The Direct Marketing Association yesterday filed comments opposing a national do-not-call list set up by the federal government, calling it unnecessary and expensive.
The DMA said a national list already exists, referring to its Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which was started in 1985. Other industry guidelines are also in place, the industry trade association said, pointing to the five telemarketing companies the DMA cited last week for not adhering to the DMA’s ethical guidelines.
The DMA’s TPS covers 80% of the industry. But the FTC’s proposed list would cover less than 50% of telemarketing calls, the DMA said.
The Federal Trade Commission in January proposed amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule, including a do-not-call registry that would make it illegal to for telemarketers to call consumers who place their names on the list. The public comment period for the proposed changes ended yesterday.
“At best the FTC would provide a marginal incremental benefit at huge taxpayer expense,” said H. Robert Wientzen, CEO of the DMA, in a statement.
The FTC has said it will cost $3 million to maintain the file (DIRECT Magazine, March 1, 2002).
The proposed changes would cost the country jobs and money. The telemarketing industry employed more than 6 million Americans in 2001, the DMA said. Some $661 billion was spent in purchases through telemarketing that year.
“Any new government regulation of this already heavily regulated industry must take into account that millions of jobs and the future of thousands of companies are at stake,” Wientzen said. And, job losses would disproportionately affect women and minorities, who represent 60% and 26% respectively, of the teleservices industry, Wientzen said, referring to a recent DMA survey.
The DMA called for the FTC to “aggressively pursue illegitimate telemarketers,'” Wientzen said. “By painting the entire industry with a broad brush, the FTC is punishing the reliable marketers for the sins of the fly-by-night scammers.”
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