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US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

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Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#181

Post by driverdan »

the__alchemist wrote: post #7

Anecdotally: A: I get more spam than ever. What is especially annoying is that the majority of reputable companies do this. Order something? Sign up for an account? Set up an LLC? File a trademark? Boom: Spam emails UFN. B: It's easier to unsubscribe than ever: Often one-click at the bottom of the email, or let Gmail/Fastmail etc do it for you. Generally effective. One annoyance I find is the Our terms have been alte…

It's because the CAN-SPAM act is rarely enforced. All of those promotional emails are illegal but the government and service providers don't anything about it.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#183

Post by nemomarx »

TehCorwiz wrote: post #153
jedberg wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly why it's done that way. Because the tax is different in every state, county, city, and sometimes an even smaller region. There is something like 2,500 different tax jurisdictions in the USA. It would be difficult for national brands (or even local brands) to do any marketing or advertising that includes prices, because they would either have to put a range on their ads, or possibly eat all their profit…

Many other countries have all-inclusive prices. Most of Europe from my experience. I wonder, how do they handle it? One solution could be to price things such that any amount of tax is included in the margin so the price is standard but profitability varies in minute ways between locations (which it does anyway due to labor, transportation, advertising density, etc.).

I imagine companies don't have a standard price across all of Europe, so smaller differences within a country are handled more smoothly.

You'd still get that benefit in the us by having one price for an entire state but I don't think anyone is eager to lose profits and try that.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#187

Post by dkga »

This would be awesome. Another thing on my wish list is a requirement to simply reject all cookies, a la lynx. I absolutely hate having to deselect some cookies while feeling like I am treated as an idiot for accepting “absolutely essential” cookies that are of course not essential at all.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#188

Post by AlexandrB »

TehCorwiz wrote: post #130
ciroduran wrote: post #123

Re: hidden fees, I still do not understand why most US purchases treat tax as if it does not exist until you're at the cashier. You have to sort of know what the state tax is (I'm not a US resident, so I do not have that information at hand), and then do the calculation mentally. I think this is quite disfavourable to consumers.

By ignoring it until checkout it lets vendors put lower prices on the shelf which encourages more spending. It is intentionally disfavorable to consumers.

One could argue that including the taxes in the price makes it less obvious how much tax the government is collecting - which is disadvantageous to taxpayers.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#189

Post by litenboll »

eckesicle wrote: post #105
litenboll wrote: post #28

Disclosure: I only read up until it was revealed what the policy was. This was always my opinion on this. "As easy to cancel as it is to sign up". It's simple, and completely shuts down this malicious behaviour without making it harder to operate for the honest companies (or worse for customers in any way I can think of). Usually these policies have downsides but I can't really think of any. This kind of behaviour is…

Swedish legislation has it right here. You can unsubscribe by any means you prefer. Mail, email, phone call, a notice in your local newspaper, carrier pigeon. The choice is completely with the party who wishes to terminate the agreement. It incentivises companies to make it as simple as possible, because if they don’t the cost of manually handling requests coming in through all kinds of different channels quickly bec…

Yes, that's true and it's good for those who know about it. It's not enough though, companies still have super easy sign ups and then refer to call customer service to unsubscribe (usually the case with cell phone plans for example). And many companies have no email or contact form, only a phone number available on their site. So there's still lots of room for improvement.

Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button

#190

Post by intended »

nanoservices wrote: post #62
misstuned wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same goes for all services. I was able to sign up for an ISP service (in the UK) online very easily, with a few clicks and entries onto a form to enter my details, choose my installation date, choose my speed, etc. Fast forward a few years, I'm leaving that house and need to cancel the internet - snail mail letter needed.

There is zero incentive for a company to invest in tooling and tech to make processes that lose them customers more efficient. This is something that has to be regulated and enforced. I just don't see a c-suit clamoring to spend money on making it easier to leave.

I am also very surprised that this is the case in the UK. From my experience, it was very easy to cancel internet in the UK. As in nearly dead simple.
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