Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Florida Bar wants me to switch to GEICO

There's a certain amount of fear when I open my mailbox to find a letter from the Florida Bar.  What now? How much money do I owe? It's got to be official business, right? Otherwise it would not have the organization's official seal on it. Wrong! This time the Bar wanted to introduce me to the great benefits I'm missing out on if I don't  switch my car insurer. It was an offer from GEICO and it even had some additional flyer inside falling out. It was basically not very much unlike the everyday junkmail  that company sends in their own envelope but with the Bar's seal on it. To my readers from outside America GEICO is an insurance company that vows in it's campaigns to save money in ten minutes or less and uses funny commercials starring a talking gecko with a British accent as its spokesperson. Now I don't drive and I don't have a car, but this is not the point.  Few senders make me sweat as much as the Bar (IRS would be the other one and in fact I also found a letter from them today) and to have them use that authority in that way leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It is one thing if they negotiate and inform me of retirement plans or health benefits tailored for the betterment of the profession across the board, it is something completely different when they let private vendors  push their commercial products on me. What's next? Furniture? Toasters? Coupons for free pizza with membership? I've been dealing with a similar kind of issues ever since Wachovia became Wells Fargo-  my mailbox became populated with life insurance or roadside assistance  offers and I could even get a free GPS, something Wachovia has never done. But then again, Florida Bar is not a bank, it's not a business, and they perform important, justice related functions crucial to the state...

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