The Annoying Nuisance Called Publisher's Clearing House

Wow.

According to Wikipedia, (One of my favorite, open-source info channels) PCH (Publisher's Clearing House) is a multi-channel direct marketing company, that offers discounted prices on magazines and household merchandise, all with the chance to win money during the process.

So when I received an email from them, I jumped on board, knowing what I was getting into.. I thought. I mean, how hard can it be these days. Email instead of snail-mail?

Egads. I get an email every single day with yet another opportunity to make sure I am entered in their multi-million, or thousands a day, or thousands a year, or .. oh, I lost track - drawing.

But they send me an email every day for this drawing that's coming up sometime in 2008. (So I got a lot of link clicking coming up.) I get many varied emotionally based crap titles in my emails.

• "Substantive info on giveaway #****",
• "IMPORTANT NOTICE",
• "Will you become a millionaire?",
• "Will I become a TEN million dollar winner?",
• "Will [my address] become their final destination?",
• "My payment option Decision that is required",
• "Intent to Award Super Price",
• "A final Chance to Become a winner in seconds",

And so on and so on. These are annoying, and emotionally baiting email titles that could draw many people in, I get them every day, with a new spin on the email title.

With each email, I click joyously on the link to enter / verify my intent or ability to receive my reward that inevitably, will MAY BE be mine! I just can't stand the excitement!! I get directed to a webpage with lots and lots of magazine offers. I scroll through and finally click on the entry link which takes me to another web page with more offers, to confirm that I want to enter in the drawing that I just confirmed wanting to get into. Every now and then, I get asked if I am sure I don't want to buy anything, and I have to explain myself to some degree, or sometimes, I have to confirm that I saw the offers and declines, because entry into the drawing does not require a purchase.

I normally, am very anti-marketing. I do everything to diss, avoid, or report marketers to spam@uce.gov, or my ISP's spam blocker. I find marketing spam an intrusion on my privacy and my private property (My computer hard drive) and I do take the time to do my part in reporting them.

So, initially, I was very 'down' on the organization, PCH, but it seems that after the founder and his family died, the ownership of the organization passed onto a number of charitble trusts.

According to Crain's New York, nearly 50% of company profits benefit charitable causes ranging from the arts to social services to the environment. The New York Botanical Garden, the National Audubon Society and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association are just a few of the major beneficiaries, so I lighetened up and started to participate.

I'm a very scrupulous about what I want to buy, but sooner or later, I will purchase a subscription to support their efforts. Then again, if I 'win', I can share some of my proceeds with the charitable organizations' directly! I'll let you know how it turns out.

In the mean time, I have to answer my PCH email and click on the 2 or 3 links that will guarantee my chance to maybe win lots of money, if I'm lucky, maybe.

And it all starts here, at www.pch.com, where you can become a millionaire!!!!