Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

I'll stick with mail I actually ask for

One of my favorite cartoons about our changing communication features two series of panels.

The first series, marked “20 years ago,” shows a person fed up with the mountain of letters that were in the mailbox. They get to the computer, and their eyes light up because, “Ooh, there’s an email.”

The second series, marked, “Today,” shows a similar person fed up at their emails. They go to their mailbox and their eyes light up because, “Somebody wrote me a letter.”

I’ve never really been that way. I’ve always loved getting physical mail. Whenever I was out of school for the summer, or home sick for some reason, I considered it my duty to go out and check the mail. The mail usually arrived sometime during “The Price Is Right,” so Bob Barker’s reminder to spay and neuter my pets was my pavlovian bell to make the 150-yard walk to the mailbox.

I’ve had different mailboxes over the years, some right outside my door and others I had to drive to go check. But nothing is quite like getting a piece of correspondence with your name on it, even if that name is occupant. A piece of mail always says, “Somebody’s important today.”

The second I found out the U.S. Postal Service was doing Informed Delivery, I signed up. Now I get an email that shows me a picture of every letter I got. No email, no reason to check the mailbox.

So I love getting mail. But I don’t think I could deal with what a friend is going through with the mail. A few weeks ago, my friend said they ended up in one of those review traps for Amazon. The way it works is this: A manufacturer will send free products to people with the expectation they’ll leave positive reviews. Those reviews will push said product higher in the search results.

A podcast about this process said because of the volume Amazon sells, getting your product up one slot higher on the search results can mean a few percentage points more in sales.

My friend is a few weeks into receiving these items. Two or three packages on the doorstop every day. The problem is, these products usually have an obvious flaw, and the manufacturers found it’s cheaper to game the system than manufacture a better product.

How about this watch band, Kevin? This is apparently made for the wrist of a 4-year-old.

How about weightlifting gloves, Kevin? They don’t fit right, and I don’t think I would get a proper grip ... and weights are probably the No. 1 thing I don’t want to drop.

How about (knockoff version of product you already own)? Nah, I own a better one.

My friend won’t sell anything because she doubts it would be worth her time. If it takes her this much effort to give the items away, how much would it take to successfully sell them?

She doesn’t write reviews often, but she can normally tell when a review is from a “product tester.” It’s usually 99 percent positive, with the 1 percent barely mattering (”it looks like the color might fade in a few months”).

Nope, can’t deal with that. Let me stick with getting packages when I order them, and letters when I see the pictures in my inbox.

Pizza coupons? Looks like somebody’s important today.

Kevin Wilson is editor of The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at:

[email protected]

 
 
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