Something strange is happening at thousands of dinner tables across the country as of late. There are no long distance calls interrupting meals – not by telemarketers anyways.
The owners of those dinner tables have probably signed up for the national do-not-call list, a new registry that allows Canadians to ban certain telemarketers from calling their houses. This comes as a result of legislation approving the creation of a do-not-call list that passed in 2005, but the registry finally opened for use on Sep. 30. The list was promptly overwhelmed the first day by the sheer volume of people eager to sign up.
That volume caused early delays, but millions have since signed up for the registry and the number continues to grow. Telemarketers have exactly 30 days to remove the phone of those who signed on the do-not-call list.
It’s about time. Canadians have been urging politicians to ban telemarketing for years.
But the registry is far from perfect. There are a number of exempted organizations and businesses that can still call – ranging from political parties to pollsters to newspapers. That can still add up to a lot of calls.
To be fair, Canadians can stop even more of those calls on their own. When one of those groups call, any Canadian can tell them directly that they want to be placed on their specific do-not-call list, something that every telemarketing company has.
Overall, the registry is a good thing. It prevents a lot of unwanted calls and allows people to have a bit more control over who calls their home. The U.S. has had a similar program since 2003, and 145 million Americans have registered. But advertisers didn’t go away in the U.S, and don’t count on them disappearing here.
Junk mail, the unwanted advertisements and forwards that crowd e-mail servers, are already the new wave of advertising. With telemarketing in jeopardy, many companies will have no choice but to invest more heavily in on-line advertising, which can be just as annoying.
There is even a new direct-mail service first introduced by Pitney Bowes to allow easier and cheaper mail advertising, which has been found to be among the most effective cost-return methods of advertising available.
So having a mailbox full of advertising, both electronically and literally, is even more of a possibility than ever, given what is sure to amount in a massive decline in telemarketing. Still, most would argue there is inherently more privacy in those mediums than in the phone constantly ringing during dinner hours.
And as always, advertisers will try to find loopholes in the registry itself. Canadians have to be careful not to sign up for contests or various other forms without carefully reading the fine print. Often those kinds of documents provide consent to be contacted. In general, being careful about where you give your phone number is a wise strategy.
Canadians will have to wait and see how well the registry works, specifically in punishing those telemarketers who still make calls despite the list. But even though it has its flaws, there’s no denying the fact that even a little more quiet around supper is going to be appreciated.