"Craig R. Watkins" <CRW@icf.hrb.com> (08/06/90)
I seem to receive the {AT&T Toll-Free 800 Directory, Consumer Edition}
year after year for free for just returning a post-paid card that AT&T
sends to me. From what I can tell, AT&T really does SELL these
things, but mine comes with "A special gift for a special customer"
printed on the cover. No friends that I've asked receive them.
For quite sometime I thought how clever AT&T was to track my 800
dialing habbits to know that I could use a directory! Then it hit me
-- I don't have phone service in my name! (It's in my wife's and she
has a different last name.) I do have a calling card in my name on
her service and I also have a directory listing tho I still wonder why
I get the book and she doesn't.
Anyone else get this book for free? Have any idea why they send it to
you? Just curious after all these years ...
Craig R. Watkins Internet: CRW@ICF.HRB.COM
HRB Systems, Inc. Bitnet: CRW%HRB@PSUECL.Bitnet
+1 814 238-4311 UUCP: ...!psuvax1!hrbicf!crwLars Poulsen <lars@spectrum.cmc.com> (08/08/90)
In article <10507@accuvax.nwu.edu> CRW@icf.hrb.com (Craig R. Watkins) writes: >I seem to receive the {AT&T Toll-Free 800 Directory, Consumer Edition} >year after year for free for just returning a post-paid card that AT&T >sends to me. From what I can tell, AT&T really does SELL these >things, but mine comes with "A special gift for a special customer" >printed on the cover. No friends that I've asked receive them. >Anyone else get this book for free? Have any idea why they send it to >you? Just curious after all these years ... I get it for free, too, and always promptly throw it out. When they first sent me this piece of junk, I tried to look up 5 or 6 companies that I might want to call, and they weren't in there. This is NOT a complete directory of 800 numbers, nor even of ATT's 800 numbers. This is a directory of "selected, consumer-oriented ATT-based 800 numbers" that were willing to pay to get included. What a waste of trees. Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer CMC Rockwell lars@CMC.COM
CRW@icf.hrb.com (Craig R. Watkins) (08/10/90)
In article <10637@accuvax.nwu.edu>, lars@spectrum.cmc.com (Lars Poulsen) writes: > This is NOT a > complete directory of 800 numbers, nor even of ATT's 800 numbers. This > is a directory of "selected, consumer-oriented ATT-based 800 numbers" > that were willing to pay to get included. What a waste of trees. In a "Dear Customer" letter on page (A), "Because some toll-free numbers are for non-public purposes, not every AT&T number could be listed in this edition. Only businesses authorizing publication of its AT&T number could be included in this national directory." I've actually used it on occasion, nonetheless. I live in a fairly small town and by using the "yellow pages" section I'm able to do some comparison shopping fairly easily. I've actually bought from it. I also use it for looking up "tourist bureaus." I've found some of them hard to find thru 555-1212 because I don't know exactly what to ask for; with the directory I can skim the listings. I've even used the white pages for looking up numbers of companies that you just know will be in there (based on Lars' above criteria). Craig R. Watkins Internet: CRW@ICF.HRB.COM HRB Systems, Inc. Bitnet: CRW%HRB@PSUECL.Bitnet +1 814 238-4311 UUCP: ...!psuvax1!hrbicf!crw
wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil (Will Martin) (08/11/90)
From: Lars Poulsen <lars@spectrum.cmc.com> >I get it [the AT&T 800 Directory] for free, too, and always promptly throw >it out. ... it is a directory of "selected, consumer-oriented ATT-based 800 >numbers" that were willing to pay to get included. What a waste of trees. In these days of all the brouhaha about recycling, I'm surprised you admit to throwing the directory away. After all, if it is a waste to you, it may be of worth to someone else. Drop it off at your local public library. If that is not feasible or too out-of-the-way, at least leave it at work, at a laundromat, or by a public phone somewhere so that somebody has a chance to find it and take it. It is doubly a "waste of trees" to get something you don't need and just pitch it instead of making some effort to pass it on to somewhere where it might be used. Will Martin
lars@spectrum.cmc.com (Lars Poulsen) (08/13/90)
From: Lars Poulsen <lars@spectrum.cmc.com> >>I get it [the AT&T 800 Directory] for free, too, and always promptly throw >>it out. ... it is a directory of "selected, consumer-oriented ATT-based 800 >>numbers" that were willing to pay to get included. What a waste of trees. In article <10695@accuvax.nwu.edu> wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil (Will Martin) writes: >In these days of all the brouhaha about recycling, I'm surprised you >admit to throwing the directory away. After all, if it is a waste to >you, it may be of worth to someone else. Drop it off at your local >public library. If that is not feasible or too out-of-the-way, at >least leave it at work, at a laundromat, or by a public phone >somewhere so that somebody has a chance to find it and take it. It is >doubly a "waste of trees" to get something you don't need and just >pitch it instead of making some effort to pass it on to somewhere >where it might be used. I did indeed try to pass it on: I dumped it in the newspaper bin for our curbside recycling pickup. They returned it. They apparently only accept phone books one week of the year: When GTE passes out new directories. I did try to look up some customer service numbers of companies I might do business with: Sears, MCI :-), Fisher-Price toys, Scandinavian Airlines, and when none of these were in the directory, I declared it a loser ... it just did not have critical mass. Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer CMC Rockwell lars@CMC.COM