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From: cliff@garnet.berkeley.edu (Cliff Frost)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Sierra Club Considered Harmful!
Message-ID: <11800@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 6 Sep 90 18:09:07 GMT
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Reply-To: cliff@garnet.berkeley.edu (Cliff Frost)
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 623, Message 8 of 11


In article <11732@accuvax.nwu.edu>, boulder!boulder!bobk@ncar.ucar.edu
(Robert Kinne) writes:

|> The callers have refused our request to take our name off the targeted
|> list for their solicitations.  

|> [Moderator's Note: I can't help but wonder if the Sierra Club was
|> doing this or if they had farmed it out to some telemarketing
|> organization. 

I think the Moderator is right.  You should let the Sierra Club know
how bad these clowns were.

My cousin worked for a telemarketing group for a couple of weeks until
she realized the slime was so thick she had to get out.  Apparently in
California these organizations are required by law to turn over a
whopping 10% of their take to the non-profit they are working for, and
she doubts that compliance with this law is total.

Where my cousin worked some of the best callers were drug addicts who
were motivated to sound convincing on the phone and couldn't work any
job where they had to regularly show up.  They would come in and work
until their commission was high enough to satisfy whatever needs they
had at the moment.  They might say just about anything.

My policy is to never, ever, give money in response to a phone
solicitation.  When I like a group I donate directly, so 100% goes to
the group.

My sister, on the other hand, has worked extensively in non-profits
and sees these folks as necessary evils.  Even with only a 10% cut
they do better than skeleton crews of volunteers.  So, I think the
best thing to do about these obnoxious marketeers is to let the
non-profit know what they're doing.  Then the non-profit will hire a
different outfit -- apply market pressure without hurting the
non-profit.


	Cliff Frost
	Central Computing Services
	UC Berkeley