Windshield cards and etiquette

[Andrew Buc]

** Reply to message from Huw Powell <audi at humanspeakers.com> on Sun, 25 Jul
2004 23:19:49 -0400

> On that non-car related website were they aware that you were basically 
> leaving an invitation to join a club they were sort-of "entitled" to 
> know about by the very evidence of their car's make?  (as opposed to 
> stuffing nightclub ads under wipers on city streets)

I thought this should have been clear from my initial post on that site, but
from the ensuing discussion I wasn't sure that it was, so I emphasized it in a
follow-up post. A few people told stories of unwanted flyers received, as
follows:

1) "Whenever I park in a neighboring community, I get windshield flyers for the
local brothel. Many people who park there have small children in tow."

2) "As I was stopped in traffic, someone who was clearly being paid to
distribute commercial flyers threw a flyer in my window w/o asking permission.
When I threw it out, he yelled at me for `littering.'" (In this case
especially, I can see the recipient's point.)

3) "I drove away w/o realizing that there was a flyer under my wiper, and then
it started to rain. I pulled over by the side of the road to remove it, and it
was soaked and disintegrating. I was ready to kill."

Another forum member told of distributing flyers that encouraged recipients to
eat at a local restaurant, w/20% of the tab to be donated to the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society, and getting very positive responses--when word got
out, people were approaching her and requesting flyers. The woman who'd written
(3) above responded, in effect, "I understand what you're doing, and I give you
credit for altruism, but flyers on my windshield will always annoy me."

I got the impression that people's generalized annoyance with email spam,
doorhanger coupons, junk mail, telemarketers, and pushy door-to-door salesmen
also enters into this.
 
> These days, with this site a mere shadow of its former leviathan self, 
> it might make sense to list a few urls, or at least "target" only the 
> older (read: 5 zylinder) cars.  I realize there is some discussion of 
> later models here, but it is almost all due to old die-hard fans having 
> bought newer Audis.

So where do you draw the line? I'm inclined to think that a newer Audi is one
whose model # begins with letters (TT, A4, RS6), and an older one has a a 2- to
4-digit model number (80, 90, 100, 4000).