Thursday, July 30, 2009

They’re assholes but they’re not stupid

Every time I call someone who has a cell phone, and they don’t answer, I hear their message followed by a message from the phone company. This second message is along the lines of:

”[Phone number] is not available right now. Please leave a detailed message after the tone. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press pound for more options.”

This message makes a lot of money for the cell provides. From David Pogue: “If Verizon’s 70 million customers leave or check messages twice a weekday, Verizon rakes in about $620 million a year.”