I can readily see that there are a number of people following GreenDimes.com. Why? They claim to be a "for profit" environmentally interested company. The following are important updates that I have seen:
1) GreenDimes.com just completely restructured their website, pricing, and policies.in my opinion, this is most likely the result of product failure. From what I can tell, they went from $36.00/year to a $15.00 lifetime fee. Hmmm' and they are 'for-profit'? My opinion, they can't charge the same amount anymore because they just don't get the job done; otherwise, they wouldn't have their members sending in postcards to the mass marketers. Figure it this way' If they have tens of thousands of members like they claim, and they are for profit like they claim, why would they walk away from thousands of dollars in profits each year? Oh, that's right; they state that they purposely want to go out of business in the interest of postal reformation. Gee' those thousands of dollars could really be used for postal reformation. That's their newest stunt. They even have a 'join our petition' ad campaign going on, right now. This petition calls for a 'national do-not-mail' registry. Clever idea, but old! Lots of companies have already tried this route. No good. Why would the government want to finance the postal service, which is the 2nd largest employer in the United States. That's what stamps are all about' duhhh! The USPS needs direct mail mass marketers to help pay its infrastructure expenses. Remember, we are at war in Iraq, let's prioritize where the government is spending its money.
2) Green Dimes is now sending out postcards to their members to fill out and mail back to the mass marketers. Their historical: They used to state that they would get rid of members' junk mail on the members' behalf. Next, they used to have pre-paid postcards that members had to manually send to mass marketers. Now, they require their members to personally send postcards and even require their members to pay their own postage. What happened to their..."We will do it for you"? Remember, it's all about the environment. Sending in millions of postcards to mass marketers really doesn't help the environmental cause.
3) Where is Matt Damon, the actor, in all of this anyway? GreenDimes.com boasted that he joined their Board of Directors because he believed in their cause so much. However, he doesn't even show up on their list of directors anymore. Is Matt Damon even associated with the company? Was he ever associated? If he was and no longer is associated, what happened? GreenDimes.com has lots of blogs with Matt Damon's support for their company, but the company doesn't even bother listing him on the board... Or they can't anymore. I am certain lots of people signed up for their services because of Matt Damon's environmental interests. If he no longer is on the board, they need to come clean about why he is not. They can't advertise him and not deliver.
4) Oh, where is the Direct Marketing Association in all of this? Remember, GreenDimes.com used to charge members $1.00 on the DMA's behalf. The question still remains? Does GreenDimes.com have a direct affiliation with the DMA? Is GreenDimes.com authorized to charge members on behalf of the DMA? Does their credit card processor even allow these transactions? Did the DMA change its policies and now allows a 3rd party to represent consumers? Does GreenDimes.com still charge $1.00 on a consumer's credit card representing the DMA? I called the DMA today, and they still state that they do not allow 3rd party organizations to submit deletion requests. Is what GreenDimes.com doing even legal?
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