Boscov's Department Stores use opt-out instead of opt-in for their e-mail advertising. A few days ago, I received a message from them at a temporary throw-away e-mail address. The message read, in part:
DEAR VALUED BOSCOV'S CUSTOMER:
boscovs.com would like to send you periodic e-mails filled with valuable promotions.
In the future, we would like to send you information and offers that we know our customers find valuable.
...
If you ARE INTERESTED in receiving e-mails from us YOU DON'T NEED TO DO ANYTHING and you will start receiving your money saving offers. If you are not interested in receiving e-mails please use the link at the base of this email.If you'd like to receive our e-mail at another address, please Click Here:
I sent a complaint to Boscov's CEO and got a response from a customer service rep which read, in part:
Our system is set up as "opt out" because the vast majority of our online customers wish to receive our weekly sale notifications. It is our intent to make "opting out" as easy and upfront as possible.
I called the rep for more information. He said that the default setting, on some web form, for receiving advertisements used to be off, but they received calls from so many people complaining that they had missed out on one sale or another that they changed the default to being on. When I asked the rep how they measured that "vast majority", he couldn't provide a useful answer.
It doesn't really matter. His response was contradicted by the original message which clearly demonstrated that they weren't e-mailing me because I forgot to uncheck a box on some web form. They had my address and they were informing me that they planned to start sending me spam, whether I wanted it or not. If I didn't, it was my responsibility to ask them to stop.
I will no longer do business with Boscov's. If you dislike unsolicited commercial e-mail, I encourage you to avoid them, too. Be sure to let them know why.