt cheap, and an easy way
to
guilt people into sending more money.
They’re even useful, to an extent.
However, I barely send out a half a dozen pieces of mail a
month, so one
set of stickers lasts me a while. Counting
the holiday-themed ones that have just started pouring in, I have no
fewer than
thirty nine sets of stickers lying
around that I haven’t even started
using. I’d really rather be able to
believe the money I sent is being put to good use. So,
guys, thanks, but enough with the stickers.
I’m all set. |