ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Emerging Tech

Recycling campaign to AOL: You'll get mail

By Stefanie Olsen, CNET News, 29 October, 2002 09:52

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

Topics

AOL, Campaign, direct marketing, Recycling, CD-ROM

NEWS
Imagine not just one, two or three America Online CDs in your mailbox, but 1 million. That's what two technology workers from El Cerrito, California, aim to deliver to AOL's doorstep in Dulles, Virginia, as part of a mission to persuade the Web giant to stop its direct-mail marketing campaign of nearly a decade. Jim McKenna and John Lieberman, who have collected almost 80,000 AOL discs so far, said they plan to make their point with a gesture, a smile and the words, "You've got mail." "AOL produces millions of CDs, which get immediately thrown away," said McKenna, who, along with Lieberman, created the site No More AOL CDs.com. "Our goal will be accomplished when AOL stops sending out unwanted CDs, shakes our hands and says, 'You made your point, and it was kind of funny.'" Stopping AOL from planting its pervasive program software in everything from mailboxes to Omaha Steaks packaging won't be easy. AOL, the interactive arm of AOL Time Warner, pioneered direct-mail marketing of software that lets people easily connect to the Web via a particular service provider. It started mailing floppy disks back in the early '90s to build new membership for the AOL service, which now has 35 million members worldwide. By midway through the decade, it switched to CD-ROMs and ramped up marketing efforts; one authority on direct-mail marketing estimates the company mailed an average of 40 million CDs in 1999. That same authority estimates that AOL spends in the ballpark of $1 (about 64 pence) to send each disc and that only 1 percent of recipients respond to the offer. At that rate, the company would have to keep a new customer for about five and a half months to break even on the marketing costs. And, given the 1 percent estimate, in 1999 at least 39,600,000 of the plastic discs presumably went straight into the trash. AOL would not comment on the number of discs it has mailed, the costs involved or the response rates. With the release this month of its newest software, AOL 8.0, the company introduced CD packaging designed by actor Tom Cruise, basketball star Michael Jordan, accessories designer Kate Spade and others, sparking a collectible frenzy on eBay. AOL has even tried to appeal to knicknack collectors by encasing the software in tin boxes. Some have even responded to the CD bombardment by making home furnishings out of the software, including coasters, shiny wall-hangings and funky Christmas trees. But McKenna and Lieberman have opted for a good-natured fight. The duo dreamed up the idea for their No More AOL CDs.com site after a "bad-movie night" last year. The two had rented a film and found a free AOL CD in the bag. Once home, Lieberman found another CD in his mailbox. "We said 'enough', registered the URL, and then it just sort of happened," McKenna wrote in an email. The CD-collection effort is gathering steam of late, with McKenna and Lieberman, who work in the IT industry, spending about an hour each night organising the discs in McKenna's backyard. They estimate that 1 million of the discs will weigh about 17 tons, and they'll have to drive an armada of trucks to get them across the country. "If we can obtain a Webvan truck, that would lend a certain je ne sais quoi to the tour," the two joked on their site, referring to the bankrupt grocery-delivery service, which during the dot-com craze had attracted more funding than any e-tailing company other than Amazon.com. Kidding aside, McKennna and Lieberman's beef with AOL's marketing approach is based on the unabashed and ongoing waste. "AOL... takes the saturation-marketing concept and the creation of needless waste to an unprecedented level," McKenna said. "As (the discs) are not recyclable and last for centuries, they are desperately in need of changing their practice. Others do it too, but everyone has received many unwanted AOL CDs, multiple times, from multiple sources." AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham countered that the discs and packaging are recycled at the company's headquarters and that AOL runs one of the largest corporate recycling efforts in the United States. He said people are free to send back the software, but they must pay postage. "We believe consumers are looking for an easy way to get online in a matter of minutes, and AOL responded to those wishes by making the software easy to locate," Graham said, adding that tens of millions of people have signed up to the service via the discs. "AOL applauds the efforts of anyone sharing the goal of corporate recycling," Graham said. "If and when the leaders of this campaign want to make a responsible deposit, we will warmly greet them."
For the latest on everything from consumer electronics to your rights online, see the Personal Technology News Section. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Related stories

AOL discs heat up on eBay auctions

Heat promises to speed up hard-disk data storage

Woman gets replacement jaw via 3D printer

Gov.uk public service portal goes live in beta

Tilera targets simple cloud tasks with 36-core processors

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

apexwm

Interesting article and definitely see your points on the products mentioned. One of the top products for our Help Desk (approximately 20% of all...

4 hours ago by apexwm on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
Paul Hutchinson

Absolutely - this should obviously not be handled my isp - but handled by their hosting operator. What's been suggested here is that my isp police...

4 hours ago by Paul Hutchinson via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Techs UK

Looks like a great phone. I don't notice any deficiencies in WP7. used IOS before, that's pretty good. I don't spend much time in Apps, all i need...

