As a member of a publication that caters to consumers, we get a lot of press releases from many different types of companies – manufacturers, dealers, auction houses, new product outlets and many others (and this doesn't even count the lovely spam e-mail that has infiltrated our system in the past few days).

But what astounds me on a frequent basis is just how poorly written some of these press releases are. I mean sometimes the names of the athletes mentioned aren't even spelled right. Now if you were representing someone or offering products based on a certain athlete's playing days, wouldn't you at least get that right? If something is spelled wrong in an athlete's name in the release, I take that to immediately mean that either this company doesn't know what they are doing and hence not that reputable, or they are way too careless – and that's something that will reflect in their business practices and/or products, as well.

And if you do want your products printed in a magazine, it's usually a good idea to know what the magazine actually publishes first. Tuff Stuff's Sports Collectors Monthly doesn't usually cover sports-themed bath toys or the latest batting tee that will make your youngster the next Albert Pujols. Some days it's almost like telemarketers calling here at work, only its college PR people peddling products.

And lastly, proper punctuation is usually a good thing. Missing commas, run-on sentences and the aforementioned misspelled words jump off the page immediately, again lending to a lack of credibility.

I'm not perfect in my grammar, but at least in everything that I write, I run spell-check and at least make sure I have a proper grasp on the english language. Sadly, most companies don't follow the same guidelines.