Canada’s New "You-Can-Still-Call-Me" List
August 3, 2008
Canada is finally getting its own “do-not-call” list this fall, and with it, the promise of a quiet evening at home, or so the theory goes… I haven’t investigated thoroughly, but the Canadian version looks very similar to the American version. So I ask, how effective are these do-not-call lists? Could they be more effective?
The biggest flaw I see is the exemption list is too long. Who do you think calls me most frequently? Everyone that’s on the exemption list, of course:
- Charities
- Political parties
- Pollsters
- Newspapers seeking subscriptions
- Businesses with whom I have an existing business relationship
These things do tend to go in waves, but I suspect that 80% of the unwanted calls I get are from groups on the exemption list. For example, many of the calls I get are from companies with whom I do business already who are trying to upgrade me, or cross-sell me one of their 462 other products and services. The banks, cable and phone companies seem to be worst for that kind of thing.
The one obvious difference from the American version is that the Canadian version has an exemption for newspapers. The newspaper lobby must be stronger in Canada than in the U.S… Why should they be allowed to sell me something, but no one else can?
In the end, I think these lists are better than nothing, but I think they could be better. For example, how about:
- A “don’t-waste-your-time-calling-me-I’m-not-going-to-talk-to-you” list, which would apply to everyone, unless you’re calling me about problems with my existing service
- Require all corporations and organizations (for profit or not) to have their name show up on call display so we can screen our calls intelligently
Just a thought. In the meantime, I’ll continue ignoring most of my phone calls…
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