I have a problem with this.

[jyl]

I have never heard of anything like this in my kids' HS.

I would write an email to the coach, principal, and school board. I would also speak with other kids' parents about this.

Modest "activity fees" are common and, IMO, acceptable. Asking parents to volunteer and financially support is okay too. Requiring every kid to turn over twenty persons' names and emails to an outside company is not okay.

[Holger]

... what? ... no!
What a f*cking stupid idea of the coach/team! I have never heard of anything that stupid!

[WPOZZZ]

I have no kids, but I would never go along with something like this. Make them work for it by doing car washes, rummage sales...

[ckelly78z]

Schemes like this work with most people who gladly hand over contact information without thinking of privacy. What bothers me is that, as a supporting tennis parent, you are supposed to comply without question on a questionable practice that has been going on for years now.

Peer pressure amoungst the other sports parents dictates that you keep your mouth shut, and become another sheeple led to the slaughter house.

I would venture a guess that at the least, this company would contact all of your family/friend's email address and attempt sales of some sort. They would also probably sell the lists to other telemarketing firms, because THAT, is truly where the money is.....sad.

[ckelly78z]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

I understand the sneaky premise on which these are being gathered, but aside from handing out your friends/families addresses, what is the big deal if they get yours? Is it because they will sell/give it to companies that will hit you with a lot of spam? I mean, no 'real' harm right? Just making sure I understand what the issue is here. (seriously, not being sarcastic)

Go ahead, and personally ask all 20 email contacts that you about to hand over to a stranger if they want more spam/opportunities flooding their mailboxes ?

Their answer will always be "NO", and so should yours, when asked for the info.

[RKDinOKC]

Like I said...

If you want my 20 friend's & family's email addresses, how about their phone numbers as well?

The harm done is if your email is sold to spammers is not just the spam. Your email is also being made more available to those that would send malware.

[sand_man]

Originally Posted by fanaudical

You should have a problem with this.

I do recommend a letter to the principal and possibly the school board depending on the principal's response.

This is a good idea. I wonder if the powers that be, know what he's up to...

[berettafan]

Seems a very efficient way of losing 20 friends.
Letter to the principal, possibly copy the school board.

Alternatively 'reply all' to the email with the obvious objections and ask instead what the monetary value promised for this info is and offer to write the check and keep your friends as friends.


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[berettafan]

In this way you will be a leader to the sheeple and help them gain critical thinking skills.


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[Porchdog]

I was no happier with a lot of the promotional crap that the school wanted my kids to sell. If I wouldn't buy it in a store, why should I expect my friends, relatives and neighbors to buy it?In my opinion it's just training kids to join the "Free **** army". (Don't get me started on the girl scout moms hawking cookies at the door of the Walmart).

I quickly got fed up with it. When my kids brought home that crap we would write a check and send it in. No crap coming home and the activity gets 100%.

Some fundraisers I was actually OK with. Debate team had a spaghetti dinner (with entertainment) and a car wash. Robotics club sold LED light bulbs at a competitive price. The Soccer team sells gift cards to local restaurants at face value (I just bought some of these from the neighbor kid).

Give away contact information for friends and family? Not a chance.

[Danimal16]

Geez, is there privacy act violations here?????

[T77911S]

i would be pissed if a friend/family gave my email out.

I don't give that or my phone number out unless I have to.

for the life of me I cant figure out why if I go into a place like harborfreight they need my phone number to buy a toothpick.

[wdfifteen]

^^
I give them an old number now. For a couple of years I had a land line for strictly for my alarm system. It didn't have a phone connected to it. I still give that one out.

[cstreit]

There some fair advice about responding given how ridiculous this is.

...but do you want to follow this all the way through - and will accept the potential impact on your kid?

...or you could just say "Sorry - not comfortable". How much do you need? I'll see what I can do without having people cold-called.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by T77911S

i would be pissed if a friend/family gave my email out.

I don't give that or my phone number out unless I have to.

for the life of me I cant figure out why if I go into a place like harborfreight they need my phone number to buy a toothpick.

I have a google voice number for times I need to give a number and don't want to give my cell.

Give you my phone number to checkout? Never, I'll leave the product at the register and walk before even considering it and I have no reservation telling them that.

Actually got into a dispute with a guy at Guitar Center one day who insisted he could not complete the transaction without it.

Put away my credit card, pulled out some cash that came out to some change more than the item plus tax, threw it on the counter, told him, "you've been paid", took my item and walked out.

[cashflyer]

option A: No.
option B: HELL NO.

option C: Collect 20 email addresses of teachers and staff at the schools. Turn them over to the coach. Make sure the coach's email address is on the list.

[rcecale]

Originally Posted by id10t

The sad thing about this is that the kids have no skin in it, other than wanting to play on the sports team. Want to do well and travel for tourneys/meets/play offs/etc? Gotta get the fund raising in.

So, basically, they don't even have to "participate" to receive their "participation trophy"?

Randy

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

I have a google voice number for times I need to give a number and don't want to give my cell.

Give you my phone number to checkout? Never, I'll leave the product at the register and walk before even considering it and I have no reservation telling them that.

Actually got into a dispute with a guy at Guitar Center one day who insisted he could not complete the transaction without it.

Put away my credit card, pulled out some cash that came out to some change more than the item plus tax, threw it on the counter, told him, "you've been paid", took my item and walked out.

I am running into this, more and more. All the cashier has to do is punch in numbers and the transaction will go through. I've had cashiers punch in all zeros to get the job done. You might suggest that if it happens again. My bet is the cashier is not told that any random sequence will complete the transaction.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by ossiblue

I am running into this, more and more. All the cashier has to do is punch in numbers and the transaction will go through. I've had cashiers punch in all zeros to get the job done. You might suggest that if it happens again. My bet is the cashier is not told that any random sequence will complete the transaction.

Now I remember what the GC guy was arguing, that without a phone number they could not accept a return if I brought it back.

That's why I tossed him the cash and left without the receipt.

Was a ****ty $10.00 folding music stand for my daughter to take with her on some trip we were taking.

If it broke it was not even worth the 1 hour round trip drive to GC for my $10.00.

Would have burnt $5.00 in gas alone.

I got the feeling that what was really going on was an in store retention / customer loyalty initiative. Staff got spif'd for every number they collected and he needed to make quota.

[ckelly78z]

I was going to mention that every time I am in Harbor Freight, they ask for a phone# while I am standing there within earshot of 5 other people. I have started to say "I'd rather not", so they ask for my zip code ?!? argh.