PDA

View Full Version : Woodworker's Journal



Brandon Weiss
03-03-2010, 12:50 PM
Recently I've been receiving an extra amount of junk mail. Franchise "opportunities". I replied to one of the franchise inquiries and found out that Woodworker's Journal has sold my information to them.

Woodworker's Journal is now on my bad list.

Anybody else have an experience like this from Woodworker's Journal?

Tom Hoshock
03-03-2010, 1:55 PM
That is the reason I canceled my subscription to Woodworkers Journal. I was tired of the junk mail, books and DVD's that I did not order. They did not even send a response to my e-mail when I canceled. I used to enjoy their magazine. Now it is nothing more than one large Rockler ad.

Dick Brown
03-03-2010, 2:07 PM
When it runs out, I sure won't renew. Got it at a good price and thought I would enjoy it but find very little of my interest. As other stated, mostly ad's. If they have sold my address, that is the frosting on the cake for dropping them.
Dick

Charles Krieger
03-03-2010, 3:07 PM
I too have let my Woodworkers Journal subscription expire. The content was not of much interest and I have other subscriptions that are more in tune with my current interests. I also had a hard time getting books to stop coming that hadn't been ordered. I finally kept one without paying and sent a letter stating that if they wanted it back they should send me a prepaid mailer. Never heard from them, and the books finally have stopped. Rockler is not helping their business with these tactics. At one point I bought a lot at Rockler, but now I use Woodcraft, Peachtree or others. My local Woodcraft is staffed much better than my local Rockler and that makes a big difference.

Dave Lehnert
03-03-2010, 3:35 PM
Could be wrong but don't think WWJ is the only magazine to sell your information. I'm sure they all do.

I use to receive WWJ but like others, when I found out it was owned by Rockler, I felt like I was just paying them to send me a sale ad.

Kevin Gregoire
03-06-2010, 10:03 AM
that really disses me off too that they would do something like that!
wasnt long after i subscribed that i got a dvd i didnt order and then the letters
started coming saying to pay for the dvd at the 'introductory' cost of $9.99
i never sent the movie back and the letters have stopped and no more junk has
been sent.

Brandon Weiss
03-09-2010, 1:50 PM
Here is a response I received from a representative of Rockler.com. As she states, Woodworker's Journal does not sell my information but Rockler does? Interesting. I asked her to go ahead and remove me from their buy/sell list but I think I might start doing more shopping at Woodcraft. I find it disappointing that Rockler participates in the buying/selling of information. I thought that stuff was left up to junk mail and credit card companies, not reputable businesses....I could be wrong, but that's what I thought....



Brandon,
Woodworker's Journal does not sell our email information. That is a promise that is made when you sign up for the eZine newsletter and we keep that promise. If you have examples of the junk emails you are receiving, and believe that they received your information from us, please forward those to me so that I can look into them for you. Also, if you can help me by telling me where you heard that we distribute this information to other companies that would be helpful too. We do however, buy and sell mailing lists, as do most of our competitors. You do have the option of opting out of mailing list selections and I will be more than happy to accommodate you and remove you from getting future mail from other companies that buy our mailing lists. Just reply with your full mailing address.

Thank you,
K****

Stephen Edwards
03-09-2010, 2:08 PM
Unless something on the "free literature" really catches my eye, I just trash it. Some of it makes pretty good fire starters for the woodstoves!

I've yet to receive an unsolicited item that I'm expected to pay for. If I do receive one, I'm not going to pay for it nor return it. They can, of course, come and pick it up if they wish.

A few years back a friend of mine started receiving books that he didn't order. He'd get a bill threatening him, etc. This continued for months. The bill always came with a postage paid envelope.

Finally, my friend packed the two books that he'd received in a big box. In addition to the books, he filled the box with bricks. He then taped the postage paid envelope to the outside of the box.

For some reason, he never heard anything else from that company:D:D:D

Brian Tymchak
03-09-2010, 2:19 PM
I asked her to go ahead and remove me from their buy/sell list but I think I might start doing more shopping at Woodcraft. I find it disappointing that Rockler participates in the buying/selling of information.