7 hours ago by Techs UK on Nokia pins US 're-entry' hopes on Lumia 900
Larry Bloggy

Now with the help of these apps you are always synced with MS outlook while on the move. Just download apps like xobni or outlookreflex and get...

8 hours ago by Larry Bloggy via Facebook on Outlook Social Connector beta 2 and the LinkedIn connector
mike40g123

Your details are wrong. The version currently being made is the one with 2 USB ports, 256MB RAM and a network port. This is the Model B. The...

9 hours ago by mike40g123 on Raspberry Pi boards set to go on sale
Moley

The thing that has been puzzling me for quite a while is how Anonymous can remain anonymous whilst not only being active on the Internet but also...

23 hours ago by Moley on Anonymous activists release PCAnywhere source code
Don Dilly

If what Semantec is saying is rue, that is even worse and shows a complete disregard for thier users. If what Anonymous claims is true and the...

1 day ago by Don Dilly via Facebook on Anonymous activists release PCAnywhere source code
MattChurchy

Didn't seem particularly biased to me either. Oh though you might have mentioned some other competitors with free search and email services...

1 day ago by MattChurchy on Time for an evil umpire: Google, Microsoft & privacy
Simon Bisson and Mary Branscombe

James - exactly as much as anyone paid you for your comment; I don't feel that I need to say that I'm independant and unbiased, but just for you...

1 day ago by Simon Bisson and Mary Branscombe on Time for an evil umpire: Google, Microsoft & privacy
Carl White

Once they realise symantec are willing to pay real money, they will simply keep extorting, unless of course symantec/authorities can use the...

1 day ago by Carl White via Facebook on Symantec offered hackers $50k in source code sting
Jonathan Hassell

You can find more information on BS 8878 by Jonathan Hassell its lead-author at http://www.hassellinclusion.com/bs8878/ The page includes a...

2 days ago by Jonathan Hassell on BSI publishes first British web accessibility standard
servermanagement

Thanks for this list. Now I know, what to include on my system to make it more functional.

2 days ago by servermanagement on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
1000092626

What if it's a 4 car household? The point is, more bandwidth = more things you can do simultaneously, like streaming HD video in one room of the...

2 days ago by 1000092626 on Virgin Media beats 100Mbps schedule, hikes prices
Gary Burton

No point whatsoever increasing broadband download speed. unless ever server on the net has access to massively up rated throughput. The worlds...

2 days ago by Gary Burton via Facebook on Virgin Media beats 100Mbps schedule, hikes prices
Random_Error

They're also increasing their TV package prices, whether to help fund this or not.

2 days ago by Random_Error on Virgin Media beats 100Mbps schedule, hikes prices
Techs UK

How can you set it up wrong to intermittently connect? Should I be asking for more pay? Outlook/Exchange is a breeze.

2 days ago by Techs UK on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
JamesCheese

And how much did Microsoft pay you for that article?

2 days ago by JamesCheese on Time for an evil umpire: Google, Microsoft & privacy
JamesCheese

"But how many times have you seen someone make a video call from a tablet?" I do myself a lot. "How often have you seen someone hook up a tablet...

2 days ago by JamesCheese on Apple and Amazon's tablet rivals don't get it
k0tcs3

I have to disagree with this article. Maybe there is a cultural difference between the US and UK, or maybe your network of friends is less...

2 days ago by k0tcs3 on Apple and Amazon's tablet rivals don't get it
filthylooker

My thoughts are that there's some space for change in the business world for tablets as destop replacements. I'd contend that the tablet has a...

2 days ago by filthylooker on Apple and Amazon's tablet rivals don't get it

Latest in Emerging Tech

Heat promises to speed up hard-disk data storage

Woman gets replacement jaw via 3D printer

Gov.uk public service portal goes live in beta

Featured white papers

How malware threats have changed

Symantec.cloud

How malware threats have changed

These days, cybercriminals have four core weapons: targeted attacks, infecting websites, social networking and... Read more

How enterprises can achieve cloud computing benefits

Citrix

How enterprises can achieve cloud computing benefits

Is your load balancer cloud-ready? A key to the cloud's success is having an IT infrastructure that can deliver a robust set of cloud-oriented capabilities and can support all cloud computing use... Read more

Guide to social media use in your business

Symantec.cloud

Guide to social media use in your business

Are you on Twitter, Facebook or Google ? Even if you're not, you should know about social networking's benefits... Read more

Inside ZDNet UK

Heat promises to speed up hard-disk data storage

Heat promises to speed up hard-disk data storage

Sponsor a Colossus valve to help Museum of Computing

Sponsor a Colossus valve to help Museum of Computing

BlackBerry Bold 9790

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Webcast - Managing Mobility and Network Expansion

Webcast - Managing Mobility and Network Expansion

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault