First off, let me say that I refuse to do any sort of business with AARP. My personal opinion is that they have nothing to offer me that I cannot get elsewhere on my own, for less money. Secondly, I refuse to support them in any manner as they have consistently maintained a poor rating with the watchdog's of society who monitor an organizations behavior in contributions and political stance regarding our 2nd Amendment rights. In the past they have contributed to political campaigns of those politicians who have voiced their beliefs that Americans do not have the rights we believe, that they should be limited, or even withdrawn. Obviously, I cannot support any organization who lends it's reputation and monies to such an outlook.
Which leads me to this blog today. I have joined in to do my part to battle the unwanted junk mail that litters my mailbox on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. Granted it is a small part but it's what I came up with for the moment. What follows is the first letter that I sent today in one of AARP's prepaid envelopes that they insist on sending me after I have called and emailed, requesting that my name be purged from their database. Along with the letter, they received a local ad for DirectTV...
To whom it may concern:
Several months ago I instructed AARP to remove me
from all mailing lists. For a bit, it seemed as if my request had been taken
care of. And then… the mailings started once again. Obviously, contacting the
main office has not produced the results that I had desired. “What to do?” I queried
myself. “Make the best of a bad situation,” I answered. To wit, I decided that
to help support the United States Postal Service, whenever I receive an
unsolicited piece of mail, I would use their prepaid envelope to return their
mailings to the address on that particular piece of mail, and as an added bonus
would send along a random piece of additional junk mail from the abundance that
I receive along with your mailings. Will this make the mailings stop? Oh, I
seriously doubt that any of the low-level urchins that are assigned to opening
mail would actually take the time to bring this matter to the attention of
upper management, let alone actually accomplish my goal of having my name
removed from future offerings of insurance, low cost prescription drugs, vinyl
siding and erectile dysfunction fixes. I will, however, use this opportunity to
voice my opinions on various unrelated subjects just to pass the time and amuse
myself.
So… how has the
recent economy disaster affected you and the people you know? Let me tell you
about the changes it has brought into my life. First off, it reinforced the
belief that our government cares little about the general population, more
intent on party lines and continuing to feather their own nests regardless of
the cost and damage to the middle and lower income classes of America.
Secondly, it forced me out of the workforce and into retirement, not too many
jobs out there for a 51 year old non-college graduate with a bum back and
shoulder and nearly stone deaf. Of course with the loss of income came other
changes as well. I now manufacture my own laundry detergent, paying only a
fraction of what we spent before. Dryer sheets are a thing of the past as well,
we use “dryer balls’’ now that work just as well and no heavy perfumes. I can
finally sleep without awaking with a headache, Hallelujah! Had no idea that was
what was causing it.
Electricity usage
is monitored much closely at our house now. The kids are limited to tv and
computer use between the hours of 5PM and 10:30PM, I drained my outdoor fish
pond and tossed the goldfish over the fence into the neighbors pool, bet that
was a surprise! I planned on blaming raccoons if the subject ever came up…
Eating out is a “coupon-only”
thing now except when our tax refunds come in, then we splurge and hit Denny’s
and IHOP for about a week straight! Good times! That is also when we fix all
the stuff that has gone wrong with the vehicles, since that’s the only time we
have any ‘extra’ money. Christmas also
comes then, since there was possibility of saving money up for gifts in
December, everyone gets an I.O.U. on December 25th and cashes it in
once we get out taxes back.
Food pantries all
know us at sight, the local churches no longer stop in to ask if we need a bit
of food, they just come on by and drop it off inside the front door. Goodwill is our “fashion place”. Kmart gets
our business since they still offer layaway plans.
I could go on,
but I guess I will save that for the next time? Have a pleasant day.
