Sign, sealed, delivered: AOL's bulk email fees

Email marketing is big business.

From spammers to political action groups, the past five years have witnessed the rise of electronic correspondence as the most popular way for businesses and organizations to reach the public. This change is due to the fact that, unlike the ancestors of the digital marketing revolution (direct mail campaigns or phone calls), email is free and fast.

At least it was until AOL, the largest U.S. Internet service provider, announced plans to charge for guaranteed delivery on certain types of bulk e-mail messages. By charging for "certified" email messages, AOL hoped to curb the amount of spam customers were receiving in their inboxes. With this new technology developed by Goodmail, mass mailers must pay a fee to ensure that their email was "stamped" by the ISP as a certified piece of correspondence.

AOL's new bulk email fee -- which boils down to a fraction of a cent per message -- took effect two weeks ago. So far the program has had a mixed reception – consumers seem to love it, but businesses and non-profits, small and large alike, have begun to worry about what this fee will mean for them.

As much as my heart goes out to small business owners who are just trying to make it, I can't say I'm sorry to no longer receive messages, cryptically entitled, "Buy L3vitr^! Ch3^p P!lls!"