There are a bunch of unscrupulous outfits that con do-good outfits, usually in inner cities, into sending minorities out peddling. The young black males don’t know any better, nor do their well-meaning organizations.
We had one of those in Raleigh. A well-spoken sincere young guy was making the rounds in our gated subdivision, Trego (which ordinarily had no peddlers). I said the magazine I considered, Road & Track, seemed expensive. Seemed like his rate was more than R&T charged in its own mag. "Oh no," he said. (Probably in ignorance.)
Then-wife norma and I agreed to take some subscriptions out of guilt. The next day I checked a recent R&T, and sure enough, their own sub card in the mag was half or a third of the rate the peddler was charging. We called and cancelled. We felt sorry for him, but really angry at the corrupt middleman who was foisting this scheme on do-good white folks.
Last month, it happened here in MSP, with not one but two guys, somewhat scary. (My wife could have got rid of them by asking if they had a soliciting license, which MSP requires for any door to door.) Same deal. We said no, but later found that one of our neighbors signed up for a batch of magazines out of sympathy.
It does society no good to rip off customers, hold up false hopes for minorities, and encourage door-to-door peddling.
The magazine middlemen who run these scams deserve a place in hell.
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