GAINESVILLE, Fla. (U-WIRE) — You’ve got mail, and not just the electronic kind.
It’s in your mailbox, magazines, at the movies and parties. But who knows what to do with all those unwanted America Online startup discs?
Jim McKenna and John Lieberman, founders of www.nomoreaolcds.com, say they have the answer: Send them back.
In an effort to get AOL to stop sending the CDs, the two men started the Web site asking people to send the discs to them.
Once they have collected one million discs, they say they will drive them to AOL’s headquarters and dump them at the Internet giant’s front door.
“Don’t throw them away or get mad, send ’em to us and we’ll all end this wasteful practice while sharing a laugh or two,” the Web site stated.
Lieberman said in an e-mail that he and McKenna decided to start the campaign after they went out to rent a movie one night and the video store put a CD in the bag with their rental. Then when they got to Lieberman’s house, there was another disc waiting in the mailbox.
“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Lieberman said. “We said, ‘Somebody ought to do something about this,’ and that was the start.”
So far, the Web site has brought in about 80,000 CDs from all around the world. Lieberman said there’s not a person alive with a mailing address who hasn’t gotten a couple of AOL CDs.
“AOL certainly hasn’t limited their marketing to this country,” he said. “We have heard from folks all over the world who have been frustrated by what AOL is doing and were looking for a way to put a stop to it.”
Besides the annoyance of receiving multiple CDs, Lieberman and McKenna also are concerned about the environmental consequences of these “destined for landfill” discs, they said.
University of Florida marketing junior Jenn Bloom said she agrees with Lieberman and McKenna.
“I think the worst part about the free software is all the trash it generates,” Bloom said. “Whether or not the CDs are serving their intended purpose, this campaign just seems like overkill.”
AOL is not the only company that sends out free CDs to entice potential customers, but with 35 million subscribers worldwide, they use the tactic most frequently.
University of Florida marketing professor Richard Lutz says there’s no way to tell if AOL is sending out the CDs because the strategy is working or if it’s just out of desperation.
“They’re in some serious trouble,” Lutz said.
He said the basic idea behind free software is making it readily available to consumers. If they have the software right in front of them, maybe they will try it out, he said.
“AOL is taking advantage of inertia,” Lutz said. “After people use their 40 free hours and it’s time to start paying, many will leave it on their computer just because it’s already there and they have everything set up,” he said.
While some people use the CDs for their intended purpose — installing AOL software — the Web site showcases some more creative uses that visitors have contributed. There’s a snapshot of a room wallpapered with the CDs and another of a dog with a disc clenched in its jaw.
“I think one of the best so far was the AOL CD that was sent to us by someone who was laid off from AOL,” Lieberman said. “They gave everyone a CD in their severance package,” he said.
Lieberman said that it is hard to say exactly when they will get one million CDs, but that they are coming in faster and faster after a recent CNN story about the campaign aired and the resulting publicity.
“When we started, it took two weeks to get the first two, another two weeks for the first 100 and so on,” he said. “It’s been about 15 months now, and we are
growing fast.”