Forget Astroturfing, Now They're Stealing Pamphlets
from the take-that dept
While cable companies and the telcos that want to get into the TV business are busy trying out out-astroturf each other, things are getting rough on the front lines. Broadband Reports points out a police report from a town in Massachusetts in which a person leaving pamphlets for Verizon on people’s doorsteps alleges he was being shadowed by “a man in a black car” who was going around stealing all the pamphlets behind him. After some sleuth work, the employee says he found out the mysterious man in black worked for cable company RCN. It’s just television, who’d have thought it would lead to subterfuge in the streets?
Comments on “Forget Astroturfing, Now They're Stealing Pamphlets”
I lol'ed
If it wasn’t a police report, I would have thought it was a sit-com. This is the funniest thing ever, reminds me of old episodes of Barney Miller.
How can we invite them in our area?
Well,nothing like a good old competition, eh???
Where I live there’s only one major cable company, that to this day supresses any competitor that’s trying to get in. I say stuff it… you can flood my mailbox with junk as long as you cut monthly bill instead of raising it for no reason…
Re: How can we invite them in our area?
“Where I live there’s only one major cable company, that to this day supresses any competitor that’s trying to get in. I say stuff it… you can flood my mailbox with junk as long as you cut monthly bill instead of raising it for no reason…”
It doesn’t get any better when you have a choice…kinda like politics, you choose the lesser of the evils!
Our main cable provider (Cox) sucks as bad as the rest and is just as expensive, but they at least have clean advertising and decent customer service.
hmm
Just sad…
That's nothing.
In St. Paul, MN here, we had a woman running for public office that got caught doing this, only she was replacing the leaflets that she took down with her own.
No Subject Given
Porn!
Re: No Subject Given
Re: “Porn”
Ha Ha Ha. I choose my sides carefully when the topics good, just let me be the bitch everyone hates, k?
Is this really a crime?
After all, they’d already abandoned the leaflets before the other guypicked them up. In many cities the actual victim must report any minor crime (and this surely is not a felony) or it doesn’t count. The victim wouldn’t be the company whose leaflets were taken but, rather, the owner whose property was trespassed upon.
I suspect most property owners, myself included, would even applaud someone for litter control such as this. If they want to bombard me with ads, hey can do so ia mail, not by trespassing on my property.
Re: Is this really a crime?
I suspect most property owners, myself included, would even applaud someone for litter control such as this. If they want to bombard me with ads, hey can do so ia mail, not by trespassing on my property.
I agree, do you realized how many chinese take out menus end up on my door in a week? Quite frankly, it is annoying and all I do is immediately throw the things away. I had a friend visiting from out of state not too long ago and that was one of the first things she commented on… “You sure do get a lot of fliers put on your door!” So, if someone would just come behind and steal them… oh that would be wonderful 🙂
Re: Re: Is this really a crime?
I agree, do you realized how many chinese take out menus end up on my door in a week? Quite frankly, it is annoying and all I do is immediately throw the things away. I had a friend visiting from out of state not too long ago and that was one of the first things she commented on… “You sure do get a lot of fliers put on your door!” So, if someone would just come behind and steal them… oh that would be wonderful 🙂
I can do ya one better. My house has a EULA, so to speak. I put up a sign in my front door window 2 years ago stating the following:
No Soliciting
Any solicitation of any kind on these premises, including for charitable purposes, will be considered criminal trespass.
Any advertising material of any kind left anywhere on these premises will be subject to a $50 US disposal fee (plus costs) payable by BOTH advertiser and distributor, if any.
I’ve collected $500 from advertisers alone who had others place their material no more than 2 feet from this clearly posted, 18 pt font sign. The distributors for each of these paid up as well and so did 2 guys who distributed theiw own ads. The first one or two months noone seemed to notice. I took a photo with a datestamp in it of their crap NEXT to my sign then sent that and a bill to them.
One guy paid without dispute but the rest I took to small claims court. The beauty of it is they also had to pay “costs” which included postage, envelopes, paper, ink, small claims court filing fees and the fee for the Sherrif to serve them. I haven’t had to mess with it for over a year now.