Questionable Practices

I received a phone call the other evening. The lady on the phone identified herself as "so in so" from the American Cancer Society. She wanted to thank me for donating money to them last year.

I responded that I wasn't aware of donating money to them, but it could have been my wife.

She asked if it would be ok to send me a pledge card for this year.

I replied, "Sure, send me some information."

This weekend I received an envelope from the American Cancer Society. Inside it there was a return envelope, a blue slip of paper thanking me for my donation this year, and a return "invoice" for my donation this year.

The blue slip of paper also had in big bold print across the top of the page, "Your prompt reply will save us the expense of a reminder mailing."

This is unreal! I simply agreed to receive their information, not be invoiced for a donation I don't plan on making!

Also, I looked at the postage on the envelope and it had $0.61 on it! Even more unreal. I weighed the contents of the envelope and it was 0.4 ounces which would require the standard postage rate not $0.61!

What a waste of money. If this is the kind of marketing scheme or tactic that the American Cancer Society is using, then it should be SHUT down immediately. Let them live off the money the tobacco companies give them each year.

I wonder how much money the American Cancer Society could have saved if they would have charged the correct about on postage.

Let's see, 0.61-0.44=.17 times 10,000 letters equals $1,700! They could have saved this money if someone was just doing their job correctly.

Also, I don't watch football much, but I noticed this past weekend it was some type of breast cancer awareness day or something, everything was pink. I wonder how much they spent on the advertisement of that, the cost of the shoes, the banners, etc. What a waste.

I believe charitable organizations play an important role in our society, but they also need to be good stewards of their money. Needless to say the American Cancer Society won't be getting my money.




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