Being a rant about wasteful vendor behavior

[Michael Neverisky]

At some point during this stay-at-home time I made a small purchase at Sweetwater. First time ever, my local Mom & Pop usually has everything I need. But when neither Mom nor Pop could get the item I wanted, I went to the computer and told The Google of my desire. Up came a Sweetwater ad and a few clicks later the widget was on its way to me. That's the good part, here's the bad part:

As a Sweetwater customer I am now on their mailing list. Not just email, which I expected, I mean physical mail. And for the first time in I don't know how long I have received a thick, full color, printed catalog. WTF? This is excessive, regressive and decidedly not "green". Although the service from Sweetwater was prompt --- nothing friendly or unfriendly about it -- this behavior discourages me as a customer. I have asked to be removed from receiving future filler material for my recycling bin.

[SoftwareGuy]

I agree with your point about excessive advertising, but given the entire online purchase experience, Sweetwater has been very easy to work with. (However I have never made a big purchase from them.)
In my experience, some tradeoffs are needed when you select an online vendor.

[sgosnell]

It's not just Sweetwater. Everyone I've ever done business with swamps me with advertising. Every day of the week. Unsubscribing does no good. The only way to deal with it is to have a throw-away email address for use with this type of business, and keep the real email address for use with people I actually want to hear from. Google will happily give you as many email addresses as you want, and you don't have to check them unless you want to. The catalogs just go into the trash. I can't force myself to be responsible for what vendors may do.

[Litterick]

Printed matter delivered to customers is the most effective form of advertising, I am sorry to say. If it is any consolation, the admen hate that fact as much as you hate the junk mail.

[Gilpy]

Sweetwater is a really good retailer and their customer service is second to none. When I bought my recording software from them, their technician remotely installed it for me and made sure it worked!

But yeah, I know what you mean about that catalogue. It must cost them a fortune to send those out, and it is indeed wasteful to send one to everybody.

I haven't opted out because that big catalogue is an easy way to stay up to date on the latest music products.

[Donplaysguitar]

I like their catalog, and they don't send it too often. Better eye candy than a webpage pop-up, and not nearly as irritating.

Studies have shown that people learn better when reading from a book/printed material, as compared to a computer monitor.

I'm a paperless guy though, very tired of the crappola mail invading the house.

[Litterick]

Internet’s reach exceeds its grasp. Internet advertising reaches everywhere, but not grasp the reader’s attention. Something in the mail, on the other hand, promises to fill idle moments; it is worth full attention.

[Michael Neverisky]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts folks. I've learned that there still are consumers in the world who browse physical advertising media! Maybe I'm in the minority here because all mail of that kind goes directly from mailbox to recycle bin here.

[AlsoRan]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts folks. I've learned that there still are consumers in the world who browse physical advertising media! Maybe I'm in the minority here because all mail of that kind goes directly from mailbox to recycle bin here.

Michael,
Get ready because you will probably get a phone call from one of their representatives checking up on you. And, the phone call always seems to catch me at an inopportune time, ha, ha.

But, I have had very good luck dealing with them. I have bought several items with no issues.

Oh, and also, in the past when I had more money and less sense, those books were very convenient to just pick up and read through when I had some time. And the color pictures just made me want more items. It definitely worked on me.

[drbhrb]

Internet’s reach exceeds its grasp. Internet advertising reaches everywhere, but not grasp the reader’s attention. Something in the mail, on the other hand, promises to fill idle moments; it is worth full attention.

I don't really believe this to be the case. Most mail gets shoved in the recycling bin without even a glance once the bills have been picked out.

[Jabberwocky]

I told Sweetwater not to post paper catalogues or fliers to me from the getgo and I don't receive them. I also left note not to pack sweets aka candy and paper catalogues and fliers with my orders and unfortunately, somebody does not get the message and I always get them. I toss them out immediately.

I get no phone calls because nobody ever picks up the phone in my household; the ringer is off and there's no answering machine. It is for calling out only.

[sgosnell]

I get a catalog a couple of times a year. It goes in the trash, but catalogs have been in my life since before I can remember. The Sears catalog was essential to life in the country, with all sorts of things that couldn't be purchased locally. I still sometimes glance through some catalogs before tossing them. You can go to the Sweetwater website and update your contact preferences, but I don't see a way to opt out of catalogs. If the company didn't see value in sending them out, they would save money by eliminating them.

[fasteddie]

I’m one of the ones that like getting the Sweetwater catalogs. Sure I could just browse online, but I find it nice to have a physical catalog to flip through. Probably because of my age 60+.

They get recycled when I’m done.

I signed up with all the chain pharmacies, just to as they put it “express interest” in getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Not one has it. But now my email is bombarded with sales and advertising from these pharmacies.

[Michael Neverisky]

I get no phone calls because nobody ever picks up the phone in my household

I'm impressed that you still have a shared household phone!

Have I mentioned how much I like my Pixel 2 cellphone? Not only does
it take very good photographs and every video I've made since 2018, it
also handles phone calls! And if a call comes in from a new or unrecognized
number it goes to voicemail. Any message left is transcribed (often with
amusing mistakes) for me to read, or not, at my leisure.

[jameslovestal]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts folks. I've learned that there still are consumers in the world who browse physical advertising media! Maybe I'm in the minority here because all mail of that kind goes directly from mailbox to recycle bin here.

Don't mail order anything from Restoration Hardware if you wish to avoid getting an over 100 page catalog.

My wife ordered a door knocker. Ok, it was nice, but each year we were getting this huge catalog. Nicely bound, color photos of all type of hardware and items. How many photos does one need to see for a door knob? What a waste of natural resources. I called to be taken off their mailing list but it took two years.

Now with the internet I don't see any reason to cut down trees to print a fancy catalog.

[Beaubs]

I enjoy perusing catalogues especially when shopping Sears for my favorite jumpsuit.