AOL: Stop Sending Wasteful Metal Junk Mail

WorkingForChange.com ^ | June 20, 2002 | Site staff

[spald]

AOL: Stop Sending Wasteful Metal Junk Mail

Center for a New American Dream

America Online's aluminum junk mail is in a class all its own. The company's newest gimmick is to package its disks advertising free hours of online access in a metal box. This ''metal mail'' is a central part of the company's $3.8 billion annual ad budget and really takes a toll on our nation's energy security and on our environment. The boxes require an extremely energy-intensive manufacturing process that exacerbates climate change as well as our dependence on coal and oil. And, this junk mail is filling up our landfills.

Aluminum production consumes more energy than is needed to produce steel, glass, paper or plastic. It also relies on bauxite mining, which destroys more of the earth's surface area than any other type of mining.

To make matters worse, AOL frequently uses ''current resident'' mail that offers citizens no way to opt-out from receiving the unsolicited advertising.

Call to action

Urge AOL's Steve Case to conserve energy and help the environment by reforming his company's junk mail practices.

Deadline: Ongoing

[spald]

A liberal activist group, WorkingForChange oftentimes solicits visitors to write emails to focal recipients. In this case, WFC requests you send your envirnomentaol concerns to Steve Case at AOLTimeWarnerCNN. I have a ball over here so I thought some FReepers would like the same.

[dd5339]

I like the AOL junk mail. The CD's make great targets for my shotgun!

Semper Fi!

[balrog666]

The boxes require an extremely energy-intensive manufacturing process that exacerbates climate change as well as our dependence on coal and oil.

Moron alert!

And, this junk mail is filling up our landfills.

Correction, non-recycling moron alert!

[Khepera]

Metal cases? Cool! Hope I get mine soon.

[Paul Atreides]

I always liked it when AOL sent their software out on floppy disks. I erased the diskettes and then used them for storage. Now, I just throw away the cd-roms and keep the cases.

[Travis McGee]

I hang those nice shiny AOL CD's all over my docked sailboat. They swing and spin and flash in the sun, and scare the guano birds away.

[dead]

You can sharpen the edges and then fling the disks, like Chinese stars, at liberals.

EEEEEYah!

[Xenalyte]

They also make excellent coasters, and wonderful drink-toppers if you have thirsty and non-discriminating felines.

[dheretic]

That's why we have bb guns

[mhking]

Ah, leave 'em be! They make great coasters! [g]

[Britton J Wingfield]

A friend of mine asked for a case of AOL demo-disks to hand out. He had enough floppies for a couple of years after that.

[Travis McGee]

Try that in Kali and you will get 25 to life.

[ArrogantBustard]

They also make excellent coasters,

Only for hot beverages. I get 'way too much condensation on iced tea glasses for the CDROMs to be useful. It just flows all over the desk, and causes the CDROM to stick to the bottom of the glass. Most annoying. Travis has a good idea though; maybe they'll scare our feathered enemies away from my garden.

[dheretic]

Wouldn't work at my house. My cat has been known to open the cabinet to get his cat nip out.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Does AOL REALLY have a "3.8 BILLION" dollar annual ad budget? I suspect that this is off by three orders of magnitude.

In any case, I love those free CD's and boxes- keep them coming, AOL!

[dheretic]

That reminds me. I heard this on Fox News the other night, "In this city, which some refer to as The People's Republic of Santa Monica....."

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

One of my wife's cats has figured out how to open kitchen and bathroom cabinets- now, if the dog figures out the doorknob principle, I will be very worried!

[Travis McGee]

You mean I didn't envent it first?

Seriously, when you hang them from strings they spin and swing and flash like mirrors. Birds HATE them.

[Paul Atreides]

The pathetic thing is, I cancelled my AOL account five years ago and they still send me those stinking discs.

I have a cd rewriter; can the discs they send be erased?

[GSWarrior]

[Dakmar]

Is that from Public Image Limited?

[redhead]

"I like the AOL junk mail. The CD's make great targets for my shotgun!"

Hang them from string on your fruit trees. Keeps the crows away. In the winter, hang them on trees like Christmas ornaments.

[rdb3]

They make great coasters.

[Travis McGee]

See #6 and #18. It seems that great minds think alike!

[GSWarrior]

Yep. BTW, the Dillards are cool. I like 'em.

[redhead]

"See #6 and #18. It seems that great minds think alike!"

:o)

[Travis McGee]

I think white tail deer would need REALLY big CDs to scare them away.

[Redcloak]

My little girl just loves that metal case. She's got some of her "treasures" in there now. And the CDs have plenty of uses...

• Scaring birds out of the fruit trees
• Drink coasters
• Skeet targets
• Frisbees
• Leveling a wobbly table
• Scraping ice in the winter
• Christmas tree decorations
• Spreading Bondo

They're handy little things to have... So long as you keep them away from your computer!

[mhking]

I seem to remember hearing tell of sticking the CD's halfway into the ground next to the driveway to act as reflectors for houses out in the stix...

Seems like there may be a Jeff Foxworthy redneck joke there somewhere...

[Dakmar]

Real rednecks use them as siding for their trailer.

[Britton J Wingfield]

I doubt it. Probably can only be written to once.

[ravingnutter]

Lots of good ideas here...but I cannot even stand to look at those disks without my BP rising...they go in the trash immediately. I got so angry at AOL when I tried to cancel and ended up threatening them with the corporate lawyers...it took them 3 months to quit charging my
credit card. Then they had the nerve to call me a few weeks later to find out why I had not been on line...GRRRRRRRR!!! The boxes are nice, but they have their logo all over them...'fraid this old heart couldn't take having them laying around, LOL!

[Dakmar]

BTW, the Dillards are cool. I like 'em.Then you have very good taste. It's hard explaining to some folks how I could be a fan of both Lydon and the Dillards

[William Terrell]

I never got an AOL disk in a metal box.

[Paul Atreides]

At least a coat of spray paint can make them into good coasters.

[LonePalm]

Remember, whenever an AOL user gets a real ISP, the average intelligence of both groups goes down.

Two years ago, when we got our new computer, it came with an AOL "free" subscription for 6 months. I didn't want anything to do with it since we already had an ISP that I was NOT going to relinquish. Mrs. Palm insisted that I set it up for her. Before I could finish setting up the account, we had three Porn ads and two perverts looking for sex e-mail us. I asked her if she wanted the kids using the computer. She made me cancel the account on the spot. It still took three of our six months to get everything killed.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Paul Atreides]

If I press any key, will it Reboob...er, Reboot?

[spoiler2]

"I never got an AOL disk in a metal box".

You might soon!.........

I got mine last month, and felt like a neanderthal, throwing away the high-technology contents, and keeping the early 20th century metal tin, but it's actually more useful than the coaster!

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I like the tin trays they come in. Good for transporting cd's. Also good for stashing stuff (no I am not a libertarian).

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

They are good to keep your useful CDs in as well as giving you the added protection of knowing that no one in their right mind would actually steal it.

[GSWarrior]

PIL is from the old days. Been listening primarily to folk, bluegrass and alternative country lately.

[sawsalimb]

Seriously, when you hang them from strings they spin and swing and flash like mirrors. Birds HATE them.

But wait!!! There might even be a second application along these lines. I've heard several people swear that hanging a strip of aluminum foil on a treelimb is a good whitetail lure-something about the flashing reflection is supposed to fascinate them. So just maybe I'll try these leftover discs for that this deer season.

[socal_parrot]

AOL- the Internet with training wheels.