"Do Not Call" Means Poorest May Lose Jobs

Cato Institute ^ | various | Various

[LowCountryJoe]

According to The Los Angeles Times, "Last summer, the federal government announced a national registry for consumers who want to block telemarketers from calling them. Americans rushed to sign up.

"Of the nation's 166 million residential numbers, 51 million are now off-limits to telemarketers. Despite ongoing court challenges, the list went into effect last month.

"The crackdown might be welcomed by consumers, but not by telemarketers like Millican, many of whom survive on the economic fringe. The nation has lost 2.6 million jobs in two years, and the 'do not call' list is expected to put hundreds of thousands more people out of work."

In "Like It Or Not, Free Speech Protects Telemarketers, Too", Cato's Robert Levy, senior fellow in constitutional studies, argues that "when government sets the rules, it must not discriminate based on the content of the calls. That's what the First Amendment means. Free speech is not subject to plebiscite, no matter how many millions sign up for no-call. [Supreme Court] Justice William Brennan got it right: 'If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.'"

[Redleg Duke]

You make "feel like a billygoat", you certainly remind me of another barnyard animal, troll.

I read your comments and they are pointless, unless of course you are trolling for tears.

[auboy]

On the other hand, the number of Americans with an irrepressible desire to mass murder entire buildings full of telemarketers has plummeted dramatically.

More job loses. Undertakers cry foul.

[Moonman62]

In "Like It Or Not, Free Speech Protects Telemarketers, Too", Cato's Robert Levy, senior fellow in constitutional studies, argues that "when government sets the rules, it must not discriminate based on the content of the calls.

But the government isn't making the rules, it's the owners of the phone lines who sign up to be on the list. Telemarketers are a national menace.

[palmer]

Obviously you have not heard about this:

A Federal Appeals court today upheld the "Do not post bad things about the government" list, citing the constitutional duty of government to protect its citizens commentary that could cause them to form conflicting views about government policy. The list, modeled after the popular telemarketing "do-not-call" list, requires all online posters especially newbies to download a list of unacceptable articles such as those criticizing the popular "do-not-call" list, and face penalties up to and including banning for posting unauthorized articles. Such articles are considered to be trespassing on the personal property of forum participants who have paid for their computers and internet access.

[Let's Roll]

Or the dozen calls a day when you are waiting to hear if you got that job or news of a relative at death's door in a hospital across the country, or ...

In other words, we have lives - that's the point.

[CMAC51]

>> "Of the nation's 166 million residential numbers, 51 million are now off-limits to telemarketers." <<

The proposition that the no call list hurts the telemarketing industry is as full of holes as the "tax cuts only for the rich" mantra. Of the 166 million residential numbers, the telemarketers have been told which 51 million they are wasting their time on. Why bother calling someone who isn't going to buy anything from you anyway because they are ticked off that you called them in the first place?

Golf on TV draws one of the smaller viewerships for major televised sports. It continues to get some of the highest dollar per minute advertising rates. Why? Because golfers watch golf. The advertisers know they have a totally targeted audience. You are selling to the people who are most likely to buy. They get maximum bang for their buck.

Telemarketing should become much more efficient since they don't have to waste time on people who aren't going to buy anyway. They are being handed a perfect "don't bother calling" list and are crying about it. Some people don't know when they have it good.

[palmer]

Telemarketing, the way that it has been done in the past ten years or so, IS HARASSMENT.

Then don't sign up for phone service, it's not an entitlement.

[BJungNan]

"Like It Or Not, Free Speech Protects Telemarketers, Too",

It protects them only in a twisted, contorted view of free speech rights. The constitutional protection is about speech critical of the governemnt and or its policies, not the right to ring my phone with a commercial message.

The telemarketers are free to voice their opposition to the law but not to continue to disobey it by ringing my phone.

Finally, a tactic that works good if you want to get even when they call.

1). Listen, then reply in very soft quiet tone, say you can not hear them. Can they please speak up. Important to say it very quietly.
2). Listen a bit more, then in very low voice, say, I'm interested but I'm still having trouble hearing you. By now they will have turned up the volume on their headset.
3). Get the airhorn out and blast it into the mouthpiece of your phone.

[Catspaw]

I got a telemarketing call at work yesterday, asking me if I had a website and oh, what was my fax number. I gave them a fax number all right--the one for the District Attorney.

[palmer]

Or the dozen calls a day when you are waiting to hear if you got that job or news of a relative at death's door in a hospital across the country, or ...

It's not the government's job to guarantee your news gets through or to help calm your emotions.

[GingisK]

Our selfish attitudes lead us to use this Do Not Call registry because God forbid we might be "bothered"

Absolutely! I pay for my telephone; therefore, I decide how it is to be used. I do not pay that bill in order to allow others to make sales pitches for junk I don't want. I have much better ways spending ny time rather than to continuously say, "No thank you, I'm not interested".

Just make sure you stay off the list, maybe you can take up some of the slack by hosting more of those calls yourself. That way, you can feel that you are helping people who arn't bright enough to get a meaningful job.

[BJungNan]

The analogy you are using does not work.

[TedsGarage]

Or if you put a "No Solicitors" sign on your door, you're putting door-to-door salesmen out of work. (I hear they're coming back, BTW, to make up for the restrictions on telephone sales.)

[myrabach]

"Twisting this into an employment issue won't help - these people aren't productive members of society."

I don't like telemarketers any more than anyone else. However, saying that these people are not productive members of society is crass and baseless.

Vast numbers of telemarketing employees are young people working while attending college, single moms doing the best they can, second-job people supporting themselves while they work up the success ladder, supplemental income to retirees, etc.

The loss of this kind of employment will greatly impact the lives of those above. And its those low end workers who will be impacted the most. The telemarkting companies... well yep, you guessed it... they are taking the business to Canada and overseas. One market closes, another opens up!

[LowCountryJoe]

NICE!

[GingisK]

...points I made regarding the government cost to administer and enforce...

I'd much prefer my tax dollars to be spent on something that benefits myself. This has actually been one of the few things that the congresscritters have done in that last twenty years that qualifies as a worthy expenditure. Hey, they could alsways defund the "Endowment for the Arts".

[palmer]

Thanks. The sheep don't like it, but I've had it with people who find it ok for the government to intervene when it benefits them. We should at least be consistent.

[palmer]

I'd much prefer my tax dollars to be spent on something that benefits myself.

Case in point.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

I have a shop next to a large telemarketing outfit. They have a permanent "Now Hiring" sign out in front of their office, which tells me that they have a high turnover rate, which tells me that telemarketing grunts don't have problems finding other jobs.

Not really.

What it actually tells you is this:

Telemarketing is a hell of a job. Every night you make hundreds of calls, and experience rejection hundreds of times.

If you're really good at it, you can make good money. The very top producers get publicly showered with all kinds of money and honors and prizes. They bring in a good income.

The only way to get to be one of the top producers is to forget about integrity, honesty and actually serving the customer by meeting his or her needs. The only way to get to the top is to be prepared to lie, manipulate and creatively describe your way there.

If you're not one of the top producers (note: if you still have integrity or a genuine, not fake, concern for people, this excludes you), then you get paid peanuts, while being continuously promised that if you'll just persevere, better rewards are just around the corner.

Few people last very long at telemarketing, even when they're financially desperate. This is especially true if they have any ability to think for themselves.

[Modernman]

Telemarketing, the way that it has been done in the past ten years or so, IS HARASSMENT.

American industry never seems to learn this basic lesson: either regulate yourself, or government will end up doing it for you. The second alternative always ends up being worse for the industry (lawyers and doctors are smart- they've always been very good at regulating their own professions).