Credit card robomail for college students needs to stop.  Commencement season starts a whole new credit card offer blizzard.  Robomail can be even worse than robocalls.  Who wants to get pounded with paper?  We are cross-checked and triangulated by Big Data, who then sells our info.  Thirsty credit card companies are replenishing aging baby boomers with a fresh crop of decades-long fee generators.  The opportunity salivations that occur!  The Money Skinny™ article Just Say No to Credit Card Offers helps you resist credit card offers.  Recall The Money Skinny™ mission is to save you time and money.   Let’s review who credit card robomail is targeting and ways to strengthen your resolve.

A Push versus Pull system

Obtaining a new credit card should be a pull system, not a push.  In engineering terms, a push system is supply driven while a pull system is demand based.  Ask yourself. “Do I need a new credit card?”  If so, use a pull system to evaluate credit card offerings.  Review websites to compare credit card products.  Evaluate your personal needs.  Ignore what shows up in your mailbox.

A Targeting Penalty

The pile of credit card offers weighing down my postal carrier are not aimed at me.  They are targeting my children.  They want to hook the young for decades of fees.  Upselling a broad base of products.  A cornucopia of cross-selling.  Heavy cardstock and a veneer of luxury doesn’t work on those of us that are more experienced.  This type of appeal with phony flattery is irritating.  Its purpose is to convert a financial decision into an emotional one.  Wrong.

Robocalls versus Robomail

Both robocalls and robomail are unwanted soliciting.  Adding your phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry can abate some calls.  To opt out of unsolicited mail see the paragraph below.  A primary difference between robocalls and robomail is paper.  The volume of paper waste from robomail is staggering.  According to the World Atlas, a ton of paper represents 24 mature trees.  Commencement season amps up the solicitation volume.

Credit Card Robomail Mailing Costs

Robomail uses bulk postage rates.  Not only does a credit card company buy my children’s personal information.  USPS gives a discount to pummel me with paper.  Perhaps if the company paid the same user tax (postage) that I pay for mailing, they’d give up after a non-response.  One particularly luxurious credit card offer weighed almost three ounces.  Ridiculous that this gets cheap postage.  Eliminating bulk rate discounts would change the calculus.

Additionally, the irony that the same credit card company will not mail paper account statements.  Help us reduce costs! Save a tree!  Using a we’re-in-this-together vibe.  This is the credit card company’s view of the situation:

Potential Customer:   “We will send you a shiny gold embossed pamphlet made from rich Corinthian Leather that will break your mail carrier’s back while distracting you from the annual fee.”

Existing Customer:    “Print your own dang statement.”

Opt Out of Unsolicited Mail

You can opt out of unsolicited mail through the Federal Trade Commission.  That may reduce the volume of unwanted mail.  It’s not right that I have to invest my time to make this paper attack stop.  The default position should be leave me alone.  I can request credit card information if I’m interested.  Not be forced to opt out if I don’t want it.

Annual Fees

Most infuriating about credit card robomail?  The $100-195 annual fee buried in the fine print.  That my children, their friends or anyone would blow two hundred bucks per year for basically nothing makes my blood boil.  It’s not club membership with privileges.  It’s a credit card.  Don’t be fooled.  Targeting people that may be financially inexperienced is inexcusable.

• Before considering on a credit card mail offer, first decide if you are even in the market for a new credit card.
• Ignore credit card mailings.
• Opt out of unsolicited mail through the FTC website.