How do you know a scam is good? When it is copied.

We recently bought a van in anticipation of the TWINS coming. Often when you make a large purchase, you start to get a great deal more junk mail. Unfortunately, most anyone who can sell or give away your information is happy to do so. Or sometimes it’s public record. Entire industries are built on taking advantage of people who just bought a house, or a car, or registered a domain name. It’s the kind of thing that makes Ron Swanson’s eyes bleed. 

Most of us understand that this exists. It’s part of why we’re wary, part of why we have such trouble believing in others or ourselves. I hate that we have to constantly be on guard against predators of all varieties. But this is the way the world works.

Fortunately, many of them are just out for the low hanging fruit. They are interested in the shortest path to a sale. So, when something starts to work, you can expect some plagiarism, and this can actually help you determine the value in what they’re pitching.

The picture above is of the front and back of two postcard notices I received on the SAME DAY. I’m not sure which one had the idea first (probably neither), but at least one of them is perfectly happy to steal from the other. That’s a good sign that they don’t have your best interest in mind. Here’s a closer image focused on the text.

They are nearly identical, but not quite. The one on the top went with the specific detail route, including my last name and the year our vehicle. I feel confident if they had the model, that info would be in there too. You can find this brand of lazy all over the place if you start looking.

On my way to work, one intersection features florists directly across the street from each other. They are almost always advertising their roses, typically on hand drawn signs that advertise the same price per dozen. One day I noticed that the florist on the left had a new sign, professionally printed with bold font and a fancy heart outline. It stuck out to me because it listed the roses as “$7.95 for a dozen,” which seemed like odd phrasing to me (not to mention the pricing).

The next day, the shop on the right had the exact same sign. The exact same size, price, font, and everything. I’m waiting for the day that one of them decides to drop their price by fifty cents, marking through the old one with a giant marker. If they were playing some sort of advertising arms race, each trying to outdo the other, that would at least be interesting. This isn’t even two versions of boring. It’s the same boring on two different sides of the street.

Why am I going on and on about this? Why do I care if crummy warranty companies use the same copy, or florists buy from the same sign maker?

Mostly because it bugs me. Like, hard. It’s just so lazy.

But also because it reminds me of something I don’t want to be. I don’t want to put my name on someone else’ work just because it sells. I don’t want to follow the latest trend just because it seems like a quick way to make a buck. I don’t want to have so little respect for what I do that I’m willing to chase whatever seems to be working yesterday or even today. I don’t want to write vampire novels because they once made someone a lot of money. (Not that I would never write a vampire novel; I just want to do it for the right reasons.)

I’m not saying I don’t want to follow in the path of other writers I admire. I want to emulate them, not imitate them. I want to take their path and make it my own. Fortunately, it isn’t that hard to do. It just takes work and time.

For me, though, it is sometimes tough to be wary of the shortcuts.