Mike Ball notes the phenomenon of people who are pissed at the Globe Direct pink poop bag - and who express their anger by just letting them pile up on their porches or front steps:
It’s as though the homeowners expect the advertising elves to acknowledge their errors and remove the rubble. They’ll be waiting a long, long time.
He adds the same thing happens with the annual visits from the phone-book fairy.
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Comments
I don't get it
By tblade
Sat, 11/23/2013 - 5:48pm
I've seen comments elsewhere where people say "I'll just let the Globe Directs sit there; eventually, the delivery people will get the point".
The delivery people don't care what your house looks like - know that. There could be 100 red bags on your porch and these people just want to get rid of their bundles as quickly as possible and go home or on to their daytime job. I'd be willing to bet these people have 300-500 deliveries and there is no way they are going to put any effort into tracking who is on the op-out list.
I don't know how to stop getting Globe Directs, but passive aggressiveness will not work.
It could also be because the residents....
By bostonzest
Sat, 11/23/2013 - 5:59pm
Don't use that door. The deliveries often go to a front door while the residents use the back door. This often happens in the Back Bay where residents enter and exit via the alley or garage where their car is stored. You can make a good guess at the buildings that have parking out back by the amount of stuff on the front steps.
Useless junk
By anon
Sat, 11/23/2013 - 6:24pm
What caused the change from this packet of junk being delivered unwanted to my mailbox every Thursday by the post office, to being delivered by minimum wage, part time workers tossing them here, there and everywhere in red plastic bags? Did letter carriers stage a revolt? Either way, this stuff is entirely unwanted and I wish it would just stop. Does anyone even look at these useless flyers? The same information and coupons are readily available online.
People are different
By Anon
Sat, 11/23/2013 - 7:12pm
Some people want to know every sale, discount available, and coupon so they can save money. Even today, not everyone has a computer to get the information online.
Which costs less
By tblade
Sat, 11/23/2013 - 9:01pm
Globe Direct will use whichever system costs them less. If they can save a nickel or a dime by using the once-per-week workers canvassing neighborhoods from Hyde Park to Cambridge, then that's what they'll do. Hell, if you started a company that could do it cheaper than the current crew, I'm sure you could win the bid.
Secondly, as long as advertisers pay the Globe to print this junk, the Globe will keep sending them out. It's irrelevent that you don't want these flyers, all that is relevant is that Light & Leisure, Sleepy's, Rite Aid et. al. are paying the Globe to print and deliver this trash once a week.
One person's trash...
By Anon
Sat, 11/23/2013 - 9:38pm
...is another's treasure. Maybe some people like to save money and find deals and sales by looking at the flyers.
Red Bags of Poop
By John-W
Sun, 11/24/2013 - 12:24pm
And that's why if you're really fed up with these things and have been calling Globe Direct but they won't stop delivering to you (or worse do what they did to me and start delivering multiple copies after you tell them you don't want the one that you're already getting), then you should call the advertizers (or email them) and let them know that you purposefully avoid making purchases in their establishments precisely because they advertize in Globe Direct. Treat them like Apartheid supporters and divest! Outside of shooting the poor bastard that delivers these things I can't think of any other stronger motivator to stop the madness.
Alternative: prosecute
By Bob Leponge
Mon, 11/25/2013 - 9:08am
If the poor bastard who is delivering them comes onto private property without the permission of the owner, is he not trespassing?
Trespassing in MA
By BostonUrbEx
Mon, 11/25/2013 - 9:20am
Trespassing in MA isn't clear cut. Nor is it as simple as walking up somebody's walkway without prior permission. You have to be /told/ to leave, and if you refuse and/or make no effort, you are thus trespassing. If they return at a later time/next day, it is not clear to me whether that would be trespassing.
trezzpassin'
By John-W
Mon, 11/25/2013 - 2:16pm
I think if you clearly post a sign regarding solicitors, etc. you can also say that person is trespassing. Of course in the city (at least for my place) I don;t think they even get out of the car - they just toss the damn things in the general vicinity of my front door. Frequently they end up in on the sidewalk or in the street and are therefore a public nuisance, but makes my place look a bit too ghetto, so I go pick them up.
Tell the colonists
By Kaz
Mon, 11/25/2013 - 4:00pm
I looked this up to try and see what I could threaten them with for having left these things on my doorstep after directly requesting my address be removed from their records.
It turns out "handbills", like these things could basically be considered, are legit (in Boston proper anyways). You can't stop them because it used to be the way to spread the word about important information that might be needed for organizing the citizenry (just now, it's to organize them for low low prices).
Supermarket flyers are useful to some people
By Ron Newman
Sun, 11/24/2013 - 12:34am
I would not call them entirely "useless" or "junk". (That doesn't mean they should be delivered to people who clearly don't want them.)
Retailers should be required to offer
By anon
Sun, 11/24/2013 - 7:20am
the same price to everyone who enters their store. Requiring people to have a loyalty card or a coupon to get a lower price is actually discriminatory pricing. If we had a consumer protection agency that actually worked to protect consumers, they'd recognize this basic fact and get a law passed to rectify this.
We have a multi-billion
By anon
Sun, 11/24/2013 - 11:24am
We have a multi-billion dollar federal Consumer Protection Agency thanks to our new senator. Guess what? It primarily serves as an employment agency for six figure bureaucrats and a bludgeon to go after companies that pissed off the wrong person politically. The state AG is pretty much the same deal when it comes to consumer protection matters. Unless it is political they usually could care less about helping you.
The only people willing to stand up for the little guy is the Better Business Bureau and they have very little in terms of teeth or the occasional reporter like Hank Ryan.
All you can really do is vote with your money and not give a penny to places which conduct business in ways disagreeable to you.
Discriminatory against what protected class?
By Bob Leponge
Mon, 11/25/2013 - 9:10am
Is there, or should there be, some law against said "discriminatory pricing" when it does not discriminate against a legally protected class?
Would you like to see the bartender who pours a free shot for a regular hauled away in handcuffs?
If a person doesn't have either
By anon
Mon, 11/25/2013 - 10:14am
a loyalty card or a coupon, they have to pay a higher price. Requiring people to meet an arbitrary condition (like signing up for a loyalty card) is by definition a discrimnatory practice, even if it isn't targeted against "legally protected" classes.
Of course it is discriminatory
By Bob Leponge
Mon, 11/25/2013 - 12:16pm
I'm not setting out to be difficult here, but I just don't understand your logic. What is wrong with setting prices based on arbitrary conditions, such as offering a 10% discount on Wednesdays to anyone wearing a Red Sox hat?
What legitimate societal or governmental purpose would be served by making that illegal?
Let us know the next time you buy a car...
By merlinmurph
Mon, 11/25/2013 - 11:43am
...and pay the price on the sticker. Or the same price as everybody else. Or whatever.
Good luck with that, and for good reason.
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