by Peggy Robin
On Monday I returned home after several hours away to find a
bright lime-green door hanger stuck into the handle of the my front door. It
was very visible from a distance, proof that I was not at home to remove the
glaring object. It was an announcement --with offers of free coffee, free
pizza, and some other goodies-- of the May 30th opening of the 7-11 at the
corner of Connecticut and Ordway.
Whatever people think of convenience stores -- and I happen
to think most are overpriced, unappealing, and not all that convenient -- I’m
not a fan of a form of advertising that papers the neighborhood. I don’t like
flyers stuck under car windshield wipers, either. Someone has left a piece of paper on
something you own that you will now have to dispose of – an annoying little
imposition on your time. And if the paper isn’t firmly lodged where the
flyer-distributor has left it, then it becomes litter in the streets. That’s
even worse.
There are so many better ways to distribute a promotion. If
the business wants to stay low-tech, they can hire people to hand out flyers on
the street – which gives pedestrians the freedom to decline to take one. They
can use local media, like the Northwest Current and of course, our very own ClevelandPark Listserv. They can do a postal mailing….although I have to concede that
this method is far less effective than it used to be, due to the unreliability
of USPS. (I probably shouldn’t use this to occasion to rehash my years-long
beef with USPS, whose carriers will sometimes leave my mail in a bundle in front of my
front door. On the other hand, it is relevant to the discussion, given that it’s another example
of a delivery service leaving the visible proof that there's no one home to take in
the mail. I do have a door slot, and they are supposed to use it. And don’t get
started on how often my mail is mis-delivered to other addresses, while I end up
with mail for other neighbors.)
That said, I do intend to be at the 7-11’s opening day and
get my free slice of pizza!
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.
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