Stop Long Voice Mail Greetings

Here’s a campaign I can believe it.  I had no idea that those long voicemail greetings that come after the user’s greeting were a money-making scheme by the cell phone companies.

David Pogue at the New York Times is starting a campaign to get the companies to stop.  I strongly endorse this campaign and encourage you to do so, as well.

Here’s Pogue:

These messages are outrageous for two reasons. First, they waste
your time. Good heavens: it’s 2009. WE KNOW WHAT TO DO AT THE BEEP.

Do
we really need to be told to hang up when we’re finished!? Would
anyone, ever, want to “send a numeric page?” Who still carries a pager,
for heaven’s sake? Or what about “leave a callback number?” We can SEE
the callback number right on our phones!

Second, we’re PAYING for
these messages. These little 15-second waits add up–bigtime. If
Verizon’s 70 million customers leave or check messages twice a weekday,
Verizon rakes in about $620 million a year. That’s your money. And your
time: three hours of your time a year, just sitting there listening to
the same message over and over again every year.

In 2007, I spoke
at an international cellular conference in Italy. The big buzzword was
ARPU–Average Revenue Per User. The seminars all had titles like,
“Maximizing ARPU In a Digital Age.” And yes, several attendees (cell
executives) admitted to me, point-blank, that the voicemail
instructions exist primarily to make you use up airtime, thereby
maximizing ARPU.

This must be stopped!  Join the cause!