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After 18 months of complaints, we're still getting Globe Direct, which still sucks
By adamg on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 6:12pm
Finally filed a Better Business Bureau complaint about how Globe Direct sucks, after finding Yet Another Useless Globe Direct Bag on our steps this morning. You can, too (you can also read some of the complaints).
Way back in October, 2013:
My first posted complaint about how Globe Direct sucks.
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Comments
Boycott Advertisers
We should boycott businesses who advertise in the Globe Direct. The problem might work itself out.
...so boycott both Shaw's
...so boycott both Shaw's/Star and Stop & Shop, the only two grocery stores near me (since I don't own a car) who both advertise via Direct? I don't think that's going to happen.
You could at a minimum let
You could at a minimum let these stores, and all the advertisers in the GD know you plan to boycott them. GD makes all its money from the advertisers, not the people they distribute the junk to, so if the advertisers complain, they'll listen, unlike when someone like Adam complains.
One pertinent piece of info that might piss off advertisers, which you should let them know if you do complain, is that if the GD bases its prices or otherwise puffs itself based on its circulation figures, they're doing some pretty sleazy stuff to inflate those numbers. One is distributing all these unwanted copies. But another, which I witnessed just yesterday, is that they throw these free papers everywhere, including many places they'll never be picked up and read: I was in the Albany/Erie St neighborhood of Cambridge and saw these GDs dropped in front of random side/back doors of the various institutional buildings over there, a couple places that looked out-of-business, and even the door to the friggin' parking garage.
Class action lawsuit time for
Class action lawsuit time for harassment and illegal dumping on your property?
Mine comes in the mail
It is addressed to Resident with my address. Without shutting down the thing altogether, I don't think I have options. They're just going to send it to Resident.
This Option: Send It Only To People Who Opt-In And Request It
They Generate Disposal Costs: To Recycle, Incinerate Or Landfill
Coming and going, the "Globe Direct" is a wasteful blight on our communities.
I like the Globe
But yeah, these things are annoying. I mean, I'm not surprised. The Globe is owned by a rich white guy, and they do whatever they want.
This is a vile comment. Are
This is a vile comment. Are we allowing 'racist' comments if it's against wealthy white guys? Adam, asking you. Your answer will determine if I boycott your blog as others suggest as punishment for not towing the line.
Where to begin?
A. I believe you may have misread the tone and intent of the post to which you are objecting. It's helpful to pay attention to posters' names and past posts. It makes sarcasm easier to spot.
B. I doubt the readers of a free website really wield the economic power that you think we do, I'm pretty sure your "boycott" threat doesn't have Adam trembling in his boots. Especially since having an editorial point of view is in no way inappropriate, on a site like this.
C. And ok, this one is petty, but it's TOE the line. As in follow the rules by staying behind the line. Towing the line would be moving the boundaries, which would be kind of the opposite thing.
D. I'm not even going to start the whole "racism and bias are different things" conversation, since nobody really slammed rich white men in the first place.
E. Unless....OMG.... were YOU being ironic, yourself? If so.....brilliant! You have crafted the quintessential "anon not verified" comment. *slow clap*
What we really need
Is to create a bot that goes through housing databases and automatically requests that every address in Boston be taken off the delivery list.
Then they'll auto-respond to each one and keep delivering. But still.
Does anyone, anywhere, actually want this garbage?
I do
It's the only way to get the Market Basket flyer. Yes I can read it online but sometimes he's slow and I get the flyer a day before its posted on mydemoulas.net
I did, however, inquire at the service desk about getting it mailed to me. The lady gave me a form to fill out but she didn't know if it would just queue Globe Direct to come or of Demoulas would mail me the file using US Mail (without Globe Direct)
I Do, too
Like receiving the Market Basket circular, their website is notorious for being last minute posting. I also need the coupons in GD.
Unfortunately, after all the winter storms, I no longer receive this.
I Do, too
Like receiving the Market Basket circular, their website is notorious for being last minute posting. I also need the coupons in GD.
Unfortunately, after all the winter storms, I no longer receive this.
I Do, too
Like receiving the Market Basket circular, their website is notorious for being last minute posting. I also need the coupons in GD.
Unfortunately, after all the winter storms, I no longer receive this.
Globe direct of comments?
This triplicate comment makes me laugh thinking about the multiple globe directs that I found that had been in random places under the snow.
Like cybah and the Rozey triplets...
Like cybah and the Rozey triplets ;) , I find GD extremely useful - wished I was still getting it!
People who want the circulars do
Since mine come with the Globe itself, so my gripe is duplication of effort.
I get Adam's gripe. He put his address on the no delivery list, yet they keep on coming.
Myself, I can't wrap my head around why these things, and telephone directories, cause so much angst in these parts. The city gave us small recycling containers, then big bins. Just complete the circle of life. The Globe thus gets to keep on publishing. Unless, of course, you only want the Herald, the TV stations, and the odd bloggers to be the only news sources around.
I don't even want to think about it
Yes, on life's list of annoyances, the GD Globe Direct is pretty low. But I don't want to see it, much less think about it (and then have to throw it out) at 7 on a Saturday morning. As a taxpayer, I also wonder why the city should be forced to pay to remove thousands of these things from the recycling bins of people who don't want them ( and the public safety implications of them piling up as rob-me alerts on the steps of people on vacation).
As for keeping the Globe alive, not my problem in this case - I don't exist as a product for John Henry to sell ( but, yes, we still get the Globe on Sundays).
I do like getting it. It
I do like getting it. It often includes extra copies of the coupon insert from the Sunday paper. That's useful to me.
Funny though, that I haven't seen any of these delivered recently in my Somerville neighborhood. I'm not even getting the ones via mail.
Keep them
and then go throw them on Globe Direct's front steps en masse.
See how they like it.
Since I filed a BBB complaint
Since I filed a BBB complaint last fall, I haven't found any new Globe Directs stuck in my shrubs or scattered over my steps - but I have seen a lot more accumulating at my neighbor's house. Sorry neighbor. :(
I have opposite problem - wish they *would* deliver to me
They stopped during this winter's snow-a-thon and never picked back up. I called and got one week's delivered, then nothing again.
I'm sorry you don't care for these adam, but Globe Direct is a huge win for me (when I was getting it). I shop at all the grocery stores in the area - Roche Brothers, Star Market, Stop-and-Shop, and Village Market. The circulars and coupons save me many hours and hundreds of dollars a year, no exaggeration.
The Missus loves grocery ads
Which is why, every Thursday, I have to put them separate from the Globe. That said, I found it wasteful that we got them twice too many weeks.
I'm still trying to figure out how Adam gets his on Saturdays. Most of the circulars start on Fridays, and people start planning for the week before Saturday morning. GD seems to come out on Wednesdays.
Bring back GD via the USPS. It's a win for the agency, and the gripers will have to explain why they don't gripe about the rest of the junk mail delivered.
Maybe our delivery guy takes his time
It wasn't there when I came back from a Five Guys run around 7 Friday night, but was there when we left for a little road trip around 7 Saturday morning.
according to GD, they get sent out on wednesday
and are supposed to be delivered Wednesday/Thursday.
So our delivery person is doubly incompetent
Can't deliver it on time, can't read the alleged list of no-delivery houses.
I find this so hilarious..
...because I actually use the coupon circulars in Globe Direct and have requested it, and yet I hardly ever actually get it. After reading all the complaints on here, I now just look for ones that seem unwanted/abandoned on doorsteps and take those instead.