[25330] in APO-L
Re: [APO-L] APO Name on Geico Mailings
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Charlie Zimmerman, APO-L Moderator)
Tue Apr 4 11:27:23 2006
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 11:27:04 -0400
Reply-To: charliez@aol.com
From: "Charlie Zimmerman, APO-L Moderator" <charliez@aol.com>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
In-Reply-To: <44325bc9.488f11c9.6dfd.2e44@mx.gmail.com>
All - I asked Bob London, our National Executive Director, for his
input on this and received the following.
Bob wrote:
"We approve each mailing and provide the list for each mailing as they
are not stored by GEICO. Any member who wishes not to receive their
mailings just needs to notify the National Office. We receive money
for each person who contacts GEICO and states they are with APO. The
discount the member receives versus contacting GEICO and not saying
they are with APO varies by State; it can be as high as 15% and as low
as none. This has to do with the Insurance regulation in each state.
Additionally GEICO is a sponsor of the National Volunteer Conference
and pays an educational sponsorship fee to offset our costs so we can
cover most of the participants expenses."
Along with the financial benefits to APO from this program, I think
it's also important to note that our names and addresses are not sold
to nor retained by GEICO. Some may not immediately see the
significance in this, but by retaining control, the National Office
prevents the list from being sold from one group to another and another
and another, which is how true junk mailing lists are created. That's
something the National Board and National Office have always been very
mindful of - making sure that our membership list is only used for
intended purposes and in a manner that is most likely to benefit a
significant number of members. The same has also been true for nearly
30 years(*) with our list of chapters and their mailing addresses.
Hope this helps - my thanks to Bob for sharing his input.
Fraternally,
Charlie Zimmerman
APO-L Moderator
charliez@aol.com
* (30 years at the very least, based on board minutes I have reviewed
on this subject.)
