advertising: mailers for credit cards

july 27, 2021

i was so excited after advancing professionally enough to start paying all of my bills on time. finally i could improve my credit score, and start working on a down payment for my own house. 

but the moment i got one credit card, just one, with a low credit limit (because i am still in the same tax bracket), i started getting mail solicitations for all the other credit cards. all. this. junk mail. that i have to just trash. it is useless. it is slimy. it is manipulative. it takes advantage of people who don't think, or who don't know any better. 

let's talk about one example, just one, of how awful these mailers are.

one from a bank who shall remain nameless has sent multiple versions of a visa card offer. on the outside of the envelope, it says "do not discard. card enclosed." 

they know people pitch junk mail. they know people are like "wait, what card? there's a card for me?"

so these companies, what assume either someone's interest in credit card fraud is piqued, or they think they forgot they applied for a new line of credit. right?

so they open the envelope, and the card inside has a "real looking" facsimile of a credit card, with your full name on it. not "jane doe"--so, so it looks like a real credit card, but it isn't. it's not something you can just activate omce you apply, and get approved. it's a useless piece of plastic or cardboard (a waste either way, just trash) that serves no other purpose than to gelp you envision your name on a credit card. like once you see that you are going to do your damndest to get a real credit card from them. 

as a side note, i had considered at one point mailing the exact contents of my junk mail back to the company. some way to make them stop, right? more recently, i went to try and remove my name from the pre-approved mailing lists, and over the phone they asked for my social security number. even if that isn't a scam, you shouldn't need my social security number to take my name off a list. ridiculous.

so people do succumb to the crazy fake credit cards, right? the advertiaing tactics have a degree of success, i would assume, or they wouldn't keep spending money on it. and these consumers rack up credit card debt that they cannot or do not properly manage, and then they have debt and their credit score decreases, and it just perpetuates these traps that capitalism has created to ensure that people don't make it to the next tax bracket.

and so many people want to or feel helpless to stop supporting the one percent. we just give in and do the best we can, which for most of us is not creating or applying or influencing actual systemic change. it's struggling to achieve a status quo, and neglecting aspects of our self-care because it is not possible for everyone to do the same things all the time. it just isn't.

it isn't like there was a time when the application of capitalism, of slavery, allowed for equal distribution of wealth. it isn't like we've just recently gotten out of control with the vast discrepancy between the haves and the have nots. there are just more and more forms of transaction. currency. goods and services. and of course we have a totally skewed sense of need. and the dollar is no longer backed by actual gold. i could go on...

we need equal pay. we need living wages. we need to be able to take care of basic human needs without struggle. food, shelter, clothing, water, sewage--not without work, but without the additional stress of "which bill am i forced to skip payment for this paycheck?" 

so this system, that was never set up to ensure the population was all cared for, was all able to be productive members of society--this system perisists, and persists in part because enough people attempt just obtainimg some kind of comfort. in a chaotic, busy world. they attempt to do it right. and have enough of their own needs met. and at levela, they just get more things. they increase their credit. they increase the size of the stuff they have. the expense of the stuff they have; they have access to better healthcare, so of course they get it, and their spending to saving ratio stays relatively the same, while interest on tgeir hoarded wealth increasee slowly over time. they shop more. they consume more, and they are content enough not to fight for all the ones who still have less than they do. 

and shit, it's understandable. it's fucking hard to get ahead. it takes years of the proverbial blood sweat and tears. it doesn't come easy or without sacrifice. so i get wanting to enjoy getting there. and just trting to stay there, and feel mostly stable. mostly secure. prepared. consistent. 

but it's not going to change unless more people rebel. until enough people say fuck the hustle culture. fuck this system too that inherently oppresses people. we deserve better. we can do better. we can allocate our resources better. we can make sure everyone has a baseline of security. 

but we do need to confront how our necessities are appeased. what has become a necessity that used to be a luxury, what is still not accessible to everyone? and by that i mean how many people are not able to afford access becayse they don't have a job that pays well?

we need to confront our fears of not having enough. of not being able to make it. of failure. of worth. to embrace the truth that we all deserve stability and balance and wellness. and allowing everyone to have the real basic minimum makes a better world and a better culture for all of us. all of us.

but people want the haves and the have nots. if they don't have it, they want it. if they have it, they want to protect it. 

and so the cycle continues. 

that's what goes through my mind whenever i get a piece of junk mail.