Brandon,

Uhm, you may want to check out Woodcraft's privacy policy (excerpts from website below), which is very similar to Rockler's. This is pretty standard these days.

Brian

We occasionally make our customer list (postal mailing list only) available to carefully screened companies whose products may interest you. If you do not wish to receive their mailings, we will be sure your name is removed from the list we share with other organizations. Please contact us at the address listed below and provide us with your exact name and address.....
If you supply us with your postal address on-line you may receive periodic mailings from us with information on new products and services or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such mailings from Woodcraft, please contact us at the address listed above.
You may voluntarily sign up to receive our Woodcraft eNewsletter to learn more about special offers. For this service we need an e-mail address and zip code which we use to send the information you requested. E-mail addresses are not used for any other purpose and are not shared with outside parties.

Wes Grass
03-09-2010, 3:19 PM
"carefully screened companies"

Probably means they ran a credit check on them.

Horton Brasses
03-10-2010, 10:26 AM
Most, if not all, magazines sell subscriber information and it is a big part of their revenue. As is pretty well known, magazines don't really make money from subscription revenue (with a few exceptions like Woodsmith)-they make money from advertising and lists. Trade publications are even more reliant on lists and ads. Their pitch to advertisers is how many names on their list and what the titles and industry breakdowns. For example, such and such a magazine reaches 4,000 purchasing reps in northeastern widget companies and an additional 3,000 purchasing reps in the midwest.

Carefully screened means the mag gets to reject a request at their discretion and generally means no porn or otherwise objectionable content. They usually do all of this through a list broker. The potential buyer contacts the broker about getting a list that fits a certain demographic target.

Many, many, mail order companies also engage in this practice as most people are aware. While Horton Brasses does not do this at all, it is not always a bad thing IMHO. If you are careful about your list in a sense you can be doing your customer a service (I know I'm going to hear it about that!). IE, you are showing your customers products and services they might want and are not already aware of. You might think of it as receiving a referral from a friend. Your buddy bought X from Y and thought you might like it too so they gave your number to Y. Of course, I am not sure any company views their lists this way, but they could. For most it is simply an additional source of revenue that requires no labor, product, advertising, etc.

Chris Damm
03-11-2010, 8:30 AM
Heck just about everybody that has a maiking list sells it. The state of Michigan even sells it's driver's license lists.

Dave Johnson29
03-11-2010, 10:27 AM
Recently I've been receiving an extra amount of junk mail.

If you have your own website then create disposable email addresses. Use them for unique applications when signing up for stuff.

Let's say you created BarndonJunkOne@mywebsite.com then use that for a single subscription. If, or when (more likely) you get an email to that address you know where it came from. Go to your email server and delete the address and create another one BarndonJunkTwo@mywebsite.com.

That way when you delete the first email address the Mailer Daemon will bounce stuff for you. If you don't have your own email server to play with, most ISPs these days offer 10+ email addresses so create the unique addresses there.

It's a war zone out there and you have to fight to stay free of the crap. You would be amazed at who say they do not sell your email address but you suddenly get emails to that unique address. Hmmmm, Too cynical?

Also to be fair, emails can be harvested from forum sites and in fact a Javascript can actually suck out your default email address from your computer just by visiting a website.

It's a pain in the butt to have to do all this but nothing in commercial life is free. These tough times really bring the worms out of the woodwork.

mike holden
03-11-2010, 10:29 AM
Guys,
If you really want to see a magazine sell your name, just subscribe to Playboy!
I was given a subscription in the 1970's, and my name was misspelled - I still get junk mail in that name!!!

BTW, since then, when I subscribe, I use a different middle initial for each, and can track where things come from.

Yes, EVERYONE sells their lists. If your club gets a discount from someplace, they have to provide a list of names and addresses so someplace knows who is qualified, this becomes a list for sale. Heck, the paper today says the courts have decided that voter lists are public. ( I agree with that, there is a price for democracy, but it is troubling that it will likely mean more junk mail)

Mike