I received an SMS message on my cell phone today, informing me that Cingular (my carrier) had a free phone for me, all I had to do was stop by my local Cingular store and …. etc. It also nicely told me to reply with ‘STOP’, and I would not receive marketing messages from them anymore. I did so, and was instantly sent another SMS message informing me I would “no longer receive marketing messages from Cingular. Please allow 10 days for your preferences to be updated”.

You have to be kidding me. 10 days? Nothing takes 10 days anymore, especially when it comes to updating my SMS preferences. In 1860, the Pony Express got someone’s ‘preferences’ (mail) from Missouri to California in the same amount of time.