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ClearinghouseFact Sheet #4 Junk Mail: How Did They All Get My Address?
While
your mother may have told you that a person's mail isprivate, in this day
of
computerized mailing lists, your name andaddress certainly aren't. Chances
are,
your mailbox isoverflowing with catalogs, sale notices, prize offers and
other"
deals" which you never requested and may not want.If you do not want others to
have
access to your name, addressand buying habits, or if you are tired of throwing
away
unwantedmail, there are several steps you can take to get off mailinglists.
You must
be persistent, and you won't get rid of it all.But you can substantially
reduce the
amount of junk mail youreceive.How did I get on these lists in the first
place?
How can I getoff?Every time you provide your name and address to receive a
productor
service, there's a good chance you are being added to one ormore mailing
lists. When
you buy a car, have a baby, make apurchase from a catalog, give money to a
charity
or fill out aproduct registration card, your name is likely to be entered intoa
computer data base.Public records. When you make virtually any major
lifestylechange, a government agency records the event. Many such filesare
open to
the public, including: birth certificates, marriagelicenses, home sales records,
and the
Post Office's change ofaddress form. Public records are one way companies
selling baby
items, for example, can mail advertisements to new parents justdays after the
birth of
a child. Mail-reduction tips. You usually cannot have governmentrecords
about
you kept confidential. Therefore, contact companiesindividually when they put you
on a
mailing list compiled frompublic records. For example, if you buy a house and
receive
homeimprove-ment and insurance solicitations you do not want, you cando three
things:
(1) Write to the company and ask to be taken offits mailing list. (2)
Envelopes with
"Address CorrectionRequested" or "Return Postage Guaranteed" can be
returnedunopened by writing "Refused--Return to Sender" on the envelope.The
company will
have to pay the return postage. (3) If there isa postage-paid return envelope,
put all
of the information in thereturn envelope with a note that you wish to have
your
nameremoved from the mailing list.The Post Office makes its change of address
file
available tomajor mailing list companies. To avoid receiving solicitations
aimed at
"new movers," contact friends, family and companies withwhom you do business
directly
and do not fill out the PostOffice's change of address form.Mail order,
credit cards
and magazines. If you are on the mailinglist of one mail order company, you are
likely
to be on the listof several. Most mail order firms "rent" their mailing list
toother
businesses. Many credit card companies also rent theirmailing lists, as do
magazines.
Therefore, if you subscribe to acooking magazine, you may find yourself
receiving
mail ordercatalogs for kitchen supplies and food specialties. Mail-
reduction
tips. Write to the Direct MarketingAssociation's (DMA) Mail Preference
Service,
P.O. Box 9008,Farmingdale, NY 11735. Tell the DMA you do not want to
receivecatalogs and other promotional material through the mail. Theywill put
you
into the "delete" file which is sent to the DMA'smember organizations four times
a year.
Companies that do not participate in the Direct MarketingAssociation
program
must be contacted directly. Notify thecompany's customer service department
and
request that your nameand address not be provided to other companies. Be
sure
tocontact magazines to which you subscribe as well as charities,nonprofit
organizations and community groups to which you haveeither donated money or
joined.
Many credit card companies will delete your name from the liststhey rent and
sometimes
even from the list they use to send theirown promotional materials to their
customer
s. (They will,however, continue to send you your bill.) Write to the customer
service
department and request your name be removed from thelists they rent to others
and from
their "in-house" mailing list.Credit bureaus. Companies with whom you do
business
provideinformation to credit bureaus on how much you owe, how promptlyyou pay
your
bills and the types of purchases you make. Whilemany credit bureaus rent
lists, they
do not disclose specificinformation such as what you owe or to whom. Rather,
they
compilelists based on consumer characteristics. An example would be alist of
people
who have an income of over $30,000 a year, usecredit cards and pay their
bills on
time. If you fall into acategory such as this, you may receive "pre-approved"
credit
cardoffers in the mail. Mail-reduction tips. The three major credit reporting
firmsare: Equifax, Trans Union and TRW. Write to each and ask to beremoved
from
their marketing mailing lists. o Equifax Options, Equifax Marketing
Decision
Systems, Inc., P.O. Box 740123, Atlanta, GA 30374-0123. o Trans
Union -
555 West Adams St., 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60661. o TRW, Target
List Order Department, 1621 18th Street, Suite 300Denver, Colorado 80202.Price