I understand why I am a squirrel… I can see the potential use for all sorts of things and so don’t throw them away in case they can be repurposed later. The trouble is, this attitude of not getting rid of things seems to encroach on the rest of my life… for example, my e-mail subscriptions.
Honestly, I can clutter my computer up without any external help!
I wrote the other day about inappropriate marketing e-mails, but on reflection most marketing is inappropriate for me, because I buy according to my own agenda rather than because an advert tells me I need to. So, what is the point in continuing to receive e-mails that tell me about the latest products/offers? Well, none really. And so, I’m having a ‘spring clean’ and unsubscribing from all sorts of mailing lists.
When I click on the ‘unsubscribe’ link, I generally get directed to a web page, where there is one of two main approaches:
(1) I find an emotional little message, saying that they will miss me and that I am always welcome back… as if this was a personal relationship. I have to keep reminding myself that the only thing they will miss is my money and the only thing I will miss is having to delete piles of e-mails from my inbox.
(2) I am told how many mind-blowing offers I will miss out on as a result of breaking off this contact. This does slightly weaken my resolve in some instances, and I have to remind myself, that however much free postage is available, I am NEVER going to order something from this company anyway, or that if I need to, I can afford the postage.
Many years ago we joined the Mail Preference Service and stopped getting marketing letters addressed to us, and then we opted out from unaddressed mail delivered by the Post Office (you are supposed to re-register for this every two years, but our postie knows we don’t want it, so he never delivers it now). In addition, I contacted many companies who I had ordered from and who were sending catalogues, and asked them not to… with a high rate of success. Why, therefore, have I been happy to keep receiving all these marketing e-mails? I guess it’s because they weren’t physical entities and I didn’t have a tangible resource to move from doormat direct to recycling bin. However, every electronic message must have a tiny bit of electricity associated with its dispatch and delivery and so not receiving them has to be (a tiny bit) good environmentally… and also cuts down on time taken to deal with e-mails each day.
So, this week, I am unsubscribing from a whole host of marketing lists… it’s not taking long as I’m doing it as they arrive. I can’t imagine it’s going to result in me losing out, but if I do, I will never know, so that’s ok!
The Snail of Happiness 
katechiconi
/ April 7, 2015I’m afraid I enjoy taking advantage of companies like that. Often, I’ll be offered a loyalty or discount card, and the ‘price’ for this is my email address. I give it, use the discount card and immediately unsubscribe… They do their best to hide the unsubscribing link, but I’m a bit of a hound for tracking that stuff down. I also make sure that if I order anything online, I tick any boxes that say I don’t want their interesting offers, and untick others that say I do! As a result, I receive almost no marketing mail at all. It’s lovely!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 7, 2015You are a very wise woman!
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davidprosser
/ April 7, 2015What a very good idea.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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nanacathy2
/ April 7, 2015The trouble with unsubscribing is that you confirm the existence of your email account. Mr E recommends sending them all to your junk folder and mass deleting them from time to time!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 7, 2015They are all people I’ve had contact with already rather than spam, so they knew it was a genuine e-mail already. Spam I just delete.
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narf77
/ April 7, 2015We used to have a system where you could register and not have nuisance phone calls but our dear current government, for some reason of their own, scrapped it and now you never know who or where your next phone call is coming from. Only the other day we got a call from a fine Indian establishment telling us that our computer was infected with a virus and that they could fix it for us…for free! Lucky us eh? Only thing was, it required a little bit of computer software to be placed in our PC for them to monitor the virus and make sure it never came back that cost $100. We decided to hang up ;). We don’t get advertising pamphlets in our mailbox as we are off the beaten track. Literally, we are on a gravel road and no-one in our local area wants to pound the potholes and deliver up our little gravel road so we only get the occasional farming tractor ads which go straight into the recycling along with all of the envelopes (addresses torn off and burned in Brunhilda) and anything else that raises my ire “I am talking about YOU “Eat, pray, love!” “;).
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insearchofitall
/ April 7, 2015I do that kind of cleaning out regularly. An article might be interesting but then they keep sending stuff. so I unsubscribe to all of them. It doesn’t take too long and saves a bit of time later. The only mail I get in my post box is junk mail that I can’t unsubscribe from. On rare occasion a real card or letter. Good work though on the clean out.
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thegrangerange.wordpress.com
/ April 7, 2015Like with all things there are two sides to this issue, I also regularly clear out and unsubscribe from unwanted mailing lists. But my son has an internet business and unlike a high street store where your customers pass by and you can entice them in with well presented stock and online store can only inform you of the products and offers they have through emails and catalogues. His website offers fun and interesting products for self home and garden many of which one would not necessarily think you want until you see them so if he didn’t offer them to his customers through electronic media they wouldn’t know they were available. Even so I do believe that ultimately the control should be with the purchaser and we should always be offered the opportunity to opt out of receiving further information.
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gentlestitches
/ April 8, 2015definately worth the time involved. 😀
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Born To Organize
/ April 14, 2015I think it’s positively liberating unsubscribing from all those posts! I don’t receive email notices for blogs, either. I manage them all through Bloglovin and love it!
Congratulations on the big clean out. Who doesn’t love a tidy inbox?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 15, 2015I’ve very pleased with progress so far. I use a combination of Bloglovin and my WordPress reader to manage my blog posts, but I currently still get e-mail notifications of comments… I think they will have to go too now.
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Born To Organize
/ April 16, 2015It works on a smaller scale, but once you’re entrenched in the blogging world, it’s hard to keep up.
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