We are concerned that a New Zealand Post household survey does not clearly state that filling in the form is entirely voluntary.
In fact, the survey which is entitled “An opportunity to win,” only reveals the voluntary nature of it in the small print under Guidance Notes.
We have had a number of concerned subscribers contacting us, thinking that because it comes from NZ Post they must fill out the form.
On top of that some questions relate to a householder’s partner, including asking for their birth date, and the only security around that is that you are supposed to have asked them first.
We appreciate that NZ Post is collecting the information so it can sell it to businesses here and overseas who want to target their advertising messages, but it should be upfront about this.
NZ Post is in a powerful position to collect the data. It would have been better to call its survey exactly that rather than disguising it as "An opportunity to win”.
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff has also expressed concern about the survey, saying people are confused about whether they must complete it or not.
Tell us what you think.
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I looked at the mail and it looked enticing with the words"an oppurtunity to win"but then i was giving out way too much information.So off it went to my rubbish bin!I hardly care less if it came from anyone!
I agree with 'no issue'- we are too quick to beat up any issue associated with a large company.
If you don't like what NZ Post did-throw your form away/ contact the Minister/ let NZ Post know how you feel and move on.
This link should be of help to members:
http://www.marketing.org.nz
Go to this website. On the right hand side of the page click on DO NOT MAIL and/or DO NOT CALL. Complete your details and this should greatly reduce the number of calls and the amount of junk mail that is addressed to you. Tell ALL of your friends and family to do the same, and hopefully they will also pass this info on to everyone they know!!! The more people you can tell, the happier we will all be.
It strikes me that since NZ Post will sell the information which I provide, I should be paid for it.
After all, they pay the printer for stamps, don't they ?
So why should I be treated differently ?
But what should be the basis for payment ?
A single one-off payment ?
A pay-per use scheme?
Should I be paid when the information is aggregated prior to sale ?
Any comments
I believe this is inappropriate behaviour for a State Owned Enterprise, and have sent an email to Simon Power (Minister of SOEs) to let him know. I have no problem with businesses attempting to collect this sort of information, but it is highly inappropriate for SOEs to use a privileged position to attempt to collect this info. I have also contacted the Commerce Commission as I believe NZ Post are using their postal delivery network to an unfair competitive advantage over other direct marketing companies ;)
http://www.rediguana.co.nz/gav/2009/07/23/nz-post-steps-well-over-the-line-with-survey/
Firstly, with any form you fill in it is common sense to read the instructions and small print to see what you are getting yourself into. If you had done this you would know that NZPost was wanting information to onsell to third parties. Also you could choose which questions you wanted to fill in or not as it was all voluntary.
Secondly, if you are sick of getting unsolicited mail put a "No Junk Mail" sign on your letter box and it will solve the problem.
I debated whether targeted junk mail is preferable to untargeted junk mail. But our current economics of ever-increasing consumption is unsustainable, so with the bigger picture in mind I followed my instinct to recycle this questionnaire.
Unlike the recent NZ Herald insert which was plainly misleading- the NZ Post mailer did not give me that impression at all. It did not compel me to complete it, nor give me the impression that this was necessary. Another beat up in my opinion. Fed up with people jumping on big business back without a valid reason - don't forget companies keep people employed and in the current economy thats no bad thing. Stop all the whinging!