Roz Rosintoski

[Trhoades]

I receive a package from Rosintoski Photography with 9 sample photo's with additional packages to photo packages to purchase. I do not need any more photo's of my car so I do not respond to the mailing. A month later I get a bill from Roz for $44.91 for the 9 sample photos that where the size of 4 x 6. There was no return envelope from Roz to return, and no suggestion that I was going to even be charged for the photo's that HE sent to me....I did not request the photo's. I kmnow it's only $44.91 but, it's the principal....This my my opinion is bad ethical business. I will have mailed the pictures back to with follow up letter stating my thoughts.........What do you guys think?

[TimW]

http://www.apexspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34183

[thomschoon]

Do a search on the topic, has been a practice for a while, keep the photos and throw the bill in the trash. I paid him for some photos that I liked and then never got any more in the mail, a bit of an inverse response to stop sending them to someone that paid.

[iamuwere]

It is a really bad system. Unethical to a degree in my opinion.

I will help donate the guy a digital camera if he stops sending pictures to people...

Smugmug/flikr/etc are not that expensive.

[Brett Lane]

He's been doing this for years. Can't you UPS or USPS it back to him collect?

[Ed Womer]

Roz has been doing this for at least 20 years and the other Northeast photographer Ken Brown also does the same thing. If you do nothing you will never get any more photo's or you could send them back with a note that you would not like to receive anymore photos.
I have a lot of photos from both over the years and usually keep only the best ones and send back the ones I don't want.
Ed

[romoman]

A USPS envelope with his address as the to and return with no postage will be delivered to him and the USPS will collect the postage on delivery.

[problemchild]

His business model was strange 30 years ago when I first experienced it. He's just a nice guy who likes taking pictures of race cars and making a few bucks. No need to respond aggressively. Either ignore him or return the pics. You never know when he will be at the corner where the big one happens ..... and you will have pics to amaze your buddies for the rest of your life. Pocono Nationals, 1988, FV Race 1 ..... I found the Roz pics just the other day

[Dennis Valet]

Don't worry about the bill. It's actually technically illegal for him to mail you unsolicited merchandise with a bill.

US Code, Title 39, Section 3009

(a) Except for

(1) free samples clearly and conspicuously marked as such, and

(2) merchandise mailed by a charitable organization soliciting contributions, the mailing of unordered merchandise or of communications prohibited by subsection (c) of this section constitutes an unfair method of competition and an unfair trade practice in violation of section 45 (a)(1) of title 15.

(b) Any merchandise mailed in violation of subsection (a) of this section, or within the exceptions contained therein, may be treated as a gift by the recipient, who shall have the right to retain, use, discard, or dispose of it in any manner he sees fit without any obligation whatsoever to the sender. All such merchandise shall have attached to it a clear and conspicuous statement informing the recipient that he may treat the merchandise as a gift to him and has the right to retain, use, discard, or dispose of it in any manner he sees fit without any obligation whatsoever to the sender.

(c) No mailer of any merchandise mailed in violation of subsection (a) of this section, or within the exceptions contained therein, shall mail to any recipient of such merchandise a bill for such merchandise or any dunning communications.

(d) For the purposes of this section, “unordered merchandise” means merchandise mailed without the prior expressed request or consent of the recipient.
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.

That being said. Gene Rosintonki is a cool guy who shows up to a lot of low level and high level scca events to take photos. It's nearly impossible from him to sell photographs because of the logistics involved with shooting regional and national events, so he mails to them to people to see if they are interested.

I don't agree with mailing invoices afterwards, but it is what it is. Like everyone has said, mail it back if you don't want them but would more in the future, or just ignore it if you never want to hear from him again.

[Modo]

I like the nice guy approach, that mailing/billing deal I always thought was some helpers trying to pay thier salary, sometimes I would buy a couple (definately not repeated angles, same car, same paint job) and in the end, none, especially after hearing the chat on Apex n my new budget, LOL .......... my wife's from Binghamton too, (Vestal (Roz from) is Bing suburb home to top college x-SUNY-Bing new name now) and get up there frequently, and used to stay there when at the Glen, but, it's 85 miles to the Glen from there, same as Summit from DC, so quit that ....... anyway, thought it was someone with Roz that started that barrage of pics!!!! ......

Just a toss in, Binghamton/Endicott is the home of IBM business machines, vacated maybe 10 years ago, can u spell ghost town for the young and kids????

[Tom Valet]

You never know when he will be at the corner where the big one happens ..... and you will have pics to amaze your buddies for the rest of your life.

Photo by Roz.






As others have said, he is a nice guy and a terrific photographer.

[problemchild]

or this .........

Attachment 41919

Looks like Ed Womer, Clint Spooner, Pete Pires, Sam Ryan, Rice, Siebenaler, Howard Landon. Somebody else back there .... maybe Sherman Engler.

[Mark Filip]

These guys taking photos are great to have at the track and some do a great job of capturing the trill of racing and others should stick to taking photos of rocks. Roz takes some pretty good photos and at first I also was kinda pissed when I opened up the package and the first thing I saw was a bill. That in my opion is not the way it should be done. These guys need to get with the technology. On track media does a great job for the motorcycle guys, they take a ton of pictures hand out cards with a web address and if you want pictures you buy what you want. You never get a bill for something you did not want. You can order as much or as little in print or digital formats it's very easy and you don't have to send photos back. Roz does have some pretty good deals if you order 1 8x10 you get a second for free then you can keep all the smaller photos, and most of the time there is at least 1 or 2 great shots.

[Purple Frog]

One doesn't stand on a guard rail wearing a photo vest and shooting race cars without bumping into Roz before too long. janice and I been pedaling pictures for about 7 years at pro races. Let me put it this way, you don't get rich, and almost always you can't pay for the expenses of the weekend. And, OBTW, going through 3000-5000 frames a weekend takes a huge amount of time.

Roz established his business model a few decades before there was an internet. Yes, its a bit crazy, but so is Roz.

That said, he got the last pictures of my Tatuus before it went to the happy hunting ground at the 2005 Runoffs.

Just kind of roll with it and smile because you are still on his "shoot" list. He doesn't even bother to lift the camera if you are on the "no shoot" list, even if you are upside down, 8 feet in the air.

[alangbaker]

One doesn't stand on a guard rail wearing a photo vest and shooting race cars without bumping into Roz before too long. janice and I been pedaling pictures for about 7 years at pro races. Let me put it this way, you don't get rich, and almost always you can't pay for the expenses of the weekend. And, OBTW, going through 3000-5000 frames a weekend takes a huge amount of time.

Roz established his business model a few decades before there was an internet. Yes, its a bit crazy, but so is Roz.

That said, he got the last pictures of my Tatuus before it went to the happy hunting ground at the 2005 Runoffs.

Just kind of roll with it and smile because you are still on his "shoot" list. He doesn't even bother to lift the camera if you are on the "no shoot" list, even if you are upside down, 8 feet in the air.

He can keep track of that while the action is on? Impressive.

[fastopelgt]

Roz has been taking photos (unsolicited) of me at events in the northeast for decades. I have certainly never made him rich. Sometimes I return all of the photos, sometimes I buy a few, on rare occasion I'll even buy some enlargements.
I will not make any attempt to justify the business model of unsolicited prints but will say that 20+ years ago nearly all track photographers did the same. Roz's current cover letter that he sends with his photos clearly states in bold print "you're not obligated to buy or even return the pictures".
It always brings a smile to my face to open his envelope a few weeks after an event and find an assortment of sharp, clear, well composed photos. Given the amount of time and money that I spend for a given weekend of racing, putting a stamp on an envelope to return some photos (perhaps with a small check enclosed) seems like a small price to pay for his loyal services and the resultant handful of memories.
Tom Drake - Alley Cat Racing - Colchester, VT

[Matt King]

I suppose if the business model isn't working for him at a level that meets his expectations, he wouldn't still be doing it.