WISDOM FROM ANDY ROONEY

Ed. Note:  Andy Rooney is an American journalist and commentator.  His “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney” segment appears at the end of the weekly news program 60 Minutes.

Tips for Handling Telemarketers. Three little words that work!

1.   The three little words are:  “Hold on, please…”

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then, when you eventually hear the phone company’s “beep-beep-beep” tone, you know it’s time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will definitely help eliminate telephone soliciting.

No one on the line

2.    Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a ‘real’ sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, six or seven times, as quickly as possible.  This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system.  Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer!

Junk mail help

When you get “ads’ enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these ‘ads’ with your payment.  Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those “pre-approved” letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to second mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right?  It costs them more than the regular 37 cents postage IF and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away!  The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight.

In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One final great idea

Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express.  Send a pizza coupon to Citibank.  If you didn’t get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn’t on anything you send them.

I didn’t get old on purpose, it just happened.  If you’re lucky, it could happen to you.