Here's the web site to sign-up for the national do-not-call-list. www.donotcall.gov.....I have been getting 3 or 4 calls a day from telemarketers!! Driving me crazy!! This is sposed to keep them away for 5 years.......kirk

-- Anonymous, June 30, 2003

Answers

Yup, we signed up. It's not supposed to be effective til October or something like that, tho?? I really hate the telemarketer calls - especially when they wake me up!

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2003

I need to investigate this a bit more before I sign up. We already have a no-call list in Indiana that works pretty well. I've heard that the national no-call list is less restrictive than the Indiana list, so I want to be sure that signing up for the national list won't cause me to get more calls instead of less.

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2003

There's an article at salon.com I just found. Oct 1 is the date it starts and something like 60 million have already signed up. guess I'm not the only one sick of it!.....Kirk

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2003

Texas has had a do not call list for at least six months and it seems to have curbed the telephone calls when supper time rolls around a little bit. I noticed a big reduction when we installed a Telezapper onto our home phones - cut those down to about 25% of what they were.

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003

Same day we opted out, the news ran a piece on 2500 telemarketer operators being forced to start drawing unemployement checks because the laws in their state made opting out so easy that their jobs were no longer required. The estimate is that this opt out will add about 250,000 or more nationwide to the unemployment rolls in the next 12 months. We may have to support em because we ended their jobs, but at least we dont have to talk to them unless they're taking a survey or collecting for charity :>)

I did feel a little sorry for the old lady that got laid off after losing her savings in enron, but she will get her 13 weeks since she worked for a year telemarketing and there may be a few fed extensions for her too.

Isnt it amusing how no one really thinks of the poor folks that lose their jobs in something like this. For many , telemarketing was the difference between a rough life after losing a decent job and the street. The rich owners of the telemarketing firms won't feel the pinch for awhile and will probably find better gigs anyway.

Course back in the 60s ,the guy across the street from us would pour water on door to door salesmen during that recession. No big difference I guess .

But as most everyone else, I dont care about those 250,000 either as long as my little world is nicer and my dinner uninterrupted. I can turn the coin over and look at both sides and set it down and comfortably look at the side I choose. To Hell With Everybody involved with Telemarketing, until the cost of the 'net goes up, then my view may be a bit different. How about ya'll :>)

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003

When cable TV first came out and became popular, I was put on layoff from my job - I worked in a paper processing facility making cups and popcorn tubs. Apparently, people quit going to movies when they could get cable. I survived. So will the former telemarketers. I know several folks who took telemarketing jobs who were harrassed by their employers for not taking enough calls, not making enough sales, collecting enough money, etc... It may pay the bills for a few, but it is a very stressful job - and low paying. They are only one small blub in this recession. Unfortunatly.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003

I hadn't considered the effect on the employees of the telemarketer's - that's lousy for them, but as Polly said, they'll pick themselves up. I understand that the logging industry in the Northwest underwent some upheaval when limits on logging were put in effect. Their employees had to change occupations, but as to long term effects - I'm not aware of them.

They'll survivie - but the short term effects, they'll cope.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003

I worked a brief stint as a telemarketer during college. I lasted a whole 2 weeks before I quit. The only good thing I can say about the job was that the room was air conditioned (I was working in July). Other than that it was almost like a sweatshop. My job was especially slimy. I would call people and say that I was doing market research and would they mind just answering a few questions. I assured them that I wasn't selling anything. What I didn't tell the caller was that based on their responses to the questions, I would sell their number to other companies who would call to sell them things. I was paid based on how many "live hits" I could generate in a night. If I didn't turn in any numbers, I didn't get paid.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003

Deep down we're all self centered , just packaged a little differently. :>)

But your right there are other ways around it and most will get over it. An aquaintence that runs a telemarketing gig is already converting to non spam websites and bulk mailings of card deck advertisings. He only terminated 5 of his staff of 12 and the terminated operators may be recalled and used strictly for telemarketing of paid surveys and charity collecting. Charities will still be able to employ telemarket firms to run the phone banks. Since they will have to buy the opt out list, whats to stop em from using it as a charity call and survey directory instead of just line calling :>)

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003

The federal list appears to have a lot of loopholes. If you've ever contacted a company for any reason they can call you for 3 months, and if you've bought something from them they can call you for 18 months. I don't think that telemarketers are going to go the way of the do-do bird. :)

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003

The guy I know who telemarkets says this deal is actually going to help his profitability as the folks who opt out normally are no sells anyway, they will still call them but for only collecting survey information, but otherwise they don't waste time calling them, his operations overhead has been reduced, he has already seen increases in his other directed response advertising.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003

Wisconsin initiated a no-call list a while back and it does work. Hardly any calls since then.

-- Anonymous, July 07, 2003

all these solicitions, including the incredibly annoying EMAIL ones, would disappear overnight if people would just get a clue and NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM, EVER!

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2003