Return Receipt (RR) Etiquette

This morning I had an e-mail from a business guy asking how and when one should use Return Receipts (RR) due one of his associates making this request with every single e-mail that they send. Return Receipts, RR for short, are a way of knowing that an e-mail has been opened on the recipient’s computer. It does not however, mean they have read the e-mail.

Do you have business contacts who have this feature on for every single e-mail? In my experience, those are the folks that seem to want to know when you receive their e-mail even if the content is not critical or important – sort of a control thing. Or, it could be your associate does not even know they have this option selected.

Maybe nicely e-mailing them with a “Did you know…..?” can let them know this is not a feature to be used for every single e-mail. With that said, I have lost count of the number of times I have let others know that using an RR with each and every e-mail they send is, well, irksome and nosy at best. I also advise that I deny RR requests. But the RRs continue.

RRs are to be used sparingly, if at all. Being they can be declined as I and many others do, I really do not see any constructive purpose other then when both parties agree to use them and acknowledge them. To use RRs as a way to try and track others — not effective.

For those who use RRs with every e-mail, think of it this way — what would you think if every time you heard a voice mail, answering machine message, opened a postal letter it was immediately reported back to sender that you had heard/opened their communications? And if you didn’t want that report to be sent, you would have to make the effort to decline this from happening. That’s the same with e-mail RRs. Sending with every e-mail and/or then not respecting requests from others to refrain from doing so is discourteous.

Hmmm… Now that I think about it — I don’t even remember the last time I initiated a RR request!

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