Disable auto-image loading, and it will cut down the ability for companies to do this.
Unfortunately, this often times leads to direct phone calls along the lines of, "Hey taftster, did you get my email? It shows that you haven't opened it yet."
I get unenrolled from electronic statements from Capital One and a local credit union if I go 12 months without “opening” an e-mail from them. I do open and read their e-mails but since I don’t have image loading enabled, they don’t know that so they “helpfully” start sending me paper bills again, and stop sending me the e-mails to say that the bills are ready. It’s incredibly annoying.
Unfortunately, this often times leads to direct phone calls along the lines of, "Hey taftster, did you get my email? It shows that you haven't opened it yet."
This side-effect is also very annoying.