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Travelite Packing Tips

May 2000:

This month's tip has to do with getting rid of the extra baggage you carry from your mailbox to your house.

Before we get to our tip though, let me share something I came across the other day:

Most of you probably don't know that I like to watch (and keep scores at) Major League Baseball games, specifically the Oakland Athletics. This is a semi-hobby I started just a season ago as a recent transplant to the Northern California Bay Area. The other day, I was at an A's game when the radio announcer mentioned that some other game had been postponed "due to an equipment delay." I had never heard of such a delay before, and I found out the details at ESPN's Web site (the information is deep into the Jayson Stark's column, under the heading "Personal Shopper of the Week" at http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stark/506592.html.

The umpire team flew from Montreal to Cincinnati to work the Reds vs. Dodgers game in Cincinnati. The umpires made it fine, but their check-in luggage didn't.

With an hour and 15 minutes left before the start of the game, the equipment manager and his assistant were sent scurrying on a mad shopping trip, where they had to purchase a full working wardrobe for four umpires. The final tally? $621.

The umpires weren't out of the woods yet. With 35 minutes left before the start of the game, the shoppers got stuck in traffic among baseball fans driving to the stadium for the game! With some luck and a police escort (they had flagged down a motorcycle cop who believed them), they made it back right at game time.

Maybe umpires have a rule that they have to check in all of their work clothes. But looking at the shopping list (rain suit, long johns, white T-shirt, two pairs socks, one belt, a ball-strike indicator, a brush (to dust off the late) and four black hats, the umpires might do well to continue one clean set in their carry-on, don't you think?

And now, our May Travelite Tip:

If you have been doing any of your shopping online, one of the things you may have noticed is an increase in mail. Junk email, junk snail mail. Maybe even unsolicited phone calls at dinner time, asking you if you want to buy something. Today's tip helps you lighten your load in your email box, and in your regular mail box. Why is it important to decrease unsolicited ads sent to you? While we all like catalogs from companies we like, that doesn't mean we want 30 extra catalogs in the mail. Telemarketers have a particularly bad reputation -- did you know that the New York Times reported that Americans were bilked out of $40 billion a year from fraudulent telemarketers? And the more your name and address pop up in their databases, the more you increase your chances of being a target.

The most practical Web site I know of in combatting unsolicited junk mail is Junkbusters, at http://www.junkbusters.com. Junkbusters arms you with the kinds of defenses you need in fighting back all your junk mail. They give you lots of information on how to curb snail mail, email as well as telemarketers.

A couple of their services (all free, of course) truly stand out in my view. They are:

1. The Anti-Telemarketer Script: Telemarketers work off of scripts, so why can't you? Intrusive (but legal) questions like, "What are you selling?" "What is your full name?" "What is the company you are working for?" "What is your manager's name?" turn the tables against those folks who call while you're preparing dinner. You can print out the script and have it by your telephone.

2. "Junkbusters Declare": A Web-based form you fill out with your personal information, and which allows you to print out standardized forms that you can then mail out to various marketing companies that use junk mail as a form of advertising. You don't even need envelopes; you just fold your paper and stamp it!

In addition to the above two, Junkbusters is loaded with tons of how-tos.

Finally, besides visiting Junkbusters, I recommend you do two things yourself to decrease your junk email:

1. When you purchase things online, most of the Web sites ask for your email address. While this is good for receiving immediate receipt notices, most of the Web sites assume you want to receive regular email ads from them. If you shop from them, maybe you don't mind. Some sites might sell your email address along with your name and address, though! If the Web site does not allow you to click on an option that says you don't want announcements from them (or for them to rent/sell your information -- usually with a phrase like "We sometimes share our customer information with other companies that provide products and services that may be of interest to you..."), make sure you include somewhere (be it on the same line as the email address line, or in a comment form), that you don't want to share your information, and/or you don't want to be placed on their email ads list. You can always sign up with a "public" email address (the @travelite.org email address could serve as such) that you do not use as your primary account.

2. You may have heard of the company called DoubleClick. While there are many banner-ad tracking companies, DoubleClick got into some hot water because they found a way to tie your activity to your actual person! While its CEO says they now don't do this, Travelite urges you to make sure you opt out of their tracking system.

To do so, do the following:

a. Go to DoubleClick's web site at http://www.doubleclick.com

b. Scroll to the bottom of the page to the "Quick Nav" box on the right, and select the link for "Opt Out".

c. The Opt Out page will appear. Scroll down to the middle of the page, where it says "OPT OUT CLICK HERE". Click on the link.

d. A small pop-up window will appear, notifying you that the DoubleClick tracker (a "cookie" left on your Web browser) has been set to "opt_OUT".

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Remember that while the Internet is helpful in many ways, it also provides a lot more of our information to marketers and advertisers than we would wish. By requesting to be removed from their databases, you are protecting your privacy and helping decrease the production of unwanted slick catalogs (which are hard to recycle, anyway).

Happy Travels!

-- Lani

Travelite Packing Tips

May 2000:

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