The Pestering
Shopping used to be an event, a symphony of smells, feels, and sights. We’d fondle the produce, check the seams of the garment. We'd stare into the vendor’s beady eyes, trying to decide if they looked trustworthy enough to hand over our hard earned cash. The worst thing you could expect in the days of yesteryear was some old farmer giving you the stink-eye for bruising their tomatoes.
Then came the pandemic, turning us all into hermits and online shopping junkies. That year of toilet paper shortages and quests for those illusive cans of Lysol made doorstep delivery more necessity than luxury. But convenience comes with a price well beyond the cost of delivery fees.
The price we pay for convenience is the pestering, and the pestering is a high price indeed.
Every online store now demands a profile, holding your personal info hostage for a one-time measly discount. “Give us your email for 10% off your first order!” they say. I’m a sucker for a bargain, so I’ve fallen for that dirty trick more times than I’d care to admit. At first, I’m ecstatic, patting myself on the back for saving a few bucks. But then, after the dopamine rush subsides, it dawns on me what I’ve gotten myself into.
Emails and texts start rolling in on the regular, “Come back! We’ve missed you!”, “Look what we’ve chosen especially for you!”, “New Arrivals! You won’t want to miss this one!” Really? I think to myself, “I just spent $100 on your site yesterday. You have an awfully unrealistic expectation of my bank account.”
Some vendors have taken pestering to an art form. One sends me an email every other day with a blog post about the business owner's deep thoughts, van life adventures, and the philosophical implications of organic quinoa. Dude, I admire your passion, really I do but I just wanted a pair of socks.
Another, a spice company, uses every marketing email to rant about a political party they particularly despise. Spicy indeed. Look, I don’t need a side of political commentary with your delicious curry powder. I’m looking to make dinner, not start a civil war.
Somewhere along the line, companies have confused the words customer and captive audience.
But as targets, I mean customers, we’re not entirely helpless. There are tools at our disposal. You can check out as a guest, but then you miss those sweet 25% off deals. You can unsubscribe or mark emails as spam, but some brands are like a determined ex—they just keep showing up. Apple’s “Hide My Email” feature works sometimes, but some sites are too savvy for that. Like digital vampires, they lust for your data, craving the chance to keep on pestering you.
A few weeks ago, a thought struck me like a bolt of common sense. I decided to flip these pesky vendors the proverbial bird.
I created a special email address just for them…
[email protected]. Voilà!
Feeling smug, I strutted down to my mailroom today, jiggled open the mailbox, and found a colorful postcard that cheerily read, “We’ve missed you!”
There's no escaping it—whether in your inbox or your mailbox, they're just going to keep coming for you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an email to read from the sock company about the existential crisis of cotton blends. I’m now pretty well resigned to that fact that they have us exactly where they want us and the pestering, it will never end.
All for now.
Be well and make the most of this day. Thank you for reading.
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Well, ‘you hit the nail on the head’, this is exactly the solution I have been using for many years, in total I have @gmail, @hotmail, @yahoo, @vk..., they all start with the same username, and each of them has a specific function.
Take it easy. When an unknown sender writes to me and is of no interest to me, I just block them. We can't allow others to affect us with their spam mails. Enjoy every moment of life. Blessings.
You were smart to create several email addresses for that purpose! I block unknown or unwanted senders as well. I've found that sometimes the 'unsubscribe' feature of some websites sometimes don't work. Thanks, I hope you enjoy your weekend!
I couldn't help laughing out loud at the
🤣🤣. The heck they missed you. They should have at least admitted that it was your patronage they missed and not act your person, lol.
Although they might have succeeded in attracting us with their various offerings, we still have a choice to either click the purchase button or not.
Right? It seems like such an disingenuous marketing strategy. I sometimes will purposely never shop with a vendor again if they're too intrusive/aggressive with their marketing, even if I like their products. I will "move to spam" with the quickness.
I'll be the first to admit that we are part of the problem. My wife and I have tried to go back to the stores after the pandemic, but people are just morons and that makes us angry and then we look like morons. There is a huge lack of situational awareness these days and everyone is so self absorbed that it sucks all the fun or sanity out of shopping in a store. Is it sad, yes, but I don't know what else to do. I'm sure many would say the problem is us not them, but who knows...
There is a huge lack of situational awareness these days.. This is the truest statement I've heard in a while! The grocery stores are the worst! I'm dumbfounded by the amount of people who stand in front of the freezer cases and stare into nothingness for minutes at a time.
I don't have a problem with online shoppers at all but was just trying to shine a light on how intrusive the online businesses have gotten with their marketing.
I get it. It's pretty horrible! I just feel like people are in their own worlds these days and they feel like they own every inch of free space wherever they go.
I felt identified with this!!! jajajaja. I get messages in my inbox that I will never, ever open because they simply don't interest me. Once, I think it was for a raffle, I gave my cell phone number. I remember that I saw the guy put my bill in a box where there were thousands of bills. After that, I started receiving offers, announcements of events, even the guy at the supermarket wrote me because “the products I normally buy” were on discount. Now I have an email for that kind of things and I even have a phone number, because I could invent, but I want to know if there are really discounts. hahaha. Have a good Friday, my friend
So you definitely know what I'm talking about! Sometimes it's worth it, especially with bigger ticket items. If I'm spending hundreds of dollars on something there's no way I'm NOT going to sign up for 10% off. I just can't help myself, it must be in my DNA. : ) I hope you're enjoying your weekend Nancy!
The good old email marketing frenzy, ups, I mean email sales funnel for the target (captive) audience. Giving each user/customer a label and putting them into boxes to improve click-through and open rates is all the online marketing "mavericks" talk about. The mismatch grows and yet, you still have some lost in the funnel who get reactivated by a bait cleverly emphasizing the hurdles of a savvy "sock" company owner mimicking the marketing wizards cleverly disguised as influencer -- a spectacular brand, or should I say label ;)
Creating a separate email for signups and discounts is a good strategy. Enjoy your weekend, Eric.
They're all stepping up their game -- Facebook and YouTube are terrible now. I swear sometimes they can read my mind. Lol. May the good Lord help you if you click on any Facebook ads that land on your profile because that ad and similar ones will be front and center every time you open the app. I just can't imagine how it'll be once we're all wearing AR/VR devices. They'll be hounding us in all of our waking hours. Thanks, Krisz, enjoy your weekend as well!
I know exactly what you mean. I was one of the early advertisers on FB. In 2011, when I joined the game, we were less than 100K advertisers worldwide. Wicked times. I became a nerd at it, teaching big businesses and small biz owners how to run profitable FB ads. I also had an Academy dedicated exclusively to teaching entrepreneurs, corporate teams, etc., how to run ads on FB and Insta that deliver results. I stepped out of the game a few years ago. The amount of data and more importantly, the granularity of the data is incomprehensible to the human mind. This tech behemoth from Silicon Valley is a data vampire and people continue to feed the beast, albeit ads have become even more intrusive than they used to be.
Those were the glory days of FB ads! I used to run them for my author page they were very effective. I sold quite a few books. That all stopped for me around 2013/4 when costs to boost skyrocketed. I just made the announcement today on my Facebook author page that I was winding it down and included a link to my YouTube channel...hopefully I gain enough subs to monetize. I'm about 10% of the way there!
Good afternoon my brother and best wishes to you today. We wish you always the best and hopefully you can carry out your activities smoothly.
Thanks, same to you!
This got me rolling on the floor, these people knows how to entice people to keep coming back after every purchase haha
I'm glad it made you laugh!
The pandemic really affected our world then and it was at the beginning difficult for our world to actually recover from it. But well we are actually standing right now
It's definitely not the same world!
I have over 900+ unread emails....
Numerous sites, some I don't even remember signing up for.
I keep saying one of these Saturdays, I'd sort it out.
Yet after reading numerous post cards and articles and advertisements and please come back.
I just might as well abandon that email 😭😂
I bet I have that many in my Spam folder alone! : )
Nice one with the fake email :)) I don't shop online much, mostly concert or theater tickets... I don't mind those spams as I can always check out new shows.
On the other hand, I did go as far as to get an app just to get a discount on some shoes. Luckily, my phone got the idea those are spam messages so it doesn't show them anymore.
That's great! You're getting information you can actually use. I don't think I'd mind getting emails about live music venues or similar experiences. You can find some decent deals with those apps. We have a store here in the States called Target and they offer some incredible deals for those who download their app. Whoa, I wish the iPhone was that smart. In election years I get 2 or 3 texts a day sometimes seeking political donations. These days I'd rather like money on fire than donate to politicians.
This is hilarious !! After I comment I am going to read it again !
" Really? I think to myself, “I just spent $100 on your site yesterday. You have an awfully unrealistic expectation of my bank"
That was funny and so was everything else. I created an email account a long time ago that I use for everything that insists I give an email, to keep it out of my family/real business email. I give the other one out with abandon. I also almost always unsubscribe when some company sends me their first "spam" mail. Some companies are reasonable and only send something once in a while, while others seem to send something every other day. That irks me, even when it is from a company I actually like and shop with.
I try VERY hard not to give out my cell number. I don't download apps on my phone either. I know it's a norm for today with the folks younger than me, but I don't do much business on my phone. I know everybody wants to be in my had every second, but I don't want them there. I like spending money, but I don't like to be hounded. For goodness sakes ! Be reasonable !
I'm glad it made you chuckle! I wasn't quite sure if this kind of humor would work anymore. I used to love writing these humor pieces earlier in my career.
You were smart to create a specific email for this stuff. I wish I'd done it a long time ago. The spice company gives me conflicted feelings I love their spices, their political commentary not so much. Lol.
They save the super sweet deals for the cell phone number! They make it extremely tempting. I've gotten as much as 25% off on big ticket items but it only works once.
This humor worked for me ! It is all so relatable and you tell it in a funny, generally light-hearted way, whether you feel like that about it or not.
I think years ago I created the "junk" email account, because I didn't think it was any of any stranger's or company's biz what my email was and of course to keep the spam out of my main account. You never know who will share it with unknown others. So much of my personal info everybody thinks it is ok to ask for in the nature of the way things are today. I don't think of myself as totally backwards really, but I DO have a line ! ha...
I have probably missed some deals, but I guess I'm usually thinking the price of constant pestering is higher than I'm willing to pay to find out. The good thing is, if I don't know about it, I won't miss it in the end, or that is my theory.
Thank you! It was a nice break from my usual writing. I'd like to do more of it.
Yes, multiple email addresses are a necessity these days. It seems like companies are reporting data breaches every few months.
It's definitely not worth it to give them your phone # if you can help it. It's almost a given they're going to sell that info to third parties.
Eric, your article resonates deeply with the modern shopping experience! The transition from in-person shopping to the relentless barrage of online marketing is humorously yet accurately depicted. It's a reminder that while convenience has its perks, it also comes with its fair share of nuisances. Your witty take on the situation brings a smile and a nod of agreement. Thank you for sharing this entertaining and insightful piece!😬😂
I'm glad you enjoyed it, thank you!
Hunting for groceries in shopping centers is really fun. Especially for a woman. But I don't want to do it too often because I will definitely spend one month's income just to buy things that I don't really need. So I prefer online shopping that has free shipping promotions. So I can save my expenses.
Grocery stores are my mom's favorite places to shop! She likes looking at and trying the new products. Although she says the same thing as you, she saves lots of money ordering her groceries online! : )
😆 so true .. action-reaction kinda of thing
You know what I do, I use the 'rule' tool on my Mac Email client.
All these emails go straight into folders, 99,999% of those will never be opened.
I didn't detect a service that removed me from the list because I never opened one of their emails; Though they should be able to track.
I don't auto-bin most emails - which is another method - because I like to be able to see the history whenever I need such .. likely never.. but one never knows 😆😆😆
More than sometimes I get warm feelings for the pre-email era.
That's a smart strategy! Before I created the dedicated email address for shopping I would mark all of the marketing related crap coming in as spam so all future emails would be funneled into that folder. It's just so much easier to have them going somewhere else though because any company you give your email to will usually sell it to other companies and the onslaught begins! : ) Can you remember how much physical mail we all used to get before email marketing? I'm lucky to get one snail mail item a day now.
One? For me that is per week, or even two weeks 🎶
Wow, I wish!
After Corona, things took a long time to settle, we all lost the habit of going to shops
https://x.com/lee19389/status/1817986617744965816
#hive #posh
Never understood why people looted toilet paper during those days :)
We were being told it was scarce in the US due to "supply chain disruptions". That all turned out to be a lie.
I laughed out loud at this :)))
I wish I could say I relate, but I love the real shopping experience. I can't help it, even if I bitch about it all the time. I could never get behind the door deliveries of anything. I even hate ordering food, let alone any of the traditional "shopping" categories.
Gotta say, you don't make me regret it, though. I would've expected the sent you spammy promo at the most, but political commentary? Who are these people...
PS: I love the new banner!! :)
I'm glad it made you chuckle! I have to say that I do enjoy old school shopping when I'm traveling. The open air markets in other countries are some of the very best experiences I've had. It really allows you to get to know a place. The Jean Talon market in Montreal and Portobello Market in London are two of my favorite memories. Food delivery makes me super nervous. I've seen way too many videos of delivery drivers tampering with it.
Oh man, this spice company is unbelievable! The owner probably lost half of his business since he's gotten so political but has probably gained just as many customers who have like-minded political views. The spices are the best I've had so I continue to shop there occasionally but all of the emails are immediately routed to the spam folder. It's just so inappropriate to be preached to by a business owner.
Thanks! I'm consuming so many videos lately on how to build a successful YouTube channel. I created the banner after watching a tutorial on how to do it. I don't want to be pigeon-holed into a channel that's just about travel. So I'm really thinking about what niche I want to occupy before I go all in. Are you having fun in Spain?
Still its better than the paper junk mail of the olden days 🙂
That was annoying! About the only paper junk mail I get now is from AARP and Viking River Cruises. Lol